Yes, I’m very sad like that but hey! I enjoy it and its not hurting anyone (that I know of!).

If you fancy having a go at anything like the stuff I’m doing, I’d advise you check out the Visual Studio Express 2010 products available for free download on the Microsoft Website here.
Anyhow, my download’s finished so I’m off to play for a bit!

If you’ve never used one, shame on you!

Although I had plans to use the Revo as a little quiet media centre, that all went for a walk when I realised we were using the TV pretty much all the time meaning the computer attached to it wasn’t being used. Needless to say, its now attached to the back of my monitor taking up zero space and making hardly a sound. Blogging was never going to overheat the little guy.

OK, so here’s the question and try to remember who’s asking it.
Would building a PC actually achieve anything?
Sure, I’d have the fun of putting one together, getting all the software up and running (maybe even using it to teach myself some other OS’s other than Windows ones) and generally enjoying the whole “roll your own” experience I’ve had on numerous occasions before.

But in the longer run, would it be worth it? Couldn’t I justify the cash spent and the hours gobbled up by such a hobby/project? I’m not sure and that’s where its all getting complicated. If nothing else, her majesty would be thrilled to see yet more kit in our little nest!!

I think I’ve just talked myself out of it…… Maybe if I just pop by ebuyer again and have a look at that case I liked……

Windows 7 is now on it and apart from a log in time issue (very, very slight and feels faster than it was in Vista), I’m still ridiculously happy with the purchase I made. I think this little thing’s dropped in price since I bought it so its now in total bananas territory price wise. If you can spare a couple of hundred, get an R3600. That’s all I can say!

OK, so Windows 7 on a TV. Bit weird not having any proper surface to run my mouse over (I really miss that!) but that’s my setup here in the ivory tower. The features available are pretty good and the OS seems stable enough even on the Revo’s limited shoulders. I think its the upgrade it was touted to be absolutely. Although I never really had that much of an issue with Vista, Windows 7 looks great and seems slightly easier to use. Maybe I’m just dreaming it because its a new OS. Who knows.

On to another rather interesting development, EVE.
The game’s been around for ages now and I knew I’d end up playing it at some point but I had no idea how soon it was going to turn out. As an experiment, I went to www.eveonline.com and downloaded a copy of the game (2 or 3 HOURS!!). The plan was to throw it onto the net top and giggle at the juddering frame rates. I stand corrected. It runs perfectly on the Revo without a single freeze or problem at all. That extra graphics power obviously came in handy. I wouldn’t want to try running it on a net book.

Its a bit confusing but I’ve only been playing the game about an hour so far so you can expect a learning curve. I’ll need to talk to my buddies about how you play it properly, I can’t seem to fly the ship straight!!

Check out their review here.

Instead of going for the netbook route, I decided that I still quite like the desktop idea (mostly due to the fact that I like to work with a monitor and keyboard of my choice, not the manufacturer’s best guess at what I want). Alongside the development of the mobile netbook idea, the desktop variant, the net top has been quietly getting more and more appealing.

Having read numerous reviews, I thought I’d take the plunge and go for Acer’s Aspire Revo R3600. Finding it listed for £250 at Amazon.co.uk, it seemed rude not to give it a go.

I’ve owned it for one day now and already I think its brilliant. OK, so the bundled keyboard and mouse are clacky affairs (not really a problem, I’ve already got my cordless ones so I just replaced them) but it is a cheap desktop, what do you expect. There’s no monitor either so rather than a netbook costing £300 with its screen in the case, Acer didn’t need to spend a penny on the visuals. This means more money for the actual components.

Running Vista Home Premium, it has the capability to scoot off into Media Centre and look all wizzy. I have to admit, I’m impressed with the way it works and the HDMI socket available as an output is just begging for me to attach this to a TV.

Something always has to give however and in this case its raw computing power. Although I’m told it’ll happily render Bluray if you attach a player, I have found that bootup times are a little longer than my old PC (about 2 mins). It being £350 cheaper on the day of purchase however, I think you can let that go. Its only got an Atom processor!

Although I agree that this is probably best suited as a “second PC” or definitely one for the kids to sort out their homework on, I still think that’s selling this little trooper short.
If you’re looking for a tiny desktop PC that sips power rather than gulping it, doesn’t make a sound, looks good, attaches to the back of your monitor,  has built in HDMI and a memory card reader, buy this PC.

I don’t regret this purchase one little bit.
Just make sure you have an external DVD drive, your own monitor, keyboard and mouse!

As promised, I’m typing this on the NC10 itself and I can report that the keyboard is just as good as I’d heard. Its nice and snappy loading web pages and the like so I can see this thing getting a great deal of use for blogging and emailing.

I love this thing!

The other day I was having a quick scout on Microsoft’s website about their new SQL Server 2008 database system. I’ve been reading for ages how apparently brilliant it was going to be so I thought I’d read up a bit on it. What I found was the Essentials Backpack.

“Who cares?” I hear you all cry and who am I to stop you? The essentials backpack is a simple but I think brilliant idea. Put simply, its a compressed file containing information that someone who just wanted to know what the product was all about can download.

Inside the backpack are things like a podcast about the product, a videocast, a case study (McLaren Electronics – the guys who make all the engine management units for all the F1 teams no less), a whitepaper detailing the product and so on. Basically, an information pack, using multiple delivery methods to get you up to speed on the idea of SQL Server 2008 and its basic principles.

Whether Microsoft were the first to have this idea I don’t know, what I do know is that its simply a brilliant bit of marketing, a way of getting people the information you know they’ll need if they’ve never seen your product before, in one place. Who among the IT or any other community for that matter hasn’t experienced the sinking feeling that is trying to find out about a product but not knowing where to start? The Essentials Backpack completely solves this issue in one elegant (and surprisingly small) download.
Have a look at it on Microsoft’s SQL Site, its the Essentials link on the right.

I for one can see the value of backpacks for numerous uses. Working as I do at a college, I can see it as a useful, downloadable resource for our students starting this month. Travel details, student handbooks, podcasts by our events and sports team, all of this could be available to our students in a single download containing all the information the student does or doesn’t know they need.

Its a simple idea but by ‘eck is it a good one!

So, why am I looking to get a laptop? What on Earth is possessing me to go and spend all that money on a glorified battery back with some microchips stuck on it?
Simple really, they’re brill and I want one. Not for the looks or the street cred (showing my age there!), no, its because I’ve been tapping away far more merrily on this here laptop I managed to borrow from work than I ever do on my desktop PC. I can type while watching TV, I can use that little mobile Internet dongle thingy I bought (I’ll post about that another time) to connect to the world and check out the web. I can still work in a power cut for crying out loud.
I need a laptop as its a portable DVD player, an MP3 jukebox, a portable link back to work, a useful tool and yeah, they’re cool!

So, internal conversation over I thought I’d have a look around for a suitable device that will do what I need and be in my budget. I knew with the release of Asus’ Eee PC prices would probably be affordable for a laptop of the type I was looking for. So with that in mind I went and had a shop around for a cheap and cheerful laptop.

The one I’ve decided I’m probably about to buy is Dell’s Inspiron 1525 you know the one, its on the TV every two minutes but that wasn’t why I chose it. Aside from being manufactured by Dell (a company I’ve always rated highly having supported numerous ones in previous jobs), the Inspiron is an affordable laptop like many others but its got some touches I quite like. It has a dual headphone socket, cheap as chips to put in, a brilliant idea nonetheless, that totally ticks the box DVD playback wise for me as it makes it a definite possibility for playback of movies for more than one person discreetly. It has an 8 in 1 card reader on the front that takes all the memory cards I use, that alone is a selling point when I think that I want to use my flickr account more. Its got a very, very good LCD, wi fi, bluetooth and its on sale at the moment for a price that starts at only £329! That’s a bargain!

Of course, I’m not going to buy the base specification, I’ll save some more pennies and get one that is a little more swanky/functional. Dell do better laptops but this is all I think I’m going to need. Its only really going to be for entertainment, Internet browsing and typing blog posts. Anything else I can use my desktop PC for….

Have a look at the White Paper and you’ll see what I mean.

Until next time,
E

Update: TechRepublic have been looking at Generation Y for some time now, have a look at their recent post about how IT departments should adapt. (Have a look at http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/hiner/?p=623&tag=nl.e138)

Personally speaking, I welcome the challenge of integrating all the devices and ideas that will come with these people, however I still maintain that checks and measures must be in place to ensure the legality of everybody’s actions. Too many disks, laptops and files have been lost already.