This is post is pretty much just going to be me extolling the virtues of a cool computer that my friend has, that I use all the time, and that I want for myself. It’s called the ASUS Eee PC 900 HA, and at just over 300 bucks, I’ll probably pick up one of these in the next few weeks, if for no other reason than to finally give my back a break. Carrying around my clunky old Dell is no fun at all, especially since I bought it last year, for approximately 4 times the price of this little bugger.

Here’s a picture demonstrating the Eee PC’s small size (if you click it, you’ll be taken to Amazon.com):

If you’re thinking of buying a laptop, the small, affordable “netbook” laptops that have come out this year are the way to go. If you’re shopping for someone else, or you’re trying to convince someone to buy one for you, here are the talking points you can trot out to convince whoever you need to convince to buy it:

True Portability
At 8.9 inches long by 6.7 inches wide, it’s much smaller than most college notebooks, and at 1.33 inches deep, and at 2.5 pounds, it’s lighter than the typical dead-tree textbook. Unlike most laptops, you really can take this with you wherever you go – without getting a sore back or shoulder.

Enormous Storage Capacity
The 900HA’s hard drive provides plenty of space to store all of your music, pictures, and video. At 160 GB, its storage capacity is forty (40!) times bigger than the similarly-priced HP 2133-KR922UT 8.9-Inch Mini-Note PC, which is equipped with just a 4 GB hard drive. Storage capacity was actually the reason I didn’t buy into the cheap laptop hype earlier this year – the previous models had 20 GB, tops, and that’s just not enough. Asus has done an awesome job in addressing that shortcoming with the 900HA.

The Reliability of Windows XP
Many computers in this price range are loaded with the less familiar Linux operating system, and many more expensive computers are preloaded with the less reliable Windows Vista operating system (which I’m not alone in hating). The EEE PC 940 HA comes with the tried and true Windows XP Home Edition, which means you’ll have no trouble running the programs you’re already used to running, and you should not have any hardware compatibility issues if you do decide to add a printer or upgrade your machine in the future.

A Bright, Easy to Read Display
The 8.9 inch TFT LCD display operates at a resolution 1024×600 (WXGA), producing a viewing experience comparable to those offered by larger machines. This is another huge improvement from earlier netbook models.

Wireless Freedom
An integrated 54g 802.11b/g wireless card means you have high-speed Internet access wherever there’s a WiFi hotspot, and a powerful 4-cell battery means you can work for up to 5 hours without being tethered to a power outlet. (My Dell Inspiron gave me 2 hours at the height of its powers…)

Solid Fit and Finish
High-quality materials give this model a look and feel that beats bulkier, heavier, more expensive laptops. Just because it’s small and inexpensive doesn’t mean it has to feel cheap. (Which will be a nice change for me…) The built-in webcam is another great plus. The only downside: like the Apple MacBook Air, this machine doesn’t have an optical drive. (I get the feeling that optical drives in general might be on their way out, but that’s a whole ‘nother blog post.)

The machine does have 3 USB 2.0 ports, though, so if you really need a CD or DVD player, adding an external one should be pretty easy.

Performance
The 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor and 1 GB of DDR2 RAM is a huge step up from Asus’ prior Celeron-based models. The RAM is easily upgradeable, but my buddy’s machine had no problems running MS Excel and Adobe Photoshop without the upgrade.

Affordability
This model sells for $329.99 plus shipping. That’s a fully-functional laptop computer just slightly more than the price of a 16GB iPhone! (and way less if you count AT&T’s mandatory iPhone service plan)

Bottom Line
Like I said upfront, I strongly recommend this laptop – it’s a great little machine at a pretty fantastic price. You can pick it up through Amazon which I also recommend – because if you go into a particular store – I won’t mention which one – the salespeople will almost certainly try to up-sell you a more expensive model, which won’t have enough features (in my opinion) to justify the 100-200% increase in cost. Or, even worse, they might try to sell you one of this year’s earlier netbook models, which are almost as expensive, but much more limited in almost every respect. Make a note -this is the one you want (well, it’s the one I want):

If it sells out before Christmas (which I understand it probably will – computers are always popular Christmas presents, and the trendiness of the new netbooks combined with the value of this particular model will make it hotter than most) – another good choice is the Acer Aspire One 8.9-inch Mini Laptop- it’s generally pretty comparable to the Asus Eee PC in terms of size, quality, and performance, but it does cost about $80 more.

If you do manage to get your hands on either one, please let me know how it worked out for you!

If you try to sell something on Craigslist, and the buyer does not want to meet you in person, that should be treated as a huge red flag. If that seller mentions PayPal, escrow, “GUARANTEED SAFETY”, or anything like that, then you’ve got another huge red flag.

If you feel the need to investigate further, just to be sure, check the full header of the email sent by the buyer, and look for the originating IP address.

It’ll be a number that looks something like this: 41.219.252.160

Then, go to any IP locator website - IP2Location is the one I usually use - and copy & paste that number into the website form. The website will tell you, more or less, where that email came from. If you do that for the example I’ve provided above, you’ll find that the sender of the email with that particular IP address was from Nigeria.

Once any African country - ESPECIALLY NIGERIA - pops up in your dealings with a potential buyer, seller - or some party to any transaction involving requests for money, merchandise, personal data, or anything else of value - you can safely and self-assuredly tell that other party to go screw themselves.

If you don’t, you are most certainly about to be scammed.

Speaking of brilliant.

My Internet connection has been frustrating me all week.  This video, from Funny or Die, represents just one small reason why it’s so important to have reliable Internet access:

A company called Fring has just released a free app that lets you use Skype (and similar programs) on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Can’t wait to try this out!

(via MacRumors)

From left to right:

Strange-Looking Keys (One of them looks like a little gun, and another looks like a Phillips-head screwdriver.)

Normal-Looking Wallet

Guia “T” de Bolsillo (Pocket bus guide - I’ll be posting a how-to-use-this-thing later in the week. If you’re planning on spending any amount of time in BA, you’re gonna need it.)

High-Quality Pen

Moleskin Notepad (You’d be surprised how often this comes in handy, especially when accompanied by a high-quality pen!)

iPhone 2.5G (Doesn’t work as a phone here, and whoever designed the headphone jack should be shot, but it’s great for the city’s many wi-fi hotspots, and the camera gets the job done when I need it.)

LG Pre-Paid Cell Phone (The second-cheapest one the store had - AR$109. The first-cheapest was just too embarrassing.)

Subte (Subway) Pass (which does not work on buses!)

Missing from this picture: Change for the bus, which seems to be getting harder and harder to find. Seriously - stores in this town really do not like to give out coins. I’d love to hear the explanation for this phenomenon, and I’m not the only one who has noticed it (but it hasn’t gotten under my skin in quite the same way!)

I think this was one hell of a post.

…is a place where you can see the biggest, meanest-looking truck driver passionately, shamelessly singing along to “Fading Like a Flower” by Roxette as he’s sitting alone in his truck, waiting for the fender-bender in front of him to be cleared off the road.

I just started using StumbleUpon, a remarkably cool addition to Firefox which directs you to websites based on interests you select.

One of the interests I selected was “geography”, and this afternoon, when I clicked my new Stumble! button, the World Sunlight Map came up. It’s a composite satellite image of the Earth, taken hourly, that shows you where it’s nighttime and where it’s daytime.

And the images make great desktop wallpaper for your computer.

On my Twitter feed the other day, I mentioned that I was listening to “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers” by Professor Robert Sapolsky. Illuminating stuff about the effects of stress on health, how psychological stress can turn into physical pain, why certain people are more susceptible to stress-related illnesses than others.

Professor Sapolsky’s official website can be found here.

There are two podcasts, a little under an hour each, that you can download for free (via iTunes), from that site, under “More About Stress”.

And I found out about all this because PBS just did an hour-long documentary on the subject, which covers much of the same material as the podcasts, and incorporates the results of studies by other researchers as well (which all confirm the conclusions reached by Sapolsky).

I’m not going to try to summarize everything here, apart from saying that the researchers make a convincing case that unmanaged stress has a pretty strong causal relationship with physical discomfort. They’re all definitely worth your time.

“Republicanism has officially become a disease - a semi-contagious form of mental retardation.”

- Some anonymous commenter on one of the left-leaning blogs I read regularly.  I’m going to go back and try to remember the exact blog and post where I saw this, but, yeah, this guy/girl has pretty much nailed the 2008 version of the Republican Party.