Another Friday, another chance to share my week with you. The week has been slammed, and one of those where I find I am running behind on all the projects I have in progress. This Mobile Tech Manor column is going to be much shorter than usual as I haven’t had the time I usually do to share the events of the week. Most of the week was spent trying new software and upgrading a program I depend on a lot. The Droid phone goes on sale today, and a review unit arrived yesterday so I’ve spent a few hours with it. Come on into the Manor and stay a while.
Software stuff
One of the writing projects I am working on required me to refer to some material that I have in eReader format. I wasn’t aware of it but there is a Mac version of eReader Pro so I installed it on the MacBook. I usually only run eReader on my phones, or occasionally on a slate PC. The Mac version provided the best way for me to refer to the material while working on my project and it was good to find this version existed. I must say it’s a “no-frills” version and lacks a lot of features found on the phone versions, but it was better than nothing.
Another program I use heavily was updated this week and I jumped on the upgrade. Parallels Desktop 5 brought tighter integration with both Snow Leopard and Windows 7. I’ve only used it for a day but I am impressed with the improvement over PD4. This new version fully supports the Win7 Aero interface, and while that might seem to be just a visual improvement, it actually adds functionality. Aero Peek works well, and even the Flip 3D function works.
The most impressive addition is in the performance boost that I’m seeing on the MacBook while running Windows 7. It appears that PD5 uses the integrated video memory better than the old version, and that makes Windows 7 run as fast on the Mac as it does on other “real” Windows notebooks that I use. The Crystal window mode is flat-out awesome, bringing Windows 7 seamlessly to the OS X desktop. It’s downright freaky to see Internet Explorer running on the Mac desktop, complete with the gray Mac theme.
Clearing the decks
The holidays are rushing at us already, and it’s the time of year I take a look at all the gear in Mobile Tech Manor and think about getting rid of some of it. It’s my way to get holiday gift-giving cash, while making room for the cool gear I’ll no doubt buy next year. It was harder this year than in years past to decide what to part with, but I finally settled on selling a couple of gadgets.
First up, I am selling the Viliv S5 UMPC. It is the nice 5-inch UMPC that runs Windows XP and is a quite capable handheld system. This is the S5 that has appeared on the site numerous times, and it is in perfect condition. I am selling the S5 and all of the accessories that came with it:
Viliv S5 UMPC- Windows XP, 1 GB RAM, 60 GB HDD, 5-inch touchscreen- 2nd battery (~5 hours life each battery)
- Battery charger w/ 2nd power adapter
- Carrying case w/ integrated stand
- Car kit- car charger, mounting bracket
The other gadget I am going to part with is the HP Mini 1000 netbook. This was originally the Mini Mi version with Linux, but I have installed Windows 7 on it. I do not have the Linux restore media, but I think it can be downloaded if desired. I also have purchased an extended battery for it so the whole kit is:
HP Mini 1000- Windows 7, 10-inch screen, 1 GB RAM, 16GB SSD, 4 GB SD memory for extra storage, standard battery, power adapter- Extended battery
If you are interested in either of these systems, drop me an email (click on my cartoon head in the sidebar) and make an offer. I will give someone a decent deal on each of them, but please, only serious offers.
Verizon Droid
The Droid only showed up late yesterday so I need to spend more time with it before sharing any real details. My first impressions:
Pros
- Great screen
- Solid build quality
- Android 2.0
- Google Maps Navigation
Cons
- Physical keyboard- better than none but not great
- Weight- a little heavier than expected
- Short power cable- can barely reach from floor to edge of desk
- Camera operation is slow
I’ll have much more detail and some video to share shortly, so this will have to do for now.
e-Book of the week
I didn’t have a lot of free time for reading, sadly, but I did read an early novel by Stephen King. Roadwork is the story that involves road expansion, imminent domain and the madness it triggers in one man. It is a good story, albeit disturbing to experience, which shows it to be well written.
Wrap-up
That’s all the time I have so I hope you get something to take away from this account. Until next week, take care of yourself.
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