Netbook Fever

The economy worldwide is in a wacky situation, everyone is supposed to be thinking twice or even thrice at spending anything. With stocks at a tailspin the past few weeks no one in their right mind should consider dropping cash on non-essentials.

But Lo-and-Behold, the netbook fever seems to be the exception, what was once thought as a stagnant computer market was energized at the right time by the right product concept: a cheap, highly usable and portable notebook — the “Netbook” (previously lumped in with the UMPC category)

Asus successfully started this trend with their EEE line; now everyone is jumping into the fray (HP, MSI, Acer, Dell, Lenovo). I honestly think these are pretty cool gadgets; these netbooks actually fill in a void that cell phone companies are trying to get to. Portable devices that allow you to do some serious stuff such as surfing and blogging are getting serious attention.

Now, I have to be honest I’ve been trying to hold myself into buying one, prices have been really competitive that it’s almost easy to make it as an impulse buy… but with the economy looking the way it is, maybe it’s not too smart to fall into that impulse. Plus, I bet with the phase and demand, things will only get more heated between these netbook manufacturers… which would just benefit us, consumers.

Why is Yahoo! not a social-networking web destination?

Facebook, MySpace, Friendster and a gazillion other social-networking sites have become Internet sensations almost overnight. Millions are reportedly signing up to join one or more of these sites to “connect” and “network” with friends.

Facebook seems to be the top dog right now; a few years ago it was Friendster then MySpace. Yahoo (the web giant at www.yahoo.com) even made an offer (rumor was $1 billion) to buy Facebook but was spurned (Facebook later accepted an investment from Microsoft to the tune of $240 million. sweet!). I’ve signed up to these networking sites and there’s just so much (for now) that you can do with them after chasing down and connecting yourself with your friends and a thousand others.

Which made me think, why is Yahoo trying to buy Facebook and appear to be playing catch-up? Personally I think Yahoo already has the content and users to give all of these networking sites a run for their money. With Yahoo, I find myself checking emails, chatting with friends, managing groups, viewing photos, checking stocks, news, etc. Yahoo is after all one of the Internet’s most visited sites with users staying even longer at each destination. Everything is there, I just think Yahoo needs to extend and reinvent the “Portal” concept, which they are in a position to do so. Doing this, I think, will make everything fall into place. A consistent strategy across all its division will really enhance and tighten Yahoo into a real community to reckon with. Just think of the Yahoo Messenger and Yahoo Mail, these two products are so prevalent and are already pseudo-social-networking pieces that everyone uses day to day. I don’t mean being used leisurely; these two Yahoo products are used consistently on important things like business and chasing down a friend for something important. Example is having the Yahoo Messenger “contacts” work like “buddies” or “friends” and tie them up into emails and content; and improve the profile experience starting with a revamp of the decrepit My Yahoo! concept. I’m all for it, since I’ve already been onboard the Yahoo train since I’ve signed up with their email account ages ago.

It’s a pity Yahoo doesn’t seem to have the clear vision and direction it needs to have to compete. Google has clearly stumped them dry and making them look pathetic. The potential is clearly there — they need to make it happen. I hate to sign up to yet another social-networking website just yet

Rise of the UMPC (featuring the Asus EEE PC)

UMPCs (Ultra-mobile Personal computers) are taking focus these days with several of them on the way. One of the interesting entries is from known PC components maker ASUS.

Feature set looks promising (hopefully storage can be increased via SDHC); at 1.96 lbs this is one wicked portable device for the person who needs a fully featured PC on the go. Initial impressions from reviewers were pretty positive (a lot better than the now defunct Palm Foleo – RIP) especially with the 10-second boot up time. I am always on the go, and gadgets like this definitely catch my attention. Now how this fits in between your cell phone, ipod up to your notebook will be the question.

Can you afford to carry this along with your notebook or will it be an either/or question?

Here is the specification list for one of the models:

• Display: AU Optronics4)  WVGA (800×480) TFT-LCD
• CPU: 900MHz Intel Celeron M ULV 353
• Chipset: Mobile Intel 910GML Express
• Graphics: Intel UMA (shared memory) with external VGA-out connector
• Memory: 256MB (non-upgradeable) or 512MB DDR2-400 (PC2-3200) SDRAM, user-upgradeable up to 1GB5)
• Storage: 2, 4, 8, or 16GB SSD (non-upgradeable)
• BIOS: American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI)
• OS: ASUS-customized Xandros Linux with “Easy” and “Standard” GUI modes
• Wired communications: 10/100 Mbps Ethernet, 56k modem
• Wireless communications: 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, possible Bluetooth integration
• Ports: 3 USB 2.0, MMC/SD(HC)/MS(PRO) card reader, microphone and headphone
• Webcam (optional): VGA (640×480) @ up to 30 fps
• Audio: High Definition Audio; built-in stereo speakers, microphone
• Battery life: 3-4 hours (4-cell NiMH: 7.4V, 5200mAh, 2S2P); other batteries may be offered
• Dimensions: 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1~3.5 cm (8.9 x 6.5 x 0.9~1.4 in)
• Weight: 0.89 kg (1.96 lbs)
• Colors: white, black
• Price: $199-$299 in USA, could be higher in Europe and elsewhere

http://event.asus.com/eeepc/en/701.htm

Amazon MP3 Download store!

Amazon has opened a DRM-Free MP3 Song Download store with prices starting at $0.89. I did a test download of a couple of songs and it went well, was able to play in my notebook and sync with my iPhone. For those who have been aching for a DRM-Free store that’ll let them play their purchased music on their personal devices this may be your ticket! I have been buying from iTunes and have always had this lingering thought in my mind about being tied to the Apple Techsphere, although I could burn my songs to CD and rip ‘em back — I’m just too lazy to do it regularly. DRM-Free music for all of us! The revolution has started; let’s stick it to the Man!

Microsoft’s .NET and Singularity

How do you fix Windows? We’ve all surely encountered the blue-screen of death one too many times, and also gnashed our teeth because of DLL incompatibilities (a.k.a DLL-Hell). These can be attributed to perhaps bad programming on the application side, but it can also be attributed to how the Operating System (OS) handles (or yields to) Application Programming Interface (API) calls. The API that has been the mainstay of Windows is called Windows 32-bit (Win32), the crown jewel of Microsoft’s desktop dominance. Win32 has ensured that most modern Windows applications run from one version to the next. This very feature has introduced the problems we’ve sighted. So how do you fix this? Enter the Microsoft .NET framework.

I’ve worked on the .NET framework on several occasions and I think it’s a great framework. Microsoft has clearly spent time developing it, especially with C# which was designed by one of the brightest developers ever Anders Hejlsberg (the same dude who made Turbo Pascal – ah what a programming tool). The .NET framework is very much like a virtual machine that allows it to take more control of applications. Applications can be written in different programming languages such as C#, Visual Basic.NET and Jscript among others. They are then compiled into a bytecode that .NET executes. There is only one set of libraries for all these programming languages, and all compiled bytecodes are executed by the same virtual machine. Applications that run inside this virtual machine are called “Managed applications”. This is supposedly designed to fix the blue-screen of death caused by DLL-Hell and Memory Leaks. This is the future of Windows desktop applications. It’s a great solution to the current quagmire that haunts the Win32 API.

Microsoft had to go this approach because they can’t just break away from the Win32 API, which is the holy grail of Windows. They can’t break backward compatibility, and they have gone too much out of their way to make sure most applications run from one Windows version to the next (check out the SimCity example for Win95). This is the very reason why Microsoft system engineers can’t totally fix Windows, even though they know what went wrong, and if they had to do it again, they would have done better. That’s where .NET comes in; it’s supposed to slowly replace Win32 and all those programs that access the system resources directly. With .NET they can move the framework from one OS version (Win2000) to the next (WinXP) seamlessly, and going further it allows it to move to a different OS as well (this is already being done outside of Microsoft with the Mono open source project http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page).

So when I was browsing through News.com and saw this article about another Microsoft OS that was written from the ground-up named Singularity, it struck me. Microsoft’s Research and Development group has been developing Singularity using .NET (and some new programming language based on C#) that is supposedly more stable and faster. I think Microsoft’s direction is to eventually get rid of the legacy Win32 API and move Windows to Singularity. It clearly makes sense, if .NET adoption continues and more and more applications are written on .NET, it would then be easier to ease into the new operating system, and Microsoft can maintain the desktop application dominance. With Microsoft’s purchase of Connectix and its product Virtual PC, it will also allow Microsoft to include virtualization software for Win32 applications as it moves along.

Microsoft’s dominance has always been the widespread adoption of the Win32, its cash cows depend on it (Windows OS and the Office Suite), but the API is already showing it’s age. With this two technology products, Microsoft doesn’t seem like it’s going to bet it’s future on Win32 running the show for the next 20 years.

http://research.microsoft.com/os/singularity/