The Dodge Retort

The Comcast repairman just came and left after two days of Internet outages and horribly slow performance. He found some line problems concerning the signal to noise ratio which cut out my cable modem. He replaced some “taps” and said I should be ok now. That was euphemism for “It’s working now. Nothing was wrong with it.” He also left the basement lights on and did put back a small ladder I got for him.

Last night when I really needed connectivity to fix some typos in a SmartPlanet.com post, super slow life-wasting away Internet drove me bananas for about 90 minutes. I made some fixes, but did not complete them. I went to bed knowing there were typos in a post – not a good way to end the day.

It’s an understatement to say how much we depend on the Internet so I leave you with these two videos to show how berserk people go when “INTERNET DOWN! Plenty more where those came from….

Follow me on Twitter.

Dell isn’t a company that keeps quiet and then all of a sudden blasts out press releases on the  product announcement day. That’s the old model.

Rather, it teases us with possibilities via its blogs. That’s exactly what it did with a video post today showing Android running on the new Dell Mini 10v.

Dell software guru Doug Anson was featured in the video showing that porting different OSes to the 10v is fairly simple. Anson said Android ran “fairly nicely” whatever that means and then put on the disclaimer:

“We don’t have any announced products plans with Android running on a netbook. We just wanted to show you it’s possible to run,” he said. The Android implementation on the 10v was running a browser, dialer and contact manager.

I have to think an Android netbook from Dell is coming, but this could also be a negotiating ploy aimed at other OS vendors, namely Microsoft. He kept emphasizing how Android and Ubuntu, the other OS he showed in the 2:12 minute video, are small and “snappy.” We know Windows XP is not small and snappy is not a word I’d associate with it either.

Judge for yourself.

New Acer Aspire One AO751h1192

Netbooks just keep getting better.

Acer today announced two second generation netbooks — the $380 11.6-inch Acer Aspire One AO751h (TDR May 5) and the $298 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One AOD250. Both are thinner, lighter and more powerful than Acer’s first generation netbooks, according to the Acer press release.

The strategy seems to be bundle earlier models with mobile broadband and sell them dirt cheap like Acer does with its 8.9 inch model with Radio Shack and is rumored to be doing with Costco. Then they fill the vacated $300-$400 premium price band with beefier models such as the ones introduced today. Below are the specs from the Acer press release.

Acer Aspire One AO751h-1192

• Intel^® Atom™ Processor Z520 (1.22GHz, 490MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
• Genuine Microsoft Windows XP® Home (Service Pack 3)
• 11.6-inch WXGA 16:9 ratio Acer CrystalBrite™ High Definition LED back-lit TFT LCD (1364 x 768 resolution)
• Mobile Intel® US15W Express Chipset
• 1024MB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM Single Channel Memory
• Integrated Intel^® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 160GB SATA 5400RPM Hard Drive
• Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader and Dedicated SD Card
• Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED®
• Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
• Two Built-in Stereo Speakers
• Three USB 2.0 Ports
• 6-cell Li-ion Battery (5200mAh)
• 11.18” (W) x 7.79” (D) x 1” (H)
• Sapphire Blue
• One-Year Standard Warranty
• Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price: $379.99

Acer Aspire One AOD250-1042

• Intel^® Atom™ Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 533MHz FSB, 512KB L2 Cache)
• Genuine Microsoft Windows XP® Home (Service Pack 3)
• 10.1-inch WSVGA 16:9 ratio Acer CrystalBrite™ LED back-lit TFT LCD (1024×600 resolution)
• Mobile Intel® 945GSE Express Chipset
• 1024MB DDR2 533 MHz SDRAM Single Channel Memory
• Integrated Intel^® Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 160GB SATA 5400RPM Hard Drive
• Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader
• Acer InviLink™ 802.11b/g Wi-Fi CERTIFIED®
• Acer Crystal Eye Web Camera
• Two Built-in Stereo Speakers
• Three USB 2.0 Ports
• 3-cell Li-ion Battery (2600 mAh)
• 10.17” (W) x 7.24” (D) x 1” (H)
• Ruby Red
• One-Year Standard Warranty
• Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price: $298.00

Updated May 12th

Lenovo is joining the bigger keyboard, thinner, lighter and mobile broadband club with an IdeaPad S10-2 model the company let slip on its web site with a post about the unit’s user guide. A press release was issued Tuesday morning.

Certain versions of the S10-2 appear to have support five types of mobile broadband activated by a SIM card given to the customer by the carrier. Supported are EVDO, GSM, SCDMA, TD-SCDMA and High Speed Packet Access. Certain models will also support Wimax as well.

The keyboard also include a new numeric keypad and what appears to be redesigned arrow keys on the lower right hand side of the keyboard. The unit weighs 2.4 pounds versus 2.8 pounds for earlier models and is under an inch thick. The Lenovo web site said the unit was to be released April 30, but the press release today said the units will start at $349 when they hit the market later this month. However, it is not listed yet with the other S10 IdeaPads.

The unit also comes with Dolby 5.1 surround sound, a facial recognition log-in option and a One Key rescue feature to restore health to corrupted data, according to the press release.  Lenovo also unveiled a new social media web site to help customers tap into cyber places such as Facebook and Twitter.

I would welcome a better keyboard and mobile broadband on my Lenovo (currently model 4231) if I get the courage to commit to 24 months at $60 per. Models with built-in mobile broadband are going to be hard to resist.

Google wants to know how you use a netbook and is willing to part with a $75 American gioft certificate if you’ll come into their offices this week for an hour long interview.

On Thursday, Google posted an ad on Craigs List to enlist interviewees. The ad links to an 18-question survey. From there, Google will cherrypick the folks it wants to bring into its Mountain View headquarters for an hour long interview next week from May 11-16. On Thursday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt before the company’s annual was quoted as saying the “the Netbook phenomenon looks very real,” according to a story on CNet.

Insight into how  netbooks are used will clearly help Google refine its Android operating system which is rumored to coming on Dell netbooks as well perhaps 10 or so others slated for release this Fall powered by the ARM11 processor.

The netbook revolution just got more interesting with huge discounts for customers signing up for two years of 3G broadband from the likes of AT&T.

For example, signing up for two years of AT&T LapTop Connect earns you a $350 mail-in rebate on the Dell Mini 9 normally priced at $449. With only 8 Gb of solid state storage, the unit is overpriced compared to similar models, but it’s one of the few with a built-in cellular modem. Radio Shack and AT&T have teamed up to offer with a similar deal with the Acer Aspire.

At $60 a month for two years, $1,440 for 3G more than makes up for the discounts of the netbooks. And I’ve used 3G and once you get it, giving it up is often not an option.

The weak link in these deals, quite frankly, are the netbooks. The tech press and analyst firms which forecast sales ranging between 25-35 million units in 2009 have fallen in love with them. But the keyboards are still cramped and the displays are too small to stably hold an image. The other problem is the high expense of 3G — $60 a month is a lot (it’s the same for Verizon Mobile Broadband, but AT&T has gotten the jump in the netbook market).

Computerworld posted a story today that asked an intriging question: are netbooks the cell phones of the future? HP, according to the story, which makes the best netbook I’ve had the chance to test is also rumored to be considering a 3G bundle

Consider that I was using Gmail video chat to converse last night with my son who is studying in Europe and you see how the phoning part falls into place. I didn’t use a cell phone or a land line phone to make that call. I used my small computer whose role in calling is only going to increase.

No, you can’t carry a netbook around in the your pants pocket and it would be hard to answer one walking down the street or, perish the thought, driving. Assuming unrestricted mobility, size remains a drawback. Still, a netbook has much more functionality and versatility than a cell phone. And the cost of a high end Smartphone and netbooks are colliding in the same price band.

In fact, the Blackberry Storm at Verizon with a two-year service contract is twice the cost of the discounted netbooks. Think about it: besides reliabilty, the major advantage enjoyed by cell phones are look, feel and size.

Collapse-ible netbook anyone?

The Dodge Retort (TDR), my eclectic blog, celebrated its third anniversary on Tuesday. That’s third as in three weeks.  You know, Internet time.

This isn’t my first blog. I have done several others working for an employer and learned about a tenth as much in a year as I have in three weeks. That being on your own heightens your creativity and motivation is an understatement.

It’s noteworthy that on Tuesday, TDR enjoyed its best day in page views – 535. That might not sound like much, but starting 21 days ago at zero puts it is perspective. One colleague remarked that page views just satisfies my “vanity.” Perhaps. Page views by themselves aren’t the point, but building an audience and following is.

With this good start, I am confident I can build a substantial following. What’s satisfying are my efforts being rewarded with traffic growth. Best of all, I learn something new every day, sometimes every hour.

Am I making money? Of course not: this is a blog (I do make money from freelance writing, however). But sooner rather than later, someone will write the playbook on blogs making money.  I suspect joining an ad or affiliate marketing network (there’s about 60 of them)  is a bit like putting solar panels on your house and selling electricity back to the power company. On the sunniest day, you might make three bucks. And at my nascent traffic levels, I might make a penny or two. As Newsweek columnist Dan Lyons points out, he made a whopping hundred dollars on the day his Fake Steve Jobs blog hit 500,000 page views.

Former Ziff Davis colleague Joe Panettieri at Ninelinesmediainc.com which launched in January, 2008 may have it right. He and his partner are making money with three focused-technology blogs which they sell themselves. In others words, they’ve created a their own self-funded media company complete with blogs, events and newsletters.  That is the path Joe recommends and he seems to be making a go of it even though Nine Lives launched into the teeth of a recession. After all, publishing empires Ziff Davis, CMP and CNet were started in recessions, he points out.

BTW, it was  Nine Lives’ Workswithu.com blog about Ubuntu Linux web site that drove all that traffic Tuesday to a TDR netbook post.

What’s next for my blog?

I have bought 300Gb of hosting space and will move to Wordpress.org which allows plug-ins (Wordpress.com which I currently use does not). In other words, my blog, er web site actually, will become more robust. I will be able to add  scripts and choose among the 4,200 and counting applications for Wordpress.

I’ll report back again after my sixth anniversary – sixth week, that is.

Netbook price trench warfare continues unabated with HP lowering the official price on its low-end HP Mini 1000 to $279.99.  While it has twice as much storage (8G solid state) than the $199.95 Dell Mini which I blogged about yesterday, the HP price cut seems mild by comparison. I could not find the original HP price of the Mini 1000, but Cnet.com still pegs it at $299.99.

The only catch I see and it’s meaningless if you can delay instant gratification is that it doesn’t get built until Feb. 26, nine days from now. I thought they’d have warehouses of these units ready to go.

Falling netbook prices has to be pulling the price floor out from under the notebook market. I feel like a sucker buying an HP Mini 1030NR at BestBuy a week ago for $400 (still Bbuy’s price). It does have 16G of ram, XP and 10.2 inch screen versus the 8.9 inch in the Linux unit, but instant gratifiication worked against me this time. What do they say about he who waits?

Buying domain names isn’t quite as bad as buying a car, but it’s a similar experience. You just get finished spending 25 grand on a car and then the dealer tries to sell you tire replacement insurance, lug nut locks or the scam of all time, rustproofing. The experience takes the notion of up-sell to new heights or lows, depending on how you look at it.

I just bought dodgeretort.com from godaddy.com, which advertised in the SuperBowl. Check out the ads and rough cuts that didn’t make it. They’re as crass as the web site is chaotic.

At one point, the site tells me it’s going $1.99 a year, but there’s an astrix that leads to nowhere. Then it ends up costing me $10.19 which all told is a pretty good deal. Along the way, GoDaddy tries to sell me a ton of digital rustproofing if you will -   more years, privacy, hosting and email. You have to wade through a crap minefield to get the check-out.

Splashy doesn’t quite seem to do GoDaddy’s site justice, but the high pressure sell was on for every second of my visit.  They have my attention so they might as get me to buy more stuff whether I need it or not. On the first pass, GoDaddy had me down for about $550 of URLs, protection and other junk I did not want and in some cases did not understand. Be very careful to proactively remove things they automatically sign you up for. Don’t be in a hurry.

They also say they’re offering so much off the regular price that you’d think they’d owe me money. But of course, they don’t.

Network Solutions was just as much a hall of mirrors except it’s more expensive than GoDaddy. It appeared to me I could get dodgeretort.com for $9 a year, but when I checked out, the price it had changed to  $34.99. How’d that happen?

GoDaddy is the better deal. Network Solutions charged me $12 for a year of domain name forwarding and GoDaddy as best I can tell offers it for free (I want dodgeretort.com forwarded to netbookie.biz). However, I added forwarding more than an hour ago and it still has not happened.

I have to make sure it that it’s specified I do not automatically renew anything or cancel the credit card on file before the year passes. I fear they’ll slip something in.

The web site that makes shopping for domains easy and straighforward could make a goldmine. Maybe Amazon should do domains.

Falling Netbook prices are caught my eye  Saturday. Dell is the latest to drop prices, cutting the high end Mini 9 by $50 to $299 and on low end Mini 12 by $55 to $449. The Mini 12 is the only netbook I’ve found with a 12.1 inch screen. Most have 10.1 or 10.2   inch screen as the first generation models with 8.9-inch screens get phased out.

All netbooks have been falling in price for about a month as new more powerful models hit the market. I love the small form factor, but there are tradeoffs. The Internet with my HP Mini is slow and the battery quits after two hours. But the screen and keyboard are very good.

As netbooks move up the power curve with bigger screens, better batteries, beefier hard disks and more memory, they run into full size notebooks which can be had for  as low as $450. But there isn’t a notebook I’d buy for under $750. Super low price notebooks tend to be big, bulky, under-powered and too heavy for me.

Are the falling prices a consequence of slow sales or are vendors making rooms for newer more powerful models? And at what point do they cease being netbooks?

Netbook sales can’t be good for sales of lowend notebooks. I’d like your opinion of the netbook craze if it is really is that.