Author: Chris Barrus

And if anyone from Apple marketing is reading…

…here’s what I want:

I want an Apple version of that Fujitsu ultra-sub-notebook or the Sony PictureBook. Here’s the specifications:

  • Wide-screen display a la the PictureBook. Basically something with the linear dimensions of a Titanium keyboard. Limiting factor: it should fit on the average airplane folding tray-table in cattle-car class.
  • Juice-thrifty processor. I’m willing to forego speed for an 8-hour battery life.. If folks can get Linux installed on the PictureBook, then I want OS X. I don’t need the capability for the full My Digital Lifestyle or the developer tools, just enough to run an email client, launch a web browser, play some legally purchased intellectual property, store some pictures from a digital camera, and write some text. Maybe Transmeta’s chip would be appropriate? Should Apple just buy Transmeta outright? I’d be for it.
  • Detachable CD/DVD
  • Built-in ethernet, modem, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. I want to be able to connect from anywhere, whether it’s Bay Area technocenter, a truckstop in Nebraska, a sleepy French seaside village, or a satellite phone in the Atacama.
  • That 20GB hard drive from the iPod
  • Built-in FireWire, USB, and earphone jack. In lieu of a separate power jack, I want it to charge via the FireWire port
  • Some sort of pointing device a la the one from the PictureBook, but throw in a ultra-small USB mouse and I’ll be happy.
  • Automatic synchronization with everything via iSync and .mac. Ideally I should be able to connect it to my Main Machine via FireWire and have everything synch-up just like how the iPod does it.
  • iPod-like capability. Kill the display, close the lid, and it’s a mp3 player.
  • Video-out jack perhaps? I don’t need it, but the PowerPoint jockeys out there would.

Can it be done in 2.5 pounds? And at what price point? I’m willing to pony up, and I’m sure the Apple otaku in Japan would too.

(Over Flagstaff at the moment. There’s still fires burning out here)

On my way east to Terrastock V

Terrastock V is in Boston this weekend so if you see any befuddled-looking underground music types in the nation’s airports, give ’em a break.

Anyway, I’m blogging from the floor in front of Gate 1 at Orange County’s John Wayne Airport…

How the hell is the cleaning crew suppose to vacuum the place if there aren’t any power outlets anywhere? In the space of about an hour, I’ve joined that particular subset of technological nomads who wander the traveller switching yards, constantly searching for electrical power to give their laptops enough juice to last the next leg of their journey. The sole outlet in all of terminal 1 is located at the very end of the hall, nowhere near any of the seats.

For crying out loud, it’s the 21st Century! I’ve already given up on the Moonbase I was promised. Isn’t there some viridian Nikola Tesla that’s working on laptop trickle-charger that can suck power out of the air?

Gonna party like it’s 1929

Remember that economic “soft-landing” that got reclassified as “moderate turbulance”? Perhaps mid-air explosion should be more appropriate…

US stock markets have fallen for six consecutive weeks, to their lowest levels in five years. European markets have collapsed even further, wiping out nearly half of the value of European corporations in this year alone. Japan is struggling to put together a plan to save its banking system, riddled with bad debt after a decade of recession and falling prices. Now the German economy threatens to follow.

‘There are strong parallels to the Thirties after an unsustainable “new era” boom,’ says Avinash Persaud managing director for economics and research at State Street Bank. ‘Then, the stock market decline was not just steep, it was long, taking three years to reach the bottom.’

[via Red Rock Eater]

Increasing my tech firepower: Sony Ericsson T68i

ckb-t68iSo the reason I’ve been blogging at a minimal level the past couple of days is that I got a new phone. Not the Danger Hip Top that’s the current Geek Objet d’art of the moment, but the equally-as-cool Sony Ericsson T68i

The T68i hit my radar screen (well, everyone’s radar screen) back at Jobs’ Macworld NY keynote this year when he was using one to show-off iSync, the dialing capabilities of the 10.2 Address Book, and the OS level integration with Bluetooth. First time in awhile that a non-Apple product was actually the most impressive thing I’d seen in the keynote.

Anyway, I’d hit the wall with my current cell phone service (AT&T’s One Rate plan) which was terrific in Los Angeles, but spotty in Orange County. The phone was nice, a Nokia 6162, but pretty much of a barge compared to what the current current tech level is. The tipping point was the release of iSync. For a beta release, it was working great with my iPod, .mac account, and a Visor Platinum, but the phone thing was starting to bug me – especially after reading the early reports of iSync working perfectly with the T68i.

So all I was really waiting for was a decent plan that offered the phone: AT&T or T-Mobile. T-Mobile’s network in Southern California is Verizon, which is an automatic “no way” for me. I’d rather eat a bug than use Verizon. AT&T analog blows in O.C., especially around UC Irvine where I work, but I was hoping their GSM network would pick up. Early reports from news://alt.cellular.attws were inconclusive, so I was basically on my own.

Then Amazon has was running a deal for a T-Mobile for $50 after the various rebates. Then I heard that Best Buy was offering a special on AT& T68i, so what the hell – I’ll go check it out. The Best Buy special is pretty nice. $199 for the phone. $50 mail-in rebate from AT&T. 50% off the price of the phone if you buy any two accessories (like a power adapter and a car charger). So after dealing with the activation bureaucracy, I had a new phone. It’s really small – not much longer than the space bar on my PowerBook G4. The screen is bright and the joystick navigation was easy enough to deal with without going to the manual too often. For the first time ever, I can now get phone reception inside my office which had always been a dead zone.

bluetooth-menuOne major irritation I have with the phone is the damn flashing green LED that let’s you know everything is OK. This is a violation of every fundamental design law I can think of. A flashing light indicates that you need to pay attention to it. The damn LED is bright enough to show through my shirt pocket.

Obviously the next step was a Bluetooth adapter, so I picked up one up the following day at the South Coast Plaza Apple Store. 10.2 recognized the adapter instantly and threw up a bunch of options I still have to familiarize myself with.

Anyway, iSync was next and it recognized the phone instantly, didn’t even have to add it.

isync

More phone adventures as they come in.

Blinkenlights in Paris

blinkenlights-paris1This week’s edition of Off The Hook interviews one of the project managers of the Chaos Computer Club’s Blinkenlights installation on the side of the Bibliothèque nationale de France building in Paris. This is an amazing set up. The entire side of the building has been transformed into a giant 20 x 26 pixel computer screen. Folks can download a copy of their ArcadePaint program which will generate the XML files for CCC to place your animation on the building’s playlist. Plus, folks can call up the controller and play Tetris, Pong, Breakout, or Pac-Man.I’ve had the live stream up all day at work and am blown away by some of the animations. Lots of cool geometric art, punctuated by the occasional Tetris game, and old/new geek memes like the Matrix screen character drip, and Ellen Feiss’ Apple ad.The QuickTime stream is a high quality MPEG4 one (you’ll need QT6) and I’m as impressed by the stream quality as I am by the art. Not a single jerk or dropout all day.

blinkenlights-ccc

In Smog And Thunder: The Great War Of The Californias

smog-thunder1A couple of years ago I caught Sandow Birk’s history of the Great War down at the Laguna Art Museum and was totally blown away. In Smog And Thunder details a fictional historical war between Northern and Southern California with historical paintings, dioramas, topological maps, model war machines, propaganda posters, and an audio CD with war songs, recruitment commercials.

I picked up the book and CD at the show. Now it’s a film…

smog-thunder2

New Times to Los Angeles: “Go fuck yourself”

*sigh*. Admittedly, I’m still embittered from when the New Times organization bought out and shut down the L.A. Reader and Village View back in 1996, but damn…

Los Angeles New Times, the second largest alternative weekly in the L.A. area, is shutting down, silencing a quirky and inconsistent, yet valuable, journalistic voice, while costing the jobs of about 100 employees.

The closure is part of a complex deal with Village Voice Media, the parent company of the L.A. Weekly. Village Voice Media will purchase client lists from New Times, but no hard assets. VVM, in turn, will shut down the Free Times, in Cleveland, turning over client lists to the New Times paper in that city. Privately held VVM, based in New York, operates six remaining papers.

“To me, this is all about making us more competitive, particularly with the L.A. Times,” said VVM president David Schneiderman. “Like most daily newspapers, they have an aging readership and they want our readers. We’re not going to sit around and let them have them.”

The reaction was short and blunt from Michael Lacey, executive editor of New Times newspapers. “Go fuck yourself,” said Lacey, who was reached Wednesday morning at a Santa Monica beachside hotel. He slammed down the phone without responding to questions.

Even more irritating is that the LA New Times article archive is permanently off-line. Should have PDF’ed more. And worst of all, Meredith’s restaurant column now needs a home.