Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
I had a conversation with a friend today about the upcoming PS4 birth. We're both crazy excited about getting the new console come November. I mean, what's better than a brand-new box of electronics delivered via UPS on a sick day? Seriously, what's better?
I'll wait.
Filed under: Misc
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
My glasses are about 5 years old. I realized last week that it's probably high time to replace them. Besides, I needed a new contacts prescription and, for all I know, my eyes have completely changed in those short five years. It's also important to mention that my glasses look like they're about 5 years old, so yeah, it was time.
I pulled up Yelp and sought out an optometrist in the area who accepted my form of vision insurance. I made my appointment online. I received an email confirmation shortly after. The day before the appointment, I received a robo-call reminding me of the time and location.
Filed under: Misc
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
Let's over-generalize the nerd archetype for a moment: unhealthy, eats fast food, drinks sugary sodas, sits on his (or her) butt playing video games, a misanthrope with nothing better to do than troll Reddit and pirate some leet warez. Antisocial, anti-nature, probably works in IT while angrily commenting on tech blogs behind the shield of anonymity.
We all know that's not accurate, but there is always truth in the construct others give us. Appease me, won't you?
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
Consider this headline: "Researcher controls colleague's motions in 1st human brain-to-brain interface."
This. Happened.
University of Washington nerds put an electrode-speckled cap on Rajesh Rao and attached it to a computer that was connected to the internet. They then put Andrea Stocco in another room on the other side of the University of Washington campus, plopped another electrode cap on him and connected that to a computer.
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
My mom loves to tell the story about the first time I ever saw Star Wars.
"He was 6 years old," she tells anyone within earshot. "Barely able to see over the seat in front of him, grasping a popcorn in one hand, soda in the other. It was the only time I ever let him drink soda," she lies to assuage any doubts about her parenting abilities.
"Then the words come up, the ones that disappear into space. And the John Williams music. Joshua's mouth drops open. He then clutched the popcorn and soda and didn't touch them for the next two hours. He was lost in another world."
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
So Elon Musk revealed his vision to build a roller coaster between LA and San Francisco. The reaction, at least so far, has been positive and dreamy. At first, Musk said he wasn't going to build it, but clearly as a reaction to the love we've thrown his way, he plans to build a "demonstration article."
Can we please, please make this happen?
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
One day, Google will not be the technology giant that it is today. Consider the following:
In 1968, the Pontiac GTO was Motor Trend's Car of the Year. Today, Pontiac is a historical footnote of General Motors.
In 1981, IBM launched the PC, which became the de facto standard of personal computers, spawning hundreds of PC clones and dominating the computing market to this day. In 2005, the IBM PC business was acquired by Lenovo, and the IBM PC is no more.
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
Some of the following, for legal reasons, may or may not be fictional.
My first modem was a 300-baud Apple-Cat II. It was an expansion card for the Apple II and simply plugged into a phone line. It was, simply put, a bad-ass piece of technology that turned me into a total digital delinquent. While my parents thought I was innocently learning to code BBSes (bulletin board systems) I was actually learning how to get things for free and paving the way for software pirates, phone phreaks and straight-up frauds of the future.
The Apple-Cat II could connect to other Apple-Cat IIs at 1200 baud, which made file transfers pretty quick for the time. This meant we could trade entire games in about an hour. We'd log into bulletin board systems, share lists of things we had and set up times to dial one another to trade games. Usually a barter would take place -- your Aztec for my Hard Hat Mack. It was a lot like trading baseball cards, I imagine.
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
I was listening to someone, somewhere, on something -- not really sure where, and it doesn't matter -- but someone said that they'd rather be alone than have friends who make them feel alone. It's probably been said by many people in many different ways, but for some reason, that saying has attached itself to me as I engage in my twice-daily social networking while comparing it to what I'm actually doing in my downtime that doesn't qualify as "work."
Social networks make us feel alone. I'm not claiming to be the first to notice this, but now that there's a social network for pictures, for videos, for 140-character updates, for business networking, for food, for our pets...
Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology.
I was enjoying a post-wedding celebration in Los Angeles' Little Tokyo just a few days ago, late-night ramen that turned into later-night karaoke until we were kicked out of the place around 4 AM. A good night, to be sure.
As I was collecting my things, I checked my iPhone for the best route home -- I am perpetually lost in Los Angeles as it's a city that has no compass. It suggested a jaunt through Hollywood and on to La Cienega. In an effort to keep myself from sounding like an episode of SNL's "The Californians," I'll leave it at that.
Filed under: Misc, GPS, Transportation