Just love to blow that snow. Wondering when snow will blow me.
Monthly Archives: January 2009
The netbook
Acer One netbook
The netbook, the smart phone, and the future of personal computing
The netbook is a new category of laptop computer that is really a refreshing of an old category. Starting with the ASUS eeePC introduced in 2007, several major laptop manufacturers have joined the fray, and the category has exploded. The current set of netbooks are a re-entry into what is a very old category centered around mobility. What the current set includes is connectivity.
The first ultraportable of note was the Radioshack TRS-80 Model 100.
Radio Shack TRS 80 Model 100
It was portable and had a full keyboard. It featured a wordprocessor and Microsoft Basic. The Atari Portfolio and the HP95LX brought computing into the coat pocket, and the culmination of this was the Psion Series 5 which was tiny but touch typable. I used it to write my consult notes during residency and maintained a database of frequent fliers. The hospital had HP printers with infrared ports allowing me to print out my notes wirelessly.
Atari Portfolio
Psion went on to create the Psion netbook and holds copyright over the name. It is a shame that they gave up the personal computer business after developing the most stable portable operating system (EPOC) and software set ever created. For example, their spreadsheet program, part of an Office compatible suite, took up 22k of memory. My Psion could run over twenty programs concurrently without crashing. EPOC became Symbian which powers Nokia and Sony-Ericksson phones. Having given up the business, they are now chasing the netbook ghost by filing cease and desist letters to websites and businesses that use the word netbook.
HP 200LX
I used to own a Psion netbook and it was fantastic to type on with incredible keyboard feel. It was fast, and had instant on -booting up was instantaneous like a cell phone, not like a computer with the minute of bootup time typical for a Windows computer. The EPOC office suite was integrated and allowed cutting and pasting of graphs into documents that would update with changes in the data -this was rock stable and again, took up only a few hundred kilobytes (not megabytes) of memory.
Psion Series 5
With AA batteries, the Series 5 would run up to 40 hours. The netbook had a PC card slot for a WiFi card giving it wireless internet back in 1999.
I believe Microsoft killed the portable computer industry for about ten years with their Windows CE operating system. Microsoft powered clamshell computers were popular for a while but were difficult to use and crashed frequently. I owned a fairly advanced PocketPC clamshell, the NEC 790, but was frustrated by its instability, it’s tendency to freeze and crash, and worst of all lose data, but the full keyboard and instant on capability were enough of a plus to keep me interested for a while.
The salient features of portability, keyboard for human hands, instant on, long battery life, full resolution landscape screen, and wireless internet with full capability -Flash, Quicktime, WMV and other multimedia features, are the killer features of the modern netbook. None of the currently available netbooks (Acer, HP, Dell, MSI, ASUS, and now Sony) fit the bill.
NEC Mobilpro 790
Psion netbook - the original
All are based on the Intel Atom processor. This is a low voltage processor that integrates graphics which translates into slow -how slow? About a hair faster than Centrino Mobile (laptops circa 2005) when running Windows XP. It definitely won’t be lighting up the specs compared to dual core laptops, but it is “good enough,” especially compared to how we used to access the internet via dialup.
Most of the netbooks come with Windows XP. The whole netbook category along with resistence to upgrading from the coporate side has kept Windows XP alive despite the presence of Vista. A few of the netbooks are presented with a scaled down version of Vista. Having stayed away from Vista like the plague, I can’t say first hand if it’s good or bad, but the word from people using the first generation HP netbooks which ran Vista on the slower VIA processor is that it is slow. This goes against the concept of a fast-boot, efficient, fast running machine.
Apple Newton eMate 300
Linux was offered on the first generation of netbooks, but as they became popular, Microsoft made Windows XP licenses available for these netbooks, essentially killing off Linux on netbooks. This is unfortunate, because Linux starts up quicker and runs more efficiently on netbooks. OpenOffice, an office suite that is available for free, runs very well on Linux. The only downside is there is no iTunes for Linux, but the bulk of the needs are met through open source and usually free software. The great thing about Linux is that the computer are customizing the operating system for their product. The new HP Mini 1000 just presented at CES with a highly customized interface. We are all use to this with the Macintosh, but also with cell phones. In fact, this is a bit of a return to the days of yore, when computer makers created the box and the software.
What does this mean? The netbook is in evolution. It is somewhere between a laptop and a smartphone. The laptop offers the larger screen, USB ports, and a keyboard. The smartphone offers instant on, extreme portability, omnipresent connectivity, long battery life, and great integration between software and hardware. The netbook is slowly moving toward this end, becoming less a commodity, and more a finely honed tool.
HP MiniNote 2133
Do I recommend a netbook? Depends. They are easier to carry than a laptop and offer the ability to work anywhere. My Acer One netbook cost less than $400, and has a battery life of over 6 hours, has a 160gB hard drive, and has Wifi. It runs Windows XP which has its faults, but it runs iTunes, turning my netbook into a large screen iPod where I can watch movies and TV shows. With Skype, I can have video chats with family and friends wherever WiFi is available. What is really neat is cloud computing being embraced by Google, Apple, and others. It moves the work onto the browser, and makes it platform agnostic. The problem is the current generation of netbooks are still just small, slightly slower Windows laptops.
The future is the next generation of netbooks which will feature more solid state memory, customized Linux operating systems, and 3G or WiMax high speed internet that is integrated. The solid state memory or SSD (solid state disks) have no moving parts, are fast, and more energy efficient getting you closer to instant on. The customized operating system means that your hardware is more tightly integrated with the software, much like a cellphone. The 3G or WiMax type high speed internet means you can go anywhere untethered from a WiFi network. You can buy netbooks that feature 20Gb SSD’s (solid state disks) with Linux, but these basically disappeared after some muscling in by Microsoft. Windows 7 promises a smaller footprint to be able to run on netbook-like gear, but it completely misses the point. You don’t buy a car from BMW and run it on an engine from GM. You want the software to run seamlessly with the hardware, and this is much more difficult under Windows.
Apple is still digesting this arena. The Newton eMate 300 was an effort by Apple to create an instant on clamshell laptop, but was quickly killed by Steve Jobs upon his return along with the Newton OS and the great Newton 2100. MacBook Air has some netbook features, but fails in it basic concept as another, albeit beautiful, laptop. Ideally, iPhone/iPod Touch would be the platform for it’s netbook, but I don’t see it going that way because of Steve Job’s aversion to buttons. No, this category will be populated by manufacturers looking to capitalize on Apple’s deafness and blindness to this category. BTW, this blog entry was written entirely on my netbook running OpenOffice and uploaded via the Google Chrome browser.
The Tools
It has been my lot in life to have to sit down every couple of years and take a standardized test. I took the last one two years ago on a computer, but before that, it was all filling in the circles with a number 2 pencil. Pictured above is my “lucky” pencil which took me from the PSAT’s in 1983 all the way to the Vascular Surgery Board Exams in 2002. Next to it is its backup which rarely got sharpened.
Tools allow me to manifest ideas. Whether it is a seven iron that I punch-draw for 170 yards into a stiff wind, or a fiberoptic retractor I used to light the way in a deep incision, the tools allow us to tap into our minds. When your work shines into the level of art, tools are portals to the spirit much like the shaman’s drum or bagpipes.
The Surgeon Admiral
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a practicing neurosurgeon at Emory in Atlanta, and CNN medical correspondant has been named as a candidate for Surgeon General. This is an interesting choice because as far as I know, Dr. Gupta has no background in public health, fighting epidemics, leading armies, or playing golf.
I do know that the Surgeon General is an anachronism from a simpler time, and has had different roles. The signature Surgeon General of our time was Dr. C. Everett Koop, pediatric surgeon of note, who did stand up to the Reagan Administration and spoke truth about condoms. Otherwise, he was a Creationist, and didn’t meddle much in science or medicine. There is no regular current Surgeon General because the last one mouthed off about science.
I think I realize what President-elect Obama wants: a medical translator. Someone to interpret the medicalese, the governmentese, and the politicalese -basically what Dr. Gupta does so well already. In this regard, his choices included all the other talking head docs including Dr. Oz and Dr. Phil. Mehmet Oz, by the way, is one of the most gifted surgeons I have ever watched. When I was on faculty at Columbia, I met with him, and he told me that I needed to find a better barber and handed me Frederic Fekkai’s card (!) -talk about 500 dollar haircuts.
I think that Dr. Sanjay Gupta is an excellent choice. It adds a competent voice to translate the heavily technical and intricate.
I would also propose President-elect Obama create another office -that of Surgeon Admiral. This person would get to wear a navy uniform (just like the Surgeon General -why?) but with a large tricorn admirals hat from the 18th century. He would get plenty of office space, use of a jet (F-18 is fine), and the charge of creating America’s greatest hospital. I would start with an espresso bar in the surgeon’s lounge, and a return to classic white uniforms for the doctors and nurses.
A certain surgeon could be persuaded to sacrifice his time for this noble cause.
Call of Duty: World at War for Nintendo DS
I generally don’t play first person shooter games because they take up too much time and are generally too violent. Call of Duty has always appealed to me because it adds a dimension of history -I am a big history buff, and World War II is the predominant theme of the twentieth century. All things lead to and from it. The game works well on the Nintendo DS which is a surprise for me because it’s such a small device. It does create cramps because you aim with the stylus and move with the D-pad and shoot with the left or right finger buttons. I don’t know how you would play it if you were a lefty. The game sounds best through good headphones. The men and graphics look blocky -this is the fault of the port. I think that the true resolution is seen when you look through the sniper scope -with the men at double size, they lose the blockiness. It feels a bit like Doom circa 1991 when you run around in the blocky graphics. It has WiFi -internet play, although I haven’t tried it. I don’t know if I can keep up with guys shooting from the latest i7 rigs over fiberoptic, but it is cool that I can do this through a portable machine. Here is a little video.
Austrian origin for my antique Jew’s harp
My very handy wife, J, decided that rather than let me get rabies from playing the rusty antique Jew’s harp, she would clean it up. After some key Brillo pad scouring of the rust, this interesting detail came up. The harp was made in Austria! The question now is when. The kind of wear demonstrated is seen in coins from around fifty years ago. But a musical instrument shouldn’t get the kind of wear and tear that a coin gets, meaning this particular harp may be closer to a hundred years old. But, the older it is, the less likely the manufacturer would put Austria and more likely Republik Österreich or some other variation, I would think, although Austria is the Latinized version of Österreich. It is a bent piece of diamond shaped iron wire with the center blade soldered on, rather roughly. Its presence in central Europe may come from Magyar (Huns) or Ottoman Turk influences. Very cool.
Central Asian Chant Ringtone
CHANT FILE CLICK HERE CHANT FILE CLICK HERE
I composed this last night with Garageband using vocal tracks and a Blue Snowflake USB microphone. The twanging sound is from the antique Jew’s Harp. The throat singing is me recorded in two different tracks with vocal settings on “Deep Male Voice” and “Helium” which helps accentuate the overtones (or at least gives the impression that I can produce overtones). I’ve been practicing for years in the shower trying to get the nasal whistling overtones, but this has eluded me. The deeper resonant sounds are easier for me. The chant is a Korean Buddhist prayer for intercession of mercy on the world.
It was inspired by the movie Mongol. The movie and this chant compel me to a desire for riding on the Central Asian steppes in full medieval Mongol warrior regalia at the head of a horde charge. I think Mongol should take Best Foreign Film at this year’s Oscars if it doesn’t get run over by that Indian movie. The trailer attached below I think is in Russian -and shows mostly the battle scenes. The movie is meant to be a first chapter in a trilogy. It shows Genghis Khan in his youth and his relationship with his long-suffering wife.
The Fortune
My wife J has a long history of cracking out dissatisfying fortunes out of fortune cookies. They are never completely bad, but inevitably not as fun as mine. Yesterday was a case in point. Out with friends at Iron Wok near Jordan Creek, where the chef is a master of the wok -cooking fresh ingredients at lead-melting speeds to sear in taste without losing texture or flavor, the meal ended with the passing of the fortune cookies. I made a gesture at first handing J a cookie, but the look in her eye told me that it would be more entertaining if she picked the fortune. The results, typical, are preserved in the picture above.
For some reason, J would get these runs of bizarrely written fortunes like, “Hard work is its own reward” and “Reward without suffering is no reward.” This is made worse by my skill in garnishing fortunes like, “Success must be rewarded with pleasure” and “You deserve a Porsche 911 Turbo in Ticket Me Please Red.”
I made up that last one. Statistics will inform me that odds are 50-50 that J get the totalitarian propoganda while I get the license to boogie in our fortune cookies, but tell that to J. This is where bias is a central feature in the way we view the world. Even when I get the fortune that says, “Trust in Effort, Be Wary of Easy Path” and she gets the one that says, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy,” J would say that I got hers and she got mine. I am Snoopy to her Charlie Brown. I fight the Red Baron, and she is my owner.
That being said, with her by my side, with her sympathetic outlook on my shenanigans, with her hardworking nature, and strenuous efforts, I have been and will always be the luckiest guy around.
The Golfist President with a 20 handicap
The New York Times article states what I have suspected all along – President-elect Obama is a golfist (link). He scrupulously cards all of his strokes, plays by the rules, and adheres to golf ettiquette. There is hope for this country in a 20-handicapper president.
The twenty handicap is an easy mark for labeling as a sandbagger. I bet the president-elect with his natural athleticism has a decent swing, although because he took up the game in his thirties, it may be a bit stiff. I’ll have to dig up a video somewhere. Just because you can reel off a 300 yard drive into a stiff wind and carry a 20 handicap does not make you a sandbagger but rather someone who is brutally honest, and likely a bad putter. When I hit my approaches to 5 feet, I generally can two putt for a par.
I can’t tell you how happy this revelation has made me. Now I can sleep at night knowing someone who golfs like me will be in the White House.
Addendum: I did find video. He swings Lefty which bothers me a bit. Should have picked this up in the picture above which all show southpaw clubs. He does have the swing of someone who picked up golf as an adult.
Antique Jew’s Harp Demo
I found this in an antique store in the East Village (Found Things) in Des Moines for $5.
Golfism -life is a metaphor for golf 