Netbooks seem to be this week’s topic. They came up a number of times, from a friend to a colleague at work to a secretary we used to support, but is now working at a different unit. Netbooks seem to be the next hot item and everyone wants one.

Is it the price that makes them attractive, their size, weight and portability or is it simply another passing fad that won’t catch on across most industries (i.e. Tablet PC)?

Let me clarify why I use Tablet PCs as an example. They have been around for a while, new players have entered the market this year (Dell) and while they do have their place in certain professions and working environments overall people still prefer laptops over Tablet PCs. Will netbooks follow the same path or will they become more present and dominant it our everyday computing needs?

I have seen a couple of different netbook models and while interesting at first I didn’t find any of them appealing or useful enough to invest in one myself. Now, this could change down the road as they become more mature and evolve into something of a mix between a netbook and a Tablet PC. (add voice recognition and I could find that useful)

Majority of the online reviews point towards Asus Eee as the leader of the pack, but they all seem fairly similar to each other when looking at hardware specs and features. Differences are mainly in design and ergonomic placement.

Have any of your used one before, are you currently looking into purchasing one, or do you even care about them?

Post from: Milos Topic

Are netbooks here to stay?

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As some of you know, 2009 will be one of the most important years to date in my life with quite a few changes and improvements in coming months. I am very excited about everything life is bringing my way and ready to take on new opportunities.

However, in the meantime until things kick off (some as early as Monday), a friend of mine and I are taking a brief vacation and going to Florida to visit his family (last time I saw them was 6 or 7 years ago). As you are reading this, I’m on my way to the airport and will be back Sunday night. It’s only two days, but we figured that we should enjoy it while we can before we get busy with work and other responsibilities.

As soon as I come back, I have to kick back into higher gear and work on getting few things accomplished on Monday (very exciting, I’ll talk about those later). On Tuesday, January 20th two things are already scheduled to take place. First, the inauguration of our new President and second, beginning of a new semester at the university. Like I said, 2009 will be the year of change for many of us.

I wish you all a great weekend and a ton of laughter.

Post from: Milos Topic

Taking a mini break

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Here’s a video sharing my experience driving to work this morning. It took an hour and ten minutes to get to work, a distance it can normally be traversed in 15-20 minutes. Driving in New Jersey is bad as it is, plus when you add snow or any other inclement weather component people completely freak out and don’t know what to do.

Hopefully your morning commute was less “eventful” and more manageable.

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This morning’s commute to work

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It was bound to happen, we had a great run, but today, Google Maps has failed me.

I’m one of those users who (many years ago) used to turn to MapQuest (remember them?) for driving directions. Several years ago a search engine company developed online maps which were up to date, fast and reliable and as such quickly won me over. Since then, I have been using their service almost excusively and it always worked as advertised. Today, I tried to estimate the time needed to get to a Friday Night Fights NYC event, but couldn’t do so. Google Maps found both addresses easily, but couldn’t connect them for whatever reason.

In any event, I will be using my GPS, but it would have been nice to be able to estimate the trip length (not accounting for Lincoln Tunnel traffic obviously). Hopefully this glitch will be resolved soon.

Post from: Milos Topic

Google Maps has failed me

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Yesterday was my first day back at work since the 7th. Now, taking two weeks off during summer (slowest part of the year) is nothing new to me considering I rarely take time off during the semesters. This time as many times before the destination was Europe, I went back home for a brief visit and must say that it was amazing. Two weeks of hanging out with friends and family, walking around, partying (mainly drinking) were fun, but also a bit challenging and tiring at times. Having lived in the U.S. for the past 10 years I just don’t think that I’m conditioned for the 24/7 party life. All jokes aside I did alright, nothing to be ashamed of. I can still hold my own.

Here are a couple of brief videos from this trip starting with an additional security measure prior to departing from Newark International Airport. As a “lucky winner” I was selected for additional screening. They claimed that being a young male traveling alone to Eastern Europe had nothing to do with it…sure. Bastards!

First night in Serbia (it’s become a tradition of sorts) we went to “Acapulco” (no, not that Acapulco) a Sava River barge in Belgrade where party never ends…it seems that way at least. This video is a bit dark and at this point it’s well past 3 AM.
[Guy with a funny voice is actually imitating one of our other friends who wasn't with us that night]

On August 13th, I’ve attended a football (aka soccer) game between my favorite team FC Partizan and Turkish Fenerbahce in the 3rd and final round of qualifying matches for the Champions League. Game ended 2:2 which still gives us hope to qualify into the Champions League. Rematch (in Istanbul) will be played today.
Here’s a sample of the atmosphere.

We also went to Belgrade Beer Fest. Crazy event with LOTS of beer. [Girl goofing around is my best friend's girlfriend]

So over all it was a great trip, we all had fun, did a lot of partying, traveling, saw a lot and really enjoyed ourselves. Now, we are back in Jersey, working, school starts next week and the routine will be “back in session” in no time. As always I will try to break it up with trips whenever possible, maybe even an extended weekend trip to Las Vegas next month.

Now that I have told you a bit about my trip it’s your turn to share what have you done, where did you go, are you ready to go back to work, school or whatever it is that you do?

Post from: Milos Topic

Great Vacation

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