$100 dollars - a laptop or a pair of jeans? (A discussion of value)

I am continually amazed at the inconsistencies of our modern society. I look around and I am confused. The things that people spend money on, the values that we assign to things.   

The laptop pictured at the left cost $100. It isn't a great laptop by today's standards, but it is comparable to $2500 computers from 10 years ago.

That is to say, it will do everything you need it to do, slowly.

The other device featured in this post is called a Wiki-Reader. Designed for people who want Wikipedia but don't want, or can't afford, the internet. The concept initially struck me as ludicrous: Wikipedia is fluid, dynamic, changing; that's what makes it great. But it is also a fantastic, if often inaccurate, resource and access to it shouldn't be limited to those who pay their monthly fee to access the internet. I realized that the wiki-reader is probably as close to a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as we will ever see in my lifetime.

That same $100 could buy you a laptop, one album (The Beatles White Album),  two PS3 games, a pair of jeans, or a Wiki-Reader.


Let that sink in, for the cost of a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch you could have access to the wealth of uses afforded by a computer, or the cornucopia of information that the Wiki-Reader provides.

Knowledge - Communication - Music - Jeans - Same price across the board.

$100 dollars - a laptop or a pair of jeans? (A discussion of value)

I am continually amazed at the inconsistencies of our modern society. I look around and I am confused. The things that people spend money on, the values that we assign to things.   

The laptop pictured at the left cost $100. It isn't a great laptop by today's standards, but it is comparable to $2500 computers from 10 years ago. That is to say, it will do everything you need it to do, slowly.

The other device featured in this post is called a Wiki-Reader. Designed for people who want Wikipedia but don't want, or can't afford, the internet. The concept initially struck me as ludicrous: Wikipedia is fluid, dynamic, changing; that's what makes it great. But it is also a fantastic, if often inaccurate, resource and access to it shouldn't be limited to those who pay their monthly fee to access the internet. I realized that the wiki-reader is probably as close to a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as we will ever see in my lifetime.

That same $100 could buy you a laptop, one album (The Beatles White Album),  two PS3 games, a pair of jeans, or a Wiki-Reader.


Let that sink in, for the cost of a pair of jeans and a T-shirt from Abercrombie and Fitch you could have access to the wealth of uses afforded by a computer, or the cornucopia of information that the Wiki-Reader provides.

Knowledge - Communication - Music - Jeans - Same price across the board.

Palm Pre, iPhone, Android. Oh My! (smart phone extravaganza)

Today, we discuss the up-and-coming smartphone technologies, and how they compare to the established giants.

For many years the smartphone market has been dominated by two players, Blackberry and Windows Mobile.

Though Blackberry has enjoyed much success, Blackberry's newest offering, the Storm, has been widely panned by critics and users alike as being a rather ill-conceived mess. The same has been said about nearly all Windows mobile phones.

And so people were left with two options, neither of which offered much freedom.

Then, in a flurry of activity, several things happened at once:

• The iPhone was launched. It is a sleek, hip, net-enabled smartphone. On the surface, it appears to be everything anyone could ever want. But, it is tied to a proprietary app store, and requires iTunes to work. (And that leaves us linux dorks out on our butts.)
  
• Google announced Android. Android isn't a phone, but rather an operating system for phones, a free, Linux-based replacement for Windows Mobile. The only phone with Android on the market today is the G1 from T-Mobile. But oh, what a phone it is.
  
• Palm, rising from the ashes of five years with only one new product, announces the Palm Pre, boasting a new and improved Web OS. And, though Web OS isn't compatible with older Palm apps, it looks promising.

Make Linux Work For You--Today.

It is no secret the I am a huge fan of Linux and Free (open source) software. Of all the computers I own, only one (my new best friend, the HP 200LX) does not run Linux at some capacity.

A lot of my friends and co-workers have expressed curiosity about Linux, or confusion as to why I would use it, I hope to clear up those two questions in this post.

First and foremost, I use Linux because:

• It gives me the control I want over my computer (For example, The CapsLock key on all of my computers has been remapped to control. When I work with other people's computers I end up typing "Z END UP T" a lot).
  
• I didn't have to search through online auctions (or resort to piracy) to find a version that will work on my older computers.
• There are software packages to handle everything I would like to do.
  
• I feel safe. My netbook (Asus eeePC 701), which stays on me nearly all the time, runs Debian. It boots to a command line (there is a GUI, but I tend to prefer the command line for quick work). Most people, when presented with a Linux command line, would be lost.
• Its fun!

Data Transfer on an hp 200LX

I Recently acquired an HP 200LX. For those of you too lazy to click the link, The 200LX is a PDA and a PC/XT in one pocket sized case.

It was released in the early 90s, a simpler time, when people had serial ports on their computers. It came with a null modem cable with a special plug for the non standard shape of the serial port, and software to transfer files from DOS, windows 3.X and windows 95.

And for a time things were grand. Windows evolved, as it is notorious for doing, Computers grew up and lost their serial ports, and slowly the little bubble of HP's perfect transfer scheme was breached.

But then, a miracle from the heavens, HP releases Transfile200. A majestic application that works on even the latest incarnations of Redmond's beast, even over USB (or for the adventurous, bluetooth).

Of course this all assumes that you still have the original null-modem cable, or any cable that will plug into the 10 pin slot on the palmtop. I, sadly, do not.

At this point things get interesting. There are three options for file transfer assuming that you don't have the connectivity cable: