Saturday, October 13, 2007

Leslie and Steve send Greetings to friends at Eckerd

Leslie Zajac-Batell and I met up in New Hampshire last weekend. We wanted to share a greeting to our friends at the Eckerd College renunion - so here it is!

Friday, October 05, 2007

SmartCar coming to US!

And, we're all wondering how this car will do in a high-speed crash with a concrete wall...

Well, here's the answer - put your seat belt on!

Wednesday, October 03, 2007

Our new view of computers...

Back in the '80s, the precursor to the Mac was the Lisa. I remember going to a friend's office and drooling over his recent purchase; as it turns out, he was one of the very few who ever bought the machine.

Here's an ad from Apple, promoting the Lisa - and the new lifestyle it was introducing. Lee Gomes of the Wall Street Journal has a column about this in which he points out that people today would think it was strange to be going IN to work to use a computer, since they have now become so commonplace that some people might go to work to escape the computer (he didn't actually say that, but it seems to be the logical extension of his point).



I remember back in the '80s myself, trying to convince people that personal computers like the Lisa, the Mac and the IBM-style PC were just tools, similar to the tools that a mechanic would purchase to repair your car. I always got strange looks (often because people didn't realize that mechanics bought their own tools, not their employer).

Today, this view is commonplace. And people are using this tool as part of their everyday life in ways that are truly amazing.

And, some people now go to the office to escape the computer.