Another week, another update
The mattress was picked up this morning. I didn't realize how smelly and dusty the thing was. Next week the box spring will follow and the week after that possibly the frame. Then maybe I can rearrange the remaining furniture to afford better access to the closets. There'll still be a great deal of furniture in there but without the huge bed there'll be room to move at the least. This probably should have been done about 2 years ago.
I'm going to ramble on a bit about my search for a PDA-like device. This is probably going to be long and not all that interesting which why I'm puting all of this behind a cut. Any rate, here we go.
As I've written before I'm looking for an electronic device that would replace the paper notebooks I've traditionally carried. These notebooks have been used for recording stray thoughts and story ideas, keeping track of appointments, to-do list, recording gifts ideas, tracking items purchased and making sure I stay within my budget, tracking medication, research notes, word lists, wish lists, phone numbers, addresses, and sundry other things.
Sounds like a PDA would be a good fit so I went looking at what was out these days and made a discovery. Nobody really makes PDAs anymore. The only PDA qua PDA on the market is apparently HP's iPAQ. It's certainly a nice device but I was interested in choices so I broadened the field thinking maybe a small netbook would be good.
I've looked at a few netbooks in stores but so far I've only found 10" models or larger. That's a tad large for what I'm looking for. I really want something with a 7 or 8 inch display. A Linux based netbook would be very nice but from what I can tell the manufacturers have decided their customers only really want Windows and they've all dropped Linux as an option. Worse I'm given to understand that the Acer netbooks really don't play nice with Linux.
My eldest brother suggested I look at the iPod Touch. It has a 3.5" screen which makes it comparable to the iPAQ. Unlike the iPAQ the Touch isn't really designed with a stylus in mind. For my purposes the on screen keyboard looks like it's going to be annoying to use by virtue of being too small.
Now that I think about it for a 3.5" device the HP iPAQ is probably the better choice. To be honest though, I'd rather something a little larger. I'd especially like something similar to an iPAQ but with a 5" screen. Although the iPAQ 211 Enterprise, which I've just noticed while looking through HP's site has a 4" screen. At $400 it's seems a bit too expensive. Tempting. That one's going to the top of my list for now.
I've also considered an Internet tablet. Now these devices do exist in models with 4.8" displays. The ARCHOS tablets are the most readily available. Nokia and Samsung both had their own internet tablets but from what I can find I get the impression they're out of production. Hmm, or they're be marketing and sold as phone accessories. That'll bear further research but the displays seem a little too small. Which leaves back with ARCHOS. The ARCHOS 5 looks like it might have everything I want. Sadly the reviews I've seen are rather negative. It seems that ARCHOS products may not be entirely ready for prime time. What would be really nice would be to get some hands on time with one. Unfortunately they don't seem to be available at the local electronics stores in these parts.
Last week Apple announced their new iPad. The iPad is pretty much a giant iPod Touch. It has a 9.7 inch screen so the onscreen keyboard is likely to be large enough for me to use even on a particularly bad day when my hands are shaking horribly. Oddly for whatever reason Apple decided to make non-multitasking but only being able to run application at a time is a minimal annoyance. The question is, and maybe someone with an iPhone or Touch can answer, whether or not there are any apps out there for handwriting notes using a stylus? On the downside I don't know how locked down it's going to be. It'll be interesting to see what people are saying about it when it's finally released in March.
There's also the Touch Book from Always Innovating. It has a certain appeal but the reviews I've read about it make it sound somewhat iffy.
There are a number of other devices, coming out later this year, that look like they may be what I'm looking for. It'll be interesting to see what comes. The Asus Eee Pad is of particular interest to me but unfortunately it won't be out until towards the end of the year by all reports. Actually Asus has a number of interesting things coming out and recently appeared. The Eee Tablet that came out last summer is nice looking and if it were a hundred dollars cheaper...Ah well. It'll be interesting to see what the Eee Pad will priced at. The Eee Keyboard is an interesting device in it's own right. That it was supposed to come out last October and as near as I can find didn't actually is rather disconcerting. Is it worth waiting for the Eee Pad to maybe come out towards the end of the year or would it be wiser to focus my attention on products that are available and actually turning up in the next few months?
Now that Apple is releasing their iPad it'll be worth watching and seeing what other company's put on the market in the coming months. Including the aforementioned Asus Eee Pad. And I think I'll be taking a closer look at the Eee Tablet. (AFK Eee PC T91)
In other news I need to lose about 5 lbs which means I need to get more exercise. That should be easy enough as far as it goes.
I guess that's all for now.
I'm going to ramble on a bit about my search for a PDA-like device. This is probably going to be long and not all that interesting which why I'm puting all of this behind a cut. Any rate, here we go.
As I've written before I'm looking for an electronic device that would replace the paper notebooks I've traditionally carried. These notebooks have been used for recording stray thoughts and story ideas, keeping track of appointments, to-do list, recording gifts ideas, tracking items purchased and making sure I stay within my budget, tracking medication, research notes, word lists, wish lists, phone numbers, addresses, and sundry other things.
Sounds like a PDA would be a good fit so I went looking at what was out these days and made a discovery. Nobody really makes PDAs anymore. The only PDA qua PDA on the market is apparently HP's iPAQ. It's certainly a nice device but I was interested in choices so I broadened the field thinking maybe a small netbook would be good.
I've looked at a few netbooks in stores but so far I've only found 10" models or larger. That's a tad large for what I'm looking for. I really want something with a 7 or 8 inch display. A Linux based netbook would be very nice but from what I can tell the manufacturers have decided their customers only really want Windows and they've all dropped Linux as an option. Worse I'm given to understand that the Acer netbooks really don't play nice with Linux.
My eldest brother suggested I look at the iPod Touch. It has a 3.5" screen which makes it comparable to the iPAQ. Unlike the iPAQ the Touch isn't really designed with a stylus in mind. For my purposes the on screen keyboard looks like it's going to be annoying to use by virtue of being too small.
Now that I think about it for a 3.5" device the HP iPAQ is probably the better choice. To be honest though, I'd rather something a little larger. I'd especially like something similar to an iPAQ but with a 5" screen. Although the iPAQ 211 Enterprise, which I've just noticed while looking through HP's site has a 4" screen. At $400 it's seems a bit too expensive. Tempting. That one's going to the top of my list for now.
I've also considered an Internet tablet. Now these devices do exist in models with 4.8" displays. The ARCHOS tablets are the most readily available. Nokia and Samsung both had their own internet tablets but from what I can find I get the impression they're out of production. Hmm, or they're be marketing and sold as phone accessories. That'll bear further research but the displays seem a little too small. Which leaves back with ARCHOS. The ARCHOS 5 looks like it might have everything I want. Sadly the reviews I've seen are rather negative. It seems that ARCHOS products may not be entirely ready for prime time. What would be really nice would be to get some hands on time with one. Unfortunately they don't seem to be available at the local electronics stores in these parts.
Last week Apple announced their new iPad. The iPad is pretty much a giant iPod Touch. It has a 9.7 inch screen so the onscreen keyboard is likely to be large enough for me to use even on a particularly bad day when my hands are shaking horribly. Oddly for whatever reason Apple decided to make non-multitasking but only being able to run application at a time is a minimal annoyance. The question is, and maybe someone with an iPhone or Touch can answer, whether or not there are any apps out there for handwriting notes using a stylus? On the downside I don't know how locked down it's going to be. It'll be interesting to see what people are saying about it when it's finally released in March.
There's also the Touch Book from Always Innovating. It has a certain appeal but the reviews I've read about it make it sound somewhat iffy.
There are a number of other devices, coming out later this year, that look like they may be what I'm looking for. It'll be interesting to see what comes. The Asus Eee Pad is of particular interest to me but unfortunately it won't be out until towards the end of the year by all reports. Actually Asus has a number of interesting things coming out and recently appeared. The Eee Tablet that came out last summer is nice looking and if it were a hundred dollars cheaper...Ah well. It'll be interesting to see what the Eee Pad will priced at. The Eee Keyboard is an interesting device in it's own right. That it was supposed to come out last October and as near as I can find didn't actually is rather disconcerting. Is it worth waiting for the Eee Pad to maybe come out towards the end of the year or would it be wiser to focus my attention on products that are available and actually turning up in the next few months?
Now that Apple is releasing their iPad it'll be worth watching and seeing what other company's put on the market in the coming months. Including the aforementioned Asus Eee Pad. And I think I'll be taking a closer look at the Eee Tablet. (AFK Eee PC T91)
In other news I need to lose about 5 lbs which means I need to get more exercise. That should be easy enough as far as it goes.
I guess that's all for now.