Netbook vs Smartphone

I believe that a portable computer has utility as a portable only if one is inclined to carry it [and
thereby use it], else it is an expensive desktop replacement.

A netbook is supposed to be an ultra low cost computer primarily for Internet activities and as
such has minimal specs and is compact and lightweight.

I prefer an iPhone since it is there with me, even if I did not plan to carry a netbook, camera or
maps. A netbook needs booting up, is not convenient and looks weird to use while walking,
whereas I don’t hesitate to use the iPhone to lookup yellow pages, train timetables or
walking/driving directions.

The features a gadget has are important only to a degree, beyond that it is the utility derived from
it on an ongoing basis. That is where I find the iPhone to be the most valuable.

I say “Yes” to nuclear power plants in the absence of the possibility of hydroelectric power
plants and/or regulation of industrial and commercial energy usage.

Nuclear fission provides reliable base-load energy and dependable capacity like coal combustion,
but in contrast has very low CO2 emissions [including transportation-generated emissions], and
no other emissions.

The natural radioactivity in coal is ten times higher than that from living next to a nuclear power
plant for the same period of time. I do not believe in “standards” of any kind, and acceptable
levels of radiation from nuclear power plants might be too liberal, however it is no worse than
coal unless the affected radius is greater or containment is inadequate. Nonetheless I would not
even want to live next to overhead power lines, let alone any kind of power plant.

The province should consider proposals on a case-by-case basis, considering the track record of
the investor. Nuclear plants are a whole different ball game, so diligence of the investor and its
commitment beyond regulatory requirements to plant safety, containment of radiation and safe
on-site waste storage are paramount.

There are people that (a) either take a stand based solely on merits, (b) withhold comment or
opinion, or (c) side with who they benefit from.

I am dismayed to find myself alone in the first category. The nicest people I meet lack the
courage to endure unpleasantness and/or are apathetic to morals, and as such form the second
category. The majority of people I come across fall in the third category.

It is bad enough having to live with spineless cowards; one could forgive them for being weak,
but not for being indifferent. It is much worse when the population is mainly comprised of
scumbags.
I need not look far; I have had to mould my own family, instill the courage to speak out for what
is just with no age bias or fear; and it is an ongoing effort. The memory of a senior family
member choosing to retain an unruly paying client over retaining me at our family business just
does not fade away.

People in general side with who they need or benefit from the most. It is about valuing friendship
and/or an ongoing business relationship over doing the right thing, and such skewed ethics are
the norm. There is no moral dilemma to speak of, it’s just business as usual.

Why must we die prematurely, by not living rich lives? Why are we being killed slowly by eco-
friendly products that deprive us of the quality we deserve to have today? I care about the
environment, but everything in extreme is bad. What is worse is, consumers who are being called
upon to help the environment by using eco-friendly products are not the real culprits; it is the
businesses with the power to corrupt governments to allow dumping of toxic waste and
governments themselves wanting to protect their votes by preserving the jobs of those employed
in activities detrimental to the environment.

The government still burns coal for the generation of electricity, to protect the jobs of coal
miners. How could consumers possibly outdo the government in polluting the environment, no
matter how much gasoline or plastic we use?

We the consumers are the worst affected, as we have to live with buying expensive items like
cars, computers and such made of “highly recyclable meterials” that cannot withstand moderate
temperature changes, let alone any kind of impact. The big businesses love being eco-friendly, as
they can charge more by product differentiation and for products that are otherwise inferior and
not durable. So you no longer can expect a Bimmer to be unscathed in a minor impact, have an
iPhone that doesn’t crack from normal use or even have eyeglasses that have the anti-reflective
properties and durability of yesteryears.

Then there’s guilty consumers who, like donating to a church to acquire the right to sin, buy
carbon offsets to purge their guilty conscience. Perhaps even to make a statement that they care
for the environment. How is a Lexus LS 600h L 5.0 litre 438 horsepower hybrid, that leaves
behind a whole different eco-system and probably pollutes the environment more in
manufacture, really eco-friendly? That is nothing more than making a statement about being eco-
friendly, not actually being eco-friendly.

I believe that Internet bandwidth is precious. It need not be conserved as it is not likely to “run
out”, but nonetheless used sensibly. It is very liberating to be always connected with no per-
minute charges and seemingly unlimited data transfer allowances. It is icing on the cake to have
a theoretical 10Mbps or faster connection with burst download speeds of 1MBps.

I did not grow up with all-you-can-eat Internet. I started using the Internet at the age of 25. I
initially had UNIX shell account dial-up access, followed by dial-up TCP/IP access the following
year. These were charged by the minute for both the phone call to dial in and Internet connection
charges. One has to govern oneself in such situations.
It then naturally seems wasteful to me to use the Internet for downloading movies, or worse,
renting movies and TV shows for one-time viewing. If you remember [or know] what telex is
and how much it used to cost, you will appreciate the value of sending e-mail [and instant
messages] at no cost per message, and thereby realize how precious bandwidth is given that
legitimate e-mail takes up no appreciable bandwidth. Given the current state of the Internet, I
have grown comfortable with using it for VoIP and video netcasts.

Using Internet bandwidth for renting movies routinely and as one’s primary source for TV shows
still seems abusive to me. It is much more bandwidth-friendly to rent the same movie at a similar
price from the video store on disc, and get better quality especially with Blu-ray disc. If you
don’t have a video store nearby or don’t like getting out in the cold [except to the mailbox],
renting by postal mail is much cheaper, usually $2.00 each inclusive of postage both ways on a
$20.00 per month plan as you can average 10 movies per month. Buying physical copies of
movies similarly gets you better quality and a backup disc, so you won’t need to buy that
expensive NAS for storing all those downloaded movies. You could also inadvertently exceed
your bandwidth limit and end up paying a lot more.

My first painting sold on 26 October 2008, at the very first art exhibit at which my work was
ever displayed.

Five of my paintings were displayed from 24 to 26 October 2008 at the Fall Show and Sale of
the St. Albert Painters Guild in Alberta, Canada.

This could very well be the answer you have been looking for.

My first experience with Windows 2.0.3 was not a positive one, but I have used every version
since Windows 3.0 was introduced in 1990. I even used Windows ME for 15 minutes and
Windows Vista for a few days. I had been a professional PC repair technician for several years,
troubleshooting Windows-based computers, so I was intimately familiar with PCs and Windows.
I had setup and administered Windows NT Server, Windows 2000 Server and Windows-based
server software such as mail, web and FTP servers. In essence I have been a long-time user of
Windows operating systems.

I started using an Apple Mac Pro in 2007, less than a year after I bought a new Dell PC with
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. Why? I realized that I could no longer depend on PCs
with Windows. Yes, I mean both the hardware and the software.

The PC hardware had in its latest iteration become more closely tied to Windows-based drivers
resulting in non-functional components or non-optimal operation when running other PC
operating systems like Linux or PC-BSD which anyway lack the polished graphical interface of
the commercial products.

Windows had become more fragile with the Media Center Edition 2005 update tacked on to a
Media Center Edition 2002 disc customized by Dell and poor hardware drivers from Intel.
Windows architecture wherein all settings are stored in a central registry rather than in individual
human-readable preference files, make it inconvenient and time-consuming to reinstall and
reconfigure the operating system and applications.

I was already very close to abandoning Windows due to my annoyance with its activation
requirements and the nonsensical licensing restrictions. I find it suffocating to depend on
Microsoft to get my otherwise working hardware up and running. Then there is the limit on the
number of devices that can simultaneously connect to the computer and the requirement for such
devices to have a Microsoft license, whereby syncing one’s iPod with iTunes on a Windows PC
constitutes a violation of the terms of the license, in my interpretation. I called Microsoft Canada
to confirm my understanding and was informed that the onus to interpret and comply with the
terms of the license is on me and if my solicitors or I misinterpret it then doing so would be at
my own risk. I asked if I could be referred to the legal department to clarify the matter. I was
informed that only the specific person in Microsoft’s Redmond, WA, U.S.A. headquarters who
drafted the license agreement would be able to interpret it, and such person might not even be
working for Microsoft any longer, so I’m on my own.

What was nonetheless holding me back at the time I bought my last PC from Dell, was that
Apple is no less high-handed than Microsoft. Apple does not normally sell parts for its Intel-
based Mac desktops. I would be dependent on Apple to release parts to me at their discretion and
have to needlessly suffer downtime since I could not neither stock nor readily buy parts, and
would have to return and pay return shipping for defective parts!

I picked my poison. I decided that I would rather be hardware-constrained by Apple than

software-constrained by Microsoft. After all I can go out and buy a new Mac if my Mac fails and
I can’t await repairs, transfer the hard disk and be up and running. I would be paying for new
hardware only if I suffer a hardware failure. Buying another copy of Windows to be up and
running, on the other hand, is not as appealing. First because software is more “personal” than
hardware; it is the software that makes the computer personal, second because the software isn’t
really broken and third because I would have to reinstall and reconfigure the operating system
and applications from scratch.

I recommend:

A plasma TV or monitor with a native resolution of 1920 × 1080 [1080p], support for 24fps
[frames per second] and HDMI 1.3a input. Check out an ordinary standard definition TV signal
to ensure it looks good as that is a good measure of the TV’s image processor. Calibrate the
picture with a DVD-based calibration program for each video input.

A Blu-ray player with 1080p/24fps video output preferably with a Reon chip for
deinterlacing/upscaling non-1080p video and 7.1 bitstream audio output of Dolby Digital, DTS,
Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio via
an HDMI 1.3a output.

An Audio-Video receiver that can accept and pass through a 1080p/24fps picture and decoders
for Dolby Digital, DTS, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution, Dolby TrueHD and
DTS-HD Master Audio. The receiver should be matched to the impedance and power rating of
the speakers.

A minimum of five speakers, preferably six or seven and a subwoofer. A pair of front effects
speakers are a great add-on for DSP [digital signal processing] effects if your AV receiver
supports them.

HDMI 1.3a-certified Category 2 [high-speed] HDMI cables × 2 from the Blu-ray player to the
AV receiver and from the AV receiver to the TV, speaker cables × 7 and a subwoofer cable.

Deep Color [and x.v.Color] support are optional, however having at least the TV and AV
receiver future-ready is prudent. A Blu-ray player that can upconvert 8-bit colour to 12-bit colour
is a good option if your TV can display 12-bit colour [not just accept 12-bit input and
downconvert it back to 8-bit].

If the TV, AV receiver and Blu-ray player all support HDMI-CEC [consumer electronics
control], or as Panasonic calls it, EZ Sync [pre-2008] or Viera Link, you are in for a treat.
Turning on the AV receiver while watching TV should automatically switch the audio output
from the TV speakers to the AV receiver, and your TV’s volume control should then control the
AV receiver’s volume. If you are creative you can set up the system such that switching to the
AV receiver/Blu-ray input on the TV automatically turns on the Blu-ray player and switches the
AV receiver’s audio output accordingly, using HDMI-CEC alone, with no need for a
programmable remote.

Read the instructions manuals to understand all the options and directions for the best possible
setup, hook everything up, run the calibration programs and you should be good to go.

Newer AV receivers are self-calibrating using the auto setup function, but are not perfect – some
falsely report one or more speakers as being out of phase, small instead of large and/or the
volume settings do not corroborate the readings of a sound pressure level meter. Some AV
receivers are known to overheat, cause popping sounds in the rear speakers with DTS-HD MA or
drop audio momentarily with Dolby TrueHD.

So how much does it cost to own an iPhone in Canada? $861 plus tax [$904 including GST] per
annum including upfront costs and one-time charges annualized over a three-year
contract period, since you can’t buy an iPhone without a three-year contract and the phone is
locked to the carrier.