Quick Blog on Sony VAIO P

The news is finally announced both in US and Japan. It is pretty close to what we have predicted as far as the size and look and feel. However, I did find interesting that not much buzz around the big media on this new Sony P. My quick impression? Promising but no “urge” of buy it now feelin.

Here are the things that I think they do right this time:

• Price is very reasonable. With the 128GB SSD model run at $1499, that is a definite better pricing than Sony UX. I will definitely consider getting the top of the line or may be even the 64G SSD version
• I think the size of the machine is practical. The keyboard looks spacey and good for day to day use. No more cramped keyboard like Sony UX.
• Awesome screen resolution !! Well it is Sony, you never expect less on this.
• Built-in Verizon WWAN. That is a the right partner choice for US on built-in WWAN.

Here are my concern on the Sony P:

• Atom 1.33Ghz (it is a newer processor) is definitely need to be tested (benchmarked) to see how it is performed compare to the other Atom 1.6Ghz netbooks. The Japanese model does give the option to get the higher speed 1.8Ghz for about $200 extra.
• Windows Vista OS. I think it is going to be a bit too heavy of a OS for this small notebook. I probably wait until Windows 7 is out or try to downgrade the unit to XP
• 2.5 hours use time and the extended battery option make a big lump at the back of the unit. I personally prefer they make the extended battery thick all the way to the front or they should come up with the way to squeeze of 4 hours daily usage on the unit.

That is my first quick impression. I will talk some more on this Sony P as soon as I got the chance to play one myself. Please drop in your comments especially for those of you that have the chance to play one too!

Ciao.

Sticky Notes

If you are one of those people who loves sticky note and can’t get enough of it, here’s another one for you Sticky Screen is a site that contains only one and one only, a sticky notepad. If you set your homepage of your browser to this site, it allows you to see your “important notes” everytime you open your browser.

The sticky is unique to each browser you use.

StickyScreen.org

Here’s the link to the site:
http://www.stickyscreen.org/

Netbook Software Tip#1 – Evernote

I promise you that I will start blogging on the software that I think will be useful for those who owns a netbook. My assumption is most of you, netbook owner, use it as your secondary device and it means you have to deal with multiple computers scenario. Keeping stuff accessible from multiple computers is always a challenging task. For that reason, my blog will focus on those softwares that helps you coupe with this what I call “multiple-computers” syndrome

If you like me, one of the thing that I do a lot on my netbook (beside using my Internet browser) is taking note. There are quite a few note-taking software out there, from full-fledge Microsoft One Note, using Google Doc, or bare simple notepad! One of the software that I would like to highlight today is one called “Evernote”.

I know this company for a while now. I used to use their software when they were pre-installed on some of the sub-notebook such as Flybook, etc. It was a very good alternative to Microsoft One Note at that time (much cheaper in price but good functionalities).

Today, the software has evolved very nicely from a simple dekstop note-taking software to an all-in-one note-taking, web-clipping, multi devices, multi platform application. All the information captured on their application (they have both the offline and the online version) are automatically synced to their online server. This allows all your computers that you have this software installed, have all your notes and information ready everytime. To me, this is a big function that unfortunately Microsoft One Note does not currently offer. To allow me able to search my notes anywhere I am (regardless which PC I use) is very important. This allows me to bring my netbook to a meeting, write all my note in Evernote and back to my desk having all those note ready on my PC for me to further editing for my meeting minute report.

Moreover, they also have the Windows Mobile and iPhone version of the software that allows me to access my note on my iPhone when I am away from any of my computer. And vice versa, I can use my iPhone to capture notes, pictures into my Evernote and have those information available to all my computers.

Here are some screenshots of the application.

It is free for basic usage (40MB of note per month). If you are heavy note taker, you can purchase the premium option which increase your monthly allowance to 500MB per month.

One recommendation when you are using these “auto-sync” applications: always periodically backup all your notes (you can export all notes from Evernote software) just in case something wrong happen during synchronization (so far I never experience any problem with it, but just want to be on the safe side).

Multi-Touch on Windows 7 for UMPC?

This is really interesting. This will definitely change the way we use UMPC devices. Thanks to Apple who triggers everybody to perfect their multi-touch technology!