Techno Squirrel

Okay, clearly I've been out of touch but when did these devices start invading schools and conference rooms and where was I? I mean I saw these demoed like 8 years ago but they were $20,000 and laggy as hell at that point. If you don't know what I'm talking about checkout this video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqmrIqWQiAw ). Basically a touchscreen whiteboard/projector screen connected to a computer. It looks quite intuitive and being an IT guy I've often thought how nice something like this would be. Actually to be fair I didn't dream big when I thought about something like this, all I really wanted was the ability to push a button on the whiteboard and produce a print out of whatever I drew in marker or output it to a PDF. Now just to convice my employer to invest in one for our conference room...

I recently got a 2nd gen 6" Kindle and am generally impressed with the build quality though the interface can be slow at times as if whatever processor it uses is laboring. I should point out that I'm not equating the expectedly slow eInk display refresh to device slowness but rather actions that don't require a display refresh are also slow. That being said its readable and works well for what it was intended. I can't help but feel that this version of the Kindle will look much like my Gen 2 Ipod does in another 2 years. I find myself trying to touch the screen and have noticed that many of the people I've showed it to also try to touch the screen to navigate. The lack of touch is clearly an issue and no doubt will be addressed in the next major version of the Kindle if Amazon is smart. The other features Amazon will have to add soon are basic color, faster screen refresh technology, and wifi/external storage if they intend to compete with the Barnes and Noble Nook (which I'm guessing they do). Also the Nook has book lending which is something Amazon could easily add to the firmware on the existing Kindle devices and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw in the next year.

Streaming media with a way to pull in your existing music library without re-buying it. What else can I say? Maybe that Apple recently purchased them and promptly pulled back on allowing streaming of full songs you don't own for free (now you only get 30 second clips). That being said they haven't killed the application that will scan you music library and automatically add anything it identifies to your online library without having to actually upload the music or purchase it again. The interface is straight forward simple and feels much like iTunes only only and much faster but frankly most things are faster than iTunes these days...

I broke down and purchased a Nexus One to replace my Tmobile G1 (HTC Dream) and I have to say that it is the best phone I've ever owned or used including the iPhone. I think if Google continues its rapid improvement and updates to the Android operating system they will put some serious heat on Apple in the coming year. More importantly the emergence of Gen 2 Android hardware from various phone makers is clearly key. My G1 was great and did everything it promised well but slowly, the Nexus One is easily 5 times faster which makes a world of difference in day to day use. Now if only Apple would release their iTablet/iSlate as rumored to occur on the 26th of this month...

Yes, I watch steam for weekend PC game sales all the time and their 24 hour sales this week are particularily bad. So far I've purchased Mirror's Edge, Modern Warfare 2, Evil Genius, and another copy of Left 4 Dead for a friend that didn't have it yet. I have to be approaching close to 72 games.