Ergo, criticism of the 6910p.

November 10th, 2008

Where does your lap go when you stand up?

A few weeks ago I was assigned a new laptop at work which is really fast, but horribly, horribly designed.  The HP Compaq 6910p … I dub thee: the racing camel.

First, let’s talk about how sweet it is.  Intel® Coreâ„¢ 2 Duo Processor T7800 (2.6 GHz, 800 MHz FSB, 4 MB L2 cache), DVD+/-RW SuperMulti with Double Layer, 14.1-inch diagonal WXGA+ anti-glare screen,  Type I/II PC card (Which I need for EVDO because even though this laptop is sometimes sold with a Verizon EVDO card built in, my employer didn’t think that was a worthwhile investment for some reason), and an SD card reader which I have yet to use, but probably will.

It also has a whole bunch of stuf that I’ll probably never use:  Fingerprint reader, SmartCard reader, Firewire port, a third (3!) USB port, modem, s-video … and that’s before we get to the docking station (which is itself a hate-mail from an ergonmic design school dropout).

And even though I’m attached to it at the present moment, I’m going to continue to avoid talking about the docking station because … you know what?  This is a laptop; a portable computer.  You know what you’re supposed to do with it?  Port it!  That’s right, travel!  So, then, let’s look at my least favorite feature of this laptop when it is being used without the dock: the exhaust vent.  You see, that highfalootin’ video subsystem kicks out some real heat, which needs to go somewhere.  Preferably away from me, you know?   But I also must confess that my laptops frequently get set down on their edge when I get interrupted mid-use.  And doing that with this lappy would cover that exhaust vent, inviting heat problems.  I can’t set it down on the opposite edge because that’s where the rj45 ethernet connects.  Why?  Why not on the back, somewhre near where the power connects?  DDFF:  design disconnected from function.  And function, in this sense, means how it is used, not just what it is supposed to do.

But when I pick the laptop back up, and if I’ve had the absence of mind to close the lid, getting the thing to wake back up is a crapshoot, but if I’ve brushed against the touch-sensitive strip at the top of the keyboard, I’ve either fired up a specialty program, turned on/off the wi-fi, or cranked up or muted the volume.  I realize that touch sensitive buttons that aren’t really buttons is all sexxyy this year, and it really is good for some applications, but personal use business machines don’t seem like the place.

And speaking of buttons, there’s no way to do ctrl-alt-del with one hand with this keyboard layout.  Believe it or not, this computer is designed to run a Windows operating system, so you’d think you’d be able to perform the #1 Windows key sequence for fifteen years running with just one appendage.  I don’t care which, but two hands are not available to lock my screen when I’m running off to a meeting and reaching out for my mug of coffee with one hand as I stand up.

And another thing, don’t make the track pad so (which I hate to use but cannot disable) so sensitive that every time I flick my wrist to use a keyboard shortcut I accidentally change windows and select a paragraph of random text or worse.  Or just make the trackpad work sort of decently so you can omit the nipple-pointer in the middle of the keyboard and the additional set of buttons that go along with it.  Why is there a gutter around the keyboard, and what are these rubber things sticking up in the middle of it?  Two words, fellas: wrist and rest.  And resting on the holes where the born-to-break lid clip attaches is not comfortable.  It just isn’t.

Is that all?  No .. the audio through the built in speakers is awful.  I don’t know what the reviewers who liked it were listening to, but if you want to listen to actual they suck.  And when I plug my headphones into the jack the speakers still function.  That was an annoying half an hour for the guy in the cube next to mine.  I’ve never known a laptop to work that way.  Stupid.

Ok, look.  you can call me a curmudgeon or a mac fanboy (even the MacBook Pro makes some of these mistakes .. but far fewer), and you would not be completely wrong but not completely right, either.

But since I have a place to rant about it, I will.

Did ya miss me?

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…and I feel fine.

September 9th, 2008

That’s great, it starts with an earthquake…

For those of you who are in the dark (that’s a pun), jeff has been keeping tabs on the black-hole machine known as the Large Haldron Collider being built out at CERN in Switzerland.  It goes live tomorrow for its first complete tests and you could, if you choose, be very excited or fearful of this idea.

Or you could shrug it off like a fatalist and say,  “whatever.”

A number of people have, with varying levels of seriousness and science, warned about the possibility that this thing could create a black hole that sucks us all in.  They’ve crowed about it to such an extent extent that CERN has felt compelled to publish published a LHC risk assessment (a fifteen-page .pdf, none of most of which goes well over my head) which states, in conclusion:

Having reviewed the theoretical and experimental developments since the previous safety report was published, we confirm its findings. There is no basis for any concerns about the consequences of new particles or forms of matter that could possibly be produced by the LHC.

Not concerned about the consequences of new particles or forms of matter?  So why did you just spend six billion dollars to build it in the first place?  Until proven otherwise, I’m firmly on the side of those cheering for this thing to wink out all existence in a subatomic instant.  poof.

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Take a breather

May 18th, 2007

I expect M-Pasq and 99 have already seen this, but I’m fascinated and amused by the proof-of-concept reality of a USB charger powered by breathing. That’s right, all you’ve got to do is breee-e-eathe, breathe-breathe-breathe and the expansion/contraction of your chest is translated into power!

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Art and the Mobile Phone

March 11th, 2007


Today I went up to Baltimore to see the exhibit at the Contemporary Museum called CELL PHONE: Art and the Mobile Phone. These are my notes on what I saw and thought about it all.

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Anti-gravity kit

June 12th, 2006

The universe is in a sort of balance, and things always work to achieve and refine that balance. Gravity is our most handy representation of this. This much is simple. I love the fact that so much of basic scientific principles are so simple that it can easily be explained to a child. Then it always comes as a suprise to me that these things, like gravity, went unnoticed for generations until some bloke gets hit on the noggin with a fruit. Anyway, it seems that the simplicity of the universal balance has been “discovered” once again. This time, with the help of an antigravity kit has been developed.

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Now I can bury it.

December 19th, 2004

decks.jpg

I put my decks in the coffin. I realized that it represents a certain level of
completeness to a collection of things that i’d seen in my head for a long time. A hurdle, a line, a completion.

While arranging it, the thought entered my head to clean it all up and
photograph it and sell it (all together, no splitting it up now that it is a complete set) on e-bay and put
the money in a money market fund until the day that I’m ready to make
again. That might be easier, in the long run, than having to maintain and store it.

But

that can’t happen until I .mp3 all of my vynil, though. I would probably sell
the records by the pound … doing something like sampling four faces from every six
shelf-inches I was selling. The shipping would be expensive, but if I had an
archive of it all (on one DVD most likely), gravity’s ability to act on me would
be a LOT less so it might well be worth the finacial loss.

and A LOT LESS GRAVITY is what i’m looking for … I WANT TO FLY.

So, sorry if that came off as “hey thanks for the free shit, now I’m going to
pawn it and take the cash” … I don’t mean that at all. I mean that while working in silence with the instruments … and with my mind still in this “gravitational” groove since talking to you (pl.)
earlier… and, you know, having to move heavy stuff around causes you to seriously
consider why you own it and what you hope to get out of the effort required to
keep it (at least it to me).

I still can’t convince myself that I could ever get rid of the speakers or the coffee table, but now I have a plan
for the decks, recs, and IKEA that pollutes my stream of consiousness. It just
matters if I have enough notice before the seasons change …archiving & selling
it all, even by the pound, will take some time. That is the gravitational debt
i’m already under … OR i have to make the decision to lose that part of my
life cut the anchor ropes and move on. Hmm… declararition of musical bankruptcy upon my past? I know there is value in this property, but is it worth it?

99, it occurrs to me that where you are currently sharpening the “GET UP GO DO NOW”
tip, we (me, the d) are honing the “STUFF? WHAT STUFF I AM?” angle. It is all
the same game. I mean, more succintly, that we share a direction and goal
(small g) and thus can comfortably communicate clearly about what we are doing,
without having to necessarily explain why. Maybe there are others like us?

phone is ringin’ oh my god,

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recharging

May 7th, 2004

Many things have happened this week. Among them, I got my camera battery charger back so i’ll be able to start again with the snapshots.

Also, 12 hours after opening up a mailserver to an email address I haven’t used in about four years got 35 spams.

Spamfiltering will be my first priority. :/

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Progress

January 5th, 2004


Moving forward takes a lot of energy. Good thing I’m having beans for lunch.

Speaking of beans, I filled up my new car for the first time today. I averaged 27.4 MPG on the first tank which took me just over 300 miles of commuting and a couple of errands. So far the car runs great with a couple of minor annoyances: I can’t figure out how to make the light come on when the door is opened and I think there is one in the boot (hatchback) too which doesn’t come on, either. I like the running lights, but I wish there was a way to switch them off so I don’t run down the battery or annoy the neighbors or just plain attract attention when I listen to the radio while applying Rain-X anti-fog to the inside of the glass. Rain-X anti-fog (a.k.a. Fog-X) is great stuff, by the way.

But driving a MINI might make it difficult to transport a hangglider. Of course, they’re way too expensive to actually own. Really, though, I mainly want to satisfy two curiosities: How do you get back to your car/base/origin point when you fly and, more importantly, what is it like to soar a few thousand feet in the air with no sound but the wind rushing around you? First I need to get someone to teach me.

But it must sound to be talking about this budget-strain while I’m more actively considering (and, in a limited way, bidding on ebay for) snowboarding equipment. I’ve figured out that if I hit the hill for just five days and limit my expenditure to $200 for deck, bindings, and boots I can break even this year not to mention the time I’ll save not having to rent gear and return gear .. and not having to wear someone else’s wet boots is a big plus too.

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