Internet Stock Trading, the thrill, the seriousness, the warnings, and benefits

2.20.08

Well, I became a stock trader this week! That's right, I took that plunge into the world of investing. This was not a decision I made on a whim mind you, I had been following the markets, commodities, and trends over the last year or so consistently and knew what I wanted to start with and why.

Yes, it was a very exciting thing to do but the most amazing thing about it was how extremely quick and easy it is to commit to invest or for the faint of heart or uneducated, how quickly it is to lose your money. Before going further, I would like to suggest to anyone who gets the bug to invest for yourself the fruits of your labor, to really watch and to a degree, study the market and talk to friends and/or colleagues with more experience before you jump in. Knowledge is invaluable.

Technologically, it was so fast, I basically was able to start trading within one hour! I had already seen my target stock fall within the past week when the market took a downturn and when the market tried to rally in the previous days, this stock did not make a comeback as quick as the others. I had been watching it and it was already on its way back up though. Actually, I was expecting it to move toward it's previous high and since it was on its way I didn't want to pass up a confident position.

After I decided it was the time, I did some quick google searches on some online trading companies and gauged peoples opinions. After seeing that most opinions were pretty similar, I then checked out which had the lowest charges on commissions when trading. Free was available but for a certain level of trading that as a beginner, I wasn't going to be moving at for quite a while. I made my choice on one of the lower charging discount brokers, 7 dollars a trade.

From that point, I hit their site and registered. I had to read and agree to a lot of legal stuff before I could open the account and then needed to link it to a bank account which I was going to directly transfer money from in order to make my trade. That took a few agreements as well that I had to read through and then a few online security checks. For example, I had already done some banking with my chosen bank account online so I trusted this discount broker with my online login information for that bank account and after doing that, the ownership and funds for trading were approved and confirmed in a matter of minutes!

So from there the funds were not in my trading account yet but the availability was checked out and approved. I had told the discount broker (his site really) I wanted to transfer a certain amount from my bank account to them for trading, chosen that stock I had been eyeing and initiated the trade for the amount I wanted. As I eluded to earlier, this was all done within an hour's time. The internet made it so easy and I was now a partial owner of a company that I had faith was going to start earning returns torward my future.

From an emotional standpoint I have to say it was an exhilerating experience and I felt my heart racing and my mind questioning what I had done because it all was initiated and done so quickly. Investments all start with a good chunk of one's savings and for me that was no different. I probably started out with about 5% of my savings so it was a move that I didn't take lightly.

On that idea of investing for the future, this broker, and I would suspect most of them, have a wide range of research programs open to the user as well as flashy items like a stock ticker and graphs and charts to keep track of your current investments and potential investments. It's a great deal of fun and excitement tempered with realism and seriousness because you realize it is your future you are dealing with not to mention real money. There are a wide variety of tools though for making wise trades and keeping track of potential moves you want to make in the future. All in all the speed that you can make a trade as well as the short time it takes to get started are great but do your research, make sure you have an understanding of what you are doing, and “don't put all your eggs in one basket” and don't invest all your money at once and in one thing.

I can't reitterate enough how awesome the internet is for investment research and how fast you can lose your money if you don't know what you are doing. I can tell you that on the internet and from your broker are many invaluable tools for making your investment decisions but the most important one is the one you were born with, your brain, don't forget to use it when you prepare to invest and as they say in the investment biz, you should have many happy returns.

Personal & Spiritual Thoughts

Learning Love God's Way

1Corinthians13

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

So this is what the Lord intended love to be, for all of us. It doesn't get much clearer than that. It seems a great deal of problems on this world could be solved if lovers, families, even countries practiced these few verses just a little more seriously and took it to heart. Always use patience, be kind, be open to the other view, don't make so much of yourself and become spiteful when someone doesn't agree.

I make these mistakes myself and stray from the perfect formula time and time again. Sometimes patience wears thin, I do disagree at times and do become defensive and feel some malice toward those who don't live or believe in the same way as I do. In certain ways, during certain times in my life, I have been spoiled and for a time, even trained to believe I was better than the rest, that I deserved better than the rest. When reality hits though, that is when you see who you really are and who's left with you when the smoke clears.

Much like the latter verses, even at an adult age, I sometimes spoke and acted like a child. I may still have been a child on the inside trying to find a direction at a time when the world was exclaiming to everyone to live life and enjoy every moment. There was work to be done, most people didn't know it though, it was the same with me. Finally, when I really needed to do some real work, perhaps I wasn't ready. Perhaps I became exhausted because I had never really did any real work. Fun ruled the day when it came to higher education and perhaps a topic for the future, struggle and sadness ruled the time before that.

Now though, in my older, more mature, mental age, I realize how poor past decisions were. This being February 14^th, I am left to ponder the past and wonder of the future and what I will make of it. The Lord has been kind to me. More than a few times he has provided those that have loved me. In my childish times though, I reasoned like a child and let them go, let them slip through my fingers because of dreams of a more grandiose life or lying to myself and saying I was ready for something serious when I really wasn't. I didn't want to grow, I wanted to remain a child a little longer. There's a time in your life though when you give up your childish ways, I had to do so the last two years and it was quite painful. I was not prepared for the path I had chosen at the time but foolishly followed down into what was very close to oblivion. By sheer grace alone was I saved from the guillotine and in turn had to make serious, realistic goals for myself with the Lord's guidance.

Finally in my life, I can say I am building a future. Building something that will endure and sustain me and the future family I hope to have. I won't shy away from it, I pray everyday for God's strength and clarity that will allow me to keep building and not allow myself to fall off the path that He has given me. Although I ache and dream at times for the old life I thought I was destined to live, I know He has a plan, and has always had one. I must fight on! I must trust in Him. He has saved me twice already, once from the devil and once from myself. I do not want to lose my way again. I do want to do what others have succeeded in though. By God's grace, I want to build a life, build a family, have the means to support it, and to thank God everyday for the opportunity.

“So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” So now I have all three, I have faith in my God who has placed me on a new path. He has given me dreams and with them hope, hope for so many good things, so many good experiences to come, and He has given me His unwavering love. Love, and the secure feeling that can only be given when in the Lord's hands. I have come out stronger, more able, more dependable, and more at peace even when life is not altogether peaceful. I am even more humble, for when you are not, you will come to realize a fall if one comes to you will be from that much higher and harder to bear. I do thank God for my lessons, the fall only prepares me that much more for the future and and gives me a climb that will be that much more sweet when it is finished.

Thank you.

BioDiesel Bioshmeasel!

2.9.08

Ah ha! That's all I have to say! The first reports are coming out about how the much touted biodiesel (or BD as I like to call it) is turning out to be a bigger problem than cars running on gasoline. It's something I have strongly believed since the whole BD craze began. It's always been known that using biodiesel over gasoline reduces miles per gallon in an automobile already so in my opinion people should have been up in arms asking for more proof that it was truly a good innovation before the farming industry put all (or most) of their eggs into this basket. In the last few years, plans for more and more biodeisel refineries have been planned and more and more farms have converted to corn and soybean growing because of the run up in price these commodities have gotten with all the talk of biodiesel saving the United States from the grip of foreign oil. That'll be the day.

Recently, new studies have shown that not only does BD give less miles to the gallon but also that it is causing double the damage to produce it over the traditional gasoline product! More land all over the world is being resown and stripped bare to plant corn, soybean, sugarcane, and other BD crops in hopes of helping us “live greener” and lessen the dependency on foreign oil. From the very beginning, with the equipment that needs to be used, with the production factories few and far between where the people really need them, the trucking that needs to be used to get the biodiesel out to the customers that are not close to the factories or the farmland, we are actually, not surprisingly, doubling our CO2 output on this world. Stripping land to grow these crops doesn't help either removing the native vegetation that was originally there to sap up the world's CO2 (plants take that in and expel Oxygen). This started a chain of events that made all our food more expensive as well. A good example is that with so much more of our country's corn crop going into BD production, we have less for feed that livestock and ranchers need to keep meat and milk at a stable price. That feed now costs more because corn costs more. The ranchers that handle livestock are going to have to make up for that deficit in their pockets somehow. That's where we come in, we are already paying higher prices for the foods we eat connected to livestock because of this. To add to that, prices of farmed vegetables and fruits are more expensive because we just don't grow enough of it any longer with the switch farmers have made to corn. We don't want to be slaves to foreign oil but we become slaves to South American fruit and vegetable farmers!

During all this time as well, we're not lowering our dependence on foreign oil. No, we're still using trucks to get our foods to us from coast to coast and that's costing more because gasoline is costing more. Cars and trucks need to be fitted with a few new engine components to get BD to work well with them. People don't take into account BD can cause damage to engine parts if a vehicle was never intended to run on it. That's why all the mainly Chevy BD capable vehicles come with a yellow gas cap. You've got to make sure you know you can use it before you try it.

It's a valiant effort to help the world out, I'll give the scientists and the backers of this technology that. The intentions were good. And to offer up a great use of BD, I believe those few folks out there who are converting, or better to say truly recycling, restaurant cooking oil into a BD product for use in their diesel cars is an awesome idea. I have to repeat, that is true recycling! There's no extra land being destroyed for it, it's been used (to put things like fries on our dinner plates) and it's only going to be thrown away. What a great idea and perfect solution to use that oil and cooking byproduct everyone has as fuel for automobiles. It's ideas like that that change the world for the better.

Someone should have really run the numbers, done the tests, and examined the production of BD fuels from beginning to end before our farmers and some of our citizens jumped headfirst into the world of biodiesel. I personally think we should abandon this idea. If we're going to create a biodiesel, let's get it from recycling oils we use already. Lets keep the corn for our bellies as well as our livestock's feed. Perhaps we'll be able to get the prices of our foods down a little bit and in the process, refocus our country's intelligent minds onto finding another solution to our energy problems. Time is running out, we have to find a solution soon. It's not a good idea to ever take one solution and take that as the answer-all to our own or our country's problems. Let's get wise and let's get back to work!

My So Called "Online" Life

2.8.08

So sometimes I wonder what people think about their lives and technology. I have staved off the urge to get an Ipod almost permanently now but there are those folks who have Ipods, Iphones, those who are continuously checking their email and are connected over the internet with their cell phones because they can't even think about living off the net. There are those that spend all day chatting with people they know and even those that chat all day with those they don't know. What about those people? Would you say they are living a good life? Far be it for me to judge because of course it depends on how much they are getting out of their lives, how they feel, and what kind of personal contribution they want to make to society in their lives.

Of course it's great to be able to use technology today, it makes life so much more convenient to live and really does give everyone more time to do other things which is very nice. There's so much more opportunity today to learn new things and to be more productive, it's really great. Can you get to a point where it might seem like abuse of technology though rather than using it for good. Perhaps a better question would be can you get to a point where technology seems like it is abusing you? There are some people who are so wrapped up in their online life whether it be chatting, posing as someone else, or even in online gaming, that they stay online and seem to be tethered to their computers 24/7. For these people, being “off the net” or away from their computers is almost a painful experience.

I'm a firm believer that you have to 'live” some life “off the net” though. I know that throughout the years I have needed to make a conscious effort to spend some time away from technology. It feels good, gives me time to reconnect with the world and things like temperature, weather, nature, my neighborhood, what day it is, and friends. All things that should be more important than being online. Using technology is unavoidable today of course because if you do stick to the good ol' pad and paper as I've wanted to do time and again, you find yourself back on the computer and online later realizing what a cumbersome idea and how outdated pad and paper can be.

Let me give an example from my own life. I love writing on memo pads with a smooth writing pen on paper (since we're on the topic). It's just a personal liking I have. I found it so nice for a long time to write up my task lists for home, work, and what have you on pads of paper. I still say it's one of the best inventions ever made. After a while though I started wishing I could move things around a bit, organize things better, without having to go to and rewriting everything into the proper order I wanted or onto the pad that represented the proper category it should have been in. I started getting lazy and drawing arrows on my task lists and then circling the important tasks I thought were more important than the rest. One day soon after I was surfing the net and came across “mind organizers” or “mind mapping” software. Just the title itself intrigued me. Well, to make a long story short, I found a recommended software called Freemind online that was actually free and a great task organizer. I inadvertently through my own memo pad innovation was using mind mapping. Now I am back on the computer everyday happy for the wonderful free software that has given my own wish and evolution form. (where can I get it? http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)

It's amazing, I always say, “Anything that is worth finding is out there on the net.” This is just another proof that if you have a good idea, it's rare now that someone hasn't thought of it as well and with the new love of open source most people have, it's more likely to be free.

Back to the topic at hand though, what's it like to live online and how dangerous is it? Do we abuse the internet or does the internet abuse us? For some it's the latter. Especially in this world of WOW and online shoot'em ups. For me though, I have fought the internet addiction, made my way off it, and found my way back. I guess everyone who spends any great amount of time online will go through the same battle. You come back more responsible to yourself and your time, you come back more appreciative of what the internet and your computer have to offer, and hopefully like I have grown to feel, appreciate it for much much more than gaming.

An Evolution in Flight
2.6.08

The joy of flying. It's changed a lot the last decade. We all know that flying isn't what it used to be. I can remember flying as a kid. The earliest flight I can remember was from New York to Orlando to go on vacation to wonderful Disney world! Sure, I was a kid then but I can still remember the finer points of flying back then. It started off at the airport. Now, i only remember this being an object at JFK airport as far but I remember how they had chairs with televisions connected to them. We traveled on a Saturday morning and I was able to catch my Saturday morning cartoons at the airport waiting for the flight. That was great! It seems they've been removed now but I can still remember at that early age thinking that the future of travel could only get better in the future. Everything seemed customer centered as well, flying was a special event that people who worked in the business took pride in.

Well, when I finally took that first flight, I remember there was food that was very good, warmed up, and much like those tv dinners we can get at the store nowadays. Even better if I remember right. All I know is that the meals were good enough that I asked for more. That's all I can remember of my first flight but they were happy memories. In the last decade though, there has been a downward spiral as far as what the airlines offer us as amenities. My best definition is that they went from something to close to nothing. Just for a recent example, I went to Hong Kong 2 years ago and throughout the whole 26 hour flight all I got was pretzels, peanuts, and crackers. There were one or two sandwich meals but those were cold and not very good after being on the plane so long. Yes, I enjoy eating food and I was disappointed.

Why am I bringing this up now though? Well I took a short trip from Chicago to Ft Lauderdale for business and to see my parents and the trip was just short of horrible. Just to quickly recall the past events, the size of the plane was pretty small. Not bad in itself but then it was loaded up with too many seats, 6 per row. It was one of those planes that should have had 5 per row. The things companies will sacrifice for money, comfort is definitely not a goal of the modern airline business. So, in a plane the size of a sardine can, I was also stuck in the middle seat of a row next to a younger guy and a pilot that must have gotten snowed in the night before. It was pretty tight. Too tight in my opinion. The only food we got was a pack of graham crackers and peanuts as well. Not even the regular size but smaller. They also said we would run out of fuel on the way over to Florida as well because of the weight of the luggage so we had to stop in Nashville for more fuel. Can you believe that? I guess it's not the first time I've been in that situation but it's the first time for that short of a flight. Not being able to get your passengers from Chicago to Hong Kong on one tank of gas I can see as realistic but to not be able to get to Fort Lauderdale from Chicago on one tank? That is ridiculous.


So maybe I'm just ranting about a poor flight experience but I feel that on a technological note there is so much to complain about here. After all these years, how can the flying experience be so much worse than it was just 10 to 15 years ago? Why can't airlines put aside their greed and seat the proper number of normal proportioned people on each and every plane they own and still make enough money? Why can't they give everyone warm meals or even sandwiches on a flight instead of minuscule sized packets of peanuts and crackers? Why can't modern planes make it from coast to coast on one tank of fuel regardless of how much baggage they have to carry especially if they boast that they are providing a non-stop flight? We should ask more from our airlines today. We should receive the same or better level of service over years ago and we should not back down from that. Things are supposed to evolve as time goes by not go backwards.

I guess this may be too much to ask for though, on deeper reflection, I guess more than half the jets that fly in the sky today are not new. Maybe we can't expect the efficiency we would like out of them especially since they were made in the times where fuel was cheaper. Could they be more efficient, probably, were they designed with that in mind, i doubt it. I still think that with the advent of international flights and with the usage of external fuel tanks by the military, someone should have adapted that technology for civilian use by now. How nice would it be to know you could make it to the other side of the world or farther in one non-stop trip? Perhaps in the future with the development of modes of transport that will fly in the area of the edge of space where the atmosphere is thinner and allows for more efficient travel, perhaps then we will have figured out how to get flying back to where it should be, a pleasant experience with good service, non-stop and to anywhere in the world. It hopefully will be conceivable that we will even get to fly further than that on one tank of fuel.

in the meantime i guess we will continue that downward spiral. On a related and opposite note though, It's nice to know that companies like Jet Blue learn from their mistakes as well as others and are trying to give their customers a better experience than others with standard cable, xm radio, and wide seats on all their flights. They have decent sized snacks as well even though they are not meals and they gladly provide more with just a request. I don't think I can say this is an airline that has improved any by today's standards but it is the best so far I believe. The airlines service so many people in the world everyday, I'd like to encourage folks to fight for improvement. It's what we deserve.

Giants Win the Super Bowl!

That's all I gotta say for this one really. Sorry to depart for my intended formula. Sometimes you just gotta yell something out to the world! I remember the last time, I was a kid, Phil Sims and Coach Parcells won it all back then.

I'm thankful I get to experience it again with my friends. Giants Win!

Social Commentary on the Super Bowl

2.3.08

Are you ready for commercials?

So, are you ready for commercials? Super Bowl commercials! A friend of mine sent me an evite to a Super Bowl party the other day that was titled just that way. I thought about this for quite a while. Commercials? Commercials? How can you be thinking about commercials before the game of the year! It’s the Giants verses the Pats! I happen to be a Giants fan as well as a Jets fan and I am from New York so you can understand my feelings. I live in Chicago now though so I guess it’s fair for my friends to ask that question, especially after last year. The Giants are underdogs 13 to 1 so I may be heading down that path as well today but if there is one thing a NY fan learns especially in the last few years it’s where to find hope!

Just to talk about my Jets for a moment, I so look forward to the Giants winning over the Pats because their coach, Bill Belichick was hand picked by coach Parcels (a great man) years earlier to take over as coach of the Jets and Bill decided to take some of the best players and run to New England! That traitor! All those Pats victories could have been ours! It takes a good leader as part of a winning equation though and he is one, even if a traitor.

Anyways, I can’t wait for this game to begin and I hope that the Giants will be taking their strength and determination they’ve had since the last time they played the Pats and really stick it to ‘em. Are you ready for commercials, no, I’m ready for a war!

Thinking about commercials though, they say that 30 seconds of commercial time during the big game will cost 2.6 million dollars, or 26,000,000 dollars, does that put it in perspective? Can you believe that? Where has this world come to where only the big companies can afford the time that has gotten so inflated and expensive? There was a story on the news where one person came up with the money to buy 2 seconds of air time for his business, a small business, a private business, yet the big wigs upstairs that control the time rejected him saying there wasn’t enough time for his commercial. It’s something to think about as you watch these entertaining yet high powered, high cash commercials today. Where’s the little guy? Where are the commercials for the stores down the street in your neighborhood? What about the chains that took years to grow because they are still owned by mom and pop or the family? Did they have the money for a commercial? Did they try? Did they want to be part of the action? Were they rejected a spot because their time requirement was too small or their business not popular enough, could they even ever hope to afford it? Who really is controlling what you are seeing today at commercial time? Maybe it’s too much to keep track of but perhaps the next time you buy something you can ask, “Am I buying this because of a Super Bowl commercial? A very expensive Super Bowl commercial?” If you are, maybe it’s a good idea to put that down and buy a smaller competitor’s product.

As I think about the dream of the Giants sticking it to the Pats, I also think about us, sticking it those fools who paid such high prices for their commercials. Be entertained by it, sure, it will probably be the only time this year when people talk about wanting to watch the commercials, they’re major annoyances though that strip the mind of the ability to think for itself (much like other things in the world today).

On that note, I’m excited to watch and see if the presidential candidates purchase any time during the Super Bowl today. It’s been rumored that they will. Super Duper Tuesday is this coming week and it’s the perfect way, albeit super expensive, to reach every man, woman, and child, as they will be watching the game as well as eagerly awaiting the commercials. Most of their commercials I admit are very annoying as well and don’t say much when you get down to it but I just want to tally up who thought it was a good idea and think about what kind of example they are setting as they move forward in their presidential campaigns. Honestly, you’re better off watching the evening news after or before the Super Bowl to hear more about the candidates and I for one hope people are going to do that and not only today. Pay attention to the news and if you can, the news from outside this country, like the BBC, as close to unbiased as you can get.

The Super Bowl commercials are a terrible and expensive waste of time. On any other day I would be forwarding my Tivo over the commercials because that is what I bought it for! Today though, folks who have no interest in the teams playing today have already set up commercial parties, you can be sure not one will be missed! What a concoction this is, I tell you what though, I’m ready for a game! And, I’m ready to party! Go Giants!

A New Revolution: Part II

2.1.08

This being Friday morning, since I woke up early, and since it's almost one week since I purchased my EEE pc, I figured it was time for and update of what life is like with it. I gotta say, this little wonder is small! Honestly, not as light as I was expecting, I was expecting closer to “feather weight” but it is light enough. i can really feel the difference between it and my Sony TR which is about 3 pounds. Compared to that it really does feel like I just have a small book in my bag, even with the power supply (which the TR has a brick like any other computer).

In usage, the EEE pc is totally usable. Some folks have complained of it's small 7 inch screen and the need for a bigger one. I would say the screen is almost perfect. Yes, I would like to see a higher resolution which can't be changed right now in the Linux operating system (which I am sticking with) but I'm sure I'll find another desktop program or OS that will allow me to change that sooner or later. Also, a bigger screen means a higher price. I bought the EEE because it's so gosh darn cheap!

I eluded to something else here, The OS or Operating System. I really like the Xandros linux operating system so far. It resembles Debian in commands and usage which I have a little experience with from my work in the Web Hosting business. I have gotten a greater crash course in it though since I've gotten this pc. It's fun though. I started programming when it was all on the command line and linux happily brings me back to that. I've got more than a handful of commands under my belt now and the speed and information that the command line gives me is something that was missed in recent years with windows. On that note, I am one of those folks that happily refuses to put Windows XP on my EEE. I've been searching so long for a way to get rid of that bloated and prone to blue screen product that this has been my answer that I have been fearful of accepting on my windows pc's (because of lack of experience). I do have a Vista computer as well. That is a worse off product than XP, but I digress. Let's bring it back to the EEE. Linux actually is very easy to use and much more customizable after learning a few commands. For those who want that windows feel, the EEE is able to go to advanced mode which enables a KDE interface that really resembles windows greatly so that users that like windows won't loose any ease or productivity.

Next, I wanted to say something on the keyboard. A lot of folks say it's small and that's no joke! It really is. Another reviewer said that's probably as small as you can get for a keyboard and still be able to touch type reliably. That's so true. Anyone can adapt to it though. Only those few people where your finger is actually the size of a key (and that is totally possible) will have a terrible time with the keyboard. Definitely, anyone looking to buy an EEE with larger hands really needs to go to a store and try the keyboard out. I have what I would like to call normal hands and I went over to Microcenter to make sure the keyboard was usable for me as well. To give you an idea of how fast I've adapted though, I've typed this much with only 5 or 6 mistakes, pretty average and not because of the keyboard. I have a full size keyboard on my desk for my “home” system and I can switch back and forth without much of a problem.

Now, battery life. So far in my tests this week, on full screen brightness, with a beautiful screen I might add, I get about 3 hours of battery life on my 4G Surf model which was supposed to only get 2.5 hours. I find that great, it beat the estimates. I was working on the PC at the same time as well on a network line (not wireless). The sad part is that it takes just as long to charge. If you use 3 hours of battery life, it will take 3 hours to charge if you leave it on and work wirelessly. I guess it might be faster if you charge it with the wireless or the computer “off.” I'll definitely be picking up another battery as soon as I can get one for a decent price. Price estimates are 100 bucks for an extra battery when it comes out. There will have to be a better deal than that I hope later on in the year.

If there is one thing I need now it's a carrying case. I know the more expensive model comes with a sleeve but I've heard it was pretty cheap so I passed on that. I also didn't care for a .3 megapixel camera. That's just weak. I'll just use the webcam I bought 6 years ago and get the same resolution or better! I gotta say, I haven't found a good case yet though. My techie friend who also bought one of these little wonders bought a case logic case for portable dvd players and it seems to fit perfectly but it is a little bulky. I want to find a sleeve that is reasonably priced. I found a neoprene case as I was surfing around that seemed to be perfect but it was 30 dollars. I think I can do better in the near future but I may end up getting one of these because I like their style. You can take a look at one here: http://www.thepouch.com/asus-eee-701.html.

For a little humor, right now my case is a bubble wrap lined envelope one of my video games came in when I ordered online. I do most of my shopping online so I have a few of these, it's a perfect size! You can see one in the 1st picture. Take that Macbook air! I take my Asus around in that envelope and just pull it out when I need it. Very eye catching and funny, I hear people on the other side of the room laughing when I pull it out. That's reason enough to keep this as a case. People seem to leave the presense of the EEE pc in a happier mood, either because of my “case” or because the pc is “soooooo cute.” That is probably the most common comment this device gets. It doesn't help that I have anime backgrounds on my desktop.

Moving onward, memory wise, my model only has 4 gigs of memory but then again I've found most programs to be quite small. I've only used about 300 megs installing all the programs I think I would ever need. And that is without deleting the .tar.gz files (compressed form programs come in) to save even more memory. In other words, I have enough. I have a 1 gig SD card in there right now too that came with my older camera, perfect for saving files to as well. An 8 G usb drive is always on my key chain as well so as you can imagine, I definitely have enough memory for most things. Even music and movies, those run great too.

In all, if I was to rate the EEE pc, I would give it a 4.8 out of 5 because it is perfect for what I need it for, it's really really ultra mobile and has good battery life. I can't give it a perfect 5 because I sure would have liked 5 hours of battery life for an ultra mobile pc (the thinking is that it will never be around a plug, it will be mobile). Also the keyboard being a good size has keys that are a little too deep, you have to try it to see what i mean. It's not bad at all but that is what you need to get used to I think. For example, the Sony TR that I refer to is an 11 inch screen computer, it's an ultra portable but the key strokes are not as deep allowing you to type faster. The Asus keyboard would benefit as well with just a millimeter or so less travel in the keys up and down. Hopefully you get the picture. All in all the EEE is really an awesome machine though and so convenient to have around, I really love it.

A New Revolution

1.22.08

Is there a market out there for ultra mobile personal computers also known as umpcs? I would say yes. I’ve owned a Sony TR series for a few years now. I have also owned one of their UX50 palm pilots for even longer. One’s too big to carry around everywhere even with it’s 11 inch or so screen and the other has a keyboard way to small to type on and no word processor application.

Enter the umpcs, so far the Asus EEE is out there and soon to be released Friday is the Everex Cloudbook. These laptops boast a 7 inch screen and a total width of about 9 inches and less than 2 pounds. That’s getting really close to the size and weight most ultra mobile productive people want in a laptop as they head out on the road to the cafes, offices, the games, or just where the stories are. Heck, you can even be productive at parties unintrusively with these pcs if you so desire.

I don’t know about you guys but I like to write, whether I’m taking notes on some new fangled techno gadget, writing a journal that I never seem to be able to do regularly, or just writing something down that I don’t want to forget, you never know where inspiration will hit. And when it does, it’s a shame to lose it and let that moment pass without putting it down somewhere for the future. An old school paper notebook is nice but this is the computer age, it’s time to get with the times and these pcs are the way to go. Like I said, it’s getting close to the size and weight we want because we’ve been taunted and told of the future where we’ll be using things like electronic pads from Star Trek that look so light and are connected to each other or e-paper that is supposed to be thin as paper, not draw any energy, and have the ability to be updated like a flexible computer screen, that still seems to be a great deal of time away. I guess we’re closer to Star Trek now with our palm pilots, blackberries, and treos, but even tablet pcs don’t really have a good way to interface with us yet in tablet mode and allow us to put in large amounts of information on the fly. The keyboard still seems to be the best way. Another solute to these umpcs for not going the way of the tablet even though it sure would be fun to see. But as always, the size looks good but I’d always like lighter, I’m sure we all would. I look forward to the newer and better models to come in the days ahead. With the recent Apple Air announcement and a thin laptop conceived by Lenovo, we can only hope that that technology will become cheaper so our friends, the Linux developers can produce some thin ultra mobiles in our future priced for the masses.

Well, I’m hoping to get my hands on a Cloudbook this Friday if it’s released on time and I’m dreaming of all the things I’ll be able to do with it. All the places I’ll be able to work, all the times I’ll be able to have a computer and get online when I have only dreamed of it in the past. Hopefully it will be so light it really will feel like a cloud. It seems like we’re getting closer to perfection every year. In just these last 2 months, Asus released it’s candidate for the next revolution in computing and when I thought, “I’d really like more memory,” Everex readies it’s own challenger with 30 gigs. I just hope it lives up to the hype and pushes us further and closer to having small, light, low priced, reliable machines. It’s what I’ve been waiting to see and experience. Is it too much to ask for? We’ll find out.