This week the tinterweb has been alight with news of the new Shuffle from Apple. You have to hand it to Apple, they certainly think outside of the box. The new shuffle is tiny, but its much more notable for its lack of controls. They have been moved onto the headphone cable, so they are always in easy reach.

But all is not as it appears, this is not about giving there customers a new way to interact with the player. This is about making a grab for the after sales headphone market. I think Apple are setting a dangerous precedent, and should not be allowed to muscle in on a market where there obvious intention is to drive up prices and exclude competitors they don’t happen to like. (more…)

The Internet is bound by unspoken rules you have to learn and follow so you can play nice with all the other web kiddies out there. These rules make you “polite” and “sociable” in this free space, where in actual fact you could to anything you want. But of course you run the risk of be ignore or booted from what ever it is you are doing.

No one likes the idiot who runs around SHOUTING at everyone, or someone who won’t shut up when you are trying to play Quake. Most of the time the rules are obvious, as long as you are not being annoying or upsetting someone then its OK.

But sometimes a new technology comes along that is a little different. Something that looks a feels like it is something you know, but there is something else to it that does not make immediate sense. (more…)

The prettiest little laptop in town

I have finally managed to lay my grubby mitts on a netbook. I have been after one for some time, and now one is mine.

The Acer Aspire One is my machine of choice. A great combination of look, performance, and price. There are now a number of machines you could go for, all offering about the same features, all for around the same cost.

But I think the Aspire one stands out as the machine of choice (at least for the geeks out there). Not because it is the best, but because it is one of the cheapest, and one of the best performers.

The Samsung is also worth considering, but at almost twice the price it really is not in the running.

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