When Did You First Get Interested In Technology?
TL;DR: 1978.
To be clear, this is not something I’m answering in the context of “computers” specifically. I’ve loved electronics, in general, ever since the first time that I played an electronic game. For me this was Merlin when it first came out (which apparently was 1978). I got my very first game console – a Pong-style unit that plugged into your TV set and had two paddle controllers and multiple game modes that you could switch to, all variants of Pong – like Squash, Football, Tennis and some others. I also had an electronics kit that you could put together yourself – real early stuff, I recall it had these tiny coil-springs on a PCB that you could bend to the side to insert resistors and wires and whatnot without soldering. It was a battery-less “crystal radio” kit, you were supposed to be able to hear actual radio broadcasts over-the-air faintly in the earpiece. I never did hear anything, but loved messing with it anyway. Looked something like what’s shown here. Got my first computer (a Commodore Vic-20) in 1981 and that was the start of a story that is still being written to this day.
What’s Your Favorite Piece Of Technology All-Time?
I will NOT say “my Nespresso Vertuo machine”. Think think think.. hmm. I’d say probably my iPhone. I spend a lot of time on it doing a lot of stuff. It’s absolutely indispensable. Beyond that, don’t laugh – my Brother PT-85 P-Touch labeler. I’ve had it since the late 90’s. I have made trillions of labels with it, for everything imaginable. It still works perfectly. Anything electronic that could have almost daily use, that still works as good as the day I got it, has to warrant top placing here.
What’s Your Favorite Piece Of Technology Right Now?
Sigh. My phone. Really can’t do without it. Next would be a PC – meaning a personal computer, OS-agnostic. I have a Mac M4 Mini in the lounge/kitchen area which I set up based on one of the guidelines in “Atomic Habits” which suggests that you should modify your environment so that habitual actions become easier (== more subconscious incentive) to perform. If I relied on just using my monster PC in the back room mancave, or my phone (on which I honestly hate entering longform posts/emails), I’d probably never have gotten around to writing the answers to these blog challenge questions. Or doing a lot of the jobsearch and other stuff that I need to do on a daily basis. But because the PC is right here on my way to make coffee, get a snack, open mail – sheesh, 90% of my time in the house is spent in this area, I use it all the time. So I’d have to say a desktop computer is a close runner-up.
Not specifically a Mac. This could be a Windows PC or anything else. Just something I can hook a mechanical keyboard to and work on instead of thumb-bumbling on a phone.
Name One New Cool Piece Of Technology We’ll Have In 25 Years!
For a while I’ve been thinking about the whole hybrid/EV thing. Battery operated vehicles. Limitless solar power is the key here, but even the solar panels on the most recent Prius vehicles can only provide enough zap to power the AC – and maybe add an extra 4 miles of range after sitting all day in the sun, at time of writing anyway. EV charging isn’t ready for prime time yet IMO, and won’t be until you can recharge the vehicle from empty to full at the same speed you can fill a gas tank from empty to full. Hell if I’m waiting an hour sitting at a Circle-K to charge my damn car!
I’ve been thinking about ways that vehicles can charge faster, or at least more continuously. Magnetic induction while driving maybe. Induction-field strips down the sides of highways that spin magnets or whatever on the side of your car to slow charge while cruising. Or how about “proximity power sharing”? Vehicles with 90% charge or more that come into proximity with yours in a parking lot or even stopped at traffic lights can somehow passively “share” up to 10% of their charge with you until you get to 75% or more. They can have the same benefit when they run low – charge faster than solar, charge even when cloudy or rainy. There’s a shitload of solar power out there that is being wasted and there has to be ways to maximize the amount of energy that can be trickled constantly into your vehicle at rest OR in motion. I hope that this sort of technology will be in our future so we never need to wait to charge our cars and most importantly we never need to pay to do it either.
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