I'm A Cable TV Dropout

I have lost all respect for television. Especially cable TV. Generally, I do little more than channel surf during my free time, rarely watching any program from start to finish. The fact is, television offers little programming that is truly worthwhile anymore. However, the cost of cable programming is creeping towards $1000.00 per year if you include any premium channels. That's too much money to pay for something I derive no satisfaction from. Well, I've decided to do something about it. I've cancelled my cable tv, and become a Netflix subscriber. For about $6.00 per month, I get 2 movies on DVD sent to me by mail and access to one movie online. That's all I have time for. The beauty of it is that I am now seeing the sort of quality movies and documentaries I want to see (and when), and saving big bucks in the process. Saving close to $900 per year has never been so entertaining! Are there any other cable dropouts out there?

Those Were The Days . . .

One of the great reasons to visit Phoenix, Arizona this summer was the recent "Curves of Steel" exhibit at the Phoenix Art Museum (discussed in a recent blog). This exhibit celebrated the "streamlined" design trend in automobiles of the 1930's. I revisited this show on its final day, to marvel again at the sheer beauty of the automobile designs on display. This was the sort of show where, as a designer, I found myself grinning uncontrollably for the duration of my visit. The sheer depth of style and elegance inherent in these classic automobile designs from the 1930's made me realize that beauty, refinement and style as design principles are losing their significance in modern graphic design. It is a sad loss too. Good taste used to be (and not so long ago) a sign of education and culture. It was something aspired to. Now, our design vocabulary is more often punctuated by words like shock, street, extreme . . . we seem more interested in assaulting public sensibilities with the coarsest elements of our culture. Good taste has suffered a terrible beating and may never recover. It is a trend seen not only in design, but also in music, movies and television programming. Sigh . . . It may well be that truly good design is becoming a thing of the past . . .

CBS News has an online video on the "Curves of Steel" exhibit that gives a nice overview of the event. The photo above shows one of the most beautiful and popular cars of the decade, the 1939 Lincoln Zephyr.

Revisiting The Thinkpad

For the past four years, we have been doing all our web design work on laptops. I no longer own desktop machines. The convenience of being absolutely mobile is very important to me. One of the very first laptops I ever owned (over six years ago) was the legendary IBM Thinkpad 600. Purchased used (off corporate lease) it was built like a battleship with superb reliability. It wore well, looking brand new even though it was over three years old at the time I purchased it. Well, I have since purchased a number of other brands of new consumer oriented laptops for my business use. Not a good decision. While pretty and gadget filled, they simply don't hold up under heavy business use. Even my treasured Macbook I found too expensive to maintain over the long haul. I needed something that could work 8-15 hours and still look fresh the next day. Recently, after being frustrated when my Acer 2010 laptop suffered a second broken screen hinge, I decided to revisit the IBM (now Lenova) Thinkpad. I purchased two three-year-old refurbished IBM Thinkpad T40's, laptops that are not only beautifully engineered, but perfectly suited for heavy business use. The IBM Thinkpad T40 has a rock solid black magnesium composite case (not plastic) and the best laptop keyboard on the market today. These are the Mercedes of computers, using top components and well thought-out design. With Pentium M processors, they run very cool, and have a battery life of 6 hours or so. They have a full set of ports (not just USB) for connecting old and new peripherals. I purchased these well maintained machines for $450 each. The fit, finish and execution reek quality . . . They should. They cost over $3200 when new. Buying a used Thinkpad is like buying a Mercedes or BMW with 50,000 miles on the odometer--if well maintained they will still provide many years of service. And, you avoid paying the cost of new car depreciation. The top model Thinkpads provide similar value, especially lightly used commercial lease machines that were maintained by IBM.

As the owner of a web design studio, I seek the best value from the technology I purchase. Used or refurbished business class Thinkpads provide years of reliable service, and are easy to repair and obtain parts for. Plus, they keep their good looks for years--something you want to keep in mind if you visit clients and travel with a laptop. Oh, one more thing: Processor speed has become meaningless. Any computer built over the last five years will provide all the speed needed for typical business software. Just be sure to install at least 1024 megabytes of memory.