Big man, tiny netbook

Forgive the distance of the picture — the surly, leather-clad man working on the tiny Asus notebook looked like he could hit me so hard my whole family would die, and I didn't want him to know I was snapping him — but I think this, right here, is the image marketing problem netbook manufacturers have: put a bulky man in front of an Eee and it immediately makes him look like a Lenny-like manchild.

[#1 posted by dculberson , January 27, 2009 12:17 PM]

Your children will be born bruised!!

[#2 posted by Stefan Jones , January 27, 2009 12:17 PM]

If you look carefully at his glasses you can tell he's reading an LOLCats site.

[#3 posted by Rob Beschizza , January 27, 2009 12:25 PM]

The foofy mountain of whipped cream atop his latte is the perfect accoutrement.

[#4 posted by holtt , January 27, 2009 12:26 PM]

He's compensating for something I'm sure...

[#5 posted by technomonk13 , January 27, 2009 12:34 PM]

Hell, when I use my laptop I want it for mobility. Looks good to me. The fact that he is using a laptop, indoors, with sunglasses on, seems to bring up some nagging problems though. He probably bitches about the screen brightness, then in turn, the battery life. On a positive note: viva la whiped cream!!

[#6 posted by Anonymous , January 27, 2009 12:36 PM]

You know, I'm like twice that size (and not fat, either) and more than twice that ugly. You need a picture of me using my kids' OLPC, it'd make your day!

peck.. hunt... peck... (hits 3 keys with one fingertip) AH SHIT... delete.. delete...

[#7 posted by holtt , January 27, 2009 12:44 PM]

I wonder what kind of car he drives? Maybe he's got a SMART car or an old MG Midget.

[#8 posted by Pip_R_Lagenta , January 27, 2009 12:51 PM]

If appearance is the problem, then I am sure that someone can build a carrying case to make that itsy-bitsy Asus look like an Osborne 1.

[#9 posted by Anonymous , January 27, 2009 1:03 PM]

Starbucks, Prenzlauer Berg?

[#10 posted by Halloween Jack , January 27, 2009 1:04 PM]

This is how I look using a netbook; I thought that I was cramped on my old 12" iceBook, but trying to type on one of these dinky things with my square, Jack Kirby-esque mitts is like Ben Grimm trying to use a BlackBerry.

[#11 posted by Trent Hawkins , January 27, 2009 1:19 PM]

is he sipping what looks like a foamy drink? Hm... makes me think that he's 'Silent Bob' nerd.

See if he's trolling Slash Dot.

[#12 posted by Sway , January 27, 2009 2:55 PM]

How startling it will be for him to see a photo of himself in his RSS reader today. "Huh, that looks like the coffee shop...HEY..."

[#13 posted by Anonymous , January 27, 2009 2:55 PM]

How hard is he going to hit you once he realizes you've stolen his soul and posted it on the internet?

[#14 posted by Anonymous , January 27, 2009 3:19 PM]

Maybe it's because I'm 6'7", hang out with a lot of big guys (I live in southwest ND, lots of hard working farmers), but that guy doesn't look remotely big. He looks average. I'll be generous and call him 6'2" and 220 pounds.

The netbook is tiny though.

[#15 posted by schönberger , January 27, 2009 4:31 PM]

I think it's not Starbucks but the German clone Balzac. Which is irrelevant.

[#16 posted by fool , January 27, 2009 6:49 PM]

@14, yeah he looks pretty puny to me. Maybe not a small man, but definitely no bigger than average. Netbook looks fine to me..

[#17 posted by sworm , January 27, 2009 8:30 PM]

The shades are probably also corrective. I would geuss he's a biker from the over abundance of clothing.

[#18 posted by Anonymous , January 27, 2009 10:12 PM]

Balzac sounds like some form of athlete's foot medication.

[#19 posted by nolly , January 27, 2009 11:06 PM]

Why is this a marketing problem? Must all gadgets be designed for average-to-large men? I'm an average-height woman, and I find the keyboard on my Eee is just about right -- I hit enter when I want ' from time to time, but I do that on full-size keyboards, too. Whereas all the early PDAs and smartphones that were supposed to be oh-so-perfectly grippable were too large for me to hold comfortably -- I lost two Visors to screen death by dropping. And by "early", I mean "up until the past 2-3 years" (when they finally got about small enough).

[#20 posted by schönberger , January 28, 2009 2:17 AM]

Balzac was a famous French writer. Maybe all French writers have names similar to medication, something worth checking out.

[#21 posted by Anonymous , January 28, 2009 4:35 AM]

Balzac is also the name of a very good Japanese horrorpunk band

[#22 posted by ian_mxyz , January 28, 2009 5:25 AM]

Forgive #18, he probably forgot to take his Zola this morning . . .

[#23 posted by Gutierrez , January 28, 2009 9:20 AM]

If only he had the previously boinged Hello Kitty Netbook:

http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/11/24/hello-kitty-charges.html

Oh well, still quite amazing to see he's so macho foofy drinks and tiny tech don't phase him.

[#24 posted by monstrinho_do_biscoito , January 28, 2009 9:31 AM]

i've just bought the Dell m6400 (genuinely for work)

it's about half the size of me, i look like a munchkin when i use it

[#25 posted by carriem , January 28, 2009 9:40 AM]

This picture is why camera phones should have mandatory shutter sounds. i know it's not an un-flattering picture, but if it were me, I would FLIP the fuck OUT if I found myself on a website somewhere without my prior consent. (You DID ask him, right Brownlee? right?)

As an aside:
Balzac is the name of a delicious (but ditressingly non-uniform) coffee. Sometimes it's the loverliest coffee in the world - sometimes it tastes like ballz. Something to do with the roasting and choosing process.

[#26 posted by ral8158 , January 28, 2009 10:03 AM]

@Carriem:
He's in a public place--why should his image not be allowed to be recorded? That's just nonsense.
If anyone who does enter the coffee shop can see him, what's the issue?

[#27 posted by carriem , January 28, 2009 10:25 AM]

@RAL8158:

It's true, he is in a public place. And it's possible that he has already been recorded by numerous recording devices all over the city by "Big Brother", or Security or whatever. It's a fair question and I'm having difficulty giving a cohesive answer...

My guess is that being in a public place, you automatically understand that you will be seen (and maybe noticed) by the people around you. you may even assume that you will be recorded by various security cameras throughout your route. You do not, however, assume that at anytime you will be recorded and posted on the internet in a public discussion. "Public" coffeeshop - 6 people maybe? Public online forum - oh jeez, i dunno... Lots? Does that alarm you? Should it? i dunno.

I'm thinking of the over-the-top examples of public picture taking gone wrong - you know: sneaking pictures of delicious girls for nefarious purposes or whatnot.

i'm also thinking that (in Canada at least), when you are making a movie or video for mass distribution, any people shot in your frames MUST sign a release waiver (as long as those people are identifiable - not talking about faceless bodies in and out of the frame). So this concern already exists and is dealt with in this media in this way.

Internets - new media, new rules? No rules?

Strange situation. No harm, no foul I guess, but man, if that were me, I'd be upset.

[#28 posted by mralistair , January 28, 2009 1:26 PM]

I like this one of my mate patrick using my eee
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mralistair/3041972944/in/set-72157609381453018/

[#29 posted by thebezerker , January 29, 2009 10:52 PM]

Why are we making fun of people in a coffee shop? I'd hit you if I saw you doing it too.