Rapid Web News

With technology getting much smaller and quicker are these so called ‘netbooks’ just another name for a small laptop or is there something that sets them apart? Let’s take a look…

Amongst the first to hit the shelves was the Asus Eee PC 900 series which had a 900 MHz processor, 1 gig of RAM (2 gig max), 20 gig total solid state drive and a shade off a 9” screen pre loaded with Linux. Now that may not seem like a huge spec plus it doesn’t have a CD drive so what’s so special about them? Well I have to say for a general use compact laptop it was pretty good! The SSD drive coupled with Linux made start up and loading times respectable and provided you pre-installed the software you needed (Via a 30 quid external DVD drive) you were set for a good 8 hours of computing, ideal for the on-the-road workplace.

Just how popular are these tiny laptops though? Well sales figures for 2008 suggest 14.6 million units shipped and with a considerable amount of commercialisation figures for 2009 will supposedly be around the 26.3 million mark with ASUSTek hovering around the 70% market share, cha ching I hear you cry. Prices start from around £140 too so very affordable especially for the kids.

The specs are changing a lot though and becoming more like laptops. With the removal of SSD drives in favour of standard SATA hard-drives and Windows instead of Linux all seems to be bumping the price up. If you do fancy looking at a few models here is a good place to start.

So ‘Twitter’ this week has been voted ‘Top English Word of 2009’ closely followed by ‘Obama’ in a poll of the top 15 words. Now ordinarily I wouldn’t get caught up in what I believe to be pointless polls but I find this to be quite a bizarre. These results are provided by the Global Language Monitor; Founded in Silicon Valley in 2003 by Paul J.J. Payack, the GLM describes its role as “expert analysis on language trends and their subsequent impact on politics, culture and business, including the PQ Index/Indicator, analysis of media coverage of major, worldwide events, the rise of Global English and its march to its 1,000,000th word, the Chinglish Phenomenon, Global yoofSpeak, and many others”. In April 2008, GLM moved its headquarters from San Diego to Austin. I’m finding it a little strange that an American company monitors the English language, anyway with the advent of more and more social networking site becoming more popular that visiting friends or even picking up the phone what does this really tell us about where society is heading? Are we becoming more ‘Tech Savvy’ or just plain lazy…