Author: Kent

Reader, writer, arithmeticer. Proprietor of Newsome.Org, a tech, music and life blog.

One More Kudo for the X41

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Michael Gartenberg picks the X41 as his Best Laptop of 2005.

He likes the cake and eat it too advantage that I have talked a lot about:

It’s the first Tablet PC I’ve used where there is no penalty at all for the Tablet OS feature. It just works as a great notebook and when you need it in Tablet mode (like in that middle seat in coach on the way to CES) it’s just there for you.

The more I use the X41 the more convinced I become that it’s simply the best laptop (and the best tablet pc) on the market.

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ScobleFeeds A-Z: The G’s

This is part seven of my A-Z review of Scoble‘s feeds. The rules and criteria are here.

There’s a lot to choose from in the G’s, and here are my favorites:

Greg Hughes – dot – net (RSS Feed)

Greg Hughes covers tech, movies and anything else that catches his eye. He has the sort of broad interests that make for a truly interesting blog. I really like his 48 Random Things post. I hope he does more of posts like that.

Honorable Mention:

Gizmodo (RSS Feed) (ineligible since I already read it daily)

Global Voices (RSS Feed)

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More Good Reviews of the X41

Rob Bushway has a post today about his experiences with the Thinkpad x41. His conclusions are pretty positive so far, though he promises to cover things he doesn’t like about the X41 in a subsequent post. JKOnTheRun comments on the X41 as well today.

One thing Rob and JK point out is that the power management settings out of the box are set to conserve battery power, which may result in a performance hit. I changed the power settings on my X41 soon after I got it, and I have not noticed any sluggish behavior.

The thing that I like the most about the X41 is that it seems to hit the sweet spot between power and portability. It has everything a laptop needs, with the exception on an internal DVD player/recorder (see my travel workaround here). Plus, it is very light and easy to carry around.

I find the switch between landscape (regular laptop orientation) and portrait (the slate, tablet pc orientation) to be really fast and easy. On a typical flight, I’ll switch back and forth numerous times as I work in Word, watch a Movielink movie, do a crossword puzzle, read a book, etc. And once I’m on the ground, the X41 looks, acts and feels like a traditional laptop.

I really like this computer and cannot imagine traveling with anything else.

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JKOnThe DualCor cPC

dualcorJKOnTheRun has some good scoop on the forthcoming DualCor cPC, a handheld device that will run Windows XP 2005 Tablet Edition for regular computing and Windows Mobile 5.0 when you need a more traditional PDA.

Between the risk of getting sued out of business and my Treo envy, my Blackberry has lost some of its luster. The DualCor cPC will have 3 USB 2.0 ports (2 Type A, 1 Type B), a mini-VGA port, stereo headset port, telephone headset port, and a CF Type II slot. It will have a 40G hard drive and a whopping 1GB of RAM. This sounds about like the Tablet PC I carry around now, and with with the ability to instantly switch to Windows Mobile 5.0 it promises to be a powerful PDA.

The clincher for me will be if the phone part is fully realized. I am determined to carry one device for PDA and phone use- that’s why the newer Blackberry has been in my pocket. This article from C|Net has a little information on the phone features, but I haven’t seen any details about this aspect of the device. If I can use a DualCor cPC with my existing cell phone number and have reliable phone service, I will be very, very tempted to buy one.

Keep an eye on JKOnTheRun for more details about this promising device.

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Washington Post: Firefox Moves Farther Ahead

firefoxRob Pegoraro of the Washington Post has an article today about the advantages that Firefox 1.5 has over Internet Explorer. He and other high-profile writers are starting to put into words what I and many others have been thinking.

Namely, that Firefox has moved so far ahead of Internet Explorer that the browser race, at least for those tech savvy enough to understand the feature differential, is over. Firefox has won.

Rob applauds Firefox’s new automatic update system, it’s better security and its tabbed browsing. Those are great advantages for sure, but here are the reasons I believe Firefox has won the war.

1) Tabbed Browsing– this is not the reason I stay with Firefox, it’s the reason I tried it in the first place. A core feature that gives Firefox a commanding lead. Internet Explorer will soon add this feature, but it’s too little, too late.

2) Extensions- there are so many extensions and add-ons for Firefox that you can basically create your own browser. This is the reason I stay with Firefox.

Here are the ones I have installed: BugMeNot (avoids have to register at a lot of free sites); Greasemonkey (see item 3 below); Onfolio integration (allows me to use my beloved Onfolio with Firefox); del.icio.us (allows me to tab my del.icio.us bookmarks with the click of a button); Sage (a currently less than perfect integrated RSS reader with great potential- it will be my default reader when a couple of much needed features are added); Extended Status Bar (just because it’s cool); Word Count (which helps me with my writing of posts, comments and articles); and Always Remember Password (which doesn’t work in Firefox 1.5, but hopefully will soon).

3) Greasemonkey, which allows me to add even more customizations, including the Blogger “keep current time” script.

4) Google Toolbar for Firefox- now the best thing about Internet Explorer works in Firefox.

5) The infinitely customizable toolbars. Here’s mine, but the possibilities are endless.

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Internet Explorer will keep a lot of corporate users as well as those who don’t feel comfortable moving beyond what’s pre-installed on their computers. But for the rest of use, the war it over. It’s Firefox.

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My Favorite Records:The Cure – Disintegration

This is the another installment in my series of favorite records.

While my music tastes are anchored in the country, classic and blues rock of the late 60’s and 70’s, the mid-eighties was a wonderful time for rock and roll. During the 80’s alternative rock bands like The Replacements, REM, Elvis Costello, Talk Talk and others created an entire new genre and catalog of music that was different than anything we had heard before. I recall hearing some of the best music on WRVU during my graduate school years of 1982-85.

No band of that era grabbed me more than The Cure. They made several records that are candidates for this list, but I’m going to pick their 1989 record Disintegration.

This record epitomizes the dark, brooding and occasionally ever-so-hopeful music that I discovered and enjoyed so much during the 80’s. Pictures of You is a wonderful song by any standard. Love Song is another classic from this record. Last Dance is another brooding, enchanting number, with a great guitar track behind Robert Smith’s unique and compelling voice.

Lullaby is a great song too. But the song that put this record on this list is Fascination Street. It’s about as haunting as a song can be.

Every one of the other songs on this record is somewhere between very, very good and excellent. The Cure made sad records, happy records (sort of), alternative records and almost pop records during the 80’s. This record is a great combination of all of that and more.

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RanchoCast for 12/16/05

I did a new installment of our RanchoCast podcast last night.

The theme is hard to find. I played some rare and hard to find songs by The Del Fuegos, Dancing Hoods, my friend Steve Young, Fever Tree and The Judys.

A word about the music files: I am a songwriter and musician, and I have no desire to take money out of anyone’s pocket. To the contrary, I am trying to promote some great music that you likely won’t hear on mainstream radio. These are low bitrate MP3s. I am experimenting with podcasting as a way to promote alt. county music. Go buy these records. You’ll be glad you did.

Is Anyone Really Mad About Christmas?

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I participated in two separate discussions today about the holidays and the whole “Merry Christmas” thing. Most of my friends seem to think it’s a little bit dangerous to wish someone a Merry Christmas in this age of abundant political correctness. A survey of the “Holiday” cards I have received so far this year certainly indicates a hesitancy to mention Christmas. So who, exactly, are we tying to avoid offending?

I have heard a lot of cautionary tales about accidentally mentioning the word Christmas in a meeting, at the mall or on an elevator, but what I have not yet heard is a single person who admits to being offended by a Christmas greeting. I have a lot of Jewish friends, a few Hindu friends and a couple of Muslim friends. Never have I sensed any issues from them about the C word. In fact, some of them talk more about Christmas than I do. Again, where’s the problem we are trying so hard to avoid.

I certainly understand that we can’t have schools and governmental entities or even businesses promoting Christmas celebrations to the exclusion of other religious holidays. But who does that? No one I know. My daughters have been teaching me about menorahs and playing with dreidels lately- and it makes me so happy that their school and friends are teaching them about these wonderful and meaningful things. Kids have the “one world” thing down pat. I can only imagine the better world today’s children will create when they grow up. So, again, where’s the problem?

If I get card from someone wishing me happiness on a day that’s important to them, that makes me feel happy and honored. In fact, the holiday card I look forward to most of all each year is a holiday card from a Muslim friend of mine. I can’t read it because it’s in Arabic, but it always has the most beautiful pictures on it. It makes me profoundly happy that my friend sends it to me, and I keep it long after the others have been recycled. I would be sad if that card didn’t come. To be upset that it did is incomprehensible and heartbreaking to me.

Christmas is going to happen, just like July 4th and Elvis’s birthday. How you feel about any of them depends on your personal beliefs (“I don’t work January the 8th, ’cause it’s Elvis’ birthday”– name that movie for extra credit). But if someone who believes Christmas is a special day wants to send a nice card to someone they care about, why would that ever be offensive.

Maybe I’m wrong (it wouldn’t be the first time), but I just don’t think that anyone would be offended by a Merry Christmas wish. I hope not, because that would make me almost as sad as I would be if no one wished me a Happy Hanukkah or a Happy Ramadan. If someone wishes you peace and happiness, that’s a blessing.

So Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Bodhi Day. Happy Kwanzaa. Happy Boxing Day. It’s the merry and happy that matters.

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20 Second Movie Review

weddingcrashersI saw a couple of movies I’ve been wanting to see in my hotel room during my recent trip to San Francisco. Here’s 10 seconds on each.

Wedding Crashers: Hilarious. Joins Something About Mary on my list of funniest “modern” movies. It’s not The Holy Grail, but it’s about as close as you can come these days.

The 40 Year Old Virgin: A little disappointing. I chuckled a few times, but no gut splitters like there were in Wedding Crashers. Catherine Keener was lovely (hey, I’m an old man), but I expected hilarious and it wasn’t.

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