Few inventions have changed the world so much as the microcomputer – certainly few have evolved as quickly, or have pushed forward as rapidly. These days, despite the incredible technology contained in them, computers have become something of an appliance. Granted its an appliance that the average home user faces with more frustration than most (your microwave is unlikely to get a virus, and your fridge probably doesn’t have its viewable area limited by those 18 toolbars you unwittingly installed) but they are common-place now. Most households with teenagers in them probably have more computer screens than TV screens these days.
It’s easy, then, to think that they were always there. To forget the heady days of not 20 years ago when having a computer in your home meant you were on the cutting edge of technology. Or 30 years ago when getting computer lab time at your school meant something special. How even without Internet, those devices hooked up to a TV or crude monochrome contained within them undiscovered new worlds.
Most computer geeks of my generation can remember their first BASIC program – the first time our computer performed a novel action, at our own instruction. The first time we grasped the understanding that through this portal, our imaginations could be unleashed.
If you remember this, then you’ll understand the nostalgia that hit me in the face when I discovered that, not too far from my home, is a one-of-a-kind museum of classic computing. In a converted old opera house in Ontario hum 40 computers of yester-year. From the ubiquitous Commodore 64 and PCjr., to the rare and treasured IIgs Woz Edition and Apple LISA, from the Atari 800xl to the Amiga, and even a microcomputer without a keyboard and monitor — where input was entered on switches, and output returned on lights — these computers are all running, just like they did 15-35 years ago.
And they only represent a small fraction of the collection! Hundreds of other machines sit in storage, where they’re restored and rotated through the museum proper. A software library for each of these computers, original shipping boxes, magazines, instruction manuals, and advertising collateral have all been meticulously collected by a self-professed geek, and a team of volunteers.
The scope of this multi-decade project is more than impressive – it’s important. Few other collections like this exist in the world, and much of the history of modern computing – young though it may be – is at risk of disappearing into junk piles and garage sales until there is nothing left to mark the path we’ve followed to get here.
I read an article recently that said that NASA is having difficulty retrieving the data from the original moon missions – because the computers on which it was recorded no longer function. This isn’t recordings scratched into stone tablets centuries ago – this is information less than half-a-century old that we are loosing access to!
If you benefit from e-mail, or Skype, or a word processor or financial management software; if you’ve photoshopped a family picture, or dabbled in editing your home videos; if you’ve booked a vacation online, or surfed for recipes or home improvement tips then you owe it to the people who’s life’s work gave you these things – the inventors of the home computer, and the revolution that it brought to civilization – to check out the PC Museum, and donate a couple dollars to the preservation of the story of how we got here.
Take your kids, and let them press the keys of keyboards that sparked a generation of imagination and invention.
Last week I decided it was time for Ben to have his first computer. He has his first game system, and his first pair of skates, but if he’s my son, he should start learning how to use a computer. I was pleased when he took right to it.
*Geek Content Follows* In the late sixties, a man named Douglas Engelbart dreamt up a connected computer system, navigated with a pointing device that came to be called the mouse. His original invention had an array of buttons. Its fabled that by the time the mouse became commonplace, it was an almost religious debate over how many buttons it should have. The Xerox ALTO had 3 buttons, but Steve Jobs insisted fervently that there should be only one. Even today, with Apple’s new high-tech multi-touch mouse, the default behaviour is to treat all clicks as a left click.
It’s a tribute to Dr. Engelbart that our 3-year old intuited the use of the mouse within only a couple seconds, after I put my hand over his and showed him how to point and click. It’s a tribute to Steve Jobs that Ben’s graceless button mashing only ever invokes a left-click operation – no confusing menus for him to get lost in.
See, Ben’s first computer is a Macintosh Performa 6320 – a 14 year-old Mac that I would have killed to have in my room when I was in high school. *End Geek Content*
I picked up the computer, along with a Mac IIsi, for a grand total of $25 – thanks to a find on Kijiji. They smell horrible (having been owned by a smoker) and were filthy dirty when I brought them home. But I lovingly scrubbed one down, and cleaned up the system software and some extension conflicts, and it’s purring along (and starting to smell better) like it was a brand new computer.
It came with a package called KidWorks 2, which includes a drawing program with cute sound effects. Ben loves it and calls it his “Drawing ‘puter!” I popped in a Patch the Pirate CD (thanks Mom and Dad!) and it started playing right away, and within moments he was happily playing away with classic content on a classic computer — the perfect place for him to start learning. It even has a TV Tuner!
In my first year of college, over 10 years ago now, I got my first cell phone. I’m sure my parent’s thought I was crazy — why would a student need their own cell phone? But I was young and full of credit, and it seemed important to me to have one. I certainly felt important carrying it around… despite the fact that it was a giant brick by today’s standards. At any rate, my cell phone had a feature called “SMS” where by my roommate and I could send each other short text messages. Although we had other friends with cell phones, I never could seem to convince them to use the service. I suspect most of them didn’t even have a clue they had it…
10 years later and texting is all the rage with kids these days, and all I can say is: I told you so.
Here’s another trend that I can’t seem to convince my friends of, but that I’m sure is going to change everything… in just a few years when this generation of kids grows up: digital content delivery.
The other night we wanted to rent a movie. I had in mind to find something from the late 80s or early 90s, so using only my remote control, I browsed Drama flicks from those decades. After finding a few of a theme that seemed interesting, I browsed for similar movies. Then, thinking perhaps I’d like to watch one with Harrison Ford in it, I searched for films starring him. Eventually, we settled on something completely unrelated using the recommendation engine.
The device that makes this possible is an AppleTV — but it doesn’t have to be. An XBox or a PS3 can do similar things. I happen to like the little Apple box myself. From the factory, it lets me browse and listen to my music collection, or buy new songs or albums instantly from the iTunes store; it lets me view my photos, or connect to Flickr and see my parent’s latest snaps from their travels. With a little hacking, it connects to my downloads directory on the computer upstairs so I can watch current TV shows with PVR-like functionality, or any of our library of 200 owned digital movies. And if we happen to miss a show we’re following, we can order up the episode from the iTunes store with the touch of a button.
We don’t have digital cable, we don’t rent a PVR from the cable company, and we never set foot in a Blockbuster, but I’d wager that we have a better TV and movie experience than anyone who pays $60 or more a month to some old-world provider. We have only a cheap Internet connection, and a $160 box from Apple, that give us literally a world of entertainment at our finger tips…
And just like the obscured usefulness of SMS 10 years ago, I can’t wait until the rest of the world catches up with this technology. You’re gonna wonder how you lived without it!
- Played through Spiderman on my Dreamcast, in honor of the 10th anniversary of the launch of the best game console ever made
- Played a PS1 game on my Dreamcast, just because I can
- Played a PS2 game on my PS3, because its a really good game
- Watched a VCD from Asia on my LaserDisc player
- Played the audio tracks from a Star Wars SegaCD game on a CD player, and longed to own a Sega Genesis with the CD add-on again
- Listened to some tunes on MiniDisc
- Watched Madagascar on Blu-Ray with Nic and Ben
One day, I’m going to look back on how much technology has changed in my life time, and be awful proud of the accomplishments of my generation.
One day, Ben is going to look at his dad’s collection of obscure old technology and laugh at what life must have been like when we lived in such primitive times!
iPod Photo 30GB, 1st Gen iPhone 4GB, 3rd Gen iPhone (3GS) 32GB…
My new iPhone 3GS is amazing — this is close to being a perfect device. I used almost every feature of it this weekend.
- GPS, even using only Google Maps, is leaps and bounds better than the original iPhone’s A-GPS. The location dot followed me almost to the foot. It saved my butt more than once while I was dashing around town doing things that needed to be done before the big day.
- Tethering is incredible. American iPhone users are (for once) the unlucky ones, cause they don’t have this yet. I tethered my iPhone to my MacBook both over USB and Bluetooth and its really, really fast and really easy too.
- The camera is a big improvement too. It still works best in well-lit situations, but the improved resolution and faster shutter time make it much more useful. The video camera takes smoother video clips than our full-sized digicam.
- The “S is for Speed” may sound cheesy, but its true. Everything you do is almost 50% faster on the new iPhone. I’m going to have to eBay a bunch of gadgets to make up the money I blew on this one, but it’ll be worth it.
If you’ve been considering an iPhone, or a smart phone in general, get the 3GS — you won’t be disappointed!
I have the dubious privilege of being an original iPhone user. This means that I am more elite than most iPhone users — I stood in line, I paid a small fortune, and for maybe 3 months, I had the best phone in the world before most anyone else I knew.
I also have the dubious privilege of having an unlocked iPhone. This also means that I am more elite than most iPhone users — I can use my iPhone anywhere in the world, on any GSM network, and run software that Apple hasn’t approved.
However, both of these things have their disadvantages. I can’t upgrade my phone when a new OS comes out — I have to wait for that OS to get cracked. And everyone else has an iPhone with real GPS, while we suffer with A-GPS. Otherwise, I’m happy I skipped the 3G iPhone.
But now the 3GS is about to come out, and while I was able to talk myself into skipping one generation of iPhone, opting for the first time in ages to not upgrade my cell phone annually, I don’t think I can skip another. The 3GS is faster, has real GPS, and a wayy better camera. We’ve been intending to buy a GPS, and we’ve been intending to get a slim camera for quick shots, so we could replace our digicam with a DSLR (some day.)
So… I think Nicole is about to become the elite owner of an original, unlocked iPhone, while I become just a normal consumer with a brand new iPhone 3GS. I must admit, it’ll be nice not having to share my iPhone with her — it was frustrating seeing her name at the top of my Field Runners‘ high score list!
In other news, we have a Blackberry 7290, locked to Rogers, and a Kodak EasyShare Z740 for sale if anyone’s interested…
We have an inkjet multi-function printer, that we figure is nearly 5 years old. Its an HP, and although their quality has declined recently, we have been happy with it. Its been limping along on its last legs for a couple years now, and yesterday it ran out of ink.
We also have a Samsung laser printer that I use in my home office. We paid $90 for it, and it pounded out pages for nearly a year before it ran out of toner.
The combined cost to replace the toner, and the black and color ink tanks in our two printers was going to be $169. So instead, we bought a new printer.
The new one cost us $199, and its amazing. Its a laser multi-function center, and although we didn’t spring for the color version, it does practically everything else. It prints double-sided, it scans and faxes over-the-network, so it doesn’t even have to be attached to a computer to be useful. Its a full-page flatbed copier, and it even has an auto-feeder for scanning or copying multiple pages.
Toner replacements are about $80, and it has a toner-save feature, so we expect to get nearly a year out of this cartridge before we have to replace it.
Some of the functions we won’t use very often (fax) but working from home, it sure is nice to have them available.
But the best part is, because its network attached, it doesn’t have to be anywhere near my desk — or our bedroom. Nicole can print out her Google Maps and coupon findings without having to hover around behind me while I’m coding. And I can scan my expense report receipts without running to the bedroom and risking waking the kids during nap time. I couldn’t be more delighted.
Incidentally, its a Samsung. This is our 7th major Samsung purchase (our TV, washer, dryer, fridge, etc… have all been Samsung) and we’ve been very impressed with the quality, feature set and price of each device.
Technology can appear daunting. It seems like every time you buy something, it promptly becomes worthless. I used to sell computers to people (during college) and they’d often complain that what they bought would be obsolete in months anyway.
And sometimes that’s true. I have two friends who bought plasma TVs, while we went LCD. In retrospect, ours was a smarter purchase, since plasma is now a dead technology (and an expensive on the old power bill to boot) but at the time, they probably made the best decision they could. That we bought our TV a little later than them meant that we had more information and more options available to us.
However, its not always the case that staying on top of technology needs to be a money pit. Although you’ll never make money (directly) through purchasing electronics, you can sustain a fairly constant level of new technology adoption without going into debt — if you’re smart about buying and then selling your gear.
That “selling” part is important, and timing is crucial. Craiglist, Kijiji and eBay are your friends. And knowing when your kit is approaching the drop-off point in its value curve is important. Here’s a couple (completely unscientific, observation-based) charts I put together while I was pondering this…
Home theater equipment, like TVs, receivers and DVD players have an initial fall-off in value after their release, and then tend to hold that revised value for quite a while, gradually sliding down until the technology is obsoleted — at which point their value plummets.
The best time to buy is after the initial price has dropped a little — don’t buy anything the day its released. After that you can safely hold on to it and use it for quite awhile before its time to unload and upgrade.
Game Consoles behave on the market similar to other home theater devices, with a few exceptions. One is that their value will plummet every 4-5 years when the next greatest gaming device ships (or is rumored to be near-shipping.) The other is the collectibility rebound where the device becomes “retro” (the geek equivalent of “antique”) and it becomes cool to own it regardless of age.
Apple’s computers and other devices hold their initial value for a long time, and only once in their existence come close to being worthless. They also have a collectibility rebound which brings their value back up quite high and tends to maintain it there forever. If you have a Mac that’s older than 10 years old, hold on to it, you’ll becoming out of that valley soon. If you have a Mac that’s 3-4 years old, you can probably still sell it today for almost enough money to get a brand new machine.
Windows-based computers have the simplest chart of all. Their value begins declining the day you bring it home, and continues to do so until you find yourself using it to prop open the garage door. Selling your PC will never, ever be worth your trouble.
As I said earlier, this is not “buy low, sell high” — its not the stock market, and you’re unlikely to ever make money by buying a new TV. But if you follow the curves carefully — buying below the initial peak, and selling before the value drops off — you can probably keep your tech at the same relative point, with only a minor infusion of cash at each upgrade opportunity.
The first Mac I bought for myself was $1800 — 10 years ago. I suspect that when I bought our Mac Mini for $600 8 years later (after easily a dozen computers in-between), I was still rolling over some of that initial investment.
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It’s easy, then, to think that they were always there. To forget the heady days of not 20 years ago when having a computer in your home meant you were on the cutting edge of technology. Or 30 years ago when getting computer lab time at your school meant something special. How even without Internet, those devices hooked up to a TV or crude monochrome contained within them undiscovered new worlds.
I have the dubious privilege of being an original iPhone user. This means that I am more elite than most iPhone users — I stood in line, I paid a small fortune, and for maybe 3 months, I had the best phone in the world before most anyone else I knew.
The new one cost us $199, and its amazing. Its a laser multi-function center, and although we didn’t spring for the color version, it does practically everything else. It prints double-sided, it scans and faxes over-the-network, so it doesn’t even have to be attached to a computer to be useful. Its a full-page flatbed copier, and it even has an auto-feeder for scanning or copying multiple pages.
