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Past Meetings: February 13, 2003
| Date: | Thursday, February 13, 2003 |
| Time: | 7:00 PM |
| Location: | Kensington Community Church |
| Attendees: | 55 |
A very large turnout in spite of the frigid temperatures. Our guest speaker was Mike Wendland, Technology Reporter for the Detroit Free Press. Mike discussed several topics in an informal tech-chat:
- Mike's current handheld of choice
- Mike's switch from Windows PC to a Mac PC
- The Palm vs. PocketPC debate
- Blogging
- Technofolk list server
Mike's current handheld of choice
Mike is a huge fan of technology, and in fact has every Palm ever made. His current handheld of choice is the Tungsten T (TT). Some of the things on Mike's TT:
- The bible and a new product called DailyReader that sets up a program so that you can read the entire bible in one year. Both products are from Laridian.com
- eBooks - he travels a lot and hasn't purchased a hardback or paperback book on over a year. Loves the convenience of always having an eBook with him.
- Runner's Log to keep track of his running. Mike has lost 47 lbs and credits his exercise program for his weight loss.
- Photo album. Mike has the Veo Photo Traveler camera for his TT (it slides into the SD expansion slot).
In general, Mike says he's gotten away from a lot of the accessories like keyboards, cases, and admits he doesn't really use the Veo camera that much. He likes to just use the Palm for what it was designed for--a mobile version of your desktop Personal Information Management system (PIM). Mike really like's Palm's simplicity.
Mike keeps looking for the "ultimate" handheld and feels the Tungsten T has come pretty close. He really likes the small size and long battery life. However he's really intrigued by the cell phone/PDA combo units, and he is looking forward to trying out the soon-to-be-released Palm Tungsten. Mike liked the Handspring Treo, but felt the batteries died too fast, and didn't like that it ran an older version of the Palm OS, v3.1. Based on how much Mike likes his Tungsten T, he thinks maybe the Tungsten W will be his "holy grail of handhelds".
Mike's switch from Windows PC to a Mac PC
Mike recently switched from a Windows PC to a Mac PC as his main desktop environment. He looked like a man in love whenever he spoke about his experiences with his Mac. He has a G4 desktop and recently bought a 12-inch PowerBook. He couldn't say enough good things about Macs. He has gotten a lot of grief from Windows people about his choice, and he defensively says "PC means Personal Computer--it's a personal choice!". No word yet on when Mike will be filiming his "I switched" commercial for Apple :-).
Mike has tried all the PocketPC's, but still thinks that Microsoft just doesn't get it. Microsoft is commited to taking over Palm's marketshare. Microsoft seems to want to put everything on their handhelds, where Palm's are simpler. He doesn't like that PocketPC handhelds have a user interface that look like Windows, but don't operate like Windows. An example he cited was that when you click the "X" in the upper right hand corner of an open window on a Windows desktop PC, it closes the window and exits (ends) the application. But on a PocketPC it doesn't end the application, merely closes the window. You have to go into a separate window and execute a separate command to terminate all these still-running-and-still-sucking-memory applications.
Mike is totally into blogs (web logs). They are kind of like an on-line diary. He has two:
- www.mikesjournal.com - general tech blog
- www.mac-mike.com - Mac-based blog
Mike encourages DPUG members to join his technofolk list serve so he can ask us for tech comments/opinions. Sometimes he's writing an article for either the Free Press or one of his web sites/blogs, and he wants to make sure he has the information accurate. For example, if he's writing about GPS's, which is something he admits he's not that up on, he'd send an email to his technofolk listserve looking for someone who has GPS expertise. If you're interested in joining, send an email to technofolk-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. You'll probably get one or two emails a month which isn't bad. Mike can't guarantee that you'll be quoted someday, though that often happens. But he would appreciate your help.
Give Aways:
- Although we didn't have any planned give aways, Carl Brooks from PalmLoyal.com was nice enough to bring three different PalmLoyal.com logo mugs/steins, which he gave away.