Archive for the 'technology' Category

Techno(t)

Published on 21 February 2008 in meme and technology. 4 Comments

There’s this meme going round that’s about technology blind spots, I suppose you’d call them - on popular technologies you don’t do or skills you don’t have.

I admit to having occasional attacks of techno lust and have succumbed from time to time (PDA, Tablet, iPod, etc), but such attacks seem to be getting fewer and far between.

My blind spots?

Gaming consoles. I am quite partial to certain types of games (MMORPGs, turn-based strategy a la Civ, puzzles) but have never ever really gotten into consoles. This, despite the fact that we have Gameboys, a Gamecube, Playstation 2, a DS, and a Wii in the house. I don’t know why, particularly. I have enjoyed certain games like Galaga and Tetris on the Gameboy, and bowling on the Wii is fun, but that’s about the end of it. Oh, but recently Whack-a-mole on the DS was amusing. Heh.

Macs. I’ve never really used a Mac and I don’t get the Apple cult at all. (We have a Mac laptop in the house but I’m largely indifferent to it, give me my EeePC any day. Or my Tablet.)

Mobile phone. These days I seem to use my phone for text. In fact I text enough that I’m starting to think I should get a plan for cheaper text messages. But I don’t use my phone for much else, apart from sudoku when I’m forced to stand on the train.

Podcasting. Should I be admitting this, given that I have had a lot to do with podcasting at work? Well it’s not that I don’t like it as a medium, it’s just that I am not particularly interested in creating personal ones. I also don’t seem to listen to many.

Programming skills. I have none, beyond Basic which I learned in high school 6 million years ago. I suppose it would be interesting to be able to write little scripts but I don’t have much motivation to learn, especially when I live with someone who can do this with his eyes closed and it’s much easier to just tell him what I want.

I suppose I could call SecondLife a blind spot. I’ve visited there a few times but always get irritated with the clunkiness and the interface. Chat, changing my appearance and being able to ‘fly’ isn’t interesting enough to get me visiting regularly.

Skype. Never used it.

Video. Blogging or vodcasting or YouTube. I used to think this indifference was just due to a lack of a video camera, but I now have a working camera on the EeePC and I still haven’t bothered to investigate.

What else?

Like Laura I am not a cash register fan. I always break a cash register if I have to handle one. This happens so unfailingly that I am no longer intimidated by the things, I am amused by them and always wonder what bizarre problem I am going to cause next…

Like Fiona I am not afraid to tinker with a pc. All I know about computers is self-taught. I’ve also learned a lot from hanging around with real geeks (e.g. M).

Others: Steve, Dorothea, Rochelle, Jenna.

Yours?

New toy for Christmas

Published on 2 January 2008 in toys and technology. 5 Comments

One of my Christmas presents from M was this - the Eee PC from Asus.


Comparisons
Here it is, next to my desktop PC. My 2008 Special Edition Red Moleskine diary is the red book next to it.


Eee PC screen
Despite its small size its screen is easy to read. And it’s the most appliance-like computer I have ever used, in the sense that there was very little set-up needed to get started with it. I basically took it out of its box, stuck its battery in, plugged it into the mains (to charge), and away I went.

I decided on a black one, instead of white, because any white keyboards I use tend to get very grubby. (I like to eat at my keyboard, and inevitably drop crumbs.)


Thickness
What I love most about the Eee PC is its weight - it’s very light, and nice to carry around. Quite unlike any regular laptop I have ever used.


Trade paperback sized
The Eee PC is smaller than some trade paperbacks! I’ve already been using it to check email in bed. It will be very handy to have when I’m in Melbourne for the VALA conference next month and need something to take notes and go online.

Twitter (again)

Published on 25 April 2007 in Twitter, connecting and technology. 0 Comments

I haven’t been using Twitter very much these past few weeks. Just haven’t had much reason, or time to post updates. Also, the thought of posting “doing citation count”, and “still doing citation count”, and “still…” depressed me no end. I’ve much preferred to attend a conference vicariously, and learn about everyone’s hectic and interesting lives. I’ve been surprised at how much I’ve been enjoying that aspect of Twitter. As David Weinberger says: “Twitter is about the intimacy of details.”

I switched off phone updates, though, as it was very distracting to have my mobile phone constantly vibrating throughout meetings, but I might switch it on again for a while. I’ve been getting my updates via RSS, but that’s always got a slight delay to it.

I haven’t got that many Twitter friends at all (only 19!) but I don’t particularly mind as it’s still relatively easy to keep up with that number of friends. I could have more, but I haven’t added quite a few people because I didn’t recognise them at all (even after pondering their profiles) and found myself disconcerted at the thought of adding complete strangers. And yet I have added a few people who live here in Perth, whom I have not met. For some reason I like the fact that I have these ‘friends’ who live in my hometown. I suppose we do have something in common!

For a while after I started blogging, every time I wandered around the city, I looked at passing strangers and wondered if they blogged. Now I wonder if they twitter.

A bit later: M reminded me of this cartoon from Hugh MacLeod which says it all, really: