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You ever think about how Asus put out like 40 models of a laptop called the “Eee PC”

For me the era of the netbook is a mixed but mostly happy one. I remember the sales guy trying to convince me that they were such low end computers that they couldn’t do much of anything. Compared to my six year old laptop that was depending on how you count sold out models, either the second or cheapest one at Best Buy: the 1015PE was sufficiently capable for my programming needs.
Encountering Windows 7 Starter Edition made me accuse the operating system of cheating for how quick the suspend and resume worked compared to my old laptop. While adjusted for age the Atom wasn’t drastically different from my old Sempron: it did come with modern buses and standards like DDR2. So for all practical invents and purposes it worked really well as long as you weren’t multitasking several heavy tasks, at which point the Ubuntu setup I had installed would become quite lathargic from the lack of resources.
In fact one of the reasons I loved the Transformer Pad EeePC that replaced my netbook was how smoother Android on a Tegra 2 handled multitasking than the Atom N450. The other reason was insane battery life able to handle a cross continent journey by air, while my x86 netbook couldn’t make it past the first flight when being used as little more than a high tech typewriter.
While my opinion of Chrome OS is a bit harsher than my view of netbooks, I find it interesting how technology grew from there. Chromebooks proved of all you really wanted to do was run a browser then the netbook concept was a superb form factor for typing and surfing. Meanwhile Apple’s iPad and various far more affordable Android powered tablets came to prove that you could do plenty of you didn’t need to run a bunch of old Windows software.
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Have to admit that I would like to see more devices like this’s even if the refresh rates of e-ink displays tend to be atrocious. The kind of scrolling and flinging people tend to expect out of general purpose tablets make it more noticeable than paging through an ebook. More so than the lack of color most devices have had.

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 For a while now, I’ve been considering going to rechargeable batteries. Last time I can remember encountering these in my family was as a child, since (as I recall being told) me and the charger had some kind of encounter with water around age 3 or 4. So it’s been a while.

The past decade has seen my use of batteries go up rather than down. Mostly due to a greater embrace meant of Bluetooth peripherals that are preferring AA/AAA batteries to built in cells and USB charging. Plenty of batteries go to my Logitech K380 and Samsung S-Mouse at work. Fewer at home since my old K810 charges from USB, and my Fire TV remotes last quite a while.

For years I’ve used the Play & Charge kit for my controller, which is kind of nice for me since it charges from the controller’s USB port. The pack looks like it’s just a connection for the controller’s power management, and a pair of AA cells in a plastic casing. Worked out pretty well.

Based on my math overall costs would be up to $50 for enough to replace my battery needs and a charger. Considering my battery costs tend to be higher based on the which thing takes what vs which piece of my stockpile of batteries is at home and which is at work. It’s probably worth it to just use rechargeable batteries with some in use, some kept spare, and not taking a bath with the charger.

When you account for the cost of making sure both home/work are stocked with the right size, the cost is about the same as an 8 packs of rechargeable NiMH. So this seems like a good plan to me—or just say screw it and buy about several years worth of regular batteries off Amazon and stuff them in a bin >.<

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Every crazy thing that happened in Apple and Facebook’s privacy feud today

Interesting to see how this plays out in the long term. The real telling, or should I say damning question is just now many apps make a lot of revenue off tracking users across other apps and websites. Obliviously companies like Facebook and Google have a vested interest in this because of ads and analytics but for most regular applications the difference is down to how the above pay out from their services.
Personally, I don’t think it is an unreasonable expectation that users should be made aware of where their data is being sent. Online most people should already beware of tracking cookies and such. But the same expectation is not there with moving between apps; perhaps it should be given the prevalence of large ad networks.
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What happened in the capital was pretty terrible. Well worthy of condemnation, and more than a little messed up. In that vein, as I have a sense of humor I parse this article with tongue very much in cheek.
When I see an interesting article from The Atlantic pop up in my feeds, I usually question whether or not I have time to read twenty pages of article. In this case it was more like an awesome series of giggle snorts describing a day that will reflect poorly in our history books. Thank goodness we still have the right to a sense of humor 😂.
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Searching for an image of Penny’s computerized book, I was delighted to come across: 16 REAL MODERN TECHNOLOGIES PREDICTED BY INSPECTOR GADGET.

While I might choose more modern analogs; like a tablet rather than a laptop. I’m still thrilled that someone actually wrote such an article. And to be fair nearly a decade ago, phones and tablets were still quite young when it was written.

Don’t think I’ve really watched the series since the early 2000s or late 90s, about the last time I can recall the reruns being in the air back when I watched normal TV. But still bugs me that I couldn’t recall much of what Penny’s book looked like without looking it up, lol.

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Over compensating: when a power nap on the couch replaced your entire day’s coffee intake, and the concept of an after dinner coffee sounds even more appealing than normal.

Usually I stop with the coffee some hours before dinner, for fear of not sleeping; despite my love of coffee, lol.

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After 20 years of service, the Space Station flies into an uncertain future

I’m curious what the future holds. A long time ago, I felt that planning to run the ISS for such a short period was disappointing compared to the costs. You could say that I’m still inclined to believe it should remain, whether that’s systematically replacing things or building anew.

Personally, I’m impressed that humanity has managed to pull off the International part in International Space Station so well. Certainly, it’s been a better outlook than our ancestors had. Hmm, I wonder how many people built bomb shelters back in the ‘60s….lol.