Asus Eee: The New Timex-Sinclair?!!?

The wikipedia entry is light on details. This sold like hotcakes back then. Spawned several magazines. Lots of accessories too.

Previously in this blog:
Asus Eee: OS X?!
Asus Eee: XP Runs!
New Asus Eee Article
Asus Eee: Increasing RAM Possible
Asus Eee: OK. Wait. What’d He Just Say?!!?
Asus Eee And Palm PDAs
Asus Eee = Flybook = RSI
Blog Notes: Yes, I’m Working On It!

Awwww…

The abandoned monkey who has found love with a pigeon

They’re an odd couple in every sense but a monkey and a pigeon have become inseparable at an animal sanctuary in China.

The 12-week-old macaque – who was abandoned by his mother – was close to death when it was rescued on Neilingding Island, in Goangdong Province.

After being taken to an animal hospital his health began to improve but he seemed spiritless – until he developed a friendship with a white pigeon.

Go see the picture, you heartless bastard.

Social Robots

Robot Maker Builds Artificial Boy

RICHARDSON, Texas (AP) – David Hanson has two little Zenos to care for these days. There’s his 18-month-old son Zeno, who prattles and smiles as he bounds through his father’s cramped office. Then there’s the robotic Zeno. It can’t speak or walk yet, but has blinking eyes that can track people and a face that captivates with a range of expressions.

At 17 inches tall and 6 pounds, the artificial Zeno is the culmination of five years of work by Hanson and a small group of engineers, designers and programmers at his company, Hanson Robotics. They believe there’s an emerging business in the design and sale of lifelike robotic companions, or social robots.

Flashback to the American future.

Flashback to the Japanese future.

Asus Eee: OS X?!

InsanelyMac Forum / Homebrew Macs (Home of OSx86). / OSx86 Installation

i am going to get an asus eee, and knowing that the cheapest one has upgradeable ram, the only obstacle is this: storage space.

the cheapest model has 2gb of flash hard drive space. can osx86 be configured to install to that?

Hmmm….

Previously in this blog:
Asus Eee: XP Runs!
New Asus Eee Article
Asus Eee: Increasing RAM Possible
Asus Eee: OK. Wait. What’d He Just Say?!!?
Asus Eee And Palm PDAs
Asus Eee = Flybook = RSI
Blog Notes: Yes, I’m Working On It!

Asus Eee: XP Runs!

Details Eaking Out on the Asus Eee PC

We just received a few tips from Carlos, a GottaBeMobile.com reader, on the Asus Eee PC. This tips come from a friend of his who works at Asus.

* Windows XP has been successfully installed on the Linux based Eee PC

* It will be close to a 300 Euros price point, but with better specs than the cheaper model

* The pricier model might include a bigger screen, and possibly a 16gb flash drive

Whoaaaa on two points there: running XP (my head spins over being able to use my desktop apps on the cheeeeep*) and the 16GB Flash (something kinda mentioned here).

If this machine isn’t total shit, if it can be hacked galore, if it is really affordable and expandable, Asus will have sparked an Apple-like revolution. Hardly anyone will care about the Foleo afterwards. Even Steve Jobs will be hard pressed to come out with a Foleo-like machine at $700.

How long will you torment us all with speculation, Asus?

*(Let’s all remember that battery life specs issued by Asus are based on their configuration of the Eee. Putting in a different OS, expanding the RAM or the Flash could drain the battery too quickly!)

Previously in this blog:
New Asus Eee Article
Asus Eee: Increasing RAM Possible
Asus Eee: OK. Wait. What’d He Just Say?!!?
Asus Eee And Palm PDAs
Asus Eee = Flybook = RSI
Blog Notes: Yes, I’m Working On It!

So, No Microsoft Moon After All!

I’ve been carrying around this disgusting fantasy of the future in my head for a few years now.

Microsoft funds wee robot rovers to scurry about the Moon. They charge a rental fee for a few minutes time so people can do their own little bits of exploration. It’s all streamed on the web and people can monitor The Microsoft Moon Channels.

Well, it looks like Google’s neural-tapping equipment has finally hit my brain (are they good or what?).

Google will fund a moon rover!

Someday we’ll be watching the YouTube Moon Channels instead…

Update: Oh the irony of announcing on this date of all dates!

New Asus Eee Article

Unicap and UCView on the Asus EeePC

As said, disk space is limited on this device, so it is of special interest how much space the OS leaves to the user in the default installation. On the 4GB model I have, there are about 1.3 GB available to the user. The OS resides in a seperate partition which is combined with the partition for the personal data via unionfs.

My jaw drops.

Less user storage space than my LifeDrive!

On the other hand, it can use an SDHC card…

Go see the picture of it on top of a MacBook. Holy cow.

I like this bit:

The system is equiped with a 900 Mhz ultra low power Intel CPU

Yeah, some horsepower there. This will kick the ass of the Nokia Anti-Internet Tablets for web browsing. Are you paying attention, Palm?

– linkswipe via EeeUser.com

Previously in this blog:
Asus Eee: Increasing RAM Possible
Asus Eee: OK. Wait. What’d He Just Say?!!?
Asus Eee And Palm PDAs
Asus Eee = Flybook = RSI
Blog Notes: Yes, I’m Working On It!

It’s Breakaway Day

The faithkeepers at FAB Gear USA sent me an email reminder:

Hi Everyone,

Happy Breakaway Day! As you may recall, Earth’s moon was ripped out of orbit by a massive nueclear explosion 8 years ago – on September 13th, 1999. We here at Fab Gear always raise a glass to the 311 souls lost on Moonbase Alpha on this day, and hope you’ll join us. May the wind alwyas be at their backs, and may the road rise to meet them.

We’ve got lots of new merchandise arriving every week, please do keep checking the website.

Thanks again for everyone’s well wishes and support, we truly appreciate it!

Have a great weekend, and remember to party like it’s 1999!

Anthony & Rob
http://fabgearusa.com

Go watch the documentary on YouTube.

May we never forget!

Will Palm Die Or Show Others How To Be Reborn?

Can Palm find a way to survive?

As he stood up to boast of his latest creation, Palm founder Jeff Hawkins had no doubts about its bright future. “Foleo represents a whole new product direction both for Palm and for mobile computing,” he enthused ahead of the device’s launch in May. “In my opinion, the Foleo is going to be most successful and the most significant product that Palm has done.”

A month on, Ed Colligan, president and chief executive of Palm, was still keen to back up Hawkins’s grand vision. Foleo represented “the dawning of another major design era of mobile computing”, Colligan told analysts, even though he admitted that initial sales were likely to be slow. Worries about Foleo’s future then set in. By the start of this month, instead of being shipped to stores, the Foleo project had been cancelled.

To observers it was yet another example of Palm struggling, as it has for years, to regain the lead it once held as the world’s premier maker of handheld (or “palmtop”) computers.

I must quote myself:

Palm could have never developed the iPhone. Because it didn’t fit into what they were taught so long ago. Zoomer owners wound up creating a sort of design religion that’s hardened into a crust of fundamentalism at Palm. It explains why Palm has been so hard of hearing towards its users: we are like infidels and they are like Muslim clerics! Only they know the Truth.

I’d like to hold out hope that the Elevation Partners people will wrench Palm into the present and even the future. But so much time has been wasted! Plus, Palm’s leadership, just like Muslim clerics, tends to believe what it wants to be believe:

Seasonality

To date, we have not seen significant seasonal variations in customer demand for Treo smartphones. This lack of seasonality contrasts with our experience of selling handheld computers due to three factors. First, the smartphone category has been growing rapidly which may mask any potential seasonality. Second, smartphone sales volumes are influenced by carrier adoption and the release and timing of specific carrier versions which could occur at any time during the fiscal year. Third, our smartphones are sold at higher prices than handheld computers and holiday seasonality typically affects demand for lower priced products. As we introduce lower priced smartphones, we may experience similar seasonality as with our handheld computers.

Our handheld computer lines have historically been affected by seasonality, with associated revenues generally sequentially higher in the second quarter of our fiscal year, as distributors and retailers purchase product in anticipation of the December holiday selling season. We also have historically experienced smaller positive effects on revenue in the first and fourth quarters of our fiscal year, as distributors and retailers purchase product in anticipation of the back-to-school and the Father’s Day and graduation selling seasons, respectively. The timing of our new product launches also contributes to fluctuations in our revenue. While we historically introduced new handheld computer products in the fall and in the spring, which historically contributed to higher revenue in the second and fourth fiscal quarters, respectively, this pattern has been less pronounced with the product mix shifting to smartphones.

Unasked is: Are people not giving Treos as gifts because they suck? People won’t give other people something as a gift if they don’t like it themselves.

“The market grew 45% but Palm, with Treo, quarter after quarter it has not increased share,” added Cozza. “Palm is stuck at 3% and its growth is below the market average, whereas competitors like Rim [which makes the BlackBerry] and Nokia are increasing share.”

How will Ed Colligan explain the millions of iPhones bought as gifts later this year? Fluke? Apple Reality Distortion Field? Alien abductions?

“We’ve learned and struggled for a few years here figuring out how to make a decent phone. PC guys are not going to just figure this out. They’re not going to just walk in.’”
– Ed Colligan

“In my opinion, the Foleo is going to be most successful and the most significant product that Palm has done.”
– Ed Colligan

Hey, Murdoch! Give These Guys A MySpace Series Too!

YouTube: Original SF, Synk-RoNyzed

Google/YouTube has had it right under their noses and have done nothing. Eejits!

I’d damn well make time to watch this as a series.

Previously in this blog:
Creators: It Begins!
Quote Of The Day: Matt Stone Of South Park
Creators And Writers Guild Of America: Take Note!
Another Egghead Out To Fuck Writers (And Other Creators) Out Of Their Just Rewards
YouTube Vs. P2P: YouTube Wins?
Kill Me Now, Kill Me Now, Kill Me Now