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I’ve never enjoyed the holidays the way I think other people do.
If we were to spend some time on a couch talking about this, I’m sure there are lots of reasons that would come during my session. Perhaps I could blame my parents, or my son’s cancer. Maybe it is because I struggled with depression for years before seeking treatment. Or maybe it’s my tendency to be introverted, especially while in a group of people.
My guess is that many nerds struggle with this type of thing — especially the bit about groups.
For years, I would get dragged to family dinners and gift swaps by my wife, often complaining. It’s been a point of stress in our relationship, without a doubt.
For the last five years, I’ve used my iPhone as an escape. I wasn’t rude, I don’t think, with my usage, but I liked the comfort of being tethered to the Internet, knowing I could always make up an excuse to slip out of a conversation about why my political views are silly, or answering for the 150th time what I do for a living.
This year, I find myself without that crutch. While it’s by my own doing, I can’t help but feel anxious when we pull up to someone’s house for a couple of hours of eating and hanging out for Christmas.
Out of habit, I often pull my phone out of my pocket. Now, instead of pressing the Sleep/Wake button, I flip it open, hoping a text message or missed call will be my savior, offering me an escape route to the backyard.
Chances are that no one would say anything if I did this with an iPhone, but my flip phone leads to questions.
“Aren’t you a tech guy? Where’s your iPhone?”
“Oh, did your smartphone break? You gotta get that replaced!”
“Dude, 2003 called and wants your phone back.”
I’ve gotten used to this sort of ribbing from friends who know about my experiment. However, my extended family doesn’t know (for the most part, at least) that I write on the Internet, so they are completely unaware of the experiment.
I have whittled down my original blog post to just a few sentences when it comes to real life conversations. Usually I just mumble something about the time I used to waste dicking around on my phone and take another bite of pie, hoping there’s not a follow-up question. Sometimes, I just fib and tell them it was about the cost of my cell phone bill, and that I’m enjoying the pile of cash I’m saving each month.
My reluctance to get in to this conversation with my family members is partially related to the fact that I don’t want to have to explain that I write a widely-read tech blog and have an entire side business devoted to it. I don’t expect my wife’s great-aunt to understand what that means, not to mention get behind the idea.
Part of it, though, goes back to what I was writing about at the top of this thing. I’m uncomfortable throughout the holiday season, and I’ve taken one of my few security blankets away.
I hope one day to look back at this year without mobile data and see that it had some positive effect on my life. While I know removing something as simple as an iPhone isn’t going to make me a better man (or fix anything that’s broken in my life), I do hope that the bandwidth in my brain that I have freed up allows me to make some progress on things, including enjoying the holidays more.
Speaking of holiday traditions…
Per my yearly tradition, I am re-watching the origin of Festivus.
Adi Robertson at The Verge:
On December 31st, Newsweek magazine will end its print run, shifting its content to an online-only format called Newsweek Global. It’s now posted the cover of the final issue on Twitter, showing a stark black and white photograph of the old Newsweek Building in New York — which the magazine itself vacated in 1994. While it’s eye-catching and pretty timeless, Newsweek couldn’t seem to resist topping the whole thing off with a hashtag, apparently either hoping people will take to Twitter to post about the #LastPrintIssue or just unable to resist a bid for relevancy.
Well, that’s just depressing.
I love that iOS auto-corrects to the right capitalization of “eMate.”
MG Siegler:
Look, at the end of the day all you have to think about is this: do you believe the services you’re using are out to exploit you? If so, don’t use them. Sure, a good TOS may be able to protect you from some of that, but hardly from all of it. If a company wants to fuck you, they’re going to figure out a way to fuck you. You shouldn’t be using a service that you think is trying to fuck you.
I don’t believe Instagram is that service. Nor do I believe Facebook is. But if you do, it’s simple: don’t use them.
Ken Case:
Let’s start with OmniFocus 2! For OmniFocus 2, we’re bringing back to the Mac all of the design and innovation that went into our iPad edition of OmniFocus: dedicated Forecast and Review modes, clearer navigation, and a fresh look and feel. I’m looking forward to sharing it with you! At 6pm on January 31, you’re invited to join Merlin Mann, David Sparks, and me for the first public debut of OmniFocus 2.
Have I mentioned how sad I am about not attending Macworld this year?
If you’re wondering what TV shows are on sale in the iTunes Store at any given time, you should bookmark this site.
Great Scott!
Like the iMac G3, the PowerBook G3 line of notebooks helped revive Apple in the late 90s and the first year of the 21st century. Apple took the power of the G3 processor and put it in a mobile workhorse. Let’s look at exactly what the company did with these machines:
image via retromaccast on Flickr
In many ways, the original PowerBook G3 was a stopgap machine. Only available from November 1997 to May 1998, the machine was basically a PowerBook 3400c with a 250 MHz G3 processor, faster motherboard and quicker RAM. (In fact, this machine is sometimes nicknamed the 3500.) These upgrades made the Kanga twice as fast as the the 240 MHz PPC 603ev-based 3400c.
The PowerBook G3 supported 160 MB of RAM, required Mac OS 8 and supported up to Mac OS 9.1. It shipped with a 5 GB hard drive, a 12-inch 800x600 LCD and the following ports:
Additionally, the machine came with an infared support, 2 CardBus slots and the same expansion bay found on previous PowerBooks.
The Kanga is the only G3-powered Macintosh that is not officially compatible with OS X.
Introduced in May 1998, this machine was a very different animal than the original PowerBook G3. With options for a 12“ passive matrix LCD, a 13.3” TFT LCD, and a 14.1" TFT LCD, the Wallstreet sported a brand new design that was both thinner and lighter than the PowerBook G3 before it.
Available with 233 MHz, 250 MHz, or 292 MHz G3 processors, the upper two models were a good bit faster, thanks to a full megabyte of L2 cache.
The Wallstreet I started at $2,299 U.S. for 233 MHz with no floppy drive and a 12" screen, and cost around $7,000 U.S. fully loaded.
Unfortunately, these machines had a tendency to run hot, something Apple would resolve with the next revision.
image via Wikipedia
This model was an answer to supply and heat problems that had plauged Apple with the previous machine. By standardizing the bus speed (to 66 MHz) and the screen size (to 14.1 inch), Apple had the ability to ship fewer options, making production run much smoother.
The 233 MHz was initially sold for $2,799, the 266 MHz model for $3,499, and the 300 MHz model for $3,999. Unlike before, all three models included a backside cache.
The Wallstreet II was the last Old-World ROM notebook to ship from Apple.
image via damianward on Flickr
Also known as the “Bronze Keyboard” PowerBook, the third-generation of the PowerBook G3 Series went for sale in May 1999. It was two pounds lighter than the Wallstreets and nearly 20 percent thinner.
This laptop dropped ADB support, came with just one PC Card slot and was the last to include built-in SCSI.
With the Lombards, Apple reduced the L2 cache, meaning while these machines were clocked faster than previous ones, under certain circumstances the Lombards are slower machines.
These notebooks required Mac OS 8.6 or later, but can run up to Mac OS X 10.3.9.
image via toolshed4 on Flickr The last PowerBook with a G3 processor ironically dropped the “G3” in the name.
The Pismo was introduced in February 2000. A 400 MHz/64MB/6GB model was sold for $2,499, with a 500 MHz/128MB/12GB model was $3,499. In September 2000 the hard drive sizes were increased to 10 and 20 GB, respectively.
The machine brought lots of new technology to the PowerBook line, including FireWire 400 and Clamshell Mode.
The Pismo required Mac OS 9.0.2, and can run up to Mac OS X 10.4.11.
In retrospect, it’s easy to see just how important the PowerBook G3s were to Apple. The machines bridged the gap between old-school and modern Macs, and each generation included significant progress in Apple’s mobile technology.
When it comes to expandability, nothing beats these machines. With two bays, users could swap in floppy drives, optical drives, and even a second battery. In fact, with after-market batteries, Pismo users can see up to 16 hours of battery life.
That said, these machines were weird. Things like the upside down Apple logo and PRAM battery issues are laughable today.
Like the iMac G3, these PowerBooks aren’t super useful these days. If you’re set on using one, a loaded Pismo is the way to go. I had one up until a few years ago when the logicboard died. I parted it out, and every once in a while, I scour eBay for a replacement. There’s just a charm about these machines that current Apple notebooks lack.
Gizmodo’s Sam Biddle:
The sources we talked to this summer described an Apple Store that wasn’t just poorly managed—it was a personal playground. Computers were traded for plastic surgery, iPhones were smashed like party favors, and employees outright stole from the back room for their own pleasure. It was a den of misuse and abuse, all under the gleaming white aegis of Apple Retail. The perfection is a myth.
The only reason this is “news” is that the stories posted took place in an Apple Store. No one is shocked when something shady goes down at Wal-Mart or Taco Bell.
Hell, here’s me with the front glass panel of an iMac I dropped just to see what would happen.
via everyone who emailed me this
