My Dot See, Eh?

In this morning's inbox was a message from someone who seems to think I know a thing or two about netbooks and virtualization. He's looking for a notebook, and I think it's best that you read the (cleaned up) message to get an idea of what he needs:

Hi,

When America's AT&T lost it's exclusive contract on Apple's iPhone, a great deal of ink and pixels were spilled by journalists and bloggers alike. This signaled the end of bad service, bad reception, and exorbitant fees in some people's mind. While much of what people had expected after Verizon started selling the phone turned out to be mostly accurate¹, customers here in Japan could only look on and sigh. Similar to our American counterparts, people in Japan have been limited to a single carrier if they wanted a hassle-free way to use the iPhone. Luckily, this will be less of a problem going forward as Japan's second-largest carrier, Au, will begin carrying the next generation iPhone later this year or early next². Oddly enough, this has Japanese handset makers worrying.

A recent Asahi Shinbun article reports that cell phone manufacturers here are bracing for a drop in sales once Au begins carrying Apple's darling. One vague source goes so far as to say "it's like the whole classroom is in a stir because a sensational transfer student is coming. We have to brace ourselves for the impact, to a certain extent."

Ben Brooks recently wrote an interesting blog post where he talked about going from a multi-monitor proponent to comfortable using a single display ... even one as small as found on the 13" MacBook Air. This has made me think about my own work preferences and whether they enable or disable my overall efficiency. As it stands I currently use three monitors when working, and they're all put to use. Is this really the best way?

On this day in 2008, I decided to set aside my initial reactions to Twitter and join the service. After a few months of not really understanding how to use the it, I began to interact with some interesting people and forge new relationships. Some of these went on to become friendships, others remained acquaintances. Looking back, it makes me wonder why I didn't see it's potential earlier.