Jacqui Cheng likes her new MacBook Pro and loves the performance, but gives the MagSafe power adapter mixed reviews. Why? She says it disconnects when it shouldn’t, and seems to stay connected when it should disconnect.

Well, I think I still want one.

Apple, Jacqui Cheng, laptop, MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Pro reviewed, portable, PowerBook, review

I’ve been doing a lot of talking about the coming information age and how it depends on access technology that is as cheap and easy to use as our cell phones (and applications of it that are as appealing as people find their cell phones). But I’ve been slow to mention the MIT Media Lab’s One Laptop Per Child $100 laptop plan.

The truth is that I just don’t know that much about it. That’s why I was interested to find Andy Carvin’s video interview with Mary Lou Jepsen, the CTO of the project. Jepsen answers Carvin’s questions about what’s what and how it works. I was especially intrigued by how the screen works (it’s brighter because there are no color filters).

$100 laptop, mit, media lab, mit media lab, Mary Lou Jepsen, technology, hardware, laptop, information age, digital divide, ubiquitous computing, ubicomp, portable, portable computing

David Rothman pointed me to Michael Lasky’s PC World review of the Pepper Pad. Lasky bangs on Pepper, saying he can’t recommend it.

Too often, I think, technology reviewers approach a new product without understanding it. Lasky tells us how the Pepper performs when playing music or videos before comparing it to “notebook computers available for the same or a lower price.” We wouldn’t let an automotive reviewer conclude a review of a Prius hybrid to a Chevy truck by saying the truck is the better deal because it has a bigger engine for the same money, so why let technology reviewers off so easy?

Lasky and others need to remember that Americans with mobile phones outnumber Americans with home internet access almost two to one. Clearly, PCs are missing the point, and I’m pretty certain price isn’t the issue. I’ve known too many people who’ve decided their PCs are too spyware, malware, and bloatware infested… too troublesome to continue using.

The Pepper Pad (and the Nokia 770, I like them both) may be able to open that market of more than 80 million Americans who find their cellphone an essential part of their lives, but don’t have the same feelings for Internet access.

tags: access, cluetrain, doesn’t get it, internet access, laptop, michael lasky, notebook computers, palmtop, pc world review, pcworld, pepper, pepper pad, pepper pad review, portable, portable computer, portable computing, post pc, post-pc, review, ultraportable

…Well, not entirely, but I couldn’t help but read the posts on the PepperPad and history of the Newton. I’m a fan of computing devices that don’t fit the mold, so I eat up stuff like this. I noted the Pepper Pad previously, and written a few posts about the Newton and ultra-portable computing.

Update: Engadget is getting in on the excitement too. They’re pointing to this OSOpinion article that’s at the center of it all.

Technorati Tags: computer, ebook, ebooks, hand held, newton, pepper pad, portable, teleread, ultra portable