I arrived Sunday.. very tired. Also because I was preparing some stuff for some meetings and I worked non-stop for a day and a half and then some more (wasn't really worth it to go for such a stretch).

For this trip I thought about getting a new laptop. I wanted Vista to run some DX 10 stuff.
I went to a shop in Tokyo at the last minute but I eventually gave up and installed Vista on my Vaio SZ70. It runs fine.. but it's the little things with the drivers that upset me (now almost everything works, but the camera doesn't work, and some other quirks).

To get the proper Vista upgrade I should call Sony in Japan.. ehhh !
The SZ has an NVidia card, but I realized that it doesn't really support DX 10, so I plan on reinstalling XP and selling it.
It's made its time.. but it's still very much a great laptop (dual core, 2GB RAM, relatively light, etc etc).

I'm planning on getting a Vaio Z.. it's lighter than the one I have and has a better graphics card. Actually to get the 256MB VRAM version one has to make a custom order. Same if one wants a 7200RPM disk instead of the standard 5400RPM.

..so many issues, so much waste of time after those things, when will I learn ? 8)

I don't think I'll be buying a Mac laptop though. Apple offers little choice and recently I've grown tired of Apple. MacBook Air didn't really fit my needs plus there is this constant "wait for the next model coming out maybe next month" kind of feeling.
I also use Windows for development and I find that OS X's interface is somewhat outdated.

One thing I can't stand is the global menu bar on top. It's terrible to have to look up to pick something from the menu. It gets silly if your monitor is a 24 inches like for my iMac. With a dual monitor setting, the global menu bar thing really becomes stupid and the usability level drops in the realm of serious frustration.

Vaio is a nightmare if you try to install the OS and the drivers by yourself, but I think I can live with it.. English Vista would be great, but I can survive with the Japanese version.

..about Siggraph.. I've been so tired and sleepy. I thought I got rid of jet-lag but it's actually all screwed up because of many overlapping things: I normally sleep at weird hours, but here I also have to wake up early.. and I really don't know exactly what's going on.

It's my second Siggraph here in Los Angeles (first being in 1997). Compared to last year in San Diego, the convention center here is kind of dark.
I think I see a lot less people. Los Angeles downtown also is basically bullshit. It's got the be the most fake downtown of all America. There are no residences, some skyscrapers but those are bank buildings. The rest is the usual mom&pop's shops that look like the electricity-based version of the Far West shops.

Without a car the only things I can do is take the shuttle from the hotel and take the shuttle back to the hotel.

I've never been to New York or Chicago. I've been to San Francisco.. some say that you can get around with public transportation in SF but that wasn't my feeling.

You can't really live in a big city without pervasive public transportation or a car.. Los Angeles (which is an area rather than a city), was made for cars.. by cars (?)

Another thing that hits me, as usual, is the public restrooms. I've tried to stay away form those at the convention center.. but it's impossible not to smell feces at peak times.
I find it pretty hard to smell other people excrement and to listen to everything that happens in the adjacent "stall". With a full picture of the other persons' shoes and lowered pants.

I guess it's all about culture, standards (not meant in a denigrating way).
If I came from the jungle, I'd probably think that public toilets in USA were luxurious.. but coming from Japan, if feel like I'm taking a shit in the jungle 8)
Of course this is just me, I've always been sensitive about restrooms..
Also there are pretty bad toilets in Japan too... it's never matter of white or black, but more of average white and black cases.

Overall this Siggraph is a bit depressing (they even skipped the Electronic Theater). A lot of talks seem boring and a lot of stuff is more rehashed than usual..

ummmmmmmmmm

I'm leaving today for a week in San Francisco where I'll attend the GDC (Game Developers Conference).
I'm not a big fan of the event, I'm more a Siggraph kind of guy. It's not that I'm one of those pricks that thinks that graphics in games is everything, it's that I just don't care so much about game business. When I play games (rarely nowadays) it's regardless of their graphics (Mario Kart on DS !!).

Anyhow, it will be an interesting experience, with business meetings and I'll get to meet some cool people !

Gettign into the subject... I like to take notes as the conference goes. This time around I wanted to go to the conference with a shiny new Apple laptop. I was ready to buy the MacBook Air even before it was announced (!). At the announcement I was pretty interested: "Wow... the thinnest notebook ever !! And it's pretty light too..." or is it ? As it turns out, my current Vaio SZ is not much heavier than the MBA !
Sure it's not as thin, but it's just as large.. and it doesn't cost anymore than I've already paid ;)
One problem that I have constantly is lack of battery life. I forgot how much is it in "stamina mode", but it's definitely not more than 4 hours. I'm always begging to plug my computer somewhere at those conferences.. it's a pain.

So, I decided against the MacBook Air and I instead bought an extra battery for my current Vaio. Swapping battery (easily, unlike for the MBA which requires a screwdriver) is hopefully going to be good enough.
Sadly the battery was incredibly expensive.. about 21,000 yen, or $194 !! The long-life one was even twice as expensive !!!!
For a little more I could have bought an Eee PC instead.. which I really wanted to buy, but unfrotunately it's all sold out in Japan 8( (also the battery life is only 3.5 hours..).

In conclusion, I think that Apple missed big time by not releasing a cheap and small sub-notebook.
Recently I gave to my mother my old Vaio C1/VN which she loved. In fact, she insisted to get it once she realized that I wasn't using it anymore. I've never seen her so interested in getting a computer ! And I realize now that she was right.. size is (almost) everything ! That thing with more RAM and with a larger battery, kicks the MacBook Air's ass !
Fack those large items, fack being thin (or being fat 8).. that's a joke, fack that 13 inches screen !!
Maybe it's that most Americans are 2 meters tall and weight between 100 an 200 Kilos.. so for them a MacBook Air is indeed a sub-notebook 8P

Anyhow, time to start finish packing !!

Phack packing !
P.S. I'm also packing a company-provided DELL monolith 8( ...but hopefully I'll soon get a decent personal Vaio 8)