I re-watched Star Trek the other day. Not quite the same on the TV, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.
I love the references to the old series – especially the scene where Kirk is in bed with the green chick. Anyway, this got me wondering whether I would sleep with an alien?
If the Men in Black mythology is right – that aliens already live among us in disguise – then I probably have. It’s not a case of odds (I’ve not slept with that many women), it’s just that some of them have been really weird.
I guess the question is how humanoid are the aliens? I mean, there is a reason why I don’t bonk farm animals.
Kirk’s lay in Star Trek is undeniably hot (not Vulcan hot, but still), her skin just happens to be green. So yeah, I don’t see a problem with that. I’m pretty sure I could get used to green boobies. They’re still boobies.
(Not technically an “alien”, but) What about Helena Bonham Carter’s “sexy” chimp from Planet of the Apes? Could you go with that? Me? Nah. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to body-hair. And anyway, kissing her leathery ape-face would be like sucking on a handbag. Not for me, no.
I haven’t seen Avatar, but the thought of scuttling a 7-foot tall cat-woman with a tail longer than my arm, is a bit freaky. Now I’m not ruling it out, but there would need to be beer and I’d want to agree on some firm ground rules. But, we could probably make something work.
Luckily in Star Wars, many of the Aliens look a lot like Natalie Portman and Carrie Fisher, so we’re cool. I’d make a sharp exit if I went on a blind-date with one of the Sand People though. Sparkplugs sticking out of someone’s face is just plain creepy. Finally, role play with the changeling Zam Wessell from Attack of The Clones could be loads of fun. Definitely up for some of that.
Obviously the Queen from the Aliens movie is out of the question. The whole furious giant ant/acid-blood thing is, to be honest, a bit of a turn-off. I’ll pass.
So what do we want from an alien partner?
Well certainly a biped is a good start – and arms, she’s got to have arms. That way we avoid creatures that move around using tentacles or slide along on some kind of primeval ooze. And is it too much to ask that the sexual organs don’t have teeth or squirt some sort of poisonous icky goo? Thanks.
I know others might be more liberal when it comes to body hair, but I’m saying we keep the fur to a minimum. Getting 6” long strand of Wookie hair stuck in my teeth doesn’t do anything for me (have a look).
Skin-wise I’m cool. Green? Blue? Covered in spots? It’s all cool, baby. As long as her skins is soft and not crusty, I can turn a blind-eye to a bit of exotic pigmentation.
While two eyes are best, I could deal with anything in the region of 1-4 eyes. Any more and all the blinking would put me off.
I can take or leave ears. Not a biggie. Whiskers? Meh. Not fussed. Horns are an interesting one. Small ones could be quite cute, and larger ones would double as handlebars. Handy.
So ladies (if you’re still reading…), what extra/improved appendages would you fancy in your alien shag? Maybe you’d be up for tentacles, what with all those extra erogenous zones you have all over the place. What’ll it be girls?
So all in all, I think casual intergalactic fucking could be a lot of fun. To be honest, shagging humans will probably get quite boring eventually. What with just the one vagina and no antlers. That’s probably why old people just give up.
So yeah, I can’t wait for drunken nights in an alien nightclub tapping up the local talent. C’mon NASA, where’s our interstellar sex tourism? Pull your finger out, FFS.
This entry was written by Aaron, posted on January 3, 2010 at 6:28 pm, filed under sci fi, sex. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
I usually do a very structured review of the year, with a best blog/film/record of the year etc. This year however I have decided against picking a categorised best of the year. I’m just going to vent and see what happens…
Cinema
Quite a few critics have lamented the movies of 2009. It’s true that there has been asome rubbish – Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen, being one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. It’s an absolute travesty that Transformers 2 has made almost $900m, meaning that another life-draining sequel is inevitable. But there have also been a handful of decent pictures too.
Pixar followed up the seminal Wall-E with another good movie. While Up lost its way towards the end, it remains a moving and at times breathtakingly beautiful piece of work. Pixar, along with the Cohen brothers, are consistently leading from the front.
As raucous buddy-movies go, I really enjoyed The Hangover. It’s over-the-top, but it’s seriously funny in places. Nice to see The Hangover is also one of the highest grossing films of the year – pulling in almost 500m clams.
Harry Potter was fine. Watchmen was an epic letdown. Wolverine was rubbish but I enjoyed it. I haven’t seen Avatar, In The Loop or Zombieland yet. And 2012 can go F itself.
As for Sci-Fi, I thought both District 9 and Star Trek were great.
Music
I don’t really buy much music anymore. I love a few bands like The Killers, Radiohead, Muse and The Arctic Monkeys, but in the main I listen to audiobooks and podcasts.
Anyway mainstream music is now the preserve of one man: Simon Cowell, who seems to manipulate the nation like a huge braindead marionette. Now richer than Scrooge McDuck, Cowell – sporting his trademark Botox-swollen face and G.I. Joe haircut – seems to be behind everything. It’s only a matter of time before Cowell builds a fortress in the clouds and we’re all forced to crawl on all-fours like bugs dong his evil bidding.
At the centre of Cowell’s insidious empire are the twin-behemoths, X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. X-Factor, which allows bedroom-bound popstar wannabes to to ruin your Saturday night, provides a desperately bored nation with a never-ending production line of wet crooners – many of whom seem to have severe personality disorders.
Britain’s Got Talent, on the other hand, takes hideous curiosities and turns them into national treasures. More Britons would recognise the Hairy Angel, Susan Boyle, than they would The Angel of The North – one of the few genuine cultural highlights of recent times.
The recent Rage Against the Machines Christmas Number One was of course an impressive display of guerrilla grassroots marketing, but really the whole story just highlights the predictability of British Music.
The X-Factor track was absolute rubbish, but it still got the number two spot. What sort of bottom-feeders bought that shit? The mass lobotomising of the British people is the great unreported story of the last decade, and it’s time Simon Cowell was brought to justice.
Politics
Watching the slow and painful premiership of Gordon Brown is now unbearable. While the backend of 2009 has offered a flicker of hope for Labour ranks, it’s inevitable that Labour will get an almighty hosing at the general election.
The electoral map is heavily stacked against the Tories, but it hard to imagine that David Cameron will be denied victory – even it that means being the dominant faction in a coalition.
I don’t believe for a minute that a Conservative government will be much good. That’s why it’s hilarious reading the Tory blogs. They’re selling a great sack of fail. David Cameron is not nearly good enough to run a corner shop, never mind the nation. He’s going to become the next PM because Labour is such a crock.
If the Liberal Democrats had any ideas, gumption or class, they’d be crucifying the Tories. Instead they are, as always, paralysed by opportunity and terrified of success.
Of course the Lib Dems don’t actually want to win the election. Having to give up their sniffy-aloofness would be too high a price to pay. No, the Lib Dems are perfectly happy with the status quo, which allows them ample time to sit about telling each other how fragrant their farts are.
Videogames
After last-years stellar year for gaming, 2009 was always going to be a bit of a letdown. That said; there have been really good games released this year.
The year’s monster hit has been Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which is brilliant. While none the individual levels quite match up to its predecessor’s highlights (the All Ghillied Up sniper level and the majestic opening fewminutes of Charlie Don’t Surf), the overall campaign is better. My favourite part being the heart-pounding unarmed race across the Favella rooftops.
My criticisms of MW2 are that the multiplayer maps don’t offer the same varied experience of the first Modern Warfare game. Nothing quite betters the thrill of dominating on Ambush or Backlot. I like the Favella level and Invasion, but I’d love to be able to get a COD4 map-pack and bring my old favourites over to the new game.
The third MW2 game-type, Special-Ops, is really good and offers loads of re-play value. All together an outstanding, if not faultless, game.
One of my most played games of the year is the brilliant Xbox Arcade offering Trials HD, which is a beautifully realised game with a nod to the open-source motorbike classic Moto-X. You only control the trial-bike’s gas and the rider’s weight, but the experience is thrilling, addictive and taxing. My brother-in-law is completely besotted by the game.
I felt a bit let down by Halo ODST. Yeah it was moody and atmospheric, but it was also incredibly boring in places and the Halo 3 engine is incredibly dated now. Good to have all the multiplayer maps on one disk though.
Not being a PS3 owner I haven’t played Uncharted 2, but it’s the one game on the platform I’m desperate to play.
I’ve only played a bit of Left 4 Dead 2, which looks like more of the same – which is no bad thing! I hope to rattle through it over the next few days. I also got last year’s Fallout 3: Game of the Year edition for Christmas, so that’ll keep my busy.
Tech
Technology wise it’s been the year of the netbook. I love my Samsung NC10 (running Jolicloud OS) and often use it around the house instead of my MacBook Pro. I’m looking forward to the Chrome OS too.
I’ve become very attached to my new iPod Shuffle, which is used far more than my Touch. I just wish I could control the order my podcasts are played like I could on the old 2nd Gen Shuffle – maybe I just don’t know how to do it. They always play alphabetically.
Browser wise, Chrome has become my browser of choice on all my machines except the Macs. I need the Xmarks extension to sync bookmarks across my computers. On the Mac I use WebKit, but if the Chromium dev-build of Chrome was more robust, WebKit’s use would dwindle.
Phone-wise I’m still a BlackBerry man, that’s will change this year. Now the iPhone can gone multi-network expect sales to go crazy. I’m unsure between an Android phone and the iPhone, but I will get a touch-screen phone with a good browser.
TV
I don’t watch much TV, but the recent series of The Thick of It, and MadMen have both blown me away. I still like the I.T. Crowd and Peep Show is another favourite. Other than those two… Meh.
I’ll put my cards on the table. I enjoyed the first Transformers movie.
I know many critics didn’t much like TF1, but I enjoyed the special effects on show and thought that Shia LaBeouf’s motor mouth cockiness was pretty funny – especially his interaction with the slimy Sector 7 suit. Even the origin story nonsense I enjoyed and it held together okay.
Last night I watched Tranformers 2 and now I want 150 minutes of my life back.
When TF2 was announced I intended to catch it at the cinema. But after the critical mauling, I decided not to bother. Yesterday I decided it was probably worth a rental, just to see giant robots beat the shit out of one another. What could possibly go wrong?
I’ll tell you what went wrong. Everything.
Why the hell was that film two and a half hours long? It was a visual effects demo held together by the most convoluted and sigh-inducing story I have ever suffered.
So Sam Whitwhatsit goes off to Uni. It’s his first day at college, but somehow his fellow freshman roommates have – presumably in the few hours before Whitwhatsit got there – become dear friends, created a popular conspiracy website and set-up an internet business selling kitty calendars. Bullshit.
So anyway, story-line-wise (such as it is): inevitably the Decepticons are back and start appearing all over the place, slicing humans to bits and generally being nasty fucks.
We also see more of Megan Fox. In the first movie I agree Megan Fox was quite the hottie. Obviously she can’t act for shit, but she does what it says on the tin: pouts a lot and looks good in a tight vest. Let’s be honest. Fox is provided as eye-candy for the boys turning up to see two sports cars turn into robots and start wrestling.
In TF2 however, Fox spends the entire film looking like a carnival clown trying to make it as a hooker. You can literally see the pantomime makeup caked on her face. Yeah terrific rack, but it would be like making out with one of the female Splicers from the videogame BioShock. Urgh.
So back to Whitwhatsit. The jokes from the first movie are long gone. Think Shia LaBeouf’s god-awful turn in the recent, and very much regrettable, Indiana Jones movie. This time Whitwhatsit is supposed to be this seasoned hero trying to assimilate back into a normal life. He comes across as an annoying ass-knuckle, who you be quite happy to see slip and hit his temple on the side of a coffee table.
When Sam’s life is in peril towards the end of the movie, I genuinely wanted the wet fuck to croak. I couldn’t care less about any of the characters.
And what was with the two bickering twin Autobots? Are we, in these post Jar Jar Binks times, expected to put up with ridiculously clichéd (and possibly racist) characters in very blockbuster fantasy? Fuck, dudes.
And so even my son, who’s otherwise obsessed with anything remotely to do with superheroes and robots, got up halfway through the movie and mooched upstairs. Presumably he went to lie in bed and repeatedly punch himself in the face, in the pathetic hope he could wipe the experience from his fragile little mind.
Around the two-hour mark I too was becoming borderline suicidal. I started praying for the torture to end. Believe it or not, I’d actually had enough of gigantic robots rolling around on the floor and smashing each other in the face. I know. Incredible isn’t it?
I know the Transformers back-story is famously convoluted, with differing origin-stories from various incarnations, but the pseudo-religious Prime nonsense of the movie’s last hour was so painful I almost tore the skin from my face.
This film is so bad; everyone involved ought to be forced to drag the limp carcass of an expired Optimus Prime across the Sahara desert as punishment. Michael Bay, the film’s director, should be condemned to a life making adverts for sanitary products, and never be allowed near a movie set again. What a hateful cum-pot of a movie.
My wife’s conclusion summed it up perfectly as the credits rolled: “Well the first one was pretty good”. And that, I guess, is the kindest thing you can say about Transformers 2.
Dan Ackerman has a post over at the CNET Crave blog, discussing whether or not any future Apple tablet device will be an open platform (like the Mac) or a closed one (like the iPhone)?
I think the answer is pretty obvious. Just take a look at the hundreds of millions (some reports claim billions) of dollars Apple has raked in from its 30% share of every App Store sale.
Many of the comments below Ackerman’s piece claim they’ll only buy a tablet if it’s open – running a full version of OSX. One even claims any tablet running a closed iPhone-like OS will be a “dud”. Nonsense.
The truth is, any Apple tablet will be the most desirable and hyped consumer electronic device of 2010. It will do some things brilliantly, but will fall short of some users needs… just like every iteration of the iPhone.
It will be a glorious PMP (personal media player), playing iTunes movies, TV shows and video podcasts.
Browsing the web (even, probably, without flash) will be a joy using a refined version of Safari – using the devices perfectly realised multi-touch interface.
Other Apps will be developed to simulate many of the core functions of a PC. There will eventually be a stripped down version of Photoshop etc. But don’t expect Steve Jobs to allow any new Apple product to be seen coughing and spluttering, trying to run a full Mac version of these applications on limited-power, low-voltage hardware. Not going to happen.
The tablet will have to have more power than the iPhone, even if it’s just to render higher-resolution video. But will the device allow for multiple applications running at the same time?
I don’t know. The snappiness (and okayish battery-life) of the iPhone is down to limiting the number of processes it handles at any time. Closing one app and launching another on the iPhone is swift – possibly even as quick as switching between concurrent apps with a struggling CPU (of course this all depends on the apps in question).
People do want to run multiple apps, and it really should be the users’ choice as to whether to compromise performance and battery life for convenience. Jobs could afford the Apple tablet to be a bit more open, without sacrificing total control over the user experience.
So yeah, Apple will create a closed environment for the tablet. The App Store will continue to be a revenue generating phenomenon, and the tablet will sell very well (even if nowhere nearly as many units as the pocket-friendly iPhone).
I think a more important question will be whether the device will have a GSM/CDMA chip inside?
Surely it has to if Apple expects the tablet to be a must-have product for consumers out-and-about. And that would mean contract-based subsidies, which will inevitably drive sales and put the product within the grasp of more consumers. Win-win for Apple.
So will you buy an Apple tablet?
No-one needs a PMP or a tablet internet device. If they did, Archos would be shifting millions and millions of units. But then I guess no-one needed an iPhone until they enjoyed the delicious brilliance of mobile Safari, or a netbook before ASUS revolutionised the computer market with the EeePC.
I certainly don’t need an Apple Tablet. It’ll be expensive and do nothing that my current combination of mobile devices (BlackBerry, iPod Touch, netbook) can’t do.
I fully expect to get an iPhone in the coming year now they’ve gone multi-network in the UK (meaning the BlackBerry and Touch can stay at home). But no touch-screen keyboard will offer me a comparable experience to the one on my Samsung NC10 netbook. I’m a writer. A good keyboard is my primary concern.
Yeah, the tablet might allow for a Bluetooth keyboard, but any tablet is going to be in region of £500-700. That’s a hell of a lot of money for something a lot less powerful than my MacBook Pro.
The Apple tablet will sell millions of units. It will be subject to an awesome level of media coverage and hyperbole. And it will do some tasks brilliantly. But for me, I don’t see any place for an expensive media tablet in my digital life, which will please my long-suffering wife no end.
This entry was written by Aaron, posted on December 30, 2009 at 11:28 pm, filed under digital culture, mac. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
For the past few months I’ve been using the BlackBerry 8900 as my primary cell-phone. So, having become familiar with the popular device, I thought I’d share a few thoughts.
A lot of reviews are written by writers who have played with a device for a few hours, and are rushing to publish to gain maximum Google-juice. But a phone is not a gadget that can be fully appreciated until you’ve lived with it for a while.
If first impressions were everything, I’d still be enjoying the Nokia N95 8GB. It wasn’t until using it for a few weeks, that it became apparent that using the Symbian OS is about as much fun as wearing a pair of shrinking underpants.
The 8900 is a good phone. It’s attractive, well-built and the OS (v4.6) is easy to use and logical (especially if you’ve owned a BlackBerry before). The “chicklet” keyboard on the latest Curve models is better that the tapered keyboard on the more-expensive Bold.
My version of the 8900 still has the troublesome trackball (which tend to degrade over time before becoming unusable), but RIM are replacing these with a small touchpad, which I’ve played with and found to be just as intuitive and responsive.
The 3.2mpx camera is pretty good. In good light it can take quite exquisite shots. The included flash will not bleach the backs of your eye-sockets, but for indoor snaps it’s not terrible. The camera software also has a handy option to send shots direct to an outgoing email, MMS, IM or, if you have the app installed, your facebook account.
The major problem with the camera, and in fact the phone itself, is that it’s too slow. The phone has a decent UI and all the features (short of 3G) that you need, but it’s just too sluggish. Not painfully slow, but annoyingly so.
Downloading the app SoftReset, which replicates the processes of pulling the battery to clear down the phones memory, is a good start. With another similar product, QuickPull Free, you can even programme the software to do a scheduled re-boot in the middle of the night, ensuring that your phone has a clear head in the morning.
The lack of snappiness is not critical, but a faster processor and more memory would certainly make for a less frustrating experience. Be careful with downloading certain apps too, some can crucify performance.
My final gripe is that the supplied browser is as about as much use as a scarecrow made of birdseed. I’ve installed Opera Mini Beta 5, which is an improvement, but there is no way of making it the device default browser. RIM has recently acquired Torch Mobile, who developed a shit-hot Webkit-based browser called Iris – so BlackBerry owners can expect improvements in the future.
On a personal note, the 8900 does everything I want a smart-phone to do. And when it comes to email and twitter (using the awesome Ubertwitter app), the BlackBerry is unsurpassed. If RIM can throw in a cracking browser and more processing guts into the next generation of Curves, the device will continue to be the smartphone of choice for those consumers who can’t quite say goodbye to a physical keyboard.
This entry was written by Aaron, posted on December 24, 2009 at 9:40 am, filed under Uncategorized. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
A decade in technology is, literally, a lifetime. Media-formats, consoles, and even multinational companies can come and go inside a decade.
During the noughties (sorry) we have seen the rise of social networking as a cultural phenomena, video become ubiquitous, computers become so small they can fit in your pocket and watched the web increasingly become a two-way experience with everyday users – as opposed to pottering nerds – contributing to the medium.
Even the past year has been revolutionary in my family. My mother and father, historically confused and terrified by the internet, have bought their first computer (as opposed to never-used hand-me-downs that I’ve retired). They now have fast broadband internet. And, quite astonishingly, have finally asked me to set them up with an Amazon account – using their very own debit card, no less.
My father is amazed by Spotify. He’s even bought himself a £50 speaker package. My parent’s disbelief never fades at the fabulously obscure guff they can source on the Net. And sometime soon, I can be sure, that terrifying moment will come when my mum ‘friends’ me on facebook.
And so, we start a new year and a fresh decade. The mind boggles at the advances we may make in technology in the next ten years, so I’ll play it safe and make a few suggestions on what we might see over the next twelve months.
A couple of years ago, I did something similar but it took two years for some of the braver predictions to materialise.
I predicted a smaller 11.1” MacBook Pro. We got a 13” Air (and eventually a MBP). I said that Blu-Ray players would crack the £99 price-point, which they now have. I said the PS3 would see a recovery and that on-demand TV would become increasingly popular (well-duh!). And I suggested that Google would announce a Linux-based desktop OS.
I don’t see any revolutions in 2010. I see evolution.
That Apple Tablet
The now boring rumour of an Apple tablet device obsessed the technology world in ’09. I have no doubt that somewhere deep within the catacombs of Cupertino, such a prototype exists… but seriously, who wants one?
Why would I want a £600+ media tablet?
I already have a 13” MacBook Pro with a DVD drive, a glorious screen, Handbrake and VLC installed, decent speakers (although my deceased 15” MBP had better audio), and a 250GB HDD. I also have a 10” netbook, a BlackBerry and an iPod Touch for mobile internet, email, writing and browsing.
Why would I want to blow a small fortune on a device which does nothing new, but might do something things a tad better and look fabulous while doing it?
Google
Google’s Android and Chrome brands will continue to grow and claim market share.
Cell-phone manufacturers, keen to exploit the recession-resistant growth in smart-phones, will flock to Android as a solution to pathetically bad attempts to create a usable handheld GUI.
More and more developers, frustrated by the increasingly bizarre iPhone App-Store approval process or looking to exploit a wider user-base, will start creating programmes for Andoid phones.
My fear is that service providers (looking at you, Verizon) will look to lock down subsidised Android phones and limit the availability of applications.
E-book readers
I think Sony deserves a little praise for investing and having faith in electronic-books early on. Sony’s products are well-designed and the company remains surprisingly committed to the format. But Amazon, with its deep publishing connections and stupendously popular retail operation, was always going to hit the ground running – even if its early hardware looked like something that had dropped off R2-D2.
I don’t foresee stellar growth in e-book readers. They’re a bit like the modern equivalent of a bread-maker. Great idea, but I’ll probably never use it.
It’s not as if electronic versions of books are particularly cheap, and I personally prefer a familiar paperback to the cold plastic of a Kindle.
Gaming
Sony will not announce a new system in 2010, and Microsoft seems happy enough with its 360 hardware. But Nintendo’s Wii was always on borrowed time in a world where everyone has a HDTV. A lot of people are suggesting a slight refresh of the current hardware with 1080p output.
A slight hardware revision would certainly be consistent with Nintendo’s handheld strategy, where they have made incremental improvements to the DS without radically overhauling the format.
However, Nintendo are not under the same pressure as Sony and Microsoft to squeeze every drop of value out of the Wii hardware. Beyond the revolutionary controller, the Wii wasn’t a huge technological leap. It’s essentially a GameCube on caffeine. Unlike the PS3 and 360, the Wii was profitable from day one.
Nintendo could quite happily offer significantly more power, improved motion control, high-def output, and a better web-experience without the sort of deluded and expensive R&D self-flagellation that Sony puts itself through with every new console.
Super Wii, anyone? Or is that a joke too far?
As for games to watch, I actually think Halo Reach might turn out to be something of a revelation. Lono at Sarcastic Gamer suggested a class-based revision of the usual Halo experience. This, if implemented with Bungie’s usual commitment to quality and community, could pull me away from Modern Warfare 2 next summer.
Also, expect Super Mario Galaxy 2 to offer more glorious platform goodness.
I feel I have more to write, but let’s be honest… this post is long enough already. More soon. Promise.
I bought my Samsung NC10 netbook earlier in the year and having tinkered with several OS’s and software, I finally think I’m happy with my setup.
There is a lot of skepticism of netbooks. Many geeks simply don’t see any value in such a puny machine. Let’s be honest, you’re never going to edit video with an Atom processor. But if all you want on the move is a browser and somewhere to keep a few files, then a netbook is a brilliant solution.
As an amateur photographer (who isn’t?), I sometimes carry the NC10 on shoots as a place to dump RAW shots prior to editing. The 160GB HDD provides a simple solution for backing up SD cards (every decent Netbook has a card reader).
At home I can often be found checking my Google Reader on the NC10 or just browsing. I love the puppeh. It’s got a great screen, a beautiful keyboard and the thing will tick over for hours before the 6-cell battery needs charging. Yeah the speakers suck monkey balls and the silver trim is a bit naff, but on the whole you could do a lot worse.
There are better Netbooks available now of course. Some of the newer Samsungs have better audio, the new Nokia machine is far prettier, and the ASUS machines offer even better battery life. But if you’re looking for a great, cheap netbook, the NC10 is still an attractive option.
However – buyer’s beware – many fully expect Intel to launch a new Atom chip at CES which should offer more bang for your buck.
So what do I run on my Netbook?
Well the NC10 comes with WinXP. XP isn’t a bad OS. In fact WinXP is a great operating system that has served millions for the best part of a decade. But as someone who likes to try different systems (I’m primarily a Mac user, but I’ve dabbled with various Linux builds) I wanted something more suited to a smaller form-factor and limited hardware.
I was lucky enough to be invited to the developer Alpha of Jolicloud, a cloud-centric netbook version of Ubuntu. Jolicloud has an excellent installer that is a bit like an app-store (similar, but sexier than Ubuntu’s app installer menu), allowing you to download and install linux apps and Prism-based web-apps as individual programmes (like Todd Ditchendorf’s fantabulous fluid on the Mac).
I now dual-boot Jolicloud and WinXP. If you want to try Jolicloud it’s now in open-Beta (link).
The Jolicloud GUI is optimised for a smaller screen. Also, because most netbooks have rhubarb trackpads, and Jolicloud is built on keyboard-friendly Linux, you can navigate by typing. Just start tapping the text of the link you want, and the curser highlights the link/button ready for you to hit enter. Brilliant.
Obviously, the most important app is the browser. Unsurprisingly Firefox is the default, but installing Google Chrome (which I use) is a breeze. With either FF or Chrome, you can also install the quite delicious Gleebox extension which adds a similar keyboard-based UI to control the browser – who needs a mouse?
Other apps worth downloading are the multi-IM client Pidgin, Evernote (brilliant for syncing notes and pics across multiple machines), and my current online text editor of choice, Writer.
Cloud-computing may not be perfect, but with netbook, Jolicloud and a Google login, you can take most of your world with you.
This entry was written by Aaron, posted on December 20, 2009 at 8:28 pm, filed under internet, linux. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
Game publishers know that many gamers are men, and that many men are sad, anally retentive hoarders for whom the phrase ‘collectors edition’ holds exciting promise of exclusivity and elite social status. But can true happiness and peer respect really be located within a Tales of Vesperia Special Edition metal case?
This entry was written by Aaron, posted on September 24, 2009 at 9:04 pm, filed under gaming, video. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
This entry was written by Aaron, posted on September 23, 2009 at 10:13 pm, filed under EPIC!, flim. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.
