I have a Nook Color running CM7.
Here are some things I use that I hadn't seen much mention of yet:
* FBReader and PDF Viewer for ebooks.
- I haven't found the need to use anything more complicated than these. They both save my place in the file and pick up there again when I reopen it. They are also very reliable.
* SoundCloud for finding new music.
- This app could be more featureful but it gets the best parts of the site.
* Reactable and Caustic for trying to make music.
- These are both really amazing. Caustic is a more traditional interface (like Reason) but really well done. Reactable is a really fun toy that lets you manipulate sounds using an interface made for touch and experimentation.
Wow. I wish I could use this on my netbook but it doesn't seem to be useful for much more than testing right now. Configuration and keyboard use is pretty limited.
A lot of people are already stating that most of the mess documented in this post is not necessarily the fault of Windows 7. The OEM is at fault for not installing current versions of Java and Flash. The OEM is at fault for installing Norton crapware instead of a decent antivirus. The software developers are at fault for producing a buggy game, etc. This is all true.
BUT a non-technical user will not know any of this. They will see all of this as the experience they had using Windows 7. If Microsoft cares about the experience users have on Windows 7 they must prevent OEM providers from shipping it in this condition.
What would be some ways of going about building an extremely small, inconspicuous, and reliable personal recording system?
I would think you could almost use a phone with some extra hardware if you could find some ways of offloading or reducing battery consumption. Then it's just a matter of streaming it to the cloud.
Android phones do too. At least if you are root. I don't know if there is an official app because I just wrote a script. Just use the standard Linux bluetooth utilities.