I used to await, eagerly, the release of new Personal Digital Assistants, to see what the new models would bring. I loved my Tungsten T3. The LOOX T830 was a bit odd, but it suited me.
I loved netbooks, and the incremental improvements in small, relatively cheap, computing.
I can't think of anything, tech-wise, that brings me that kind of excitement any more.
Another shiny rectangle with a tweaked camera.
A slightly faster ThinkPad.
And so on.
@neil I had that feeling come back for the announced Valve hardware. The Steam Deck has become such an integral part of my limited free time and I adore its openness and contribution to the larger ecosystem.
But I totally get that that's a very gaming centric lense.
@neil Palm Tungsten devices were really great. I missed mine so much, I got Linux running on it in like 2007. Palm in its hayday was really good at making devices that augmented us, without taking over our lifes. I loved being able to write without looking at the device, I used to have an idea while biking, then take out the Palm, and write it down while still biking. Or in a concert or theatre or any where. I could write a note or TODO while holding the device under the table.
I never tried to get Linux running on it!
Yes, Graffiti was amazing, but then I did buy a keyboard rather rapidly too, as I just found that easier for anything more than a few words.
@neil I did, using a prc bootloader, but it was never great or even usable really, so I never actually flashed it.
@neil In my opinion Android kinda killed most excitement on mobile world.
Instead of having multiple competing operating systems we have a single OS who gets showed down everywhere, phones but even fridges, cars, TVs, cameras, media players, watches... to make things worse said OS is pretty mid and with every passing year it gets increasing restrictions.
I want my 2009 back
@neil "I loved netbooks," They were great for when I worked in primary schools - I could get two for the price of a laptop and ideal size for smaller hands :-)
@neil I still have a T3 and it still works!
@neil not sure why you feel this way. I am still impressed with a good book and natural sunlight for hours and hours as if books aren't a very very very old and boring tech. It's not the fault of tech, nor of AI, that's for certain. :)
@bojanlandekic I like my ereader, which is old and secondhand. It does what I want, and I'm not enthusiastically waiting for another one.
@neil
If I may ask you to try to imagine what may be a modern PDA for you?
@neil My Psion Series 5 was peak PDA for me. Lustful. Likewise I can't think of any recent piece of tech that engaged me so much.
@neil
I've been marinating a few thoughts on this. I think it's a combination of two things:
1) We're nearly at the top of the current technology S-curve for consumer electronics.
2) Consumer electronics aren't "for" us nerds any more. They're better seen as fashion items.
Yes, I guess I don't know what *would* catch my eye.
I used to think that a really long battery life would, but external batteries are fine.
I do enjoy having an integral cellular modem, but that is hardly new (it was just "new to me").
A modern day netbook, with a decent keyboard? That would probably do it!
@neil
Yes, I'd love netbooks to make a comeback. I still use my Acer netbook from 2010 when I'm travelling.
Was just coding this afternoon on my netbook…it's slow as molasses, and wheezes at the use of most GUI applications, but my #writerdeck helps keep me focused on the project at hand 🥰
@neil I was given a Supernote Nomad for Christmas, to replace a series of messy paper notebooks. Not an organiser per se, not cheap but interesting and seems to be a mature platform already. Still need to try Obsidian integration / sync.
@neil How I loved my Tungsten T3 as well.... Happy memories.
@neil I had a Palm IIIe and used it to play drug wars
@humanhorseshoes "Escape" was my favourite game. Although Astraware also made some wonderful games.
