Tech notes

I've been taking a weird route with tech. I totally bypassed the

laptop computer, but made a big side step into netbooks. I figured

they were the future- small, powerful, low power, long battery life.

I even grabbed a pair of OLPC for the incredible WiFi range and bright

sun compatible screens (I wanted one, got an extra with a compromised

keyboard)(never did get the hand generator for it). The one I ended

up using the most (netbooks are cheap) was a HP Mini 1000. Windows,

small form factor, powerful enough for web and HD movies, and the best

keyboard in netbooks (normally undersized). These days I use a Asus

Esee that I installed Easy Peasy Linux as it allows me to go to web

sites with Windows viruses.

I picked up the first e-ink book reader back in 2006, the Sony

PRS-500, and later upgraded to a 505. That went unused for years, but

I've picked it up in the last few months after discovering my library

rents eBooks. E-ink has a slow refresh, but is readable from any

angle and in any light where reading a normal book is possible.

I picked up an Android smart phone right when 2.0 came out (Motorola

Droid) as Verizon didn't have Apple and AT&T sucked here in Colorado,

and have had it ever since. I'm thinking about upgrading, and my

experiences with Android (2.2.3 and the fact that Verizon won't

upgrade me to 2.3, and I won't jailbreak) may cause me to upgrade to

an iPhone, especially now that I'll have an iPad.

I still buy my music, games and movies on hard media. That burnt me

recently: the new Sony Vita came out (portable game system). It can

run many of my old Sony PSP games. However, since it doesn't have a

PSP disc reader, it can only run PSP software downloaded from the Sony

Store. My disc media catalog is useless on the Vita.

That leads me to the iPad. I wanted a modern eBook reader and

(hopefully) tablet computer. There are some books I want that are

only available in Kindle format. I thought about getting a Kindle

Touch (controls on the base eInk Kindle makes turning pages less that

optimal). Since I can get a Kindle App for the iPad, plus read Google

Books, plus Apple native format books, and even check all three for

the lowest price, I went with the more expensive iPad. I also gain

access to iTunes, and the Apple App store. It'll do more than any

other choice, but I am concerned about using it outside on a summer

day where I'll be using it a bunch.