gadgets

Decision making

Jeni — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 20:41:56 +0000

When I was young, my dad taught me a way of making tough decisions. You get a sheet of paper, make one column for each of the possibilities, and list pros and cons. The one that ends up with the most (important) pros and least (important) cons is the one that you should choose. My dad is a TJ-type.

My mum also taught me a way of making tough decisions. Her way was to toss a coin. But the point was not to just toss the coin, but to see how you feel when it landed. If you’re pleased, go with it. If you’re disappointed, ignore it and go with the other choice. My mum is a FJ-type.

Now I’m an INFP, which means that the latter method appeals to me a lot more than the former. I made that table of laptops in my last post, but all it did for me was expose how many factors there are: there’s no obvious winner.

So I’ve been picturing tossing a six-sided coin (yes, I know, it’s called a die), and this is how it goes:

Toshiba Portege R500: I feel disappointed. My present laptop seemed pretty sturdy, and it’s broken under my (moderately heavy) usage, so I hate to think how the Toshiba would fare. I don’t want my new laptop to fall apart.
Dell M1330: I feel downcast. They’ve got an amazing spec, looks aren’t bad, but they’re big and weighty when I want small and light.
Lenovo X300: I feel appalled. Thank you to everyone who pointed this option out to me, but despite the specs I just cannot get over the design. It’s too black-boxy, business like, the very opposite of fun. It doesn’t fit with my vision of me.
Sony Vaio TZ32: I feel resigned. It’d be good enough, but it’s so samey. Everyone in my family has a Vaio.
Apple Macbook Air: I feel delighted, thrilled, excited, and a little bit naughty. It’s not the sensible option, but it’s the one my heart wants.

So there you have it, decision made. And yes, I know:

It doesn’t have a DVD drive; but I’ve used the DVD drive in this laptop what? three times? My previous laptop didn’t have a CD/DVD drive and it was perfectly usable day-to-day. When I needed to access a DVD, I popped it into a shared DVD drive on the desktop computer and shared it. I can do the same with the Macbook Air using Remote Disk.
It hasn’t got a built-in WWAN adapter; but I don’t want to fork out for always-on internet. I’m prepared to hop from hotspot to hotspot (that’s what I do at the moment anyway).
It hasn’t got a built-in Ethernet adapter; as above. I do remember the last time I used the Ethernet adapter on this laptop, but it was a while ago.
The battery’s not removable except by shipping to base; but I don’t think I’ve ever had a backup battery for any of my laptops. When they’re out of power, they’re out of power and I have to do something else with my time, until I get to charge them again. Yes, this has been frustrating on a few rare occasions, but never enough to get me to invest in another battery.
It’s only got 2GB memory; but I’m not even using my 1GB at the moment, even with Firefox, Oxygen, Thunderbird and Acrobat Reader open. I don’t think it’ll prove a practical limit.
It’s only got a 64GB hard disk; but that’s the same as the other laptops that I’ve been considering. Most of my data is held remotely on my slug and it’s good discipline to keep it there. I’m quite happy using USB drives to supplement my on-the-move storage (you can get a 16GB one for less than £50 nowadays!).

In short, all its disadvantages are things that I either don’t care about or am quite prepared to live with.

But before I order it, I want to know if any of you Mac users out there have any recommendations for must-have accessories? I was planning on getting iWork since it’s only £55 and I fancy seeing how Numbers works, and on getting the extended warranty. And a case or bag. Anything else?

New laptop time

Jeni — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 14:40:51 +0000

[Update: Added Lenovo X300 to the comparison table. I haven’t managed to find a firm price, but the model I’d be looking at (with 4Gb RAM) is selling for 2,926 Euros, which is £2,230.58.]

My current laptop is on its last legs, due to an annoying hardware problem (the plastic holding together the screen hinge on the right has broken, and every time you open up the laptop it feels like there’s a chance the screen will disconnect entirely).

So I need to find a new laptop, which is a shame because aside from being underpowered compared to current laptops, this one is just about perfect. It’s a Fujitsu Siemens Lifebook P7010 and has the following characteristics that I appreciate:

small: it’s about the size of an A4 piece of paper (but thicker, obviously), sits easily on my knees even in cramped commuter trains, and slides neatly into a smart shoulder bag that people never suspect holds a computer
light: it’s much less than 2kg, which is my cut-off weight
widescreen: it’s a 10.6” widescreen with a resolution of 1280x768. Actually, it’s the width that I appreciate, so I guess widescreen isn’t essential if the screen is larger anyway, but I need those 1280 pixels.
battery life: the battery life used to be around 6 hours, which is enough for the longest train journeys, or just an evening unconstrained by power cords; it’s tailed off now, but it’s still not bad

For tax reasons, I’d like to avoid laptops that cost between £1700 and £2000 (inc.VAT). Over £2000 is fine, if I’m getting something good for the money. I fancy having a solid state hard drive; I don’t keep loads of pictures or music or film on my laptop, so there’s no reason to have a massive hard drive, and I really like the idea of no moving parts.

My dad is trying to persuade me to go for the Dell XPS M1330 with Ubuntu. Although I’d prefer to avoid Vista, I’m a bit worried about going with Ubuntu because:

I need to be able to run Microsoft Office, especially Word, as part of my job; and the same goes for IE: I could rely on my desktop to do that, but it might prove restrictive. The other option is to use virtualisation to run a Windows instance (probably XP) on the laptop, which is an attractive idea if we can make it work.
I need to be able to plug in my laptop when I’m giving presentations or doing training and not worry about compatibility with the projector. When I was at XTech last year, it was notable that all the people who had problems with the projector were running some Linux variant.

So here’s a table that compares the machines that I’m considering:

Make	Lenovo	Dell	Dell	Apple	Sony	Toshiba
Model	X300 (64771UG)	XPS M1330	XPS M1330	Macbook Air	Vaio VGN TZ32VN/X	Portégé R500-126
Price (inc.VAT)	???	£2,002.36	£2,024.23	£2,028.00	£2,099.00	£1,761.32
Size	31.8cm x 23.1cm x 2.34cm	31.8cm x 23.8cm x 2.21 – 3.38cm	31.8cm x 23.8cm x 2.21 – 3.38cm	32.5cm x 22.7cm x 0.4 - 1.94cm	27.7cm x 19.8cm x 2.9cm	28.3cm x 21.6cm x 1.95-2.55cm
Weight	1.42 kg	1.79 kg (minimum)	1.79 kg (minimum)	1.36 kg	1.24 kg	0.78 kg (minimum)
Processor	Intel® Core 2 Duo Processor SL7100 (1.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB)	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.20 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2-cache) - N-Series	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor T8300 (2.40 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 3 MB L2 cache)	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Processor (1.80 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 cache)	Intel® Core™ 2 Duo Mobile Processor U7700 (1.33 GHz, 533 MHz FSB)	Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor Ultra Low Voltage U7700 (1.33 GHz, 533 MHz FSB, 2MB L2 cache)
OS	Windows Vista Ultimate	Ubuntu	Windows Vista® Ultimate (32Bit)	Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard	Windows® Vista® Business	Windows® Vista® Business
Software	none	none	Microsoft® Office 2007 Home and Student	Apple bundle	none	none
Screen	13.3” WXGA (1440x900) TFT backlit display	13.3” UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) White-LED Display (300 nits) with TrueLife™	13.3” UltraSharp™ WXGA (1280x800) White-LED Display (300 nits) with TrueLife™	13.3” widescreen (1280x800) TFT LED backlit display	11.1” WXGA (1366x768) X-black LCD with LED technology	12.1” WXGA (1280x800) Transflective TFT High Brightness display with LED backlight
Memory	4096MB 667MHz PC2-5300 DDR2 [2x2048]	4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]	4096MB 667MHz Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM [2x2048]	2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM	2048MB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM	2048MB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Hard Drive	64GB Solid State Drive	64GB Solid State Drive	64GB Solid State Drive	64GB Solid State Drive	64GB Solid State Drive	64GB Solid State Drive
Graphics	Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100	Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100	128MB nVidia® GeForce® 8400M GS	Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator X3100	Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 950	Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 950
Battery	claim 4 hours life	Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)	Primary 6-cell Lithium-Ion Battery (56 WHr)	37-watt-hour lithium-polymer battery	claim up to 7 hours	lithium-ion; no lifespan specified
Speakers	built-in stereo speakers	Creative Labs Fatal1ty Gaming Headset	Bluetooth Stereo Headset	built-in	built-in	built-in
Connectivity	WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n; Bluetooth	WiFi 802.11a/b/g; Bluetooth	WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n; Bluetooth	AirPort Extreme Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n; Bluetooth	WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n; Bluetooth; Integrated 3G Mobile Broadband technology	WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n; Bluetooth
Optical Drive	DVD Recordable 24x Max speed	Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load Drive - N-Series	Fixed 8x DVD+/-RW Slim Slot Load Drive - N-Series	none	DVD±RW/±R DL/RAM drive	none
Accessories	none	Small Nylon Carry Case; Logitech VX Nano Cordless Laser Mouse; Belkin Hi-Speed USB 2.0 15-1 Media Reader & Writer; Belkin 8-Socket SurgeMaster with Tel/AV	Small Nylon Carry Case	none	none	none
Extras	Integrated fingerprint reader	none	Biometric fingerprint reader	none	Finger print recognition; Built-in “Motion Eye” Digital Camera	none
Warranty	Three years parts and labor (system battery: one year)	3 Year Consumer Hardware Support (Linux Only) inc. Evenings and Saturdays	1 Year XPS Premium Hardware Support (incl. Gaming and On-Site Support)	one-year warranty	one-year warranty	3-year international warranty

I can’t decide at the moment, but here are some thoughts:

It’s funny, having listed them I realise quite how biased I am towards machines with large amounts of memory. It’s because I like to have lots of applications running at the same time, I guess. And big XSLT transformations tend to eat memory. I find myself drawn to the Dells, despite their high size and weight (and despite my having ‘small and light’ as my major requirement), just because of that 4Gb memory.

The Macbook has that really funky two-finger touchpad interface, which adds to its attraction, and I know a number of people who’ve migrated to Macs and are very happy with them. There’s the same issue with Ubuntu in terms of getting Windows/Office/IE running for testing purposes, but again virtualisation might come to the rescue. And it would be beneficial having a Mac to test Safari etc.

I’m generally distrustful of Vaios. I had one years and years ago, and from what I recall I didn’t find it very adaptable: it was hard to install anything non-standard on it. But they’re enormously attractive machines and in this case, the small size would be good for me, and the width-in-pixels for the 11.1” screen is higher than that on the 13.3” screens. Probably won’t do my eyes any good though.

The Toshiba seems attractive in some ways, and it’s incredibly light, but some reviews of others in the range have indicated that the build quality isn’t great. Plus it’s in that to-be-avoided price bracket, which is annoying.

The Dell configurator only allowed particular options with the Vista version, which is why I’ve ended up with a fancy graphics card and a fingerprint scanner that I don’t really want. See how much more you get when you go for Ubuntu, though?

I guess I’ll start hunting for reviews to aid my decision, but any observations from the floor will be appreciated.

And she's back

Jeni — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 21:54:45 +0100

So first there was the XML Summer School. This year was my sixth, and it was really great to hang out with chums old and new. I love that

you get to meet people from all corners of the XML community, even ones you haven’t got the slightest interest in, and learn that they’re human too (even the web services guys)
there’s always something to learn; I’ve seen some talks for six years on the trot, others were completely new this year, but they’re all worth attending because the audience, war stories and discussion are always different. Also, because each talk is aimed at newcomers, you get a great overview of topics that you’re not so familiar with, and you can always chat to the speaker later to find out more
there are social events laid on every evening that you’re expected to attend, so you’re practically forced to socialise, which is useful for an insecure introvert like me who’d otherwise be sitting in her hotel room getting miserable imagining everyone else having a good time
there’s a creche, so despite being inseparable from two small children over the last four years, I’ve still been able to attend without dragging an entourage with me (not that I object to the entourage, just the expense and the dependency)

I left feeling not only invigorated and inspired, but also a part of a fun and friendly community.

The following week, we moved house. Twelve days later, we’re almost completely unpacked, and the important things are done. We have wireless, positioned nicely so that virtually the whole house gets “Excellent” coverage. Thanks to my father, we have a NSLU2 running Debian and acting as our low-power-consumption file and mail server. (For those that are interested, I’m getting access from my Windows machines using Xming to actually interact with the machine, and WebDrive to map a drive onto the file system.) And we have an area entirely dedicated to Lego. Yes, this might be my dream house.

(We’re also only a 40 minute drive from Heathrow, 30 minute train from Waterloo, so if anyone I know’s visiting the UK and wants to drop in, you’re more than welcome. There’s even a spare room.)

And amongst all this, I had to record a virtual presentation on Creole for Overlap day at Extreme. The sound quality’s not great, but it’s a reasonable 10-minute introduction, I think. It sounds like they got good attendance: will someone who was there please post about it?

FLY pentop computer

Jeni — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:41:27 +0100

My dad got me a FLY pentop computer for my birthday! Basically, it lets you draw your own interface on special paper: draw a box, some numbers, some operators and an equals sign, and you’ve got a calculator; draw a keyboard and some circles for drums, and you can make music; write details of an appointment, and it’ll store it and repeat it at the designated time.

Yes, I knew that they were aimed at 8-13 year olds and I’m… hrm… a couple of years (well, let’s be honest, decades) outside that age bracket, but I don’t think either of us realised quite what “aimed at 8-13 year olds” would actually mean.

It comes with special stickers that will make the pen make a farting noise.

Enough said.

The most annoying thing? The technology is so cool! It does handwriting recognition (albeit only capital case), and can recognise and repeat something like 70,000 words. That’s just with the built-in firmware. And it has a moderate amount of built-in memory. The recharging dock comes with a USB socket. Wouldn’t you think that they’d release some kind of developer’s kit for the budding 8-13 year old hackers? Or that someone, somewhere, somehow, had managed to hack it anyway?

Ah well, at least I can rest assured that it will make me popular (for about 15 minutes) with fellow geeks… and any 8-13 year olds I happen to come across.

The future of computer interfaces

Jeni — Sat, 28 Apr 2007 23:02:17 +0100

My dad (Hello Barry!) has much more time to surf than I do, and often sends me interesting links. One that he sent recently was a video presentation of a multi-touch interface that’s really worth checking out. I thought I’d just write down a few of my thoughts on that and one of the talks at DocEng 2006 on interactive paper, since they’re both about how we might interact with computers in more intuitive ways in the future.

There’s apparently a multi-touch interface on the iPhone, but Jeff Han’s presentation on a huge multi-touch screen is really awe-inspiring. The obvious applications are when manipulating graphics: touch an image with two fingers, then move them apart to zoom, or around each other to rotate; touch an image with four fingers, and move them in concert to skew. Jeff Han shows this with both a graphics package and a 3D map similar to Google Earth.

But let’s be honest, most of the time we mark-up geeks spend on computers we spend reading and writing. What multi-touch gestures could we use on documents? Proper touch-screen keyboards: being able to actually hold down the Shift/Ctrl/Alt keys in combination rather than them acting as switches. Doing a copy operation by “holding down” highlighted text with one finger while you move it with another. Using a kind of vertical “pinch” to delete or hide lines, and a horizontal one to do the same for characters… There are things you could do, but I’m not sure they’d give a big enough usability win to drive multi-touch adoption. The main problem, I think, is screen real-estate: if you’ve got a laptop, the screen size is not that much bigger than a keyboard, so there’s hardly any room left to actually display what you’re writing. So my guess is that multi-touch will mainly be used on large displays — communal displays and (literally) desktops — and in the graphics/CAD world.

I owned a tablet for a while, and for the most part I used it as a normal laptop. The one task that I really found easier in tablet mode was reading and annotating documents. That’s because it gave the experience that was closest to paper: I could hold it close, page through easily, and highlight things I wanted to comment on, and make the comments themselves, using the pen. (This was several years ago now: at the time I couldn’t actually write on the document itself, now you get proper “ink annotations” in Word.) How are we going to read documents in the future?

There’s the long-term promise of flexible screens, but I learned about Anoto in one of the many interesting talks at DocEng 2006: Print-n-Link: Weaving the Paper Web by Moira C. Norrie, Beat Signer and Nadir Weibel. Anoto uses a pattern of dots arranged around a grid and printed (very faintly) on paper. The pens have a small camera that sees the dots and therefore knows where, on the page, they are. This information can be used by the pen itself or transferred to a computer. Mostly this is aimed at business types who can take hand-written notes during a meeting on a special Anoto notepad, and then transfer them to their computer later on. The sweetest application, though, is in the Fly Pentop computer, which is aimed at school children: you can do things like draw a calculator anywhere on your notepad and then use it to perform calculations by hitting the buttons with your pen. I really want one!

Norrie, Signer & Weibel presented a system for printing academic articles plus the Anoto dots, such that when you tap on a reference on a printed article with your Anoto pen, the referenced article comes up on your computer screen. Beat Signer controlled and annotated the presentation using the pen on a printed version of the slides. So cool.

The real innovation here, I think, was actually printing documents with the Anoto dots and having document-specific behaviour associated with them. It provides a way of getting annotations (mark-up!) on your document by having the smarts in a pen rather than a tablet PC. Of course the “display” can’t update (except for the fact that you’ve actually written on it), but you don’t need that when you’re reviewing documents. There’s more of Norrie, Signer & Weibel’s research on the GlobIS website but I haven’t had the time to look at it.

Know of any other funky user-interface innovations on the horizon? Tell me about them!