Technostalgia
For about six years and two weeks, give or take, I've had a web cam in my office. "A fun way to waste a few electrons" is how I usually quickly explain it. The more meaningful intention has been to provide a subtle message to out-of-town family and friends: You're in my thoughts. Though we can't often be together in person, perhaps we can be together this way.
Today finds me making an effort to send another batch of old CRT monitors (that is, traditional "TV tube"-type screens) out to our salvage warehouse since we've replaced virtually every one with a modern flat-panel LCD monitor ... and it's making me kind of nostalgic about old technology. (Yes, this puts my geekiness on display.)
A variety of computers -- all Macintoshes -- have been used to host the web cam over the years. The current one is an oh-so-cute iMac G4, a newly-spare machine which found its way to me recently ... allowing me to finally retire the blue Power Mac G3 which actually started life six years ago as the primary computer on my desk. The blue G3 and its big CRT monitor have performed so flawlessly all this time that it's tough to let them go! But space is tight, so practicality wins.
A dual-processor Power Mac G5 is now my primary computer here. Makes me wonder if in 2011 (or later) it too will be on the way out, having by then served a second life as the web cam (or video conferencing or hologram) machine.
Today finds me making an effort to send another batch of old CRT monitors (that is, traditional "TV tube"-type screens) out to our salvage warehouse since we've replaced virtually every one with a modern flat-panel LCD monitor ... and it's making me kind of nostalgic about old technology. (Yes, this puts my geekiness on display.)
A variety of computers -- all Macintoshes -- have been used to host the web cam over the years. The current one is an oh-so-cute iMac G4, a newly-spare machine which found its way to me recently ... allowing me to finally retire the blue Power Mac G3 which actually started life six years ago as the primary computer on my desk. The blue G3 and its big CRT monitor have performed so flawlessly all this time that it's tough to let them go! But space is tight, so practicality wins.
A dual-processor Power Mac G5 is now my primary computer here. Makes me wonder if in 2011 (or later) it too will be on the way out, having by then served a second life as the web cam (or video conferencing or hologram) machine.