Decade-defining gadgets and some head-scratching
I just read through Engadget's "Ten gadgets that defined the decade" post, which is very well-written and thorough, and I was with them all the way from the Canon Digital ELPH (oh right! that was huge!) to Windows XP (my god, that was THIS decade, wasn't it), through the PalmOne Treo 600 (which I never owned, but I can appreciate what it did for mobile computing). Until the tenth gadget, that is - something called an ASUS Eee PC 900 that was released in 2008?
From Engadget:
Uh, what? Where've I been? This was last year?
Also? I couldn't even tell you how to pronounce that horrible name. Do you say "E-E-E", or just "eee"? So confused. I mean, I get that the point is that this was the first netbook that spawned a new era of smaller laptops, but still. A gadget that defined the decade and I'm coming up with nothing. I feel dumb.
From Engadget:
Where the Eee PC 701 and its Xandros Linux OS was aimed at kids and "housewives" (seriously, an ASUS representative said that at the time), the succeeding Eee PC 900 was the realization that netbooks had wider market appeal when preloaded with Windows XP. Whether it was business-minded folk or just those looking to connect to the web on-the-go on a device larger than a smartphone, the small and very affordable laptop made a lot more sense than anyone ever could have imagined. The 900 series was officially launched in April 2008 and though Intel's future Atom platform was still being developed by those silicon "rockstars" at Intel, the 2.2-pound mini-notebook had an 8.9-inch display, Intel Celeron M processor and 12GB of flash storage (an odd pairing of one 4 GB SSD and one 8 GB SSD). ASUS sold more than a million units in the first couple of months which resulted in global shortages of the liliputian laptops. In the U.S. the 900 was the first netbook to be sold at Best Buy. Shortly after the 900's worldwide success and the release of Intel's Atom CPU, all major laptop manufactures brought netbooks to market with 9 or 10 inch displays.
Uh, what? Where've I been? This was last year?
Also? I couldn't even tell you how to pronounce that horrible name. Do you say "E-E-E", or just "eee"? So confused. I mean, I get that the point is that this was the first netbook that spawned a new era of smaller laptops, but still. A gadget that defined the decade and I'm coming up with nothing. I feel dumb.
