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Jaffer › Comments
Thinking of doing some upgrades to the blog today but finding it hard to get the energy. Rainy days leave me feeling drained and headachy.
Its winter time here. We made chilli today. Lots left... come on over !
- Jaffer
.. on my way ..
- BLOGBloke
Although I may be eligible for a free upgrade - I am not going to. My Laptop was made for Vista Basic. And like every new Windows version, M$ wants us to get the latest and the fastest hardware - which I can't afford.
- Jaffer
Fortunately (I think) I have new hardware (with Windows Vista Premium 64 bit installed) that should work fine with Win 7. I'm glad that I waited before upgrading. However, I hear that Win 7 is easier on the resources than Vista so you should look into the compatibility issue that you mention. You might be surprised (knock on wood). They also have something called XP mode (for Premium)...
more...
- BLOGBloke
"Let's make this 2890 !"
- Jaffer
A Microsoft-Yahoo merger means MS understands it's desktop dominance is dead in the water and a web-concentric desktop is the future.
Yes, I'll agree. Let's not forget Apple will be there as well. It's just like Microsoft's little brother when it comes down to their monopolistic policies. The new versions of Linuxes and other open source desktops are already outshining features included in Windows and Macs !
- Jaffer
I also think Google's venture into the desktop market has come late but it's too early to tell !
- Jaffer
I've been on Twitter 886 days. How long have you been on? http://whendidyoujointwitter.com/ Answer here: (I joined November 20, 2006).
Marko Saric, Mohammad Abdurraafay, Susan Beebe and 80 other people liked this
I just tried getting on this as you tweeted it and you crashed the site! or did your followers?
- Matthew Sauer
Damn Scobleffect!
- Kevin Kuphal
Matthew and Kevin: hah!
- Robert Scoble
TechCrunch got on it February 7th, 2007.
- Robert Scoble
786 days. Started on 28 February 2007. By the way, it doesn't seem to work on Chrome on Windows. Had to fire up Firefox.
- Sam Grover
CenterNetworks got on it December 12, 2006.
- Robert Scoble
I got it on August 23 2007, 610 days
- Jaffer
758 days!
- Matthew Sauer
sir, you just crashed that site. edit - previous attempt chrome, same FF on XP
- shayne catrett
I think you just killed their website...
- Roy Herrod
I created on March19, 2008. Only 401 days for me. :)
- Paul Wade
470 days ago. wow ididnt realize it was that long i've been on twitter
- Fuad Arshad
I joined on April 4, 2008 - 385 days.
- Laurie Stoker
I joined twitter 910 days ago on 27 October 2006
- Willem Karssenberg
I joined on April 23, 2009. - 1 day. Took me long enough, right?
- Angus Burton
You don't need to use some third party site, this information's in user info available via the API. Just look for "created_at" in the url http://twitter.com/users..., using your user ID, of course.
- Ken Sheppardson
300 days
- Thomas Power
I deleted my account at one point, and have subsequently shuffled and renamed some stuff, but it looks like KenSheppardson's been there since November 5, 2007
- Ken Sheppardson
I joined twitter 829 days ago - http://whendidyoujointwitter.com ?
- Rom Feria
Jul 30, 2007
- Pat Hawks
April 19, 2007
- Joe Buhler
Your account was created on 1 August 2007
- Jay Neff
20 March 2007, to follow @Veronica. :) Even beat @leolaporte by 20 days!
- Surferbill
11 August 2007, 623 days ago.
- Chris, Taskerrific Guy
26 January 2009 - so 88 days ago... not really that long to be honest, I kept avoiding it!
- Roy Herrod
756 days ago for me
- Donald Matheson
Dec 6, 2006. 870 days ago
- Rodfather
759!!!
- Iain Baker
568 days ago.
- Simon Wicks
799 days.
- Morton Fox
November 30th 2007, A year less than you.
- Paul Bainbridge
750 days @thbenkoe
- thomas benkö
218 days ago. Now how about whendidyoujoinfriendfeed.com
- Kiran Patchigolla
617 days -- more important though - when was the last time I actively used it (not sure -- is there a similar tool to tell me when I joined FF? :-) )
- Brian Sullivan
775 days johnr99a
- John
710 days "only"
- Jean-Charles VERDIE
Scoble effect > digg effect
- Tim McDougall
Jun 2007
- Zee.
I joined twitter on 25 August 2008, 243 days ago: the rest is History
- sofarsoShawn
still haven't and not gonna.
- Andrew C
Joined Twitter 754 days ago
- Michael Kreidler
Or just click on your profile in tweetdeck / many other "clients" -- it will tell your joined date. I joined Fri 07 Mar 2008 23:57.
- Nicholas Kreidberg
I make it 279 days if my math is correct.
- Sharron Field
You're on Twitter? :-)
- sofarsoShawn
The website is down at the moment, but I already know the answer. I'll be celebrating my one year Twitter anniversary on May 06.
- Sharon McPherson
845 :-) December 31st 2006 :-)
- Luca Conti
448 which actually suprised me, must have early adopted then just forgot I had the account.
- Richard Tousignant
I've got it going on http://whendidyoujointwitter.appspot.com/ - trying to figure out how to point the domain name to it - can anyone help? (What a noob)
- Neville Ridley-Smith
665 days
- chrisofspades
I joined April 2007. wish I could figure it out # of days...the link above isn't cooperating :( Loving tho that I have been on over 700+ days ;) --- thanks Sharon McPherson for the redirect. It worked - 748 days
- enza (aka iVenus)
408 days
- Chris Noble
728 :) 27 April 2007
- Max Trisolino
Neville, I'm no expert, but you can redirect the domain's index page to http://whendidyoujointwitter.appspot.com in your .htaccess file. Or you can just use a meta redirect.
- Sharon McPherson
I joined twitter 743 days ago I feel so old now :-)
- Dan Morrill AKA Techwag
752 Days ago. Funny little tool--the app, not me. ;)
- BISQ
Apr 18 2008
- Nicholas James
515 days. Kaspersky is warning of a Trojan downloader on that site.
- Elpie
872. Seems like yesterday.
- Kevin Gamble
667 days - seen lots of whales
- Jack DeWitt Smith
dude, everything you touch, breaks..gettin' a 404 :)
- George Dearing
Ok - forwarding has been set up - site is live again
- Neville Ridley-Smith
775 days for me.
- Internet's Tad
I think we need a new verb: The site has been -- robertscobled or scobleized?
- dario
it was pretty hosed before he got to it but it certainly didn't help matters!
- Neville Ridley-Smith
765 days. huh? didn't know it had been so long
- Ted
773.
- MikeAmundsen
I joined twitter on 13 August 2006 - I joined twitter 986 days ago!
- Carlos Granier-Phelps
I joined 576 days ago (09/26/2007).
- Joey Gibson
Looks like i've been on twitter for 527 days. I don't remember using it before November of this year.....
- Eric
3-8-2007 (778 days)
- George Dearing
I joined twitter 806 days ago
- Kim Landwehr
774 for me.
- Julie Barrett
from twhirl
I joined Twitter 803 days ago (February 11th, 2007).
- Rishabh Mishra (p248)
775
- Victor Ganata
April 29th 08: "I'm just killing time at work right now. Looking forward to keeping updates on my friends." http://twitter.com/Skizzli...
- David Cook
July 13, 2007 for two accounts, April 10, 2008 for the other.
- Kathy Fitch
19 March 2007 - 768 days ago. Just set up an account for my company and was explaining to my coworkers - when I mentioned I'd been on Twitter for about two years, they were like, wait, I thought it was only a couple of months old! *sigh* Funny that my guesstimation was so close, though!
- Jandy, ConcertMaven of FF
April 8, 2007
- rob
I'd sure like to see a personal Twitter timeline similar to coverflow where I can easily go back and forth through tweeting history and see what I've said over the years...
- Glenn Batuyong
So I'm the oldest twitterer here?
- Carlos Granier-Phelps
I joined twitter on 23 July 2006
- (jeff)isageek
i beat ya by a few days carlos :)
- (jeff)isageek
@jeff, beat me by about 3 weeks ;-(
- Carlos Granier-Phelps
Since September of 2008
- Adam Martin
25 April 2007 crap that's 2 years tomorrow
- Rodzilla
Nifty little site, Robert...774 days for me.
- Ken Kennedy
I joined Twitter 460 days ago. I joined FriendFeed 556 days ago.
- Louis Gray
July 14, 2007 ... 650 days
- Stuart Liroff
224 days ago
- Ahsan Ali aka. Slick
17 November 2007
- BEX
766 days -- 21 March 2007
- xero
800 days...beat Morty by a day :) February 14, 2007 <3 day....
- Mark Krynsky
1yr 1mo ago ... 24 Mar 2008
- Craig Brownell
524160 minutes.
- imabonehead
563 days ago- 9 October 2007
- metalerik
26 August 2007 - 607 days :) That's pretty good, yeah?
- Michael Forian
THIS IS MY FIRST DAY ON THE INTERNET! :D
- Josh Haley
I joined Twitter 10 days before you, Robert.. November 11, 2006
- Pico Seno
What is Twitter?
- Dominic Jones
I joined twitter 1015 days ago
- Wayne Sutton
only 261 days, just caught the tale end of twitter's more innocent days.
- Mike Elliott
1016 days ago. A day before Wayne!
- Kevin Fox
Wow. Kevin, Wayne, and Dave are cooler than me!
- Robert Scoble
24 October 2006, 914 days. What's your average # of tweets per day. My average is 0.012 :-).
- Gary Burd
Is how many days we've been on Twitter the new status bar to measure up to now that there are million+ following @aplusk? (766 days)
- Peggy Dolane
421 days.
- Sue Radd
yeah, like way back in the olden days... last summer.
- Peggy Dolane
08/29/2008
- John Wright
823
- Johnny Worthington
848 days.
- Alix Whitmire
762 days
- Bastard Operator From FF
807....7 Feb 2007
- Live4Emma (L4S)
536 days.
- Larry Hudson
1002 days
- rob friedman
13 April 2007, 743 days. Though wasn't very active (and still aren't)
- Jemm
October 26, 2006, 912 days ago.
- Erik S
819 days ago
- Rob
twitter 17 November 2007, 525. friendfeed 12 February 2008, 438 days ago
- Adamo Lanna
802 days ago - 13th February, 2007. Though it's only the last year or so that I started paying more attention to it.
- Andy Bold
731 days for me
- Jesse Stay
I joined twitter on 9 September 2007, so 594 days ago.
- Peter Kruit
26 August 2007, or 608 days ago
- David Young
less than 1 week.
- auburn
I joined Twitter June 18, 2008 - 311 days ago
- Tony C
21 dic 2006
- pm10
4 April 2008 386 days
- Jamie Vidamour
Hah! 1002 days.
- Vijayendra (V-Mo) Mohanty
@bdeseattle joined 825 days ago. @pplpwrd aka @infinitelymeta joined 735 days ago.
- Brian Daniel Eisenberg
67 days :(
- rama mamuaya
777 days!
- Roshan Vyas
I joined twitter 507 days ago
- Meriç Dağlı
699 days ago, 27 May 2007
- Majento
750 ish
- Jamie
A late starter, 419 days, joined 2nd March 2008.
- Kol Tregaskes
I've been here for 738 days (April 18th, 2007).
- Brome
2 June 2007 I joined twitter 693 days ago
- Felter Roberto
I've got a pretty silly question....how do you know when you started using Twitter?
- Christian (Simply X)
@Christian: Check out the link on top :)
- Jemm
I joined twitter 268 days ago (July 30, 2008), and i just twitter my 802nd tweet....
- Marina
lol oh, durrrrrr. Oops totally missed that. 57 days? w00t! 02/27/2009
- Christian (Simply X)
I joined twitter 714 days ago, on 12 May 2007
- A.T.
2 days before A.T. 10th May 2007
- nouhad
I joined twitter on 8 April 2009 - http://whendidyoujointwitter.com ? I couldn't resist any longer, @leolaporte kept talking about it.
- Willem (@wim66) ☠
821 days ago on Jan 25th, 2007 :)
- embee
I joined twitter on 25 April 2007- happy anniversary to me!!
- Brian Sheehan
910 days. Joined in 27 October 2006.
- Martin Añazco
I joined twitter 153 days ago on 23 November 2008. On the other hand, I've been on FriendFeed for a year and Facebook for 5 years.
- Bora Zivkovic
I joined twitter 309 days ago
- DAL
i joined twitter 43 days ago
- John Wood
Funny I joined Twitter on Feb 21 2006, the day after you.
- Ernie Oporto
from Nambu
July 29, 2008
- Kevin Whalen
778 days (March 9, 2007)
- Kevin Tunis
My first account 13 July, 2006. My most used one, 12 February 2008.
- jcunwired
723 days ago, 03 May 207
- Bill Rawlinson
\o/ I joined twitter on 20 December 2006
- Caers Mane
332 days
- Damond Nollan
772 days - i was invited much earlier but didn't see the value for me (in nyc) since it was all about what silicon valley folks were having for lunch, wait has that changed ;)
- mike "glemak" dunn
I joined on March 28th 2007 (759 days ago).
- Daniel Rowley
769. What's next? Slashdot user numbers are now passe. What's the next measurement of geek coolness?
- Andrew Leyden
at least 943 - one account Oct 2006, but I can't find the date for my main one.
- randulo
I joined twitter 223 days ago
- OnuRC
1 December 2006
- John Graham
I joined twitter on 30 November 2008 - http://whendidyoujointwitter.com ?
- Roshan Ramachandran
I joined twitter on 23 January 2007, 823 days ago :)
- Lucio Riccardi - CantorJF
303 days on Twitter, geez, what a newbie
- Rick Bucich
769 days ago
- Victor Panlilio
from Nambu
495 im young compared to yall XD
- Zafarali
Joined on 16 March 2007, 771 days ago. (Yes, WDYJT crashed yesterday)
- Red Label
714 days - twitter.com/atveit
- Amund Tveit
244 days on Twitter so far :)
- Frode Stenstrøm
538 days joined on November 4th 2007
- BCK
Wow. I guess I joined the same day as you ;). What were we thinking?!?
- Michael Lehman
695 days plus the days from an old account thats no longer found
- Monique
863 days ago. I joined on 14 december 2006
- Cristian
986 days ago, 13 August 2006
- Sean Oliver
1015 days ago, 16 July 2006
- Dobromir Hadzhiev
886 as well
- Michael Specht
funny! i joined Nov. 20th 2006 as well. :)
- Eddie Codel
788 days ago.
- Tendonitis' Bitch
27 August 2007
- Tony Vota
716 days
- Ryan Dadey
Ok, I'll admit it, I've shamelessly hitched a ride on Robert's coat-tail by embedding the feed from this discussion into a page on my website. http://twitclicks.com/rlrn
- Sharon McPherson
724 days! Joined during MIX07.
- Gregg Le Blanc
I was only slightly exaggerating yesterday. I have been on for 863 days. I joined in December 2006.
- Francine Hardaway
I joined twitter 786 days ago on March 1, 2007.
- Rajiv Doshi
I joined a day after Scoble (November 21, 2006)
- Michael Markman
I beat @techcrunch! But as usual I trail you by a couple of months, Robert. ;)
- Denise Howell
782 days, joined on March 5 2007, wow didn't realize it was that long ago
- Keith - @tsudo
421 days, joined on 1 March 2008 - I joined twitter and FriendFeed on the same day :)
- Susan Beebe
912 days, cant believe I was there before you :-)
- Patphelan
563 days
- Peter Efland
762 days ago on the 27 March 2007
- Mick Stanic
Took me Twanalysis to finally find it .... Sept 12 '07 Late adopter?
- Charlie Anzman
I joined twitter 179 days ago - http://whendidyoujointwitter.com ?
- Geoff Jackson
Robert, check this out : http://whendidyoujoinfriendfeed.com/
- Ahmet Alp Balkan
Someday I want to be a DERECT SALES MARKETER , Im usually up to reading some tweets from people , I'll never sub too .. this is one of the best in awhile
I cant believe this many people actually follow him ... maybe Im doing wrong
- johnpiercy
I came across a profile last night that had a ton of spelling mistakes and was a marketeer too !
- Jaffer
Oh No ......
Morton Fox, Mathew™ one of a kind, browneyes and 5 other people liked this
Yep. Been down for the last 5 minutes
- Jaffer
Just noticed it ... oh wait .. 24's on! Later all :)
- Charlie Anzman
It's the little-to-no-notice rescheduling of Sunday's maintenance http://status.twitter.com/
- Al Degutis
Too many people moved over to twitter at the same time to give themselves a new FF break
- jcunwired
I'm shocked that no one has posted a "get rid of Scoble" filter yet.
Francisco Kemeny, Benedikt Koehler, andy brudtkuhl and 26 other people liked this
It's coming. ;-) Only joking.
- Kol Tregaskes
Is there a way to share filters?!? That'd blow my mind!
- Pat Hawks
That would kill FF - don't do it! LOL
- Susan Beebe
to mesmerized by the hands for that.
- Ted Bradford II
I will arm wrestle the fool who tries such nonsense.
- Janet
Pat: yes, filters are just searches.
- Robert Scoble
Scoble Smash!
- Rob
aaaaaand done! :P
- Shey, Jamaican of FF
Scoble is required for load testing purposes
- Ben
Here's one: put this in your search box: italy earthquake likes:1
- Robert Scoble
See all of Scoble's friends: http://beta.friendfeed.com/search...
- Pat Hawks
would not get rid of you lol btw, nice display pic :)
- David Gross
Ari: that's a two-for-one special. Get rid of both with one filter! :-)
- Robert Scoble
That was the first thing I thought of
- James Myatt
Scoble who?
- Kreg Steppe
That Green Giant. Peas for lunch anyone ?
- Jaffer
probably because those who wanted to filter you out figured out how to do it long ago & right off the bat, and those of us who enjoy reading you don't care to help people do otherwise?
- Lucretia Pruitt
How do you exactly do that? :))
- Alex Puchianu
@Scoble Should be more like "Show messages without Scoble, Scoble'sm, Scobleizer" :D
- Swaroop
That's great as long as you don't like what either of us has to say, LOL. I wonder how many people out there are like that? I probably don't want to know.
- Alex Scoble
isnt that the 'hide' button?
- chaz2b
Did somebody say something? I could have sworn I heard something...
- Mike Lewis
I'm having lots of trouble getting my friendfeed videos up. Sorry for the delay.
Daniel Brusilovsky, Susan Beebe, Kol Tregaskes and 2 other people liked this
I'm getting a lot of timeouts from FF. Not surprised though given the circumstances.
- Rob
My FF and Twitter account have been 'de-linked' somehow and I can't reauthenticate
- James
@James I seem to be having the same problem.
- Jaffer
Same here Rob. Very slow. But expected. I wish the programmers and staff good luck.
- Dave Sanders
What you can do to conquer your credit and debt problems http://www.michaelwnewman.com/ Stop forclosure, clean up your credit report
- Michael
@Dave true, this is the smoothest beta rollout I've seen, responsive, relatively stable
- James
I think that FF's servers getting really hit with this new Beta rollout.
- Bluesun 2600
Since USA is socialist now, according to conservative talk radio, I'm wondering when we'll get a good transit system like all other socialist countries in Europe? Not to mention health care for everyone?
Squid, Jorge Barba, Matt Campbell and 104 other people liked this
good transit system.. still waiting for ours in quasi-socialist britain! It's quite sad, most forms of modern transit originated/pioneered in Britain yet we have the worst in the developed world :(
- alphaxion
Don't forget Japan!
- Mona Nomura
Japan has the best in the world from what I've seen.. Only system I've ever seen that apologises heavily for even a minutes delay! Tho, always remember that the Japanese system is a private company, not state run!
- alphaxion
What countries in Europe would be on this list of "all other socialist countries"?
- Brian Sullivan
alphaxion: I guarantee you that Britain's is worse than USAs.
- Robert Scoble
Guess the lack of a good transit system and universal health care proves that the USA is not socialist ... yet.
- Rene Wirtz
@Scobleizer Thanks to a socialist government once upon a time in Saskatchewan, Canada has a health-care system today.
- Jaffer
@robert I know Britains is worse than the USA.. expensive and piss poor. We created the railway system, yet we've fucked it up through a constant swapping of private, state, private, state then private once again. Along with the total lack of investment that goes with it while state and the money grubbing greed of private use. It's obscene, £70 to £120 just to travel from Leeds to London. Disgusting!
- alphaxion
"old socialist countries", i'm not so sure or very old!!! I can take the example of France !! we are not socialists since more of 10 years !
- Alice Cordonnier
They just did a study of extending DC's metro system down into Fredericksburg which is 50miles south of it. While it came out to be several billion dollars, the idea of it was cool to see just because it had been considered. Would be wonderful but will never happen.
- Dean Clark
Mass transit here is pretty bad, 75' to the bus and when I get downtown I have to walk a whole block. And I only have 4 times to choose from.
- Clarence Westberg
@alphaxion: You are correct, the privatization made British Railways from one of the best to one of the worst. Strange thing is, even after seeing things go downhill in the UK, the Dutch government decided to semi-privatize its railways, making it a lot worse. Luckily, Holland is a small country so effects are going to be minimal.
- Rene Wirtz
Isn't "according to conservative talk radio" fairly unreliable? :)
- Louis Gray
+100 Louis.
- Alex Scoble
@Brian: from the top of my head: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, the UK, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Greece. And now of course, the former Eastern Bloc countries, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
- Rene Wirtz
Phoenix just opened up a light rail system and ridership is 30% higher than they predicted.
- Francine Hardaway
from twhirl
Rene -- all those countries are socialist in your mind? What countries in Europe or elsewhere would be classed as non-socialist?
- Brian Sullivan
@Brian: not only in my mind, though, these countries are all based in socialist principles, even though some countries don't have a socialist government per se anymore. Countries that are not socialist are: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria.
- Rene Wirtz
Francine: light rail in Seattle has been a compleate boondoggle. It's not about predicted ridership, it needs to be about how many are served for how much per person.
- Christian Burns
I would love to have a decent light rail system here. Our only option to get anywhere is to drive. We live in a gorgeous patch of farmland, and the traffic is starting to smog everything up.
- Karoli
The lack of good rail system of any kind in the US is a travesty. I've never understood why that was the case. One would think you could be proud of a good rail system. It has nothing to do with being socialist of otherwise. Every time I go to Boston (to pick a US city), I enjoy hopping onto a train and just getting to places
- Deepak Singh
regardless of the underlying intentions (socialism, liberalism, etc.) hasn't the time for universal healthcare and mainstream mass transportation finally come. I mean dammit people, stop the excuses and get some work done. What we need is the ability as a populous to prevent our government officials from getting paid if they fail to do their jobs...sessions over, and there are still bills on the table; sorry but I guess you don't get paid.
- Bob Blunk
Christian: Over what period of time do you amortize the cost? A light rail system is a long, long term investment. Taking into account projected growth in the area alongside the longevity of the system, I'd imagine it's quite the bargain.
- Karoli
Robert: I am starting to agree. We have a broken system that relies on insurance tied to employers. That must change.
- Christian Burns
I think the biggest problem in the US is the sheer size of cities. New York and Chicago are the first and only ones to have adopted a subway system early enough on to actually offer viable public transport. In a city like Atlanta, there's 2 subway/lightrail lines, and there's over 5mio people and there's a lot of commuting.
- Rene Wirtz
Great article about self-employment, freelancing, and health insurance http://www.city-journal.org/2009...
- Karoli
Karoli: I live in rural area, transit just doesn't fit into our lives. Central planning to fix a decentralized problem.
- Christian Burns
Rene, American cities aren't really that large, and definitely carry small populations. Tokyo does just fine with a wonderful rail system. The challenge is that to add transit now would take a lot of effort to fit into existing infrastructure, but IMO it has to be done
- Deepak Singh
Loving trains in Japan and loved the trains when I lived in Portland. I would kill for high-speed between Los Angeles and San Francisco, so let's hope it comes soon. Decent but long article with some good points about US and high-speed trains here: http://is.gd/mrYY
- Ken Brady
@Deepak: I disagree that American cities are not that large; traveling from one end of Atlanta Metro to the other is almost a 2 hour drive. There are countries in Europe where a 2 hour drive means crossing borders into another country. I do agree that a mass transit system must be added to a lot of cities. And now is the time. But, I do know that there is going to be a lot of...
more...
- Rene Wirtz
Rene -- do you have some sort cite that backs your assertion about which countries in Europe are socialist/non socialist (or based on socialist principles -- whatever that means). What about Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia?
- Brian Sullivan
actually, the malaise in the british rail system dates to when the state took over them during the 40's. A lot of stations and routes were loss making but paid for by the more profitable. When the government took control they began a systematic shutdown and withdrawl of funding from the system until its eventual re-privatisation. The only problem is that the system is in such bad need of funds that private companies now running it don't want to invest and are simply milking it for all the money they can get
- alphaxion
@Brian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... - socialism and the industrial revolution almost went hand in hand in Europe.
- Rene Wirtz
I'm holding out for those awesome European family friendly parks and museums
- Erin @queenofspain
I'm just pissed I have to listen to this brainless sheep-driven socialism drivel for the next eight years. Baaahhh. Baaahhh.
- AJ Kohn
@alphaxion: So, at least the government kept whatever lines were more or less profitable up and running, doing maintenance and planning. After privatization, the maintenance and planning part got dropped, since it is by far the most expensive, without having a clear ROI. Private companies are always gonna be looking at the bottom line and with a vast operation like a country-wide infrastructure to maintain it's not gonna look good.
- Rene Wirtz
Rene -- I don't see any mention of most the countries in your list in that article. Is that the best information you have?
- Brian Sullivan
Operating a profitable mass transit system within the US is difficult because of your wildly variable population density. Improving your archaic zoning system would be a good first step.
- Steven Cains
Um..how come there's no mention of Amtrak? The challenge isn't just getting govt. to set up a mass transit system but also getting folks to use it. There's a lot of competition from alternative forms of transportation like planes and automobiles. Let's not forget that every time the gas prices go down, public interest in using public transportation goes down as well.
- MiaD
@Brian: I'm sure I can find all of them, but I'm too tired and lazy to google at the moment. You can believe me or not, either way, the US is not even near to what they think is socialism.
- Rene Wirtz
Child care for new moms. Doctors who pay house calls. Three months vacations. Sign me up.
- Martha
We're building light rail in the Dallas area. The problem is getting to the rail stations and finding a place to park. They closed the route that went right past our house - on a main road! The parking lot is clogged with cars from cities to the north that don't pay transit taxes. We can't use our own trains!
- Julie Barrett
from twhirl
we have been trying to get light rail in Kansas City forever.
- Rodney Taylor
that's just it tho, "British Rail" as it was when it was nationalised barely put any money into the system at all and only grudgingly did any maintentance. No upgrades were made, no investment in new rolling stock. It was a total shambles. Stations fell into disrepair and entire routes were left to rot or were ripped up.
- alphaxion
(There is a story making the rounds of a pool reporter on Air Force One who asked President Obama, "Are you a socialist?" ... we offer some context for that reporter, and any others that might be lurking here on a beautiful Sunday evening.) http://www.dailykos.com/storyon... - i thought this was really cool, and thought that it might settle this subject once and for all -
- Chris Heath
chris - way to avoid any position at all. +1 for a completely empty statement. You implied that a 0% cap gains rate created a China that is a net creditor nation. Or would you like to tap dance out of that position ad well?
- Brian Roy
Hey, you decided to go ad hominem... I just pointed out the error I your thinking... Not sure I was in attack mode. Care to answer the question? Is China being a creditior nation a direct result of a 0% cap gains rate?
- Brian Roy
Were some comments deleted? Can't figure out what Brian Roy was responding to.
- Morton Fox
nah I posted on the wrong thread. My bad.
- Brian Roy
Hong Kong's transit system is something too! :D
- Michael Forian
I'm from Europe and now am living in NYC. I find that NYC public transit (subways, buses, taxis) is actually fairly decent by my European standards. Sure, it's sometimes dirty and crowded, but it gets you to places and runs with good frequency. If you live in the city close to the transit, you don't need to have a car at all.
- Jaanus Kase
Ha ha.. wonderful perspective - even the Democrats are so far right of centre in European terms to be ever be called Socialists.
- Ian D. Nock
@Ian: *highfive* I keep saying that, too, but no-one believes me! A lot of Americans equate the Democratic Party with socialism, while I was taught in school that in the US you can choose between right and extreme right.
- Rene Wirtz
Believe me, Robert, you don't want these. I'm from Hungary and I know what I'm talking about. Social healthcare sucks... Even if you live a totally healthy life, you pay the same insurance as those who smoke and drink all day long. (And get the same service)
- Berci Mesko, MD
people who have not experienced socialized services do not get it. They Idealize them!
- Leonard Boord
@Berci Mesko and those who drive and those who eat too much or badly, exercise too little, have sport injuries, unprotected sex, have dangerous and stressful jobs etc if we start thinking in those terms not many people would be entitled to healthcare at all. Personally I prefer not to judge and have universal healthcare combined with decent education and prevention plans
- M F
I am from the government I am here to cure you....
- Leonard Boord
Just a question: Is it really true that the current system in the US means that people who take care of themselves and use little healthcare don't subsidize those who are less healthy? Given the high costs of basic insurance I find that almost impossible to believe but it would be interesting to know some facts especially when these 'socialized' vs 'whatever we call it' comparisons are being made.
- Robin Barooah
@Robin: as far as I know everyone has Medicare tax withheld form their paycheck even if they are not insured throug Medicare. (I may be wrong though.)
- Rene Wirtz
@M F: I understand, but having universal healthcare means you get an average service no matter how hard you work in life. Nurses, doctors have an incredibly low income compared to those working in the US. The whole system is far overloaded and nobody has time for you. I know there are serious problems in the US healthcare system as well, but I don't think you really want socialized medicine. Though, you should give it a try yourself. :)
- Berci Mesko, MD
From what I have experienced (I grew up in the UK, and now live in the US) neither 'ideological extreme' is particularly great. There are some aspects of healthcare that make it difficult to run from a purely capitalistic perspective - i.e. accidents happen to even the most careful people, demand can potentially be infinite, etc, and at the point of use there is no market and consumers are vulnerable...
- Robin Barooah
...and there are aspects that make it difficult to run from a purely 'socialized' perspective - i.e. a lowest common denominator service may limit quality of life unfairly, those who take care of themselves end up responsible for those who don't, demand is potentially infinite, metrics are hard and medical decisions become politicized etc.
- Robin Barooah
To me this means that our tools are too blunt to solve the problem as one thing. Either we need more sophisticated tools (which I don't see), or the complex problem needs to be broken down into simpler ones that we can solve with out blunt tools (which I think is eminently possible). I believe that Obama is sophisticated enough to recognize this. Whether or not he can implement it given the vested interests he has to work with is the real test.
- Robin Barooah
In the 19th century, the US built an incredible rail system that tied the nation together, all with private money. The entrepreneurs are now called "Robber Barons". It's little wonder that private enterprises doesn't want to step up again.
- Robert Hafer
@Berci Mesko I live in Britain, I'm familiar with a national health service free to the point of service, with all its faults.Having said that I don't want to put my health and trust in the hands of a company that thinks about its profit first, I don't want them to do unnecessary procedures when I have plenty of money (as has had happened in some private clinics in Europe) and deny me care when I need it the most. And I don't want anyone else to be in that position.
- M F
what is interesting -- how many people have opinions on socialism/socialists, while context they mention reveals they have either little or no clue about true socialism and how those historical examples of *socialism* were far from schoolbook definitions... and then-love-now-hate from ex-little-cousins in Central Europe looks like they hasn't learned lessons of history, rather go the opposite way (hint - negation is not productive and helps only in very short term).
- A.T.
@M-F and Berci: some countries in Western Europe have adopted a two tiered system: 1) base care, including prevention, pharmaceuticals and dental, for everyone (everyone pays for it, everyone can benefit from it) and 2) for an extra premium you can add more specialized items to the base insurance, like private hospital rooms or extended dental plan or prolonged manual therapy. This way, everyone has the same base insurance coverage and for those who can afford it, they can get a better or broader coverage.
- Rene Wirtz
@alphaxion Europe is a lot more compact than the US. so don't hold your breath about getting a transit system for everyone. Health care is so expensive because of insurance. Our economic system is a house of cards - one that is on the verge of tumbling down. More government is never a solution; it always adds to the problems. Real solution is growing food & shopping locally, supporting communities, decentralizing. That is in OUR best interest but not the best interests of the global economy's plutocracy.
- Internet Strategist
Transit is partially affected by population density, exclusive of politics. The western U.S. differs greatly from Europe, though I will grant that European nations discourage auto use more, thus incentivizing mass transit.
- Ontario Emperor
from fftogo
I should clarify that I was talking about intercity travel, not intracity travel (though the same issues apply to southern California - who's gonna build a rail line connecting Ontario to Orange County?).
- Ontario Emperor
from fftogo
Time for high speed rail from San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, too San Diego.
- ka3drr
Photography | A Hummingbird Nest, Babies &Inspired Haiku Poetry | kikolani - http://kikolani.com/humming...
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You have got to love the shots of the inside of a humming bird's nest. And I love how Kristie has captioned the photos using haiku ! Very clever !
- Jaffer
I'm working on a Fast Company article about Netbooks (those small $500 computers). Would love to discuss your experiences here:
jerobins, Franklin Pettit, VC Freak and 74 other people liked this
My favorite is the Samsung. How about yours? Why?
- Robert Scoble
Dell Mini 9. Very decent keyboard,all solid state,lots of usb ports, 1 gig ram.Feels like a proper machine, just ultra portable. Good value. Runs like a dream with windows 7.
- Nik
I was considering a netbook but I held back from buying it now. Looking forward to what you have got !
- Jaffer
I really enjoy the HP Mini despite the crappy trackpad the EEE Pc's look too much like toys that the problem I have. I was looking to buying one around Christmas but everyone had some flaw I just didn't want to handle. It seems there is no perfect or even close to perfect :-(
- Will Reynolds Young
I bought the Asus EEEPC 900 linux last year. For sofa surfing, and server room shennigans they are brilliant. Im annoyed at the lack of batterylife in them however I understand the MSI Wind is a better product todate
- Nik Butler
I don't have one but I think they would be great for conferences. They seem to be the right size - smaller than a laptop but bigger than a mobile phone.
- Kim Dushinski
Nik: what did you compare it to before buying the Dell? Why did that one stick out for you?
- Robert Scoble
Wondering how much of a real trend netbooks are - they are cheap, ok , but you get what u're paying for... a couple of extra bucks and u get a real productivity tool - all in all it's good for on-the-run bloggers though ;)
- ksso
HP 2133. High resolution and solid feel outweigh the concerns regarding the awkward trackpad.
- Fred Offenburger
Hey Robert. The portability and superb battery life makes it far easier to get work done on the move. Here in the UK I am starting to see them everywhere. Low price point also going to make them super-attractive right now! Windows 7 and linux fly on these pocket rockets!
- Jim Connolly
been looking at the MSI Wind u120 for a while now but haven't pulled the trigger yet. looks like a great machine that can run windows or OSX.
- The Last Epic
i agree with Nik, the Dell mini 9 is a great little netbook but then the HP mini does have the looks. I have a samsung laptop now, its not a netbook but a 17" laptop and i hate it. So samsung laptops+netbooks fail for me.
- Allan Jones
I love netbooks because of the small size. I frequently fly coach and need smaller computers because of the seat pitch. Also, sitting on the couch with friendfeed is just fine for a small computer.
- Robert Scoble
I also have a dell mini 9, love it. The keyboard does take a little getting used to, but with 1gb ram, it runs like a dream. It was a lifesaver on our road trip from Boston to Memphis. Hooked the ipod into it, used it as a in car entertainment device, was great. Love it.
- Nick
I purchased an Asus 4G (7") when they first came out, loved it, but the keyboard was way too small to be productive on it. I've recently picked up the 1000H with a whopping 160GB drive and a much more spacious keyboard. main usage is to do some offline development so battery life was important and you get plenty out of the eee units.
- Serdar
CASASSOVICI: Netbook sales exploded in 2008, CNET reports: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops... (they aren't the only ones).
- Robert Scoble
I've lusted after a MacBook Air, but I saw an article suggesting OS X can run on these and so now looking for suggestions.
- Conor Ogle
I was just contemplating these the other day as a small 'utility' device. Something that I could use as a remote-control, so to speak, for all my home network devices. The low price point is what has attracted me as well. Can't wait for the article.
- Walt Ruppar
I user the Acer Aspire One 150 with Windows XP with ext battery last up to 5 hours - good keyboard - will try to install Windows 7 on it
- Michael Greth
I set one up for a client last week, my initial thought was "cheap, slow." Was a Dell Mini. I can see where if speed/performance were not so much an issue, they could be convenient for portability requirements, as mentioned by Kim and Nik.
- Christopher Dickens
As long as your covering Netbooks, I was wondering if you saw the patent filings for what looks to be a tablet or large iTouch. Do you think this is Apple's answer to the Netbook? Here's the link; http://is.gd/idvq
- Michael Fidler
Felt more robust than the eee /acer/hp, and better specs, at least at the time (November). Light and solid state means you can (literally) throw it in a bag and forget about it, which has brought a surprisingly different feel to computing. No matter how light, regular laptops always feel somewhat like a burden to carry/stow/etc.. A netbook has none of that, and if it's specced high enough, you sacrifice little in the way of your regular internet activities.
- Nik
Its a funny phenomenon. We've been tracking 8-10" netbooks as UMPCs since 2006. They we re expensive. Not popular. No-one really wanted one or could justify one. Now, price has changed a lot of peoples minds!
- Steve 'Chippy' Paine
Also, if i had some extra money i think i would get the sony notebook; http://bit.ly/sonynotbook
- Allan Jones
Once they get powerful enough, it would make sense to just have a netbook, and plug into keyboard and monitors elsewhere. Until then, they're a counterpart to your main machine that I'd find hard to give up now.
- Nik
The asus is a good one - its small - good to check email and hit the web . . .if you use web apps for most of your daily routine then a netbook would work. If you are opening documents or moving around media files . . probably not the right machine - not enough RAM.
- Steve
Allan: the Sony looks cool but for the price the Samsung delivers better performance for far less.
- Robert Scoble
My wife despised computers. Now she loves using a Netbook. Why? Size so she can drop it in her purse and carry it everywhere. Here videos on this at GottaBeMobile.com show the attraction that non-geeks have to these devices.
- Warner Crocker
I'm in China-what dyou know about Hashee netbooks?
- Betsy
Betsy: no, would love to hear more.
- Robert Scoble
I own the Aspire One. I'd say I've gone from taking a laptop with me every once in awhile to pretty much keeping the A1 with me about 90% of the time. The portability factor is awesome.
- Shawn Farner
I have an Acer Aspire One and love it. Portability is awesome and with a 6 cell battery upgrade I get about 5 hours of usability. People comment on the small keyboard but I find the main keys (alphabet that is) perfectly fine and only miss on some of the surrounding keys (e.g. shift). Not for gaming or high end apps (e.g. CAD) but for everything else simply superb. Oh, and just because it's called a "netbook" doesn't mean you have to work completely in the cloud. 160 GB for storage. Oh, and Win XP.
- Bob Starr
Robert: im still not sure about samsung laptops. as i said, i have one and im not happy with it. was kind of a let down. i would have to think twice before buying another samsung laptop/notebook
- Allan Jones
I'm a teacher, and use an EEE701 to plan and deliver all my lessons - really useful bit of kit + runs Linux, so I can also get them used to the fact that Microsoft isn't the only way to use a computer.
- Rich
Acer Aspire One user here. Needed something small enough to fit in my purse, big enough to function as needed. Happy with it.
- SchoolPR
I predict netbooks will soon morph into "pocket" netbooks. A screen that folds in half and a keyboard that folds in half. A 9" screen netbook will fold down to a 3" X 4" pocketable device that when unfolded out 4 ways has a usable screen and keyboard. With the advances in OLED and flexible screens the arrival of the all-in-one computer/communication device is closer than many think. The "netbook" form-factor is the most important, but I think yet unrecognized, step towards that.
- Gregg H.
Well, "500$" doesn't apply to the best netbook on the market right now: the Sony P. I wish I had the money 2 buy it... :(
- Raul Pereira
@scobleizer "Netbook sales exploded in 2008" => sure they did, netbooks seem cool from an uneducated user point of view - yet apart from a couple mobile geeks all of my friends found a better use as a bookshelf for theirs (and as it's pretty light it might not even be good for that) - YET the latest netbooks with 500+USD price point are more in the ultra-portable segment imho (almost 1kg, big screen....)
- ksso
Love the Eee901 Hate Xandros, would rather have XP. Will install ubuntu at some point. Great for travel & meetings, never had a problem with battery life, wi-fi connection not always great
- Richard Grieve
Small size, small weight, battery life and usability = the magic equation of mobile devices, iPhone is pretty close, netbooks have it
- Christophe Pierret
I'm a small business owner who needed to reduce the "weight" of my laptop and opt for the basics of a netbook. I struggled between the Dell Mini and the HP Mini. Dell Mini is only sold online -- I need to touch and feel a computer first, having already had bad luck with Dell I was reluctent. The HP doesn't have VGA out, a problem for me because I do lots of presentations requiring...
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- Matt Carlisle
netboooks supposed to fill a niche between smartphones & laptops.But realistically if you looking for bang for the buck netbook does not provide neither the bang nor the cost savings.Id say it will be a stepping stone to something else, few geeks & dumb nincompoops ( fooled by marketing) will buy it but for most this is a wait &* see year.
- Baba
If small size isn't what you want, for $500 you can get a lightly used laptop and a new battery. That's the way I've always done it.
- Bruce Lewis
from fftogo
oh and with settings down, I can play world of warcraft on my dell :) what more do i need!
- Nick
Acer Aspire One 1GB XP 160GB 6-cell $379 Costco. The larger battery is key because you get around 5-6 hours. Windows 7 worked out of the box, no problems. I love it. I use my 17" desktop replacement for real work, my netbook for everything else. When I travel, I no longer have to ask "Do I really need my laptop?" Netbooks fill the gap between laptop and smartphone. Three huge advantages of netbooks: small, cheap, awesome battery life. Fail if 3-cell or > $400.
- andy magoon
My Asus-Aspire is the best investment I've made in tech in a long time. The netbook provides ease of use where it is needed when neither a smartphone or laptop are appropriate. Those with solid state drives will likely be able to withstand the abuse making them more desirable when the capacity increases. For a college student taking notes and logging in Facebook what else is needed.
- Paul M Done
Also it's fun to see how the market started at a 300€ price point (event 200 when with a jointed mobile data plan) to evolve towards a 500€+ price point
- ksso
I got my MSIWind U100 last week 2GB RAM, installed windows 7, installed BIOS 1.09 Overclocked 25%, More than satisfied with it...fine user support on the net MSIWind WIKI etc.....paid $527 in Denmark.
- Joseph Jahn
Check out the MSI X320 It's an ultrapotable/netbook, that was designed to compete with the Macbook Air. Her's a review from CES http://blog.laptopmag.com/hands-o... It was one of the stars of CES, but it's not available yet.
- Michael Fidler
I have an aspire one w/XP (now dual boots win 7), 1 gig, 160 g hd, It works great, wouldn't want to write a book on the keyboard but fine for email. Use it for internet, watch tv shows and movies. Wouldn't do without it now.
- Curt Kelly
got an acer aspire one i slammed xp on, the linux distro that came with it was problematic with wireless from the 10 mins testing i gave it before formatting... bluetooth or hsdpa would complete it but theres 3 usb on it, which is more than my 'big' laptop has, so i can forgive it a cable to my phone
- Matt Randles
Hi Robert - I purchased an Aspire One - 160GB Model. Installed Windows 7 (use it as sole OS) and went through the cumbersome process of upgrading the memory to 1.5GB. Overall - I love it! It's compact yet has enough horsepower and storage to necessity apps (Windows, Office, iTunes, etc.) and store my content. Only downfalls of it are - not upgrade friendly and touchpad which I believe are being address in the new 10" versions. Great investment for my needs!
- Neilesh Daji
Here's something I wrote on the matter, it might help: http://channel.hexus.net/content...
- Scott
We got the 10" HP Mini with the 16 Gig SSD and 1 Gig of Ram (which we doubled for $40). The built in webcam is horrendous with hardly any picture controls but the size is great. I took it on the road with me and almost died when I was sitting in bulkhead and was able to slide it into the small plastic magazine holder in front of me.
- Marco(aureliusmaximus)
here in austria A One gives you a NetBook called the Q10 Air on XP, 160 HDD running a 1,6 Ghz Intel Atom, you pay 29 Eur / month and have 5 G data transfer, 3, A Hutchinson Co., offered an Eee PC ( not sure exact model ) with a similar data-transfer contract at a comparable price, some business clients are opting for NetBooks instead of Laptops because they weigh less, cost about as...
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- atul abraham
from twhirl
I much prefer the $500 base model regular size laptop from dell
- Christian Burns
enjoying my HP Mini.
- MikeAmundsen
I have the Dell Mini 9 and while the size can't be beat, I am wishing I had purchased a small "regular" laptop instead - or one from another manufacturer. The placement of the quotes/apostrophe key on the Dell Mini 9 is atrocious and forces me to constantly edit. I will likely buy a portable USB keyboard to deal with this since I am not going to give up on this purchase just yet. However, I would recommend to others looking to buy a Netbook to really review the specs before buying.
- Jamie Sanford
My favorite is eee pc 900a due being one of the smallest 8.9 inchers with atom cpu. It has great big multitouch mouse pad and good durability. It's just $230 but i updated it with fast 64gig ssd, 2gigs of ram, touch screen and 3G... dual booting xp pro and windows 7.
- jkkmobile
I gotta say that I love my Apsire One (currently set up to tri boot XP, Win 7 and Ubuntu Netbook). I've mainly been using Win 7 on it as it's great on supposedly low end hardware, but on a recent road trip, I pushed the Aspire to the limit. http://www.rgbfilter.com/... is a recent post I made about my experiences using it during a road trip, watching streaming video via Orb while tracking our position using Google Earth, with data and GPS connectivity being sent to the Aspire via a smartphone.
- Doug
PS : my main workstation is an 8 G gaming rig dual-boot to WIN 7 BETA & Vista Ultimate, i also use a Sony Viao VGN FZ 21 M. Plus a back up PC ( an Austran reseller brand ).
- atul abraham
from twhirl
My MSI Wind has been a boon to me as an IT Pro - I can sit in bed at night, remote into my servers and do work on them quickly and then get back to my netflix movie. Win7 runs great and it flies through whatever I throw at it. Plus having it quad boot impresses the girls (the nerd ones anyway...)
- david
have you seen this $10 laptop from india http://www.guardian.co.uk/world... (Probably vaporware)
- anand
Digging the Aspire One VERY much. Made it dual boot with XP and Ubuntu, not having any problems yet. I love discrete size. I'm fine with the 8.9 size--if I wanted bigger I'd go with a full laptop. Great screen. Runs everything I want and the keyboard works for me. Not a fan of the touchpad either, but I am very pleased for the money.
- Tracey Patterson
Oh yeah, like others said, unlike a 'real' laptop, netbooks are much more portable, meaning you're more likely to bring it to places where you MIGHT need a computer, and you don't have to worry about packing an annoying laptop bag.
- Doug
Picked up an Aspire One yesterday - WinXP (spec, spec, spec). Installed Skype, Trillian, Photoshop CS2, Office 2007, Twhirl, Firefox, CCCP, all w/o a problem. I was replacing the need for a PDA (x50v Axim). I have an XPS m1710 - too large for random bolting from the office to work in a coffee shop. I'm stoked.
- Enrique Gutierrez
from twhirl
I believe the netbooks we have seen till now are the first generation of the netbooks. With the second generation, we'll be much more amazed. As @cpierret said "Small size, small weight, battery life and usability" are the key factors. I believe they'll get less heavy, have better battery and their usability will boost in 2009. My personal choice: Asus EeePC 1000H
- Goktug Gedik
I'm using an Asus 4G right this very second. Great battery life, fair O/S, keyboard is too small for me, decent screen, very compact and lightweight... Overall it has been a great experience. With the advent of 'cloud' storage and web-based mail, photo editing and document creation it makes a good case to carry this instead of a big laptop when travelling.
- MVB (Curmudgeon of FF)
I live on mine when I am traveling, the battery life on the plane is great about 8 hours, I use it for podcasts, I use it to write blog entries, I use it to upload pictures to smug mug, but I really use it when I am traveling, lighter, longer battery life, does what I need it to do for a "on the go blogger/program director" if you want a quote. :-) I really love my netbook.
- Dan Morrill AKA Techwag
really want to get a netbook, love the portability and price, ideal for conferences.
- Kipp Bodnar
My Eee PC 1000H experiences: http://friendfeed.com/search...
- Erhan Erdogan
I got my 10" MSI Wind with the 6-cell battery when it first came out and for my purposes (web-surfing while watching tv), it's golden. No way in hell it'd work as a primary machine though. For me anyway.
- ronin
I'm still waiting for a solid netbook OS to come out and deliver on the idea of these things serving as a Portal to our documents in the sky. I'm more than happy with 4GBs of solid state hard drive if I can safely and securely access my home/work networks and computers. If Windows 7 can facilitate this then I think they could very well corner the market.
- Tyler Brownfield
I love my MSI Wind U100. I pretty much use it at home as my primary laptop. When I do use a normal-sized laptop it just seems huge to me as compared to the Wind. I'm over 40 and use reading glasses, but the smaller screen is not a problem for me.
- J.D. Deutschendorf
Lenovo S10, 1Gb RAM, XP - love this thing. Light, portable, cheap (I paid <$300). Am able to get it to choke, though, with FireFox with 20 tabs open + Outlook + Excel + TweetDeck running. I can live with it, though - haven't turned on my desktop since the day I bought this thing.
- Tom Halle
Who needs a netbook? My iPhone *is* my netbook. I have decent web browsing, real e-mail and media playback. Something that needs more than an iPhone to do the job probably needs more than a netbook, too.
- Jonathan Fingas
Netbooks with Intel Ion Technology is coming, NVidia GeForce 9400M and intel atom processor together, for gaming !! http://tinyurl.com/67pkfm
- Rocky
Recently bought a netbook for my boss. I went with the hp mini. I find its made better than the asus. It also has a built in Verizon card. I did run into a problem when I had orginally bought the same machine from Circuit City and it stated on the website that it had the "built-in" wireless card. But after hours of technical support the fast talking asian man state that the laptop that I bought would not work. I had to buy it directly from HP.
- ryan
Seems like kind of a lazy way to do a story.
- Carol Vinzant
The plan to make 13" notebooks based on Intel's Atom platform indicates that some people don't care too much about computing power anymore. It's all about having lightweight access to the web, and web applications.
- Meryn Stol
Carol: Couldn't disagree more. Today the only excuse for not beginning a story this way is ignorance or misguided notions of how a reporter/journalist is supposed to traditionally research and background something. There's a billion people with ideas and information itching to share it. Can't think of one good reason not to tap that.
- Gregg H.
This is how cutting-edge journalism is done nowadays, and it's the smart (not the lazy) way to do it.
- Sean McBride
LOL @ Carol - he is ASKING for your EXPERIENCEs with a Netbook. thats GOOD journalism. and Sean this is how good journos have ALWYS worked. shee, you want him to make stuff about netbook users up ?
- atul abraham
from twhirl
I bought an Eee PC (901, I believe). Very portable. Keyboard took some getting used to. Used mainly for browsing. Chrome or Firefox (in minimalist mode) and full screen were great for it. Potential as a notetaking device with One Note or Evernote. Watched Transformers on it and it played well enough.
- Arlan Koizumi
Carol: I have been studying netbooks for a long time. Went to CES in Las Vegas. Went to IFA in Berlin. Went to computer malls in Shenzhen, China. And now I'm asking your opinions. Personally I agree with Gregg. You are totally in the wrong here. Good journalists learn to listen to the real experiences of people on forums and online.
- Robert Scoble
I keep wanting to pull their trigger, but I'm hearing the XP drivers they had to create are buggy ie. scroll bars. Anyone having that problem?
- Dave Gambrill
Hey Robert - Brian from Seagate here. I'm interested in the percentage of flash based netbooks to HDD based. My sense is that netbooks are moving up in capacity dramatically.
- Brian Ziel
Brian: One of the problems I've read about with Netbooks using SSD's is that their performance degrades whenever lots of writes have to be made. For instance, when writing to cache webpages. This was a problem with the Asus EEE 900A, granted it did have a slower than usual SSD. Are writes getting better with newer SSD's?
- Gregg H.
I don't think netbooks are replacements but rather secondary machines. Good for travel or sitting on the couch watching TV. Won't replace a high-end laptop or desktop.
- Michael Sheehan
from twhirl
Michael: For a lot of people, yes they will be replacements. Intel knows this, and they hate that they have to even make an Atom. That's why every time you hear an Intel exec talking about netbooks and even their Atom processor they trip all over themselves to tell you just how bad they really are. AMD is even worse, they are just in denial, and have no plans to even get in the game with a sub 15 Watt processor.
- Gregg H.
Yep, default SSDs on most netbooks are slow.. thats why one should buy either hdd version or minimum capacity ssd version and then upgrade to fast one... there are pretty fast and cheap ssd allready available so if you dont need tons of storage but like ssd speed and durability go for it!
- jkkmobile
I am still waiting for my HP to be delivered, but a few years back, when they were called subnotebooks (and were way more expensive) I had a sub-tablet (10") from fujitsu, the p1310. Having this tiny computer really blew my mind, it was easy to have a computer with you at all times when it weighed only 1kg and was smaller than a hardcover book. I used it for note taking, presentations,...
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- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
My ten year old just purchased one with his own allowance money, and xmas gift cards. He loves it. He sits on his bed watching TV and writing in his journal. He carries it around the house like his mom and dad do with there big expensive laptops. My next computer will be a netbook I've already decided.
- Russ Jackson
To me the killer features for a netbook are keyboard size, touch screen, wifi and battery life (which implies using SSD and no CD drive). I wish there were netbooks without those really annoying touchpads - give me a "nipple" and/or a touchscreen and more keyboard space. My subnotebook would have been a lot less usable without virtualCD technology (which meant i could take software or...
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- Joelle Nebbe (iphigenie)
I can see netbooks being main machines for some (okay, a lot of) people. However, I think 10-12 inch screens (and thus, hopefully, larger keyboards) will need to become the base for it to truly take off. Both of my parents have high-end dual core, DVD burner/reader, 15-inch laptops. Yet, only my father makes use of it all. My mother just uses hers for email and web browsing. A netbook would be right up her alley, as long as it's bigger than the usual 8.9-inch fare. And @Brian Ziel, my Eee PC has a SSD.
- Arlan Koizumi
Arlan: VGA out
- Gregg H.
My 23 yo sister and I have Acer Aspire Ones. She takes hers everywhere (fits in her purse) and I've noticed her using it in the kitchen (to cook from internet recipes) as well. I've tended to use mine to websurf while watching sports on TV.
- Charles Fenwick
My Ubuntu-preloaded Dell Mini-9 is on its way back to FedEx since I'm a 9 to 5'r. I'll let ya know what I think after I pick it up tonight. W/my employee discount it dressed out at around $320!
- Eric Rost
Win7 + Acer Aspire One = Awesome!
- Shafiq Jetha
from twhirl
@Gregg H. Yes, at the desk. But what about at the couch? Or using it for reference when working on a car (did this with my MBP; too big)? 10-12-inch is, to me, a nice middle ground between large screen and portability without additional hardware. Of course, being younger and with good-ish eyesight, 8.9 isn't bad and works just well. But compound screen size with keyboard size and it's not so comfy during extended use. For me anyway.
- Arlan Koizumi
Set one up for my cousine. I don't like the keyboard, way to small. But surely it's just a matter of practice ...
- Dennis R.
Got my 901 EEE with Windows 7 on it. Its a 20Gb linux version, but had to install windows 7 on the second partition due to space. Works really well.
- CW™
Robert, I have a Netbook in the UK. A Dell 9. Blogged about experience here: http://digitalagency.typepad.com/digital...
- Mike Coulter
Question to you... do you think that netbooks distribution will be primarily through carriers, like handsets, or via big box channel partners, like notebooks?
- Aimee
I've rolled my Netbook(Asus Eee 701) down a flight of carpeted steps and dropped it above waist height twice. The SSD Drive has to be the best tech of the century.
- Anthony Farrior
it might be off topic but for 500$ I prefer to buy used normal laptop with decent performance and avoid the sluggish, low resolution netbooks ...
- Nir Dremer
Nir, on that point, there are *new* non-netbooks for <$500.
- Wade Dorrell
count me in
- pestwave
I'm a product developer and I use an Asus 1000H with 160GB HDD and 2GB of RAM. I have a full install of Solidworks solid modeling software and it runs without a hitch for simpler parts and assemblies. The 10" screen is adequate for most tasks and the trackpad even has some basic multitouch features. I picked it up during the Live Search cashback promotion in December for $300, delivered. Not bad.
- Luke Westra
My wife reviews b-grade movies at QueenOfCheese.com on her Asus EEE and she loves it. She never takes her full laptop anywhere now that she has net netbook.
- MarkCarras
The new ASUS Eee PC 1000HE is my new lust. It just became available for pre-order at $399. Revamped keyboard so the Right-Shift key is in the right spot. 160GB hard drive plus 10GB of online storage through ASUS included. 802.11n and up to 9.5 hours of battery life with a battery that sits flush in the chassis.
- Kevin C. Tofel
At the moment though, I'm using an MSI Wind with a 2GB RAM upgrade. Great keyboard and nearly 6 hours of battery life. Been running Windows 7 on it since October and the OS rocks on it.
- Kevin C. Tofel
Picked up an Aspire One at Best Buy by impulse and have been using the thing for class notes and when traveling for the last 6 months and have had nothing but good experiences with the thing. Typing is quite easy once you adjust to the keyboard, and multitasking isn't much different than on a standard sized laptop.
- BCK
I've been using an HP Mini 1033 and quite pleased with it. What wins me over? The diminutive size and weight. It's become the one computer I grab to take with me on the go. I've also been using it a lot when sitting on the back porch using Remote Desktop to my bigger (indoor) dev machine when needed. Yeah, it's a little cramped to program with the Mini's small display, but I like being outdoors more.
- Loren Heiny
@Loren HP Mini display is OK in the sun? Man, I wish I could compute outside more... but laptop displays just never work.
- Wade Dorrell
I don't actually have one, but the netbook phenomenon inspired me to take an old Dell laptop I had sitting around, and reformat to just run Firefox and web apps. Small computers have been around for years, but the maturity of the cloud and improvements in power consumption have helped the market for netbooks take off. I look forward to the next generation of these devices.
- Ryan
@kevin This is huge news! =) http://www.engadget.com/2009...
- Goktug Gedik
india is working on $10 laptop http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infotec...
- varun
What a thread! Anyway, I am underwhelmed by the Dell netbook. Check out my review: http://raddevon.com/review-...
- Devon Campbell
I have just installed OSX on a Dell Mini 9 that I picked up for $250. It's pretty unbelievable.
- Ben Metcalfe
@Robert - I don't have any experience with these, but my dad got one a bit ago. I'm not sure what kind of experiences you are looking for, but if you'd be interested, but he might be able to provide an interesting view from a non techie perspective. Get in touch if you'd like to chat with him.
- Justin Korn
Dell Inspiron Mini Running OSX - http://tinyurl.com/bghzas, has Apple been ripping us off on hardware ?
- atul abraham
from twhirl
Is it straightforward to install OSX?or does this require extensive hacking?
- Lyndon
I think I can´t live without my eee 901 (with xp) anymore. perfect balance of size/weight/features for me. I needed some time to get comfortable with the the keyword and I use a mouse with it. and - it is kind of cute and lovely. never had such a relationship to some techthing, really.
- ★ Esther Rudolph
I'm also in love with my EEE 901 with Linux. I can get actual work done (I'm a software developer) even when I'm far away from my work or home computer. Makes me feel like I'm living a more "online" life.
- Panagiotis Astithas
Waiting for my Lenovo S10E Black - http://larsen82.wordpress.com/2009...
- Qbat
Robert, I'm starting to think, netbooks and phones, may be more ideal for consuming video media, than desktops/laptops. I'm gonna try to get a video feed in friendfeed going, to further explore this paradigm shift. Watching video at a desktop can actually be quite time consuming, and static.
- David Lynch
Ok, so we've agreed this is a great way to research an article, but where is the finished product. I am hoping for some recommendations as I have done zero research of my own and would like to be a lazy, but not misguided, consumer.
- Conor Ogle
Re: The Cockfight - http://jong.my/2009...
"Wow, this is beautiful ! I'd be so amused watching them that I'd forget to even grab my camera. I give it 5 stars ! :)"
- Jaffer
Re: With Twitter friend imports, FriendFeed again devalues Twitter.com - http://venturebeat.com/2009...
"That is pretty cool ! But I have learnt to work with FriendFeed and Twitter side by side but I am on Twitter more !"
- Jaffer
Re: Nintendo Wii Found At Pamida - http://www.geakz.com/2008...
"Looks like you have got the Wii feaver too ! Oh who am I talking to - it's the Geakz for goodness sake ! Ofcourse he'll have the Wii feaver. Oh Shutup Jaffer ! Wishing you and the Ms. and Jr. a very Happy New Year !"
- Jaffer
Re: Customer Service: It’s In The Details - http://www.geakz.com/2008...
"It may be funny, looking at the pictures but let me tell you I used to work once upon a time assembling Canon and Xerox image servers. Power cords and their converters were stored in different bins. An order called for them by a 9 digit bar code - distinct for both the cord and the adapter. I'd just had to walk to the bin and blindly pick out the cord by just re-checking the bar code and do the same for the converter, and if they both "PASSED" under the scanner, they were packed and sent to shipping. Did I check the the holes and the plugs ? Nope ! I just did my job exactly as said by the Manufacturing Process Instruction posted on the company's intranet ! I can't tell you how many times I misread the 9 digit bar code and packed Australian Power cords bound for the UK or German power cords bound for the USA - or more ridiculously, French cords to Italy and vice versa. And I was never once blamed !"
- Jaffer
Re: Things That Are Scary - http://www.geakz.com/2008...
"Beautiful Eye my friend ! Love the detail ! The price list on that motel sign make me go - "WHAT ?!" :lol:"
- Jaffer
Re: New Wordpress Plugin: Directory of Love - http://www.geakz.com/2008...
"I think it's a great way to allow bloggers to add themselves to your blogroll. (Thus avoiding blogroll envy !)"
- Jaffer
Re: Long gestation period: Microsoft’s first iPhone app coming next year - http://venturebeat.com/2008...
"I drifted off to read an article about an elephant's reproductive cycle instead."
- Jaffer
A must read for insane laughs
- Jaffer
Tarheel Ramblings & A Rare Commodity - http://www.tarheelramblings.com/...
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Exploring the search for truth about the politicians standing in elections and where they stand. Canadians can apply and learn from this post too.
- Jaffer
Tarheel Ramblings & A Rare Commodity - http://www.stumbleupon.com/demo...
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Exploring the search for truth about the politicians standing in elections and where they stand. Canadians can apply and learn from this post too.
- Jaffer
Re: Mobilize Your Blog With Mippin - http://www.geakz.com/2008...
"I was actually thinking about creating a template for mobiles for my blog earlier today. Here you are introducing me to this killer application. This is awesome, the rendered website looks exactly I had Imagined !"
- Jaffer
Re: Saturday Morning Fanfare - http://www.geakz.com/2008...
"I didn't know the Mz. blogged as well. Hello ! No kids here and none planned in the near future. My late uncle used to live near Wadala Rd. station in Bombay and his apartment was adjacent to a Railway yard. You'd hear crashing of empty oil cars all day and boy those bangs were loud ! When making a consist, the engines would reverse at high speed with 2-3 cars attached. When enough momentum was gained, the cars would be released and the engine would brake. So the empty cars would roll down the tracks and stop with a BANG hitting a stationary car ! Uncle and family were so used to it that it was possible for them to even get pleasant afternoon siestas ! Well, they lived there for more than 30 years. I loved visiting just to watch the trains. But I never got a good nights rest especially when shaken up to a horn sounding like this. (MP3 file)"
- Jaffer
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