Small Handy Laptops

There are now a number of small laptops available for under $1000 (AUS). There are also a number of normal sized laptops available at this price but they are not so portable. I think these smaller laptops could be a good alternative to a pda.
Here is a list of the websites of the currently available devices:
Acer Aspire One
ASUS eee PC
HP Mini 2133
MSI U100 Wind
All these laptops would be fine for internet, email and basic file editing and because they are small one could sit on a table or bench and give quick access to the internet. The thing they need is to have instant on like a pda though if you plug one into mains power you could leave it on standby.

Content Management Systems

I have been playing with the following website building content management systems,

• Drupal
• Typo3
• Moodle

A CMS (content management system) provides a skeleton site which can then be adapted to suit your needs. The style can be changed and functions can be added and removed. Most CMS have functions for adding users and storing user information and records. General systems like Drupal and Typo3 can be used to make sites with forums and blogs but lots of other features can be added.
Some CMS are built for a special purpose. Moodle is one of these. It provides a platform for online course management. Other systems exist for building online shops, blogs, forums, wikis and customer support.

Windows XP or Vista ?

If you are wondering whether to get a new PC with Windows Vista then take a look at the February edition of the PC Authority magazine. It has a comparison of XP and Vista over various categories. Overall they have Vista coming out on top but in the last two categories, Performance and Responsiveness they rate XP as better than Vista.
For now I think I will stick with XP. Vista certainly looks very nice but I think I will wait and see what they come up with next.