EeeTop - Imac design but with touch screen

You know what's going to happen. With all these touch this and slide that products and features from Apple, it's inevitable that Imac's will have touch screen next year. That is exciting and something to look forward to.

Until then, Asus has launched their own touchscreen desktop. It's cheap, Apple like design including the keyboard, blue glow when switched on and it's very cheap price-wise.

I like the fact that it has 6 usb slots as I'm quite fed up with USB hubs that don't indicate if it can charge or run certain USB devices. Worse still is the fact that some even have the cheek to say, you need to buy an external ac adapter.

Since, I have gone paperless, memory card readers are just a great thing. No more hooking up USB cables that have become a tangled mess or USB cradles with different designs spoiling the whole clean aesthetic effect. Just take out your card, plug it in, transfer to and fro.

The interface is always an issue with me. It uses Windows XP with large fonts so that it can be used with the fingers or you can use it's alternative interface. It does have a stylus but let's face it, I don't want to use the built in stylus unless I want to draw something. I like the touch screen response. It's quick and you can do those iphone slide features, but you can't pinch, since it can only recognize single touches.

It doesn't have built in DVD drive. At first, I was shocked. How am I going to play my DVDs, or transfer music or even backup. Then I realised that I usually purchase most new music online and back them up on medium other than CDs. I don't seem to recall ever playing a DVD on a desktop, unless to show off something. In fact, I don't think I need an optical drive.

I like tech that is both cheap, cool and fun! The Eee Top fits the bill.

Digital World - Less means more?

I've come to realize that most magazines are leaning towards digital or paperless formats to distribute their content. I find this inevitable because of reasons of economics, enviroment and trends, but I also find this a tinge disappointing. In this digital age, I still prefer magazines.

Sometimes, there is nothing better than to reach and hold a magazine and just flick through it. It's kind of relaxing and I like the look of printed materials. Sometimes, they come with vouchers/coupons/etc where I can just rip out.

The paperless format means I have to view the content on the computer / netbook / laptop / pda / smartphone, take your pick, but it's all about the interface.

On a computer, your generally looking at it either on the web or on pdf files. The former requires a boot up, using the mouse and staring at a screen, just to read a magazine. You can print it out, but then who would want to wait and most home users don't usually have laser printers yet.

On a laptop you can usually get past the boot up with the resume mode, but then, I find that laptops nowadays get uncomfortably hot. Usually because, while they are doing something passive like reading or browsing, most users like to run something in the background, disk defrag, scanners etc.

A netbook tends to have smaller screens that are okay for a quick type here and there, but for reading for long periods, it can be tiresome. I also find using the trackpad more of a means to an end, rather than a pleasurable experience.

A smartphone or a pda is the most convenient way to grab information, but the display area is too small to leisurely peruse something.

Many advantages such as search and interactive features are nice, but nothing beats the flick of a magazine.