Absolutely Tiny! - USB only.

When the USB interface and peripherals first came out, I was buying so many accessories for it. A lamp, a fan, a charger, wireless keyboards and key sticks. Now they come in different kind of shapes.. But nothing prepared me for this.

I tend to use USB keys as backups and then pull them out and store them away because the I don't like the fact that it protudes out of the side of the computer / laptop. But the new Micro USB thumb drive from Buffalo is just absolutely tiny.

Look at it. It's going to be permanent on my netbook and my laptop. However, my netbook's usb slot is a bit tight. If only I can find a way to take it out without damaging it.

This is definatey on my Christmas shopping list.

Goodbye USB - Hello Floppy

USB media has now become so powerful, you can run programs, boot from them and modify them. The other day on TV, governments were considering banning USB media where sensitive media were concerned. What are they going to use? CDs? Nay! It's the floppy that should be making it's come back.

But the Floppy doesn't have the capacity to hold such information some say. It's because of this inconvenience that limits it's security risk, by not being able to perform lovely things like program execution and hidden hardware modified features.

I personally detest the 3.5 inch one. I like the double sided 3". It had a nice shiny outer casing. I especially adore the 5.25 inch floppy, it's so thin and comes with a nice sleeve, like old vinyl albums. Now, I only use the 5.25 inch as a bookmark.

Just look at these lovely floppies.

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.

Zaurus MI-E21 - Simply the Best.

Now here was a great PDA that came out in Japan a long time ago. It was slim enough to slip into most pockets. It had a mysterious light purple color casing. It had a large touchscreen color display and it had almost instant access to applications, especially when you need to jot down notes quickly without going through a mass of menus. It had a hidden keyboard that you can access from the lower slide panel. It also had both SD and CF card slots to easily store or exchange files. It has a lot more features than I care to mention, but what's most important was the fact that it had everything I wanted in a PDA!

It was just great to access data without using the keyboard, and when it is needed, just slide out the lower panel. I love this type of access on a PDA. There are other PDAs that are just as capable and with a similar keyboard feature, but they always seem to feels clunky and clumsy.

It's a shame they don't make them anymore. Instead they have been replaced with the linux versions. The latter is more capable but I find them clunky and laggy.

Compaq Aero 1530

This was a nice looking pda. It had a nice touchscreen display that had a useful backlight. The battery life was nice too and lasted over 10 hours when new. It had a cradle to sync seamlessly with the PC. It was very thin and the construction was solid. It was also cheap to buy.

However the interface was a bit clunky and at times seemed to lag. In fact, overall it had a very sluggish feel to it and not the instant access I had come to expect from a PDA. The apps were not particularly nice to use and it had a very windows 98 feel to it.

I couldn't use it today, but back then it was great for the price.

Olivetti Quaderno - Italian hotness.

Having recently acquired a fairly recent netbook, I often get a sense of deja-vu, like I've owned a dozen of these machines before. Then it hit me.

The Oliveti Quaderno. An A5 sized sub notebook with a 20mb hardisk and a 7 inch black and white screen. Small, light, around 2 pounds, ultra thin screen lid and very gorgeous. It had buttons on the lid to record memos and could run basic dos apps.

It even ran on AA batteries and given todays high capacity nickel metal hydride batteries, it could run for a good few hours.

However, the screen wasn't backlit and it was a bit too dark and by today's standard, that's not acceptable.

Still, it was gorgeous back then.

Psion 5mx - Simply Awesome.

This was also an absolutely gem of a PDA. It improved on the previous 3mx in an awesome way.

First off was the display. It was even bigger and could show far more information than the previous model. The keyboard was outstanding and pleasure to use, in fact you could even touch type on it . Then of course were the brilliant built in apps that just looked clean and was a complete joy to use.

The apps such as the incredible database was fast, the agenda was a joy to use and layout was superb, in fact I can't remember any recent smartphone/pda that even rivals it. It had a built in 16mb of ram, which is still useful today and could be upgraded with CF cards.

Switching apps was instantaneous and so was the zoom function, no pausing or waiting. Battery life was outstanding and it just runs and runs. This was a PDA that was engineered with me in mind. But then, there was someone who decided to throw a spanner just for the hell of it. And what a diabolical spanner.

Though the huge screen was great and they even made it touch screen which was nice, it was oh so dark. Even with the backlight on, it just seemed dark and gradually over time, it became unpleasant to use. How could something so perfect be let down by one of the most important thing on a PDA.

Today, it's still an awesome PDA, albeit with a dark screen.

Psion 3mx

Now here was a serious PDA that did everything I could possibly want. Instant on, great clear monochrome display, uncluttered and simple interface, built in spreadsheet, outstanding battery life and it had fast access. This was just a great organizer. It nearly had it all!

What prevented it from being the ultimate PDA? The extras such as the flash memory and the pc link were expensive. The hinge would creak after prolonged use in such a way that the designated touch sensitive menu buttons would cease to work. Then comes the memory, 2mb which seemed enough for most tasks back then, but now with everything so bloated, it's just too small.

This was such a great organizer. If it had more memory, I would certainly use it today.

Sharp Organiser SE-300

This was one of the first touch screen organizers I was given. It was given to me because someone wanted to buy a new gadget but had to get rid of the old one. I was really bowled over with this pda. It was so small, sleek and the balance felt so good in the hand. It synced with the PC and had a great dock. Hand written notes were done with the stylus and uploaded to the PC for backup. The battery just wouldn't die and ran on a single AA. It was fantastic.

But then, that was the time when I was young and didn't really have any serious use for it. Now, I wouldn't even use it for anything. The screen was just too small and writing anything more than a few words would fill the whole screen and the low resolution didn't help. Even worse was the fact that the screen was so hard to read. It was rather dark. Even with the backlight, it was just difficult to read clearly. Though, to be honest, I didn't really notice it that much back then.

Searching for the notes are a non-starter. On a paper notepad it's a quick flick here and there, or that instinctive feeling it's between this page and that, but on an electronic organizer, it's not so intuitive.

Still it's oh so small, sleek, thin, matt black finish and runs on a AA battery that lasts and lasts. Shame about the screen.