Waiting for Tripoli ( The Asus EEE pc)
Jan 25Living in Europe is a lot like living on Tantooine. All the fun
stuff seems to be happening on the far side of the galaxy. When it
comes to tech stuff that is. Macworld, CES, the OLPC project, Netflix,
Renting movies on Itunes .. It are just a few things that are mentioned
so many times on blogposts, websites podcasts and what have you. All
fine and dandy if you live in the US, bummer if you are in Europe.
Movies on Itunes (hire or download ? ) forget it. Ces ? No way to get
there without blowing a lot of cash, Podcast expo ? only if you
honeymoon to Vegas and get a chance to swing by.. But for the rest ?
Some of these major tech meme’s sound a lot like a loud party in the
house next door. Fun .. but no way to get in. The only thing the net
has done is peeked my desire to “get in” on all this. With the whole ”
Asus EEE Pc ” it only got worse.
For those of you stuck under a
rock , The Asus EEE (dubbed “Tripoli” by yours truly .. TRIPLE E =
Tripoli) is a small lightweight linux based ultraportable. A little
laptop with A 900 mhz processor, a 7 inch screen , a 4 gig solid state
harddrive, 512 megs of ram, wifi and a webcam. It runs Linux (it can
even run XP ) and is the Utopia when it comes to portability. There has
been a lot of controversy about this little device. Most of it people
complaining what it could NOT do. (Video editing, playing games,
burning dvd’s, getting Jenna Jameson to give you a blowjob) but that is
not realy what it is designed for. This baby is built for sliding away
in your geek-purse (yes there is such a thing) whipping it out whenever
you have the chance and booting it up super fast to surf the web, read
your email, pipe out a tweet or shoot a picture of your smelly socks
with the built in webcam and sending it to the local dry cleaners.
Looking
at the combination of the price (400 $) and the ridiculous exchange
rate dollar/euro I quickly calculated that this might be the cheapest
‘porn surf enabled’ device I could ever buy. So franticly surfing over
to newegg and waving my Visa around .. I wanted to place my order. “Not
available in the US” it read on the screen. Like poor old Luke
Skywalker watching his friends Biggs fly our with the rogue squad while
being left behind .. I felt left behind too. Amazon ? Same shit
different site. There was no way to get my hands on this baby.
So
patiente is a virtue perhaps, but in hindsight (or should i say
anticipation) I do think the “Tripoli” is a darn nice product. Forget
the “macbook air” (snobbish peace of overpriced, underpowered anorexic
excuse for a laptop) This is something you can really afford to forget
on the train without knawing off your left arm in guilt. 400 bucks for
an ultra portable ! What more do you want. Its like a PDA on Steroids.
Don’t believe me ? Check out the video the guyz from It-idiots did on
the Asus EEE pc.
Links : Asus EEE Pc The IT – Idiots episode on the EEE-Pc
Related Posts
Taking command of the Enterprise and re-appreciating the social web.
Jan 25
Its about ten PM on this Friday night. Outside, in absence of the
better cold , a gay breeze dances through the sleeping city. Reminding
all of us just how absent the winter is this year. Nyana has decided to
call it a night, and even Neelix has traded his endless playfulness for
a lazy lay in his basket. I sit downstairs behind my 17 inch powerbook,
enjoying the rapping sounds of the keys in the silence. In the
background Jean Michelle Jar’s fourth track of the cd "Waiting for
Cousteau" . 45 minutes of pure serenity. An Ideal moment for a
reflection of what has been going on over the last few days.
The
new job brought a whole new ballgame, a lot of drastic changes and
challenges. A landscape very different of what I was used to. Swiped
away from the old routine and structure of a giant multinational and
being flung out on the fringes of the new frontier. Where first I was a
cog in a giant mechanism, Now its like being the first second third and
final line of support for the people that need my help.
One of
the most drastic changes has of course been the way I look at the web
these days. Up until now, I have considered myself a not very active
part of the whole web 2.0. Tucked away between the corporate firewall
for the most part of the day, Things like Twitter, Skype, Facebook,
Myspace and other social networks where beyond my reach. In my job as a
field engineer, there where clear guidelines to the problems I had to
solve. Some things had certain procedures, some things needed to be
passed on to third or fourth line support. Some things where within my
jurisdiction, others where to be handled by other departments. But that
has changed. In my job as a Mobile Field engineer / network
administrator in a much smaller company .. its like getting command of
the Enterprise.
Pardon the Star Trek analogy.. But that
is really what it feels like. Instead of being tucked away in the folds
of Earths solar system, preforming a predefined set of routine tasks,
my captaincy now falls over a ship that is on (and beyond) the final
frontier. Being out there, on your own ..You have to solve the problem.
You are the first, second, third and fourth line support. The Captain
Kirk who, far away from Starfleet rules and Starfleet assistance, has
to solve the problem (and kiss at least one alien girl). What I mean to
say is that I am cut loose of the giant corporate body and am flying
solo amids the challenges of every day. Bending the rules, being on your own ..
Bless the Matrix for the
web. For now (more then ever) I feel just how it can bring us all
together. I"ve written before how I don’t have a lot of "real life"
friends and acquaintances but have buddies where I can sleep-over on
every continent of the planet. With my job its the same thing. My "Army
of Peers" is not located three doors down in the landscape office, its
not on the other side of an email address that allows you to "pass the
buck" to somebody else .. My army of peers is on Twitter, in Facebook,
on Msn, Skype, Googletalk, on forums .. Listening to Barbara on the
last "Mike tech show" round table she summed it up perfectly. As
troubleshooters, field engineers, network administrators who are out
there in the field .. these web based "communities" are our tribes. Our
place where we can go for help, our digital bar where we can hang out
with peers who understand us.
I must revise my cynicism in
looking at a lot of these social networks. Hammering down on Dave (of
the Global Geek Podcast) that most social networks are a waste of time,
only suitable for teens who have nothing else to do now their "texting
credits" have run out, might have been a bit harsh. I feel that a well
filled IM list (with useful contacts) some nice long productive email
threads with colleagues around the globe, and of course a friendly
helpful reply in a forum, are good things to have. And where it feels
good to be supported, understood and accepted.. there is of course no
greater joy.. then to contribute and give something back.
So I
lay down my sceptic words and find my way back on Twitter, check my
contacts on Facebook and start noticing the names before a post on the
forums. Cause even in cyberspace .. it pays to be a people person….
Related Posts
The Mega Mindy Incident.
Jan 23
I could do a long long post about why I have not updated in quite a
while, summing up all the things that have been going on and why its
been so busy and stuff . But that would constitute an excuse and would
only bore you to death. It is pointless to summ up all the reasons why
i’ve been busy because you must know they are valid. I much rather work
on my website and hang out with my buddies then do anything else.
But i’ll try to give you a little run-down of all the stuff thats
going on. Just so you know where I’m at these days. I realy enjoyed
the holidays and took my time to relax and kick back. Right after new
year it was time for the big wrap up at the place where I worked. I had
three more weeks before I switched jobs so I had to train my
replacement and tie up all the loose ends. The fact these people where
in the midst of a gigantic migration from W2K to XP did not help to
lighten the load. So busy days where very plentyfull and where followed
by the occasional crash on the sofa.. To tired to touch a keyboard.
The last day at work was very special. Having worked with great colleagues I was kinda surprised that they had thrown me a little goodbye ceremony. Well , having teased and annoyed them for 2 years did
put me up for some major payback, but the kind words they said really
touched me. Its not always easy being a Field engineer, fixing
everybody’s problems.. But on the other hand people realy appreciate
what you do. I know "its our job" but .. when people speak out and tell
you they are going to miss you .. It is realy touching.
Onto the part why everyone is hitting the blog these last few days :
The "Mega Mindy Incident". My colleagues at Phillips knew I was going
for a new assignment as ‘flying field engineer’. This means : Driving
around from client to client, solving their computer problems. Its
kinda like being a superhero.. Or like being a baywatch babe .. minus
the bikini. So in tune with the whole superhero theme they thought they
would give me a suitable goodbey present : They gave me .. A Mega Mindy
costume. Mega Mindy (for you foreigners) is the star of a local kids
show. Kind of a 21st century tame version of wonder woman (minus the
sex appeal) … I’ll put the video up and then you’ll understand.
So .. Thinking I would be embarrassed , receiving this
costume, they also thought I would NEVER put it on .. Not in front of
30 of my colleagues.. They where wrong. I have the balls (you can see it
in this suit if it where not for the little purse). So here is me .. as
Mega Mindy.
|
| Is it a bird ? Is it a plane ? No .. its Mega (mindy) Knightwise. |
|
| Me and the Goon Squad : Steven (on the left) And Stoffel (on the right). |
|
|
|
The superhero catches the vilain and rescues the babe. In this case Kurt and An 🙂 |
