* So I dunked the end of my MagSafe Power Adapter in my iced tea while watching the Vandy-Florida fiasco. It was plugged in at the time. Obviously I yanked it out right quick and unplugged it from the wall safely, but I think the power adapter itself may be cooked.
* The question is, is it worth buying a replacement adapter when, for just over double the money, I could buy a whole new netbook which will let me do 90% of what I do on my current laptop, and force me to learn Linux besides? Having not bought a computer in just over eight years, I am reluctant to shell out for one now, but my current laptop is showing the signs – despite being only two years old, it has been rode hard and put away wet and no fooling; the hard drive has been replaced twice, there’s a non-trivial crack in the case, the display has a couple of pretty good scratches and the general behavior of the system is inconsistent with confidence in its continued reliability. One thing I am definitely considering is running a full backup, formatting the drive, reinstalling the OS and migrating the data back over so as to hopefully get a clean system without compromising any of my own content…
* The thing is, I’m never going to learn anything if I don’t have to use it. The main reason I can’t program is because I have never had to. The only reason I learned Windows was because we took the Mac off my desk at work back in 1998 and forced me to do everything in NT for over a year, and as a result, I became a pretty serviceable NT software technician. That and $1.75 will get you a large coffee at Clocktower (and it’s much better than Starbucks to boot). I realize that Ubuntu Netbook Remix compares to a real Linux system the way a Peel P50 compared to a Bugatti Veyron (Top Gear FTW!!) but you have to crawl before you can fly.
* I’m a little worried about processor performance. I tried to play back a 720p trailer for the new Bond movie today – on a 1.8 Ghz G5 iMac – and got something on the order of one frame every four or five seconds. Now, plainly I don’t plan on watching a lot of HD trailers on a netbook, but the point is, you never know what’s going to be the next killer app that depends on massive cheap processing power. Then again, in the world of mobility computing, everything has to fit on a smartphone screen now…so maybe we’re headed back to a world of 640×480 computing.
* Installing Ubuntu 810 in VMWare. Just to test, you understand. Capped it at 512 MB RAM and 8 GB storage, just to see what the limitations are like.
* The 2.2 firmware for the iPhone will apparently allow OTA downloading of podcasts. If I had this, I would basically never need to take the laptop with me ever again, even when I’m going to be gone for a week. If I can add and delete podcasts remotely and buy new tracks off the iTMS, the computer basically becomes the master repository rather than the necessary daily connection. At that point, the next issue is finding new ways to max out the charge, and I’ve done just about everything I can do on that front.
* Seriously considering getting an iPod Shuffle solely for the purpose of long-haul flights so I don’t donk off my cellphone charge.
* My Buddy Vince Sez, “Nate Longshore is proof that Cal doesn’t pay its players.”
Finis.
Vince is onto something, that’s for damn sure.
If Santa brings my sister an iPod for Christmas, I can get my iPod mini back and you can use it for long haul flights. Heck, for Thanksgiving, we’ll have both iPhones and my regular iPod, so you can borrow that some if you like. You can even make some playlists in my iTunes to put on it if you like. As well as podcasts.
This reminds me, we probably ought to rip some more movies so we can bring them on the trip…