“Netbooks” are a new category of laptops that mark a fragmentation of the laptop market. The reason that netbooks mark a change from laptops is a change in the direction of what a laptop is supposed to do; the focus is now truly on portability. Not just a PC that you can conveniently carry through to a different room, but one thats light enough to carry around from day to day- either because you need to lug one around wherever you go, or because you don’t want to be worrying about whether it’s something you really need on a particular day.

The size of a netbook is pretty much the limit of how small a laptop can be and still have a useable keyboard (although the screen size is the standard measurement, it’s the keyboard size that has the biggest practical implications), and the weight is simply as light as it can be.

For the last 5 years or so, "film" has become something of an anachronism. High definition digital cameras have been available for about a decade, and digital video has been used to shoot "films" from Toy Story to Star Wars to Bowling for Columbine; made without actually using any film in the film-making process.

The difference between film and TV used to be pretty clear cut; films were on a big screen, TV was on a small screen. Films were about productions that were "long"- anything from an hour and a half to three and a half hours- while TV programmes were shorter- usually fitting into either a 30 minute or 1 hour slot in the schedules. Films were (mostly) paid for by the audience by an admission fee (or home video/DVD sales), TV programmes were "free", but paid for by advertising interruptions (with the notable exception of the BBC, with it's unique funding structure.) But now the difference is becoming less clear. TVs are getting bigger, and high definition in the home is now a reality (although still not yet truly mainstream; although "HD-ready" is now virtually standard on new TV sets, most households don't yet have access to HD content.)

Hope you have a very merry Christmas, and a happy 2009.