Let the 2001 Jokes Commence!
Seagate is releasing a new device in the summer called "DAVE" (Digital Audio Video Experience). The concept is deliciously simple: it's a dinky little portable hard drive that you can slip into your pocket. It uses a 1.8 inch drive, so it's bite-sized, and it has a shiny little case, so it's sexy.But wait! There's more! It also has a battery, Bluetooth and WiFi! So you can carry it in your pocket (or in your geek holster), and access it from your phone, your iPhone, your computer, etc. In theory, anything that has bluetooth should be able to get into the DAVE.
I've actually wanted a device like this for quite a while. The idea of having a series of gadgets that can all talk to each other, which I can carry on my person and which properly use a wireless network connection stirs something deep within me. It gives me a glimpse of a day, maybe years from now, when my phone will be smart enough to talk to my pants, and my socks will be able to form coherent opinions on the way I stomp around.
I just bought a 512MB transflash card so that I can my full use of my DS Lite. You wouldn't believe how small these devices are. It comes with an adapter that is the size of a SD card. SD cards used to be the smallest form of storage around, and now we're making devices that can fit inside it. And the best part is that this half-gig storage device that's the size of my pinkie-nail was only $6. After shipping.
We're getting to the point where everything around us can have storage. My phone, my iPod, my DS Lite, and my keychain all have far more storage than I had in my first computer, by a couple of orders of magnitude. Transistors are the cheapest and most numerous things on the planet, and they're still getting cheaper.
What happens when everything has storage? We're able to carry around all our music, all of our movies, and every word that was written down before the 18th century? The hardest thing is actually using all that data. We have to have some way of tracking down that one specific photo of Aunt Frannie that we took 3 years ago, and not having to crank through that hard drive via a phone interface.
It becomes less about the storage and more about the filing system.
Ah, I want this future. I want it so badly. I want full-text searching on every book I've ever read. I want cross-references to be able to be dropped into conversation like so many delicious conversational croutons (crou-tingly!). I want my ebook to be able to talk to my portable hard drive and instantly display every book I've ever read. And then I want to be able to *share* that with friends, acquantainces, and passers-by. I want to become a walking database of my experiences.
The DAVE isn't that magic device. Not yet. But it's pretty close.
posted by bshort
January 31, 2007
@ 10:00 PM
0 comments
Ch-ch-ch-changes
So the Great Redesign has reached a temporary stopping point. This site is really designed to be my home on the web, with links to my various projects, pictures, and personas. Bshort.org will continue to be my photo site, although that may get migrated to a shiny new domain at some point.I'm using Blogger to manage this redesigned site. It's quite a change for me, since I've managed most of my sites either using code I've written myself or code that others have written, but which resides on my own servers. The primary cause of this shift is that I'm just sick sick sick of comment spam. It's the only thing that has made Movable Type unpleasant to work with. I've tried all the remedies. I've applied all the patches. I've spent more time on it than I'm willing to admit, and I'm just ready for something that will work, with no configuration, and without any fiddling. For now, that's Blogger.
This site was mostly designed in Photoshop, the header is from a picture that I took in France, and the backend was written using Emacs. If you're not using Emacs then you're missing out.
posted by bshort
@ 6:12 PM
0 comments
The Question
Friends and family often ask me "what kind of computer should i get?"This is always a loaded question. It's like asking "what kind of sweater should I get?" There's not just one type of sweater that's perfect for a given person. Some people want a sweater that's going to keep them warm while they're chopping wood at their cabin up in Maine, some people want a sweater that won't cause them to overheat while they're sitting in their office, and some people just need a sleek simple sweater that isn't going to get all stretched out after one year, and which won't pill up in a week.
It's the same thing with computers. There are computers that are small. There are computers that are fast. There are computers that are very cheap. There are also computers that work really well.
And if there's ever a type of computer that I'd recommend for everyone, it's the last type. Everyone needs a computer that just works. If you're not able to use the computer to do things because the hardware fell apart on you, or because the operating system got borked, or it's so riddled with viruses that it runs at a glacial pace, then it's of absolutely no use to you. It doesn't matter how powerful it is, how much RAM it has, or how cool it looks; if you can't use it then it might as well be a toaster.
And that's why I always bring up the Mac thing with people.
"Are there any specific programs that you need to be able to run? What do you need to be able to do with it? Are you running Photoshop? Are you looking for something that will allow you to browse the web and answer email?"
At this point I'll pop the question.
"What about a Mac?" I'll say.
I usually get this look, like I've just cursed at a cotillion.
"You'll never get viruses," I say.
"You'll never have to worry about spyware or hackers or reinstalling the OS." I usually get a pretty positive reaction to that one.
But still. People almost never bite. The Mac is somehow /different/. It's strange.
"Will I be able to run Word on it?" is a common question, and since the answer is "yes," it's one I look forward to.
"What about the Internet? Does the Mac have the Internet?" that's usually from people who think that AOL is the Internet.
"Yes," I say. "You'll have the Internet. You'll be able to run Word if you want to. You'll be able to still email people who have PCs. You'll be able to synch your Treo to it. The only difference is, you'll be able to do those things better."
And that's where I usually lose people. They'll start to look a little incredulous. I think they think I'm insulting their computer prowess or something. Which I'm not.
I program all day long on a PC. I've used PCs professionally for nearly a decade, but I use a Mac at home (a 2 year old Powerbook), and it's not for novelty's sake. It's because I get more things done.
I'm able to write web apps quicker because I have access to an actual *nix environment. I'm able to manage my photos more efficiently because of iPhoto. I'm able to work without fear of getting a virus because of yet another bug in Outlook / Internet Explorer / etc. And because everything is so tightly integrated, I can set up my home computing environment so that I have these tight little loops that allow me to store and retrieve information, from a number of different sources, which means I don't forget to do things anymore.
That's the secret. That's why people that own Macs usually are fanatical about their Macs. It's changed their lives. It allows them to get more things done. And it's both as simple as you want it to be, and as complex as you can handle.
So, there you go. Do you want a computer? Get a Mac.
posted by bshort
January 12, 2007
@ 2:12 AM
0 comments
Test Post
Well, I've moved back to Blogger...
posted by bshort
@ 1:44 AM
0 comments
