Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Cycle  Goes Mobile


I won't guarantee that it will also be agile, though I'm sure it will occasionally be hostile...

I have done my part to recharge the flagging economy by dropping a couple Benjamins into an Asus eeePC netbook. In fact, yesterday's post was launched into the interwebs from the comfort of my couch via that very machine, and looking at it now from my normal desktop, I'd be hard-pressed to tell the difference. When I read The Cycle from it (because hey, somebody has to read this stuff), it doesn't render in the same font, but I do too much cross-browser compatibility nonsense at work to worry too much about it when I'm slapping up pages for fun in my jammies.

As tech-dude-pal Steve F. warned, the keyboard is disturbingly small under my pudgy fingers, but I've been able to adjust to it after a couple days. I tried the Acer Aspire One that Steve recommended, and it did feel much more "normal" to the touch, but with the local Worst Buy practically giving the eeePCs away, my inner cheapskate beat out my inner user interface nerd.

I'd like to say that this purchase will actually get me out there into the real world, blogging from "the street" (or at least from a place near "the street" with wi-fi), but I suspect it will probably just a) encourage my already raging 'net addiction, and b) keep the interspousal Web-time/computer use squabbles to a minimum here on the home front.

Proving that I am in fact an antique in computer-use terms (my first machine was a Commodore VIC 20... kids, ask your grandparents), this is my very first hands-on experience with wi-fi, and I'm a bit drunk on the power. I have this uncontrollable urge to go hang out anywhere I can get a signal, even though I have no reason to leave the house. Sad.

2 comments:

Steve Fuller said...

Glad to see you decided on something. I'll be interested in your thoughts on the EEE once you've used it for a bit of time. You throw it in one of those hipster messenger bags, get on an ironically colored fixed gear and hit a coffee shop...er...wait...er...um...nevermind ;)

Jason T. Nunemaker said...

Let's see... wifi laptop, check. Messenger bag, check. Fixed gear, check. Coffee shop, check.

I guess I'm a hipster!

When do the guys in skinny jeans get here to take my front brake away? ;-)