One is tempted to call such rigid, fully sealed plastic packaging which several manufacturers are using almost criminal – could that be attempted bodily injury? 
–, packaging of 0.55mm strong plastic that even large household scissors can hardly open:
Can’t protection against theft (by taking devices out of the packaging) in the stores be made easier and more customer-friendly?
As Golem reports (German), the nice little, albeit certainly not high-performance Asus Eee PC will be offered in Germany, too, starting next month – for 299 € (model “4G”, white and black).
The display is a little small, just 7 inch with 800×480 pixels, as is the battery running time of 3 to 3½ hours, but otherwise this may be a quite useful surf gadget, being just about the size of a C5 envelope (22,5×16,5×3,5cm) and 920g heavy/light.
Linux is preinstalled, but Windows XP drivers are apparently also available. Whether XP will run satisfactorily on the slow processor, 512MB memory and only 4 GB flash hard drive, remains to be seen.
Also it’s of course questionable if it’s wise to buy the first product of this (intended) series right away… but it’s tempting…
Update: A video review by Channel Flip / Unwired on YouTube.
(Photo from eeepc.asus.com)
A letter from Microsoft arrived today, kindly reminding me that my “Open License”
of Visual Studio/MSDN Professional (or whatever its current name is) will expire soon. On page 2, it says (translation and underline by me):
“Upgrade assurance of the licenses: With Open Value, thanks to Software Assurance, you secure for you already today future product versions like those coming in 2006: Microsoft Windows Vista and Microsoft “Office 12”.
[…]
Extended Software Assurance Services: starting March 2006, you have also available…”
Maybe someone at Microsoft should occasionally read through these standard texts…
Oh, and their 01805 phone number costs no longer 12, but 14 cents – when will the first official warning letter arrive? 
As indicated here (“Electricity tariff increase”, 15 Oct), my electricity will soon come no longer from the normal local provider E.ON Bayern, but instead (due to the cancellation period, starting 1 Jan; cancellation confirmation arrived today) from Trianel – and then “naturally” the “eco” way.
Costs a tiny bit more than the standard electricity (85% non-regenerative) at current tariff, but noticeable less than at the future tariff (after the announced increase from 1 Jan 2008). And even less than E.ON’s eco electricity.
So my juice will then – don’t let beverage testers hear that! – come to 84% from the water of Lago di Poschiavo (photo from picswiss.ch) and the rest from other water, wind, biomass and a touch of solar energy.
Of course the best electricity is still that which is not consumed needlessly (e.g. standby)…
“Appropriately” on the Blog Action Day about the environment, now also E.ON, who provide me with electricity, too (and, after all, have not raised their tariffs this year), announced increases by an average of about 10% (in Bavaria).
Well, I (and many others, I’m sure) will stress comparison sites such as Verivox now…
Maybe an eco tariff won’t be bad, there seem to be some which are relatively low. (Yes, environmental protection that costs nothing or little is still the most successful kind…)