Donald Norman quote from the NYT:

“Our frustrations with machines are not going to be solved with better machines,” Dr. Norman said. “Most of our technological difficulties come from the way we interact with our machines and with other people. The technology part of the problem is usually pretty simple. The people part is complicated.”

 Mario spoke with Donald last month. Listen to the segment here.

I've been following developments on the Asus EEE since I first heard about it during the summer. I just received mine in the mail from newegg.com.

It's an ultraportable notebook featuring: a 7" screen, web cam, usb ports, wireless, 4gb flash hard drive. It comes pre-installed with xandros, a linux-derived operating system, open office, firefox, skype, pidgin, and some other programs including games and learning applications geared towards young children.

Best of all, it runs about $400, which is a fraction of the cost of similar notebooks. There are also other models available, including the 2G Surf version which goes for $300, but includes has non-upgradable ram, lacks a webcam, and has shorter battery life and a $500 8G model which has more ram and hd space.

The screen will induce some neck cramps, but adding the fullerfox firefox extension helps a lot. Here's what it will look like.

Pros:

• lightweight (around 2lbs)
• intuitive operation system
• good build quality
• perfect for basic word processing, email, and web tasks

Cons

• the keyboard is tiny and takes getting used to
• the trackpad button isn't very responsive

It will take some work, but you can also install XP on it. Notebookreview.com has a guide with detailed instructions (which I haven't attempted yet). There have even been reports of people even managing to install Leopard. Here's a video of one with a modded touchscreen interface. 

Bottom line, I wish I had something like this while schlepping around NYC a few months ago during the CMJ Music Marathon, it's barely bigger than a book, isn't noticeable heavy, has good wifi range (better than my Dell Inspiron 1501),  and is perfect for basic productivity: blogging, word processing, web surfing. 

It's easy to get preoccupied with the immediate when you're in a rush. Taking a step back to experience things more fully often gives perspective and focus that can be lost in the daily grind. Sometimes it's easy to forget why we do the things that we do. On that note, here's a quote from former executive editor of Harvard Business Review, Nicholas Carr:

"The scariest thing about Stanley Kubrick's vision wasn't that computers started to act like people but that people had started to act like computers. We're beginning to process information as if we're nodes; it's all about the speed of locating and reading data. We're transferring our intelligence into the machine, and the machine is transferring its way of thinking into us. "

from Wired