Category Archives: technology
New Journalism is now quite old
I found on my Kindle a sample I had downloaded long ago of Joan Didion’s first essay collection, Slouching Toward Bethlehem. The first essay in the collection, Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream, was fantastic. Here’s the opening paragraph: THIS IS A … Continue reading
The Aging Smart Home
Planned obsolescence dates back a century to when lightbulb manufacturers in much of North America and Europe formed the Phoebus Cartel in Geneva to deliberately reduce the lifespan of their lightbulbs from 2500 hours to 1000 hours while increasing prices. … Continue reading
Immersed in Apples
Windows 10 support ends in mid-October 2025, and back in April 2024 I shifted from using a Windows home computer to an Apple Mac Mini. I didn’t make that decision lightly, since I’d used versions of Microsoft Windows for 40 … Continue reading
¡Arriba, Arriba! ¡Ándale, Ándale!
Digital technology makes it easy to modify the rate of media playback, and pitch correction makes it far more practical. My wife routinely plays YouTube videos at high speeds, and some folks speed up their audiobooks and podcasts. Recently, Audible … Continue reading
AI’s Potential Impacts on Employment
When I consider the likely impacts on employment of advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), I am naturally reminded of how automation in manufacturing blossomed in the second half of the 20th century. I’m currently reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano, his … Continue reading
Meador Manor 