Hot Air anyone?

You know the guys over at Lenovo must have had fun making this one....



The Macbook Air certainly plays well to the "OOOOOh" and "Awwwwwwe" crowd. Even I have to admit being pretty impressed when I saw my first one. But then reality sets in when you see the price listings: "Starting at $1799"!


Sorry, Steve....but I'm not buying the hype.

Admittedly, I find Macbook Pros to be on the pricey side as well (especially for what the average consumer like myself needs), but I can at least understand why those working in graphic/media design or music production would shell out Macbook Pro kind of money. But I really have no idea what kind of person would spend $1800 on a Macbook Air. Well, actually, I do -- the kind of uber-Mac-geek person who only wants to "OOOOOh" and "Awwwwwe" his friends, neighbors, and potential clients!

I'm not a diehard Mac apologist....but I might become more of one after seeing my Dad's HP meltdown (from a botched SP3 update attempt) last Thursday and then my wife's HP laptop meltdown (from a botched attempt to reinstall and update her printer drivers) this past Monday. For those counting, that's one stolen Macbook and two major PC crashes in, oh, about 10 days time!

I'm not one of these Ray Kurzweil-ian 'transhuman' prognosticators, but the past couple of weeks illustrate rather nicely how computers and technology so easily run our lives. You just don't realize it...until it crashes or someone steals it from you!

Die, Cell Phone, Die!

I'm not a particularly big John Dvorak devotee....but occasionally he belts out a rant worthy of a good chuckle or two. His latest culprit? The mobile phone!

These devices have done nothing to improve the quality of life or the national productivity. If anything, they have done the opposite. Yes, they are great in an emergency and useful for finding someone in a crowd or for getting directions when you are poorly prepared and lost. But that's about it. Instead, they are used for needless chatter and to give the illusion that you are some sort of big shot as you bellow demands into your device while in a public place.

Personally, I hope none of the handset makers ever turn a profit and they all go dead broke. I feel the same way about the miserable carriers and service providers who are all one inch short of being out-and-out rip-off artists.

The bigger question is: How did we ever let this happen?

I admit that they do come in handy....but there are times where I wish I didn't have to rely on one so much.