Decisions, decisions, decisions

Damn, sometimes life can be really tough. I'm currently staying at casa de H. about 100km from Toronto where we arrived on Wednesday evening. Tomorrow evening I'm flying to Vancouver to meet my friends Igor, John (both Handi Mobility) and Mike (from SilentPCReview) after not seeing them for what sometimes seems like eternity but really did go by in no-time. So that's the fun part, the difficult part is trying to decide what to do next.

My general itinerary calls for me to go to San Francisco, Boston, New York and back to DC from where I'll be flying home to Europe on August 1. However the question is how much time I want to spend in each of those places plus whether I should stop anywhere else on my way. Both Seattle and Portland are options, not necessarily because I originally wanted to visit those places but rather due to A.H. suggesting that they're actually quite nice cities (and going there by bus and taking a domestic flight to SFO would also be cheaper). Plus both of these cities have (or at least had back in Q1 / 2008) local OLPC user-groups which I would like to visit if they're still around. Anyway, everything is still up in the air so I still haven't booked any transportation out of Vancouver. I'm probably going to wait 48 hours until Tuesday noon to see what kind of feedback I get from the various people I've contacted and then decide what to do.

Ah, life really is full of hard decisions, right?

Algorithms and Data Structures

While I'm sitting here in one of my favourite places in Vienna, the Blue Orange Café which is very close to both university and my flat (Google Maps Link, in case anyone is interested) I can't stop thinking about algorithms and data structures. Yes, I know that's odd! But let me explain.

I've got an exam coming up in 'Algorithms and Data Structures 2' later this week and I've spent most of today studying for it. So far I've mainly dealt with text-search and randomized algorithms, more specifically things such as the Miller-Rabin primality test, randomized quicksort and skip lists. And I'm actually enjoying it!

Now the weird thing is that my interests when it comes to my studies and computer science / information and comunication technology in general are oddly distributed. While I'm generally mostly interested in the 'big' topics such as how ICT influences society (and vice-versa) and usability issues, I also have a thing for topics such as theoretical informatics, cryptography and (you guessed it) algorithms and data structures. At the same time I'm also really into hands-on projects such as the One Laptop per Child initiative. Plus I've spent much of my free time these past few years reviewing hardware and writing for technology-related online-publications such as EPIACENTER.com, SilentPCReview.com and OLPCnews.com. And looking into my future I can see all kinds of different projects and research (possibly even jobs, but let's not go there) being interesting ventures worth pursuing.

I guess in the end that's one of the things I like best about being a student: the luxury of choice, all kinds of resources at my hands (don't get me wrong, I love Google just like the next guy but there's something about sitting in an actual library and having all those interesting books, thesis, publications and magazines at my disposal) and access to smart people such as my collegues and professors.

So, 'nuff said for now, my coffee mug is empty, plus the BS-talkin' couple sitting next to me is getting on my nerves. Algorithms and Data Structures, here I come again... :-)

BTW, did anyone else notice the cool Google logo today?

Happy birthday Lego!

Asus eee PC and Packard Bell Easynote XS

Earlier this week two very interesting reviews were posted: While Steve Paine (aka chippy) from UMPCportal.com published his video-review of the Packard Bell Easynote XS (which is the first retail product based on VIA Technologies' NanoBook reference design) Mike Chin from silentpcreview.com posted an article about the Asus eee PC that's half review / half editorial. Both reviews are definitely well recommended if you're interested in what's going in the low-cost mobile-computing market!

While I had some hands-on time with a VIA NanoBook during Computex and VTF back in June I had only had a chance to play around with an Asus eee PC sample this Tuesday. The main issue I had with it (and it's the same story on the Easynote XS) is the low 800px x 480px display. While for example the start-screen on the eee PC is well adapted to the low resolution it does happen that the "okay" and "cancel" button on a system or browser pop-up or other dialogue window aren't visible! Other than that the eee PC is certainly a good product, especially the keyboard is much better than anticipated which should really make that a very good machine for getting work done on-the-road.

Even though both laptops are basically in the same device-category (somewhere between a sub-notebook and a UMPC) there're actually quite different beasts. Personally I'd be more inclined to go for an Asus eee PC as for my requirements (mainly browsing the web and working on text-documents while on the road) the Easynote XS doesn't seem to be superior. In the past few days I spent a lot of time thinking about how I would use such a small computing-device and I concluded that it wouldn't really be able to replace my notebook.

Yes, I'd much prefer to bring something small and light-weight to my university lectures. Yes, 99% of the things I do during OLPC related meetings can be done on either of these machines. Yes, when working on university projects and assignments at a collegue's place they would also work out just fine.

But no, I'd still use my regular 15.4" notebook during events such as CeBIT and Computex because it provides me with a better performance for rendering videos, image editing, multi-tasking, etc. And no, when spending a weekend back home with my family neither the eee PC nor the Easynote XS would cut it, I'd definitely want the more potent notebook, even if it just were for watching videos on the larger screen during the train-ride. And most importantly, no, such a small device would never be able to replace my current notebook as my main machine.

Anyway, even though I'm not quite sure whether I should move in now or later the low-cost mobile-computing space is definitely one to keep a close eye on during the next 6 to 12 months because I'm sure we're going to see many exciting products there!