Sony Reader PRS-700

I got myself a Sony Reader PRS-700 the other day. Imported from the USA of course, since we can't get fancy things like that here in Europe. Actually I am evaluating this unit for some friends and co-workers so they know what Reader to buy later.

So far I must say that I am impressed. I have been using it on my weekly trips back and forth to Malmö and more or less left all my books at home. The built-in light is pretty slick, I can actually read books in bed without disturbing my lovely fiance.

A word about the display, a lot of people hate it because it "glares", my guess is that these are the same people that "can't" use a glossy macbook either. I on the other hand have never had any problems with it. So I will continue to read my books digital going forward, no more big books that weigh a ton in my backpack.

Less than a week with the Air

I got my Macbook Air last Friday and now I have had some time to migrate and use it in my everyday work, so let's cut to the chase: This was the laptop I was waiting for! This might not be the laptop you are waiting for, but for me it's perfect. It's thin (you've got to see and feel it for yourself before you understand), light and don't have a lot of unnecessary ports and things I don't use (like DVD and firewire).

I switched from a 1:th gen Blackbook to this new gadget, and performance wise I don't feel a big difference, a full compile of the xmms2 tree with c++ bindings takes around 2 minutes when using both cores, this is not very long time. I haven't noticed the slow harddrive (no I didn't go for the SSD version) that much yet, only when Mail.app decides to write a lot of changes to disk (try to remove a whole folder sometime). When compiling Qt it got a bit hot at the left corner and the fan's where running but otherwise it has been very quiet and cool.

The lack of a Etherenet port is just a small inconvience, I use the Ethernet port at two different customers, that's all. Rest of the time I am wireless with wlan or 3g via my phone (why do people cry about no-built in 3g, the phone via bluetooth works just fine!).

Keyboard, screen and trackpad are fantastic, feels like working with a big laptop and you never feel confined to something that doesn't really fit you. I had the chance to try it on the Airplane the other day, while it still have a big footprint (because of the 13.3" screen) it's really a lot easier to handle, it fits into the pocket infront of you and it doesn't feel clumpsy to have in your knee (like the blackbook did).

I think Apple had me in mind when creating this laptop. A thin, light OSX laptop that is designed to bring everywhere.

Oh, and I will use it as my only computer (of course storing and stuff like that takes place on my mac mini at home), I don't have the need for something with more power or storage, I just need to bring it all the time.

Update: Something I don't like is that the battery is not user replaceable, it's a shame. But I guess the laptop wouldn't have been this sweet with it. I hope the figure something out for later revs of it though.

Broken free!

I just jailbroked my ipod. It worked without a problem with the iJailbreak application. The only thing to keep in mind is that when they say "this will take a while" they are not kidding. It takes forever to retrieve and upload the new firmware, just give it some time, it will work. But now I have a working calendar (with input events feature!), mobilemail and google maps. Works just great! Thanks internet to make this available.

Update

Spent the whole week in Berlin, at the BBWF trade-show. It was pretty quiet, but still it hurts your body to stand in the booth for that long. Berlin was nice, actually nicer than I remember, last time I was there (ages ago) it was still a big construction space, now you couldn't see much of that. Otherwise pretty eventless week.

This morning I picked up my iPod touch (yes I am trading the N800 for the iPod Touch, found myself a buyer) and I must say that I am sold. It's too bad that the opensource world has so little success in attracting good graphical designers, the UI of the touch is awesome. Looking forward to hack a bit for it in the future.

Also I pre-ordered the new Mesh DVD, I am such a fan-boy. Hope the material is better than the old Live VHS, it was a ok concert but pretty boring stageshow. This time it looks better, with the back projections and the full band on scene.

Next week I will go to Frankfurt over two days, but nothing else planned for that week. Next weekend is the Apoptygma concert and then my parents arrive for a full week of hanging out. Going to be fun but crowded I guess :-)

Post from n800!

I now got my new toy, the nokia n800! I am posting this using the built-in browser and it seems to work just fine, but why did they put the spacebar at the leftend corner? I will write a longer review later when I have had a chance to use it more!

Nokia N800

I am seriously thinking about getting a Nokia N800. All the mobile phones with built-in webbrowsers and stuff has always let me down. But I would like to be able to go down to starbucks, read some webpages, update my blog and chat without having to bring the laptop. The lack of a keyboard is a bit unsettling, but I have heard that the on screen keyboard works just perfectly.

So maybe we will see a maemo xmms2 client soon? :)