Another Problem, Solved!

In the wake of a spate of suicides at Foxconn factories last summer, workers were asked to sign a statement promising not to kill themselves and pledging to "treasure their lives".

Hat tip BoingBoing. Just think how many lives would have been saved if this signing policy had gone in place earlier!

Gadgetleib Uber Alles

So I'm driving to a little nosh with the actress who plays my wife in YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU this weekend, and she says, "What do you think of the billboard?" A little context here -- in Los Angeles there is some anti billboard ordinance that they have circumvented by replacing the billboards with the million-watt Diamondvision signs. They're just like billboards, only they change every five minutes and you can see them from outer space. At high noon.

After a brief interlude of soul-searching, I had to admit that I love 'em. The colors are bright and sharp and their frequent resets mean that my limited attention span isn't taxed by them. What's not to like? Well, they're enormously annoying advertising media. And if you live within viewing distance, it's like living in the far north hemisphere, except you even even get the six months of compensating darkness.

But I realize that to me, these billboards are fantastic perfect GADGETS, like a giant iPod touch. Whatever bad qualities you might see in them, you can't deny that they do their jobs great, and great tech was used to accomplish the goal.

It's just a matter of time before I get myself beat up because I start rhapsodizing about Nazi architecture.

Netbooks: They Suck Just Enough

Last week I was perusing GIZMODO and as I always do, I checked into their Dealzmodo post. Every day they track down the best deals they can find on electronics, software, and oddball items like lingerie and sandwiches. You know the other day, when I got a free Quizno's sub? I have Dealzmodo to thank for tipping me off.

That particular day they were featuring $100 off a Dell Inspiron mini, the very netbook that was featured in a WIRED article I'd read the previous week. Netbooks, you may know, are the future of a shrinking world. They're half the size of a notebook, 3/4ths the processing speed, they eschew such niceties as a DVD drive or in my case even a hard drive (relying on flash memory, it's like running your OS off a bank of thumb drives) but they can access the internet cloud and they are light and a third of price of your typical laptop. And what would you use that laptop for? Going to Starbucks and checking your email.

It's a terrible computer if it's your only computer, but it's just right as your other one.

So as I write this I'm in the waiting area of my local Sprint Store, waiting for them to diagnose the bizarre phantom who lives inside my Centro and turns it on for no reason. Look, I'm bloggin'! Only I can't upload until I get home, because there is no WiFi access in the Sprint store. I was hoping I'd be able to use the phone as a modem and maybe I still can, but I have to do a little research. Which I can't do in here.

You could run XP on this thing, but I opted for Ubuntu Linux because it sounds like fun. Indeed it has been so far. Linux is still a little bit wild west for my tastes, but not nearly as bad as it was two years ago. The great thing about Linux is you can preload with all kinds of free open source software. Then, if you don't like what's already on the box, you can download something else completely for free. God Bless Linus Torvalds.

My only complaint with the device after two days is that the apostrophe key, which I use a LOT, is in a weird place -- next to the space bar, under the period. The return key is where the apostrophe should be. Tiny keyboards are hard to adjust to!

Well, I look forward to taking this out to cafes more and seeing if it

s

...it

s

...it is a chick magnet.