So I’ll be upgrading some of my systems in the next little bit and because the news is uniformly depressing (not that you have to worry about me, my melancholy, while augmented by the season, does not manifest in self harm- I’m more likely to take a nap) I thought I’d share some of the coming improvements.
I’ve started to travel and it’s always a question in my mind when I enter a DHS “border zone” (the majority of the territory of the United States actually) how to continue my seditious activities. On Amazon Day I picked up one of their Fire tablets because it was cheap ($50) and I wanted to evaluate it. Since 16 Gb is nothing in my mind (I routinely roll with 10 Tb) I instantly installed a 128 Gb Micro SDXC ($45, with the added benefit of being super easy to conceal).
Well, it works ok as a media player (all the episodes of Futurama I have, including the incredibly sad Jurassic Bark) but it’s not a computer. Typing using an on screen keyboard and a stylus is incredibly tedious, and constantly cleaning your fingerprint swipes chews through a ton of eyeglass cleaner- so much so I had to order a Gallon of it ($15).
So, what to do?
I was shopping (for other people, I’m not that self absorbed and selfish) and I ran across a Bluetooth Keyboard that should also work with my phone ($40, that one is backlit, there’s a cheaper one for $30). I also picked up a Bluetooth Mouse ($25).
Will they make my 8″ tablet work more like a real PC? It remains to be seen, they haven’t been delivered yet and will take several weeks to evaluate in any case.
For all that since the tablet is linked to Amazon and thus my credit card it’s inherently insecure so I can only use it for public activity. Should I decide to get stealthy I’d need to take additional precautions. Still, if it works it will be a proof of concept which is mostly what I’m interested in.