"I never thought I'd see the day when a laptop was better at picking up girls than a Ferrari. That's it, I'm ditching Windows."

From the archive:

"No fighter pilot is ever going to pick up a girl at a bar by saying he flies a UAV."

Also:

Indica was fixated on my friend Ari. I asked her what kind of phone she had.

“A Sidekick,” she said.

“Wow,” I said. “That’s the same kind Brianna has.”

“Strippers’ phone of choice,” she said.

Jonathan Ive's Sharia Style

Me: Why is Visual Studio taking 45 seconds to load?
Computer: You appear to be running a disk intensive task... so I think I will run an anti-virus scan, and the file indexer for Desktop search!

I swear my laptop "knows" when I'm trying to do something important and runs schedule tasks at exactly those moments.

The government's position is as frightening as it is naíve. A computer is not the same thing as a briefcase. Nor, for that matter, is an iPod, a thumb drive, or a cell phone. It is both quantitatively and qualitatively different, and that makes all of the difference in this case. It seems that the government and the lower court are speaking past, and not at, each other. The government says, "We can do anything for any reason," and the court says, "No, you need reasonable suspicion to search a laptop."

A former federal prosecutor weighs in on the border search decision. (Thanks Dc0de!)

On the Border

Decius wrote:

Arnold has failed to distinguish how the search of his laptop and its electronic contents is logically any different from the suspicionless border searches of travelers’ luggage that the Supreme Court and we have allowed.

Its clear that there is a difference. The court may decide that the difference is not constitutionally significant, but it is not helpful for the court to pretend that no difference exists. This is a sort of ignorance that allows the court to reach a comfortable decision without addressing the substantive question...

My rant on today's decision.

See the related article on SecurityFocus:

http://www.securityfocus.com/print/columnists/469

RE: Re: The Volokh Conspiracy - Ninth Circuit Allows Suspicionless Computer Searches at the Border:

Adam: The man with the redbull hacks. The man without the redbull follows. When the man with the laptop passes out, the man without the redbull picks up the laptop and hacks.

Great quote.

I can't imagine the frustration of trying to learn a computer and having the keyboard malfunction, yet it appears that is what's happening with many of the One Laptop Per Child XO Laptops. Of course, it's still better than if Microsoft made them... then ALL they keys would crash :)

I have played with a friend's XO, and it is neat. The daylight readable screen is something else. The keyboard is too small for my hands, even though I have thin, articulate fingers. I would surely use an external keyboard with one anyway (or a Frog Pad).

Anyway, maybe they will get these glitches worked out before they Send me the laptop I ordered in November! :)

Good luck, third-world-villagers.

Slashdot | Widespread Keyboard Failures on OLPC's XO-1

Imagine a day when a single device small enough to fit in your pocket has the power of a laptop and can deliver a rich computing, telephony, media, gaming, and Internet experience. Imagine a day when this device knows your tendencies and preferences and can adapt and optimize its interfaces to match what you are doing at any point any time. Imagine a day when this device is not constrained as a standalone unit, but can dynamically become a hybrid combination of other computing and multimedia devices in close proximity. In the labs at Intel, we have been looking at what makes sense for mobility in the future – a vision we refer to as Carry Small, Live Large.

Carry Small, Live Large

Hell yeah for Summercon! It lead to some good stories, and one of the best emails I've even sent to IT:

Dear Homey,

My Laptop smells like beer and the tab key doesn't work. Please fix this.

B

Summercon 2008 Official Announcement | summercon 2008

Another holdup has been aviation safety. The Federal Aviation Administration has barred the use of mobile phones on U.S. flights for years because of potential interference with a plane’s navigational signals. Those concerns might diminish once the foreign airlines’ test results come in. However, one study at Carnegie Mellon University found that passengers were surreptitiously making cellphone calls despite the ban, and suggested that there were around 25 incidents of interference with aircraft communications each year (although the evidence that this was caused by cellphones is circumstantial). Other experts note that no accidents have been directly tied to use of cellphones. FAA spokesman Les Dorr told PM that as long as the FCC is opposed, “it’s a moot point anyway.”

Airlines in the U.S. could, of course, push for cellphones if they thought their customers really wanted it. Instead, they’re competing to be the first to offer wireless Internet access. A few months ago JetBlue started its limited in-flight broadband Wi-Fi service on a few aircraft, in partnership with Yahoo and Research in Motion; Blackberry users can send and receive e-mail from any account, while laptop users are limited to Yahoo for their e-mailing and instant messaging. American Airlines and Virgin America are also working with U.S. provider AirCell to roll out Web browsing and e-mail capabilities, and just won FAA approval to start installing the hardware abroad American’s 767-200 fleet. Southwest and Alaska Airlines are also planning Wi-Fi experiments of their own.

Bullshit! It has nothing to do with this. Airphone was a massive success that was only curtailed because the costs were too high. The reason why this is being scuttled is because talking on the plane is a last mile paradigm, and until the airlines and the FCC figure out a way to make it a monopoly just like the land line, they're going to sit on it. The customer be damned. I don't buy that most people were opposed to in flight calls. Being trapped in a sardine tube for 4 hours while flying coast to coast is completely dead time. PLUS, what are they going to do when WiFi service goes up and I make a Skype call? Through my VPN to avoid service blocking?

Why U.S. Airlines Still Won't Join the Mobile Mile-High Club - Cell Phones on Planes - Popular Mechanics

Enjoy superior comfort, upscale amenities, and polished professional service — at speeds up to 150 mph — aboard Acela Express. The Acela Express experience includes:

* A faster trip with fewer stops
* Reserved First Class and Business Class seating
* At-seat electrical outlets for your laptop or DVD player
* Adjustable lighting and large tray tables
* Conference tables
* Quiet Car
* Cafe Car
* At Seat Cart Service on select trains

I took the Acela from New York to Washington for the first time last night. This is the way to travel! Comfortable seats, leg room, tables, power, and no TSA. It's totally hassle free travel. You can even get bottled beer in the Cafe Car to enjoy while watching the world go by at 150mph.

It's a little pricey, but the value is there. If only it went down to Atlanta...

Amtrak - Northeast Acela Service