I was reading this post yesterday on ProfHacker, and the author was asking where are the PDAs in today's smartphone world?  PDAs...you know!  Those pieces of technology from the mid-to-late 90s that were not connected to the internet and held information like your addressbook, calendar, notepad (and of course the games!). The author is contemplating getting an iPod Touch and a cheap, voice-only, cell phone to go along with it (and use the WiFi on the iPod) instead of getting an all-in-one smartphone with a data plan.

I used to be a cell-phone + PDA user, but that was a long time ago.  I owned (and still do) an Apple Newton 2100 which I had tricked out, I had an external keyboard, I had installed a 5 language dictionary (which came in handy for my language classes), an Office Suite, games and much more.  I also used an old school Nokia GSM phone on OmniPoint/VoiceStream.

Don't get me wrong, I really loved my Newton, but once the SonyEricsson P800 came along things changed a bit.  Since the SonyEricsson supported Greek (and my Newton did not), I started using my P800 for all my contacts and calendar items.  I not longer had to use the latin alphabet to write in Greek which was pretty cool and I could sync via bluetooth with my Mac once a day so anything I added on the phone was on my Mac and vice versa.  I still used my Newton every now and again but not with much regularity.  For a while before the P800 I also dabbled with an iPaq running Windows Mobile (*shivers*) + a SonyEricsson T68i but I essentially came to the conclusion that (1) Windows Mobile was awful and (2) trying to tether my phone to my iPaq was a nightmare!  The P800 won out!

So what about now?  I have an iPod Touch, and before my iPhone purchase  I used it with a Nokia N80.  Now the Nokia N80 was a smartphone in its own right, but the iPod had a bigger screen with which to browse the web, and a bigger keyboard with which to reply to emails with. I too was of the opinion that I am blanketed by WiFi so I did not need to spring for a data plan (I was kind of resentful in the beginning that I had to!) - but after about eight months of testing out the WiFi situation and comparing that to my iPhone use, I saw "data plan all the way!"

Here's why:
Yes, at home I've got unrestricted WiFi but that isn't the case everywhere I go.  At work there is a lot of port blocking going on, so even though I am on WiFi all day, the email client won't send or receive emails, there is a log-on procedure to even get online, and at times the network is as slow as molasses (I think things like Last.fm are also blocked).  On the commuter rail there is free WiFi but that can be slow (on the plus side mail ports are not blocked) and finally around town there are pockets of free wifi but you really have to be stationary to use them.

In contrast, with a data plan I can be on the move, I don't have to worry about important ports being blocked and I can use the GPS and Maps to figure out not only where I am but also where I am going.  With apps like Dropbox, MobileMe's sync to the cloud and Evernote, I don't have to worry about my data. I can be assured that it's there when I need it, without synching to a computer, and if my device gets lost before I get home, I don't have to worry about a day's worth of data entry going down the toilet - it's just magically synced to the net. :-)

So where is the PDA?  My iPaq was recycled many years ago and the Newton is on a display shelf - I take it out every not and again to remember the good ol' days - but that's it.  Viva le smartphone! :-)

Well, this is retro!

A floppy drive that grows some legs to avoid spilling liquids (that invade from the bottom - top invading liquids are still a problem) ;-)

I haven't used a floppy disk or a floppy drive in close to 10 years now so I took this to be more of an art installation rather than something of actual use :-)



Floppy Legs Portable Hard Drive from James Chambers on Vimeo.

Αυτό το περασμένο σαββατοκύριακο είπαμε να πάμε στο τοπικό μας μουσείο να δούμε επιτέλους την έκθεση τέχνης των Μάγια. Στο τσακ το προλάβαμε γιατί αυτό το σαββατοκύριακο ήταν το τελευταίο σαββατοκύριακο το οποίο ήταν στημένη η συγκεκριμένη έκθεση.

Μπορώ να πω πως μου αρέσει αρκετά η τέχνη των πολιτισμών την κεντρικής Αμερικής, και η γλώσσα είναι κάτι αρκετά ενδιαφέρων επίσης αλλά είναι λίγο δύσκολο μερικές φορές να βγάλεις άκρη όταν βλέπεις εικόνες σε διάφορα πήλινα σκεύη ή σε διάφορα γλυπτά. Αν είσαι συνηθισμένος σε ένα ελληνορωμαϊκό (ή ευρωπαϊκό) τρόπο να καταλαβαίνεις την εικονογραφία μια τέχνης πρέπει πραγματικά να κάνεις ένα βήμα πίσω για να δεις τι συμβαίνει σε μια σκηνή πάνω σε ένα πιάτο ή ένα γλυπτό των Μάγια.

Το μόνο που ήταν πραγματικά εύκολο να καταλάβεις ήταν μια τοιχογραφία (απόσπασμα της εικόνας στα δεξιά) που έδειχνε μια σκηνή καθημερινότητας Αρκετά ενδιαφέρον έκθεση. Τώρα πρέπει να επιστρέψουμε ξανά στο μουσείο να δούμε την έκθεση τέχνης από την Ινδία (νομίζω κάποιος συγκεκριμένος θεός και οι απεικονίσεις του)

I love summer! I can actually kick back on the weekend, without any homework and just enjoy the weather (or a movie). This past weekend was a movie weekend (to the detriment of house chores - oh well!) In any case, here is a brief overview:

GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra: this wasn't a bad movie - I was expecting it to be far worse than it actually was. Yeah sure there may have been a couple of plot holes here and there, but it was full of action and things going BOOM that it made for a nice movie. Now I never really paid much attention to the comic-book and animated series universe of GI Joe (I did when I was a kid, but I wasn't a die hard fanboy) so this is most likely a disappointing movie for the fanboy.

2012: This was the "WTF movie" of the weekend. If was people driving through buildings, flying in-between falling buildings, escaping flying fireballs and so on. It was a disaster movie through and through and at 2.5 hours it was a thrill ride - a WTF thrill ride, but a thrill ride none the less.

The Linguists: This documentary was both inspiring and depressing at the same time. It followed these two linguists (one of which is the author of when languages die) on a quest to document some of the world's dying languages. The inspiring part was that these two white guys were interested enough in the linguistic heritage of this planet to go out and find the few speakers of these dying languages to record them and their language. The depressing part is being confronted, yet again, with the devastating aftermath of linguistic (and other types) of hegemony where people are made to feel like their language and culture is of little value in our go-go-go world.

The Village Barbershop: This is one of those "feel good" movies about the little guy, the major a-hole, change and renewal. This was quite a good movie - lots of LOL moments and moments where you root for the underdog.

When I first saw this title, initially I thought that it was a "scary movie" type of movie - boy was I wrong. It's a movie about FaceBook and it looks pretty bad - well pretty bad in terms that it is actually based on actual events.

** shivers **

Well, according to Joystiq an Assassin's Creed comic book story is coming along, and from this video it seems like it's based in the USSR.

I have to say that I am becoming a fan of the series!