Some ado about something

For the past two days I have mostly been moping around the house and sleeping while a pulled muscle in my shoulder/back makes my life miserable. Today we got socked with about four inches of snow/sleet/rain that is currently fusing itself into an immovable mess. With that, I am going to take off one more day and hope I will be up to dragging out the snowblower to clean it off the driveways. I really dont want to deal with the mess driving to work and the deadly parking lot at work. Lemme tell ya, it's hell getting old. Anyone planning to do so might want to make other plans.

Been futzing with the PCs while not able to do anything physical. Time has come to start revamping the LAN and the server. This one has been running continuously since 2000, and does not owe me anything. While the weather is nasty, I want to get some more Ethernet cables run to where the home theater setup will be (again) as well as the closet that now houses the big color laser. The wireless access points are working fine, but are way too slow for serious video streaming and file backups. Gigabit, here we come.

A lot of sad news on LJ today. This seems to be happening with increasing frequency in the last couple years. I've been hoping this is not a trend.

Jeff and I are trying to solidify travel plans and other recreational stuff for the year. Since starting his new job, he has only a piddling two weeks of vacay to start off with, so our big trip will be for a week in Provincetown during 'bear week'. Unlike last year, we are not planning on signing up for the week's events, since last year we only partook of one thing. No, this will be simply our vacation once again with the chance of running across some friends along the way. It looks like anything else we try to do will end up being mostly of the 'extended weekend' variety until Jeff gets more time off.

Hardware vs. service

Times have changed. At one time, people would purchase durable goods for the long run. Televisions, radios, telephones, etc. The value was intrinsically in the device, as well as what you did with it and what it was capable of. An AM transistor radio was a durable companion that provided entertainment wherever you happened to be. The big console entertainment system with it's AM/FM stereo, the turntable and rich sounding speakers were for more listening intensive or relaxed use at home. The television, if it were not integrated into the latter console, was a centerpiece of family life for decades, and still is for many today. But in the past, that piece of gear was bought for what it was, and it's value was tied mostly to the item's quality, features, appearance. And it's cost was directly related those attributes.

Fast forward (or pick the needle up and move it) to today. Look around at many of the items you use in a similar capacity as above. For the most part, the emphasis is not primarily on the device's attributes themselves, but on what you do with it, especially if it requires subscribing to a service. In many cases, the value of the hardware is downplayed, perhaps not even a consideration. Subscribe to cellular phone service, get the phone itself for free. The costs of the hardware are subsidized by the carriers, and paid for over time with the service. Change providers, and that perfectly good hardware becomes useless to you. The same goes with satellite TV/radio, PVRs, IP telephony sets, etc. Without the service, the hardware is useless.

Then there is perceived value. The cell phone business is the worst offender here. Handsets are touted for their fashion and plethora of features, each designed to separate you from you hard-earned cash. Support for last year's models tends to be nonexistent, and attempts at prolonging their useful life by replacing worn batteries and other accessories proves futile as these items are no longer available, or cost more than replacing the device itself. So it's off to VeriSprinTMobiNexT&T for the next big thing and that two-year service contract with the substantial termination fee.

Now you have a new handset, and the old one is either left at the store, or taken home and dropped in the junk drawer in the corner of the kitchen. Eventually this gear will find itself in the trash or hopefully at a recycling center. The service, with it's accelerating, changing nature, renders the hardware obsolete and useless, without regard for the costs involved. Resources, productivity and energy gets wasted, the environment suffers.

The upcoming switch to digital television broadcasting represents the nadir of this consumption cycle. Never in the history of television has an entire class of receivers made useless by a change in broadcast features. Today you can take one of the first televisions made, and if it's functional, plop a set of rabbit ears on it and pick up a VHF channel like the day it was made. Every addition to the broadcast standard, save for perhaps the addition of UHF channels in the late 50s/early 60s, has never rendered the previous generation of sets unusable. Stereo sound, color, closed captioning, teletext, the V-chip, it's all cleverly worked into the existing broadcast signal in a way that it never destroyed the function of the previous sets. By 2009, almost every set that was in existence before the last couple years will be functionally obsolete. It's by the purchase of converter boxes and the mercy of cable/satellite companies that this vast majority of televisions will still be useful.

"Useful" is a relative term here. "Usable" is probably more apt a description, as you now will have an extra remote that is required to select from broadcast stations. Other functions on the set and ancillary devices like VCRs and DVD recorders will cease to function, and frustrations will grow, prompting people to toss perfectly usable gear that was made useless by the service.

The costs of all this, of course, is borne unto the poor consumer. The 'service providers' in such scenarios gets off scot-free. Landfills become overwhelmed with toxic waste contained in all that discarded hardware. Recycling centers might pop up, but some will eventually charge for the service, prompting many to toss their stuff in alleyways and dumpsters. All those wasted resources.

I appreciate the value, feel and durability of things meant to last a long time. Fine furniture, professional tools, vintage audiophile gear, smart architecture, craftsmanship. Too much of that is lost these days with the emphasis constantly being on 'cheap' and 'the next big thing'. Stop and think about what you do with those favorite gadgets, and what those same gadgets end up doing to you. You're in for an eye opener.

To be continued.

Comment pimpin'

Interesting results, I think. Some that I figured made a lot of comments were actually down on the list. Others, well, I knew they'd be up there. ;)

( Cut to save your f-list )

In other, less exciting news, I have begun working on the upgrades for the various PCs here at the Garage of Mayhem. Of course, this ends up entailing lots of wiring and antifreeze. I never seem to do anything simple anymore.