Random Tangent

Nadia and I have maintained our website at insanityWORKS.org since 2004. It was overhauled once (in 2007) and is past due for another major upgrade.

Moving to a Content Management System

This time, though, the plan is to move it on to a Content Management System (CMS). Much as I love getting down and dirty with HTML code (via Dreamweaver, of course) a CMS-based site will be much faster and significantly easier to maintain. At the very least we won’t be stuck managing it from only those computers that have Dreamweaver installed on them.

The question then becomes: Which CMS do I choose? I’ve been using both proprietary and open source systems since 2001 so I know a lot about a lot of them. That means I can use pretty much any one that’s out there quite effectively; though I do plan to use an open source one for this site.

Fortunately, my choice is limited by the ones that my web hosting provider, E-Starr, provides automatic support for (specifically, installation and upgrade support). I’ve used a bunch of these CMSs in the past, too, so I’m already quite comfortable with most of them.

My Needs Have Changed

What’s also good is that my personal website needs aren’t what they used to be three years ago. For example:

• A lot of information about me is now available on my Google Profile
• I now host my photos on Picasaweb (albums) and Flickr (photo stream)
• I do most of my writing on my blogs (this one and my professional one)
• I no longer need to maintain a PDF version of my CV for people to download because most of that information is available on my LinkedIn profile
• A lot of the other content that I host on the site can be moved elsewhere (like Slideshare or Google Docs, for example)

What’s left, then, is mostly text content and a couple of archived websites. Any old CMS can handle the former and latter will remain the way they are so, all told, my CMS requirements are actually quite simple.

So, What Now?

What I think I’ll do now test a bunch of the CMSs available to see which one I like the most. I do have lots of options, including:

• Drupal
• Geeklog
• Joomla 1.5
• PHP-Nuke
• phpWCMS
• phpWebSite
• Siteframe
• TYPO3
• Xoops

Not to mention WordPress, which can be tweaked to make a pretty good CMS itself.

So, if all goes well, I will report back in a few weeks, by which time I hope to have the newest version of insanityWORKS.org up and running.

Wish me luck!

Tags: Internet, Life, Technology by Ameel
2 Comments »

So, after my previous post in which I explained why I’d settled on buying the HP TouchSmart tm2 convertible tablet PC for myself, I talked to one of the people at TabletPC.com.au. I was thinking of buying my tablet PC from them and also wanted their advice before I committed myself to a particular machine.

It’s a good thing that I did talk to them because I have changed my mind once again: I will now be getting for myself a Fujitsu Lifebook T900.

[Source: Fujitsu]

Changing My Mind

Just to explain: When I use the phrase “changed my mind once again” I don’t mean to imply that I am indecisive or unsure about what I want to get.

I keep changing my mind because I continue to:

• research tablet PCs (particularly new ones as they are released),
• get advice from people (specifically, experienced tablet PC users), and
• clarify how I see myself using the machine over the next few years.

That helps me define my tablet PC requirements better which, in turn, helps me choose the specific make, model, and system configuration that will suit me best.

So Why the Switch?

The reason for my switching from the HP tm2 to the Fujitsu T900 is simple: the T900 is significantly better than the tm2 without costing significantly more.

In my previous post I listed the things the tm2 had going for it. The T900 has most of those as well:

• Capacitive multi-touch screen: yes
• Active digitizer: yes
• Cheaper than other dual digitizer tablet PCs: yes, though not as cheap as the tm2
• Great track pad and keyboard: yes and yes
• Independent graphics card: no, but it does have an awesome CPU and the updated Intel on-board graphics chip (which handles high-definition video natively in hardware)

I also listed a few things going against the tm2. The T900 has none of these:

• Processing power: The T900 I’m going to get has the newest, top-of-the-line Core i7 processor from Intel so it’s really powerful
• Keyboard: Because the T900 has a 13.3 inch screen instead of a 12.1 inch screen, it has a larger-sized keyboard and that means (in this case) the Page-Up, Page-Down, Control, Function, Backspace, and Delete keys are all in the right places
• Glossy screen and viewing angles: The T900 has an anti-reflective coating (so it’s not glossy) and its viewing angles are much better than those of the tm2

Further, the T900 has some other things going for it:

• It has a modular bay which can contain a DVD writer (which the tm2 didn’t have at all), a second battery, or a weight saver
• Fujitsu tablet PCs have awesome build quality and Fujitsu’s after sales service in Australia is pretty good
• It has a 13.3” screen instead of the usual 12.1” screens that you find on tablet PCs

It also has one thing sort-of going against it:

• It has higher-powered processor which generally means shorter battery life though, fortunately for the T900, isn’t as short as you would expect (and is further offset by the modular bay which can contain a second battery)

So What’s the Catch?

The catch is that the Fujitsu T900, while still cheaper than the Lenovo X201t (still my #1 choice if I could afford it), costs quite a bit more than the HP tm2:

• HP TouchSmart tm2: AU$2,000
• Lenovo ThinkPad X201t: AU$4,000
• Fujitsu Lifebook T900: AU$3,000

So while I will be spending 50% more on the T900 than what I would have spent on the tm2, I’m confident that I will have a significantly superior overall tablet PC experience. And that makes all the difference.

There is one further catch, though: I won’t be able to afford this till the middle of April. Oh well, better late than never (particularly for a better overall system).

Tags: Life, Tablet PC by Ameel
2 Comments »

I have once again changed my mind about which tablet PC I’m going to buy.

Evolution of Choice

My original choice was essentially a fully featured laptop that you could use as a tablet. This was the Toshiba M750, which has since been upgraded to the M780:

[Source: Engadget]

Then, once I got a desktop PC at home and a really good PC at work, I realized I didn’t need another full-power computer in my life.

So, instead of going for the normal-laptop-plus-tablet-PC type of device, I decided to get the thin-and-light type that was:

• less powerful,
• more portable, and
• had a better overall tablet PC experience.

This was the Lenovo X200t, which has since been upgraded to the X201t:

[Source: Engadget]

Since then, however, two things have happened:

1. I realized that I didn’t want to spend over $3.5k on a tablet PC. I don’t have the money and, at this point in my life, a tablet PC that’s as fully-featured as, say, the Lenovo X201t is not worth the expense.
2. A viable alternative entered the market when HP upgraded their highly affordable TouchSmart tx2 line to the tm2 line (now with an Intel CPU instead of an AMD). This made the tm2 the only multi-touch tablet in the market that has both an active digitizer and an independent graphics card.

So, now, the HP TouchSmart tm2 is the tablet PC I’m going to get:

[Source: Engadget]

For much more on the tm2, check out:

• Mobile Tech Review’s excellent review and series of videos (parts 1, 2, and 3)
• Heartless Sun’s series of videos: overview, hardware, multi-touch, e-reader, gaming.

Is it Worth it?

Definitely – even though it costs half of what the Lenovo X201t does. And, while it certainly doesn’t have all the features of the X201t, it does have all the ones I really want.

For example, it has these awesome things going for it:

• It has an independent graphics card (i.e. it has a dedicated Graphics Processing Unit, or GPU), which is awesome.
• It has a capacitive multi-touch screen, though you can only use two fingers at a time on it (which is fine for my needs).
• It has an active digitizer, which for me is a pre-requisite because I expect to be doing a lot of note-taking on it.
• It’s cheaper than all the other tablet PCs currently in the market that have dual digitizers (i.e. both capacitive and active); and it does this without compromising on too many other features.
• It has a track pad (which is also multi-touch) and a pretty darned good keyboard.

That said, it has some things going against it:

• It isn’t as highly powered as some of the newer thin-and-light tablet PCs. Specifically, it doesn’t contain Intel’s new i-series processors. That, however, is okay because its independent GPU more than makes up for its lack of CPU power (at least for my needs).
• Its keyboard takes a little getting used to. For example, it doesn’t have dedicated Page-Up, Page-Down, Home, and End keys though you can still perform all of those functions via keystroke combinations (i.e. Fn+Up = Page-Up, etc.). Aside from that, though, I really like it’s keyboard. I know because I tried it out at Dick Smith Electronics, where it’s currently available.
• It has a glossy screen (so, for example, it reflects overhead lights very easily) and limited viewing angles. Fortunately, I’ve played around with it at Dick Smith and it’ll do for my purposes.

All told, these compromises – which you’d expect from something this low-cost – aren’t that much of a issue after all.

So, here we are and, if all goes as planned, I should buy one of these by the end of the month! :)

Tags: Tablet PC by Ameel
2 Comments »