1)Who are you and what do you do?
I’m a 23 year old computer science student from Norway. I founded Ubuntu Eee, which is now EasyPeasy, back in ’07. It was the first 3rd party netbook distro. Now there’s more competition with Google Chrome OS, Meego and Ubuntu Unity :)
2) How did you get into GNOME?
I’ve been an avid user of Gnome since ’05. It’s also the most important project in EasyPeasy.
3) Why are you coming to GUADEC?
I’ve been to a couple of conferences regarding linux and other tech. The one I’ve gotten the most out of was GUADEC / Desktop Summit on Gran Canaria last year. I hope to get as much out of it this year.
4) In 1 sentence, describe what your most favorite recent GNOME project has been. (Doesn’t have to be yours!)
SparkleShare is a great project in itself and is also an awesome foundation for lots of new cloud features.
5) Will this be your first time visiting the Netherlands?
No, been there several times. I was just there on a eurorail following the World Cup maches around Europe. Never been to Haag though.
Dear Steve Jobs,
Congratulations on your iPad release! In your keynote you spoke about if there’s room for a device between the laptop and the smart phone, a third mobile device, and you concluded with that there was room, “if the device was better”. Your hypothesis was that if there was room for one more mobile device in people’s lives, it was because it was better than both the laptop and the smart phone on some key features. You listed these features: Browsing, email, photos, video, music, games and ebooks.
After listing this list in a nice Appleish powerpoint slide, seen above, you continued your hypothesis saying that some people believe the netbook to be the third mobile device. And I quote you: “This is wrong. Netbooks are slow, low quality and runs bad quality software.”
But there’s a problem. Your hypothesis is not correct, Steve. First of all, people don’t own a smart phone and a laptop. People own a desktop machine or a laptop and a phone or a smart phone. This means many use a non-fancy phone and a desktop PC. I bet they would love a netbook! Since your hypothesis is incorrect, there’s no real use in continuing, but I’m feeling hurt for the netbook – so here we go
- Browsing: browsing with touch is fancy and easy. But you don’t have flash support, which means the only media you will get while browsing is Youtube videos.
- Email: email often equals work. When “doing email”, you write lots of stuff, you copy and paste, you multitask. The iPad isn’t good at any of these points.
- Photos and video: good at photos and video – whatever that means.. Netbooks are good for photos and videos because it can connect to the TV.
- Music: good at music – you’re being very vague here on how some devices are better on music. But you have the iTunes store which I guess gives you this point.
- Games: being good at games must mean playing real games, not mini-games, shooting with an iGun or riding an iCar. Games you would invest more than $1 on.
- eBook: one more point for you.
Netbook: 4. iPad: 2
Solution
You’re right in that “the third device” should be better at some key features. But your feature list, Steve, is incorrect. The third device should combine the best from the two other devices. It should be mobile as a phone and good to write on like a laptop.
My guess is that your iPad won’t flop, as it’s shiny and made by you, but it won’t even make a dent in the netbook marked.
People often think a good mix should rise and fall, but people are wrong. It should be all rise, baby.
I’ve been on Spotify for 1.5 years. I didn’t get hooked right away, but around a year ago I just couldn’t get enough.
An hour ago I found Grooveshark. It’s Spotify with these changes:
- It’s in your web browser, meaning no download. Perfect for people on the go who want their digital life in the cloud
- You and (even better) others can upload to the service. If there’s a song you want on the go which isn’t available, upload it – but someone else have probably already done it..
- Don’t seem to see a point to go premium (no higher bit rate, no ads (using adblock))
- If I want to go Premium, it’s over 3 times cheaper than on Spotify. It’s only $3
- It has Requiem for a dream, which I have been forced to go to youtube to enjoy
- Oh yeah, and there’s a WordPress plugin..
- UPDATE 1: Playlists can be ordered in “playlist order” meaning you can create a “mixed tape”
The negative
- I get an error saying song can’t be played sometimes (trying again fixes it)
- No keyboard shortcuts
- iPhone app isn’t out yet
- The sound quality can be (or is always?) better in Spotify. Example: Alice Cooper with Poison
