Byte Me by Marv Dealy
Netbook or Notebook?
Whether you’re out scouting for a portable computer for yourself or as a gift for a grad or dad, you might be a little confused by the differences (other than price) between what are described as “netbooks” and a regular laptop or “notebooks.”
Some derisively call netbooks underpowered portable machines that you’ll have to replace every year. On the other hand, if you’re looking for something small with a screen and keyboard you can still use without a toothpick and that will let you surf the Internet, email, and word process – what else do you need?
Philip Nusca of ZDNET.com writes about laptop computers in the $700 to $1200 range, and is definitely not a supporter of netbooks in his article at tinyurl.com/q7lqaa. His reviews include offerings from HP, Lenovo, Toshiba, Sony, Apple, Dell, and Gateway. Personally, I’d stay away from the last two.
You’ll get a different opinion from John Morris, also of ZDNET.com, who writes about the question “whether the performance of a netbook is good enough.” tinyurl.com/pc6kkh
Morris writes that “netbooks are a bit slower to boot up, shut down, and open and close applications, but not to the extent that I really noticed it. It took netbooks longer to open large spreadsheets or Word documents. These netbooks felt sufficiently responsive on basic productivity tasks using Office 2007, as well as e-mail and Web browsing. They also handled standard-definition video using both Adobe Flash (YouTube) and Microsoft Silverlight (CBS Sports) just fine, but immediately choked on high-definition video.”
Netbooks are going to start in the $200-$300 range, while a notebook, or more capable computer, will start around $700.
Stay tuned, it’ll change. In my May 1st column I wrote of a breakthrough GE had announced that would in theory allow for the storing of 100 movies on a single DVD. Amazed, I opined that while the technology might make it to the retail level, it’d take longer than you’d want to hold your breath waiting. Naturally, I read this week where someone has now figured out a way to put 2,000 movies on a single DVD.
CNET News is reporting that some researchers at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, have added two spatial dimensions to the three that standard DVDs come with, comprising a polarization and a spectral (color) dimension (tinyurl.com/ogd5zo)
Eric Franklin reports in the article that the scientists inserted gold nanorods onto a disc’s surface to create the color dimension. Researchers were able to “record information in a range of different color wavelengths on the same physical disc location. Current DVDs are recorded in a single color wavelength using a laser.”
The fifth dimension – polarization – allowed for storing information on layers turned 90 degrees to each other. Franklin describes the process, “When the scientists Down Under projected light waves onto the disc, the direction of the electric field contained within them aligned with the gold nanorods. This allowed the researchers to record different layers of information at different angles.”
Franklin goes on to ponder the value of every James Bond movie on one DVD, and wonders whether Netflix would rent it to you, even for say $250, considering you might keep it, forever.
Search is changing. I don’t know that anyone at Google is looking over their shoulder, but something is afoot, as more people are going to “trusted sources” such as their connections on social websites for information that they might have previously tried to dig out of lists of websites at Google, Yahoo or wherever.
Wolfram|Alpha, a website launched this month, is another approach to search. The website scours the Internet and tries to reply with specific answers to your question, as opposed to a list of websites that mention in some way at least a few words in your question. When you go to the site (wolframalpha.com) and enter your birthday in the month, day, year format, WA comes back with the exact number of years, months and days you’re old, together with other statistical data about that days place in the year. Other data include sunrise and sunset, and phase of the moon on that long-ago day.
But, if I enter my birthday in just numbers, WA does not know what to do and offers up a variety of ways to look at those numbers, including the ever popular vector length and normalized vector. This isn’t helpful.
WA suggests that you enter the name of “any town” so of course I tried Big Oak Flat to which WA replied “WA isn’t sure what to do with your input.” WA is happy to make any calculation you might like, and will tackle any math formula you type into the search window. If you enter the name of any two large companies, you’ll get lots of useful information ranging from stock trades to fundamentals and financials.
Back to the towns feature, WA did know a very little about Sonora, Twain Harte, Columbia, and Jamestown but Chinese Camp, Tuolumne, and Groveland were no shows along with Big Oak Flat, to say nothing of Pinecrest or Greeley Hill. I next searched for Yosemite, and WA came back with information about Yosemite Falls, telling me its average width was 92 feet. A search for Yosemite Park only yielded a few tidbits, such as its area in square miles, the number of visitors per year, and when it was established.
I’m not sure of what use some of that information is, but here’s a Friday Freebie – brought to us by Google. From their home page, search for Yosemite Park – capital letters don’t count in this search.
Note toward the upper left under the Google logo an option called “show options.” Click on that, and a new, left column will appear. You’ll be able to select from results by category, by “recentness,” and with two items at the bottom called “wonder wheel” and “timeline.” Choose them one at a time and you’ll be presented with information in two very different ways. The wonder wheel is a way to show you topics that might be generally related to Yosemite Park, such as weather, maps, park history. The wheel then adds more subjective choices, such as national parks in general then some other nearby national parks.
Clicking on the history choice for the park presented me with a second wheel, itself with links to eight more general topics too numerous to list here as we’re running out of room.
If you choose the timeline option, Google presents you with a listing from oldest onward of stuff found in website listings, which may or may not include the fact a certain B&B was built in 1863.
Someday, search will act like an intelligent agent, but we’re not there yet.
Email questions to Marv at: marv.dealy@throck.com.
Marv Dealy founded Throckmorten Enterprises in San Francisco in 1988 and moved the company to Big Oak Flat in 1996. Open Monday through Friday, 9-ish to 5-ish. 209-962-7308. The company provides technical support for HP’s webinars, professional website design, computer repairs, and has recently begun providing wireless ISP services. The company also publishes the Yosemite Gazette.
