Netbooks Netbooks Netbooks! Bill and I met for dinner again and came home for a quick podcast on the Asus EEE 901 that Bill purchased a few months ago. We discuss the viability of the netbook as the next step in personal computing. Perfect for accessing those cloud based services we mentioned in Episode 6. Also funny how even with the various Linux flavors for Netbooks, Microsoft is boasting its 96% penetration of the netbook market (including Bill’s Asus which runs Windows 7 beta). I am shopping for a netbook and considering the Dell Mini 10 or the Lenovo S Series. I am going to make a decision soon and come back to the show with a review and test run.
Well we are back after a long break. Both Bill and I had some major changes from Episode 5 to now. Bill had the great honor of becoming a father to a beautiful daughter. I got engaged, married, and had a major job change from the job that initially kept me from TTG. So Bill’s wife invited my wife and I over for dinner and after the meal Bill and I finally sat back down to record the show.
So we were right about the iPhone when we found this article back in 2006. Bill got the phone and summarily hacked it but now got the new 3G iPhone and was very happy with the latest update. Bill mentions how the new firmware removed the 3G buzz. Competitors try to match the iPhone with the new fullscreen interface and no tactile keyboard. Even enterprise phone king Blackberry has entered the market with the Blackberry Thunder, Storm, Hurricaine…whatever. Smart phones are the phone of choice by most.
Twitter now has unique competition via Laconica. Its a new micro-blogging service that an individual can run on their own server. Leo Laporte from TWiT setup a Laconica for the TWiTarmy.
Interesting services are now available that provide engines for the end-user a quick way to create a micro-blog, a social-network, or CMS.
AT&T True Voice: I show off how this text-to-speech app makes my phone sound like its really futuristic… and polite. Actually the beginning of the podcast was introduced by Audrey. Bill gets nostalgic and talks about his Commodore 64’s speech program.
Best Buy Refridgerator: Bill and I discuss the future of fridge drawings and how kids will eventually just upload their pictures to the screen on the fridge.
Dodge Daytona: Speaking alerts for cars in the mid-80’s in the Daytona and Chrysler Laser.
Carmina Burana: A wonderful piece of music to have on your mp3 player and to listen to as you enter a room. I got the idea from Weird Al’s page on iTunes.
BMW 330i: I tried out a nice Beemer. Parents are in the market for a car and so I tagged along. The BMW was actually cheaper than the van my parents wanted. Of course the van had bluetooth, sat-nav, and power actuation on just about everything. Also got to sit in a GT-40. Absolutely gorgeous. Scion supercharger boosts it in power but still just shy of 200hp.
