I'm contemplating selling off all my technological possessions. Computer, laptop, LCD, cell phone, iPod, the works. Now don't let that scare you, it's so I can buy new ones.The difference, this time around, would be how they're structured for use. In marketing speak, a "lifestyle" shift. There's good reason for this: All the stuff I have now was bought basically in the mindset I had in high school. Back then, nothing was as important as the game, so I had a high-power, portable desktop that was great for LANs every weekend. I virtually never play PC games anymore, so I need a desktop that's ergonomically friendly and speedy enough to get the job done, burn the occasional DVD, etc. In the next year, I only see myself playing Sin Episodes and Oblivion on the PC, and both of those run on what I've got now. After that, I'm out of the country anyway. But I digress. Most of the devices I got years ago will still do the things I want to do. It's just that I want to spend less time being connected and have that aspect of my life become more automatic. Back in high school, my way of being social was to hang out on IRC and IM and talk to my friends who were very far away. Nowadays, I don't have the time or the strength of wrists to face my computer for several hours a day, but I still don't want to lose touch with all the friends I keep in touch with electronically. As an example of how I'm trying to change things, I built the media center computer last year to serve as a TiVo and all-around media player for everyone in my apartment. It's allowed me to do things like watch downloaded stuff in the living room, all the while adding stuff I never had before like PVR functions. It's worked out well, and I'm going to keep using it when I live on my own. To keep this from getting stupidly long, here's what I want to do and not do:Do: stay in touch with friends all over the world - email, IM, blogging, reading the news, etc.
Not: spend hours and hours in front of the computer in attempting to do soSo I come to you, amigos, for advice. What's a boy to do? Here are the ideas I have so far:
-Sell off both my Shuttles and build one new one out of quiet parts, while keeping my video card and TV tuner, to place in the living room. Buy a wireless/Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo for couch surfing. If I had the cash, I'd buy a Shuttle M1000 - a quiet, shelf-mounted, fully-functional PC you can use from the couch.
-Get some crazy new smartphone so I can use IM and email from anywhere. New phones like these are the ones I have in mind. Hell, I could even plug it into my car's aux-in port to have in-car phone connectivity or Shoutcast music. It's really nuts what these things can do.
Not: spend hours and hours in front of the computer in attempting to do soSo I come to you, amigos, for advice. What's a boy to do? Here are the ideas I have so far:
-Sell off both my Shuttles and build one new one out of quiet parts, while keeping my video card and TV tuner, to place in the living room. Buy a wireless/Bluetooth keyboard and mouse combo for couch surfing. If I had the cash, I'd buy a Shuttle M1000 - a quiet, shelf-mounted, fully-functional PC you can use from the couch.
-Get some crazy new smartphone so I can use IM and email from anywhere. New phones like these are the ones I have in mind. Hell, I could even plug it into my car's aux-in port to have in-car phone connectivity or Shoutcast music. It's really nuts what these things can do.