I cracked

I just couldn't take it anymore. Who was I trying to fool? I can never live isolated from all that is familiar and comfortable to me, cut off from the world I know. I can't go on like this. How am I supposed to survive without... a Laptop!

So on Saturday morning after a visit to the old Battersea Power Station building (which might be featured in a later post) I did not go home as planned, but semi-impulsively paid a visit to Tottenham Court Road "just to look" at what's on offer at the amazing number of electronics and computing stores, all next to each other on the High Street. An hour or two later, after some bargaining, haggling and poker-faced negotiation, I got on the tube shivering with excitement, a silly grin on my face, a new computer on my back and almost no savings left in my bank account...

Sure, I might have to live from bread and water for the next month, but I'm too happy to care. With an unlimited broadband connection, a decent machine and enough time, the only limit to what you are capable of is your own imagination. Sunday was a blur of technological indulgence, I jumped right in by installing Skype, what a wonderful invention. If anybody would like to keep in touch with me FREE OF CHARGE (except for data costs if you still have those...) email me for my Skype details. Then I had to do a bit of SARS e-filing to get the business affairs in order (yawn...), before I could get lost in Youtube. Youtube, who needs TV! Here's a few of the gems I came across:







An old one, but still hilarious:





If you have a bit of bandwith to spare, a little bitter-sweet one:



By the way, I found quite a few ways to save Youtube videos to your hard disk, if anybody is interested...

Then I became a resident of Second Life. I've never seen anything like it! It's like Facebook meets 3D adventure meets online shopping. A huge, real-time, online, 3D environment where people (or more accurately, their avatars) interact, chat, buy and sell, explore, "live" and even create anything from buildings (on land you can buy) to clothing. Brands like Adidas have "real" shops in there and you can even attend a live concert with "real world" artists on stage! Take a look at www.secondlife.com, but be warned, it's addictive.



And when is the last time you checked out Google Earth? Did you know you can now go right down to street level to see 3D buildings? Or fly over your home town in a flight simulator? And when you get tired of earth, you can just leave it and explore the rest of the galaxy!



Honestly, I've been using the Internet for more than a decade now, but for the first time I'm beginning to feel the magic. I am really excited (and a bit scared) by where all this is going.

Needless to say, I think the "Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone" line at the end of my posts will not show up as often as it used to.