Ponderments and Questions
As the century comes to a close, all sorts of questions regarding technology are bubbling into my frontal lobes. Most are of general ponderments of products both real and imaginary. However, a few are of the deeper variety. Who knows, maybe I’ll even stimulate some critical thinking and even some discussion at Christmas get-togethers.
1. Now that email has pervaded our society to the point of being checked before we check snail-mail, how long will it be before the Postal Service asks for a stamp price increase based on “electronic competition?”
2. Will Imation SuperDrives ever be offered as an accessory from the Apple Store? After all, Imation has loyally followed Apple into the land of USB.
3. Wouldn’t the G4’s look much better with the same CD-ROM as the second generation iMacs? The “knockdown door” for the tray looks pathetically cheesy compared to the rest of the case design.
4. Does it still amuse you that such a simple thing as smooth mouse movement still eludes Bill and his crew of thousands in Redmond?
5. Speaking of Microsoft, how badly did the judge spank them for altering the video? One has got to believe that particular stunt cost Bill Gates as much as his “Clueless” testimony. The price of arrogance…
6. Has anyone else experienced this strange iMac bug? When using a VST floppy drive with AppleWorks, the keyboard freezes but the mouse still works! I’ve just started trying version 2 of VST’s floppy extension. I’ll report my findings in my next column.
7. The new iMacs are way cool, but I want one that has CD-DVD-RWR. Now that’s a complete machine.
8. I’m sick of the PC industry pundits pounding the iBook for being 6.6 lbs. With that handle, 6.6 feels more like 3.3.
9. Speaking of the iBook, I do think the revision B machines will include 64 megs of RAM, especially with OS X coming this spring. Now, if Apple will add video out capabilities, it will have the ultimate presentation laptop!
10 Do you feel as stupid as I do for not buying Apple stock when it was in the teens? Microsoft’s $150 million investment is now worth over $600 million. Something ain’t right!
Millenium Commercial
Scene: Total chaos and pandemonium is shown in several video snippits from Wall Street, traffic, airports, electricity, television, etc. The scene fades to white, then a sandy beach appears in the background. In the foreground on a lanai sits an original Macintosh 128k. On the display is a clock showing the correct time and date of January 1, 2000. The voice of Richard Dreyfus comes on saying, “We at Apple would like to say that Macintosh Computers have been Y2K compliant since 1984.” Then a native Jamaican woman appears, looks at the computer, then the camera, smiles, and replies, “No problem, man.”
The screen fades to black, party favors are heard, streamers and confetti fly across the screen as the Orange Apple logo appears with the “Think Different” phrase below.
A Wish and a Prayer
Let us all hope that the twenty-first century is one in which senseless violence and warfare is replaced by the attitude of harmony and balance. After all, what good is the pursuit of technology if it doesn’t help solve our most basic and important problems here on earth?
Mark Marcantonio
markm@mymac.com
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