Bags and PCs | Hideyuki Tokuda (Dean of the Graduate School of Media and Governance)
2005.06.03
I have safely returned after finishing presentations, demos, and poster sessions at the UbiComp 2005 PC meeting held in Munich in mid-May and at Pervasive 2005, an international conference on ubiquitous computing. This time, I brought the u-Photo camera and mPATH, which the members of the Tokuda Lab and I worked hard to create, and we demonstrated them at the venue. We were able to fully showcase the achievements of the SFC students and received very high praise. Professor Yasumura and Professor Inakage from SFC also participated, and there were many participants from Japan, making it the third-largest contingent after the host country Germany and the United States. The number of international conferences on ubiquitous computing is increasing, but the major ones are UbiComp and Pervasive, which are held annually. Incidentally, UbiComp 2005 will be held for the first time in Asia, hosted by us, for four days from September 9 to 12 at the Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo. I hope that many people from SFC will be able to participate.
Now, about bags. When I travel, I take my long-used Travelpro for carry-on and a TUMI 26041. The TUMI 26041 has many pockets and is extremely useful. On the other hand, the bag I carry every day is, of course, chosen based on being easy to carry and durable. I tend to get quite attached to them, and the bag I'm using now is a rather worn-out, older model TUMI 2601. It's from a series that has been discontinued. Furthermore, inside it, I put a TUMI 280SD3 for PC protection.
The reason for this double-layered structure is that I have had bitter experiences cracking my PC's LCD screen. The first time was during my time at CMU. I went to get my car battery replaced, and my bag, which I had placed on the corner of the shop's counter, slowly tipped over and fell to the floor, cracking the LCD screen of my PowerBook at the time. The second time, I had parked my car in front of the Omicron Building at SFC. As I was taking my bag out from the passenger seat, I accidentally hit it against the gear shift. At that moment, I had a "bad feeling." When I got to my office and immediately opened my PC, I found several cracks radiating beautifully from the point of impact. Unlike the PowerBook incident, the LCD itself was only cracked, but it still ended up needing repairs.
In fact, it wasn't just my PC; my bag also faced its biggest crisis. When my beloved ThinkPad was updated to the T30 model, the PC itself became extremely thick and heavy. The compartment where I kept the PC was always bulging, and the zipper, which should have been unbreakable, broke. The reason I'm particular about ThinkPads is that they have the best compatibility with projectors, especially during presentations abroad. Also, having been a Scientific Advisor for IBM, I have a personal attachment to them. Fortunately, the ThinkPad became slim again with the T40, so I'm relieved that I can somehow continue to use my old bag.
I hope that future PCs will not only be user-friendly but also "bag-friendly." Lenovo, are you listening?
(Date of publication: 2005/06/03)