How to feel just a bit stupid
Posted on August 25, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Gadgets, Technology.
I’m very technical, I can figure most things out given sufficient time, but sometimes I just don’t get it. Take for example my recent purchase of a Nokia N770 Internet Tablet.
It is a fabulous piece of kit at an incredible knock-down price of €107 plus VAT and P&P. I believe it was over €400 when it was released. It’s basically a little hand-held computer with a touch screen that works over Wifi or your mobile connection (via bluetooth). I’ve totally got the hang of it and use it every day.
Except it came with this:
And I just couldn’t figure it out. I decided it was part of a stand of some sort but appeared to be missing the other parts.
So I gave up and left it at the edge of the desk. Yesterday I was on a phone call and was playing with it absent mindedly. Then this happened:
Oh for the love of god:
I blame Nokia 
26 Replies to "How to feel just a bit stupid"
Keola Donaghy on August 25, 2007
That looks like a great script for a Dilbert cartoon. I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Made my day.
conor on August 26, 2007
Just call me PHB.
lexia on August 26, 2007
Haha, sounds like something I would do
Stephen on August 26, 2007
Hi Conor, that sounds like a sweet deal. Where did you buy it?
conor on August 26, 2007
expansys.ie were flogging them off a few weeks ago (320 sold in about 3 days). I believe they are very hard to locate now but one guy spotted some on expansys.nl and got the Irish site to re-direct one to him.
Sirmelja on August 27, 2007
Very funny! I totally empathize, similar things seem to happen to me waaay to often LOL
walter on August 27, 2007
Don’t feel too bad. I still struggle on a daily basis with our child’s car seat buckle.
conor on August 27, 2007
Damn, I was hoping someone else would fess up to being stymied by that piece of plastic. Just me then.
mark1davidson on August 27, 2007
I’ll step up. I caught this link via Twitter. It took me awhile too. I hate puzzles!
Evert on August 28, 2007
I wonder how much they paid a “designer” to come up with the design for those?
conor on August 28, 2007
It’s an efficient use of space but I can’t see any mention of it in the manual or intro poster. A late addition?
maria on August 28, 2007
At last you know how non tech-heads feel 99% of the time! Perhaps some of the kids could help next time????
conor on August 28, 2007
Nah, they’d just try to eat it.
Caroline@Bibliocook on August 30, 2007
That’s genius! I’ve a question for you, Mr Technologically Adept. We are about to move to our cottage in north Cork, which is in a broadband blackspot called Kildorrery. Dial up - which I could manage with for a while at least - doesn’t really work there either, we keep getting kicked off the connection. We’re looking into satellite broadband at the moment. Who would you recommend?
conor on August 30, 2007
You are the second person to ask about blackspots recently in Cork. It sounds like satellite [a] is very expensive and [b] can take up to 6 months to get installed!
How you checked this site for all the options:
http://mapviewer.broadband.gov.ie/ServiceByLocationSearchWF.aspx
Great stuff from Damien on pricing here:
http://www.mulley.net/2006/02/09/broadband-choices-in-ireland/
Caroline@Bibliocook on August 30, 2007
Will get stuck into Damiens’ article - thanks for that, Conor.
Dave on August 30, 2007
Too late, I decided to bow to my inner child and try to get one of these puppies but buy.com won’t ship overseas and expansys.* are completely out; now it looks like I’ll have to pay at least 150 euro on eBay.
…Unless anyone knows of any more lying around for less than that?
conor on August 30, 2007
They are awesome, no more burnt-lap syndrone whilst watching TV. I can IM, tweet, Jaiku and email all with my thumbs!
Someone tweeted yesterday that they saw them cheap somewhere else. I’ll did back into yesterdays tweets, could take a while!
conor on August 30, 2007
Damn. It’s an American site. http://nokia770.com/372
But there must be other people selling them off now that they have been superceded. I’ll have a sniff around.
mark1davidson on August 30, 2007
I bought my “hackberry” at MacMall for about $140 USD. It’s a great device. If I may offer a suggestion, surf the web through Google Mobile using the ‘optimized’ setting on the N770. Then click the full screen button at the top of the device and crank up on the font size.
What this device does is to provide a glimpse of the future. Someday, everyone is going to read their books, newspapers, and magazines on devices like this.
Unlike PDAs or smart phones, the screen is legible and the device is ultra comfortable to use. As Conor wrote, much more so than hanging out with your laptop on the couch or at the breakfast table.
conor on August 30, 2007
Hey Mark,
That’s exactly how I’m using mine! Works brilliantly. Thumb keyboard is a gem too.
Dave on August 31, 2007
I went for the $200 (€150) eBay option. I don’t care. I can’t wait
conor on August 31, 2007
We were discussing them at Cork OpenCoffee this morning. Two more people who want one now! Gordon (the original maven) is going to check with his contacts in the business to see if there is anywhere else with a stock of them.
Evert on August 31, 2007
I don’t know, had mine for a week now and am not really overwhelmed with it.
I have been using a Qtek 2020i for nearly two years now and the N770 doesn’t seem to out-do this…
conor on August 31, 2007
Well it is two years old too!
I’m comparing to a 5 year old Tungsten T and a 1 year old N70 phone and it kicks both into a cocked hat for €100
Can you play a DivX version of The Incredibles on your QTek?
Deborah on August 25, 2007
Don’t feel bad Conor! I used to be a card carrying member of MENSA (until I stopped paying my dues) but I can’t tell my right from my left! Seriously” I take solice in the fact that Einstein couldn’t tie his own shoes!