Chromebook: One more [useless] gadget

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-chromebook-review-2012-10

You’ve seen the commercials, I’m certain.  Befuddling, no?  What is this Chromebook?  How can a laptop cost only $249?  Read on.

“The idea behind the Chromebook is to run just about everything within the Chrome browser, with Google services covering your documents, email, calendar, etc.

“But unlike normal laptops, there's no file management system. It's not a laptop. It's not a tablet. It's a shell that houses a web browser.  That's it.

“While Google added more of a “desktop-like” feel to the Chromebook's operating system with a home screen of icons that launch web apps in the browser, it's simply a facade.  There is no way to effectively manage files that aren't Internet-based.  If you don't have an Internet connection, you're extremely limited in what you can do.”

I apologize…  I must appear pathetically obtuse.  I assure you, I’m a bright girl.  Really, I am.  But…  I still don’t get.

Assuming the Chromebook performs its existing functions irreproachably, it remains a useless and superfluous device.  Netbooks and tablets offer more functions than the Chromebook at the same affordable price.

Truly, the Chromebook is a tricky device.  As in, it’s a trick.  Ostensibly, it is a fully practical laptop that boasts standard features at an accessible price.  After all, no other twelve inch folding gadgets with full-sized keypads and screens skimp on the primary computing functions expected of a laptop-looking device.  Disillusioned online shoppers who neglect their technology homework may purchase the “computer” and be surprised by its dependence on apps and an internet connection.

There you have it.  A reason to continue reading.  Witty and Wireless:  Saving readers return shipping fees with every post.

Class, please take out your Nooks and swipe to page 45.

http://www.courant.com/business/technology/chi-barnes-noble-sees-fast-growth-with-nook-will-expand-to-9-new-countries-20121010,0,2997050.story

As this article states, “Barnes & Noble Inc. expects its digital Nook and college bookstore businesses to generate combined revenues of $3 billion this year, helped by strong e-books sales growth, and the bookseller said on Wednesday it plans to expand its digital bookstore into nine new international markets by June.”

While I hardly object to Barnes & Noble’s competitive position, I do fault the nation’s hearty approval of digital reading.  Here’s why:

First, consumers must understand that the trees we spare with the purchase of tablets and e-readers do not negate the other forms of waste associated with these devices.  We don’t have to plug paperbacks into outlets.  We power fewer machines when we produce a biography than when we assemble a Nook.  And let’s not forget that, recycling aside, a pamphlet or encyclopedia biodegrades swiftly and unremarkably while a plastic and metal tablet containing hazardous innards does not.

Second, e-books and e-textbooks cost as much as their paper counterparts.  When we purchase the digital versions, we encourage these contemptible pricing practices.

Third, a question:  Will it be okay with you if your eventual child grows up without ever opening, flicking through, cursing, highlighting, doggy-earring, starring, tucking notes into, stroking, and even sniffing a physical book?  At this thought, Faulkner would renounce us, Melville would sail away, and Shakespeare would pen another play simply to cast us as fools.

Somehow, this movement away from paper and toward digital mediums represents a grander disownment of history, of intense study, and of worthwhile knowledge.

We keep making things "easier."  Remind me...why do things need to be easier?