A realisation

What do you get when you put together:

• A 6820
• SSH for Series 40
• Unlimited GPRS
• A home server
• Broadband

? The principle is the same for any platform which makes connectivity to a “home base” fast and cost-effective: proper mobile computing. I don't want a mobile device with poor-quality, cut-down tools: I want an interface to my machine at home, with Pine, vim, and ImageMagick.

This is what I see as the advantage for 3G: I could use anything from SSH to VNC to work at home, and not have any of that syncing or wondering what to take. Furthermore, with that speed I could usefully access things like my home music collection.

This isn't coming out of my brain as I would have hoped, but you get the idea. Particularly as our stores of information swell exponentially, carrying even a useful subset around is impossible. I'd rather interface with my calendar on my machine at home than use a crippled portable version and have to sync.

Now I need a smartphone with unlimited GPRS, and a home server!

Posted at 2004-05-31 06:01:13 by Richard • Link to A realisation
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The Minotaur Takes A Cigarette Break

I just finished reading Minotaur, having started it during my day at work¹. A customer actually took the time to tell me how much she enjoyed it, which is rare, and I wasn't disappointed.

The book chronicles two weeks in the life of The Minotaur, “M”. 5 thousand years after the Labyrinth, he's working in a restaurant in the Southern United States, living in a trailer park. It's not a comedy, although it sounds like a set-up for one of today's surreal humorists; it is wry, but it's a touching tale of humanity.

Well worth a read. The author, Steven Sherrill, has another book out—today, coincidentally—which I might check out.

Amazon UK link².

¹ Having looked at the hardback cover, I now remember seeing this when it first came out. I must have changed since I first saw it, because I felt no compulsion to read it then!

² Bizarrely, Amazon thinks this goes well with By The Sword, a historical book about swords, which I happen to own. I disagree!

Posted at 2004-05-31 04:22:16 by Richard • Link to The Minotaur Takes…
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