No hard drive. 

That's right. I had no hard drive in my computer. It ran solely on a 5.25" floppy disk (and in those days, the disks were actually floppy), which contained the entire freakin' operating system. Yep. 

No hard drive. 

You could run your entire computer on just a few kilobytes of ram and the operating system would run completely within memory. You could take the OS disk out, and put something else in to run on the Commodore PC III-10. Its little 8086 processor could handle the games I had for it. My favorite was a table-top sports game that I would pretend I was at the championships for. Table tennis, air hockey, darts; I always walked away with the title.

Sometimes I would get bored with that game, and I ended up writing my own games. Nothing with graphics, because I wasn't that advanced yet in BASIC, but I did write a football game that worked entirely with text. It was actually pretty neat. The Zork-style adventure games I wrote were less exciting, because I always knew how they ended up. I did, after all, write them myself. 

Today, we barely remember what a floppy disk is, and everything we used to fit inside those huge boxes now fits in something smaller than a DVD player. Getting from there to here has taken almost my whole life.

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Granted, that “whole life” isn’t that long; really, the time span I’m talking about wasn’t more than twenty years. The rate of progress has certainly jumped (or so it seems) more in these past twenty years than the twenty before it. 

The Internet itself seems like a good yardstick. Back in the ARPANET days, when the Internet was a Defense Department project, there were tons of protocols (telnet, ftp, Gopher systems, Archie and Veronica) that were accessed from dumb VAX/VMS terminals. That was in the 60’s. By the time I discovered the Internet, it wasn’t really different; in 1990, I accessed the Internet by dialing into the local university’s bank of VAX terminals and accessing my email via telnet. In those days, you had a monospaced font screen only 80 characters across, and everything was done with keystroke commands. A mouse? What the hell is that? My communications program was either Telex or, when I lost everything on that drive, I programmed something in QBASIC that was about ten lines long that did the same thing.

Entertainment was found on BBSes, or Bulletin Board Systems. Most of these were local dialup systems, but a few, like Grex Cyberspace, were on the actual Internet. It was there, and on a couple of groundbreaking new text-based virtual reality sites like LambdaMOO, that you really and truly understood how much the little ARPANET project had spread. Suddenly, you were chatting with people in real time as far away as Germany or Singapore.

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I remember the day America Online got email for the first time. All my own email slowed to a crawl. You see, email wasn’t available to hundreds of millions of people yet, and so there was no infrastructure to handle the volume AOL would soon unload. Before AOL getting email, if you wanted email, you had to be in somewhere. Myself, I was in with the sysop of the MT HEAD BBS, and he gave me, and a few other select members, access to email. He had to pay for these accounts out of his own pocket, and generously gave them to us. 

I corresponded with people from all over the globe. Every day I would get about ten or twelve new messages from people in Canada, Singapore, Cleveland, and right down the street. I’m sure my dad couldn’t understand what I was doing until all hours of the night, but this was the cusp of a revolution, and if I was too young to understand how I could contribute to it myself, I could at least get a kick out of watching it.

But that day, when AOL unleashed its masses on to the world of “real email”, messages took almost a full day to get places, and I missed a few phone dates with people. 

I hate AOL to this day.

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Macs were certainly a big deal when I was a kid, but I couldn’t wrap my head around them. I ignored them for most of my life, actually. That should be amusing to anyone who knows me now.

It was a fellow named Ken Walker who actually convinced me to see them in a new light after OS X came out. He took me to a CompUSA one day so I could get a Sony Clie, a really nice PalmOS PDA that he had and that I envied.

We walked past the Macs, and he extolled the virtues of the BSD subsystem, Darwin, and how elegant the OS was. He showed me. I was pretty blown away, but I still loved my IBM ThinkPad he sold me.

Ken and I shared an apartment, my first one away from home, actually, and we splurged on broadband Internet. It was, for both of us, our initial experience with broadband. What did we spend our time doing? Of course, IMing each other over MSN while one hallway away from each other. And we also streamed music, and used the wonder that was Audiogalaxy. We watched the trailer for The Phantom Menace. We browsed the web at “lightning fast speeds”, which would be a joke today. But it was exciting. It was fast. And it was expensive. Luckily, we both had jobs which would afford us the luxury of broadband, and it was fun.

But as much fun as it was, and as much as I loved my ThinkPad, I wanted that Mac.

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I had my own webpage then, something which I wanted to approximate a magazine. It had photos of friends, essays I had written, some papers I had written for school, and links. I didn’t have any content management system; everything was done in Frontpage, and managed by hand. It was horrible. But it was mine, and I was proud of it. That site underwent a ton of revisions over the years, essentially getting a makeover every year. Unfortunately, the content was often lost as I started over each time, but I didn’t care. Some of it is archived on the Wayback Machine. Some of it I simply recall. 

I also had a Livejournal, and was on some forums, and I had a presence on the web. The web really changed things in the late 90s, bringing the connectedness of the Internet into something more than just a hobby for nerds. Amazon became a real player in commerce, and everyone had an email account thanks to Hotmail. I still visited the old text-based telnet haunts like LambdaMOO, but the world was getting bigger. I knew more people. I felt the boundaries of my little universe expanding. I guess in some ways, I felt it getting smaller as well.

Connectedness was becoming the amazing thing, though. With my Sony Clie, I could bring the web with me; I could download all the websites I wanted to read, and even do things like post to Livejournal, uploading the new entries when I got home every day. I got my second cellphone, and had texting which would send me scores and news. Like Lain, the animated heroine in Japan who felt the walls between the wired world and the real one crumbling, I, too, was blurring my own reality between the one I could see and touch and the boundless, fuzzy distinctions which kept new friends so far away.

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Today, we have unprecedented computing power on our laps and in our pockets - really, right in our palms. I have that Mac now - and I've had several, actually - and even more, the iPhone and iPad. Mac or PCs aside, though, technology today is truly sophisticated. Our cellphones have far more computing power than that Commodore PC-III 10 did. My MacBook Pro can do things in its small frame that it would’ve taken rows of mainframes to do in the 70’s and 80’s. With it comes an increasing connectedness to the wired world - Twitter, Facebook, texting, IMing, email, blogs, Tumblr - we are always switched on, even when we’re not. It’s easier than ever, too. Unless you can’t afford a smartphone or a computer, you’re in some way connected to it all, even if you’re only a little connected.

Today, we take for granted the positively amazing things we can do with technology. We can talk over the phone virtually anywhere, and on those phones, we can send and receive email. We can capture motion picture memories in high definition on that same device. We can create incredible programs to do unbelievable and beautiful things in the space of a few hours on computers that fit in a backpack. We can spend hours or days learning just about anything a person could want. We can find out news as it happens, and watch complete strangers do silly and funny things we could never have seen before.

For me, it all started with a huge white box that didn’t even have a hard drive. Getting from there to here... it’s been a real journey from that to things like the iPhone and iPad. Here’s to the next twenty years. I can’t even imagine what they’ll think of next.

I just got cable again (Verizon FiOS), adding to my already-overloaded entertainment slate.

I must say, FiOS is pretty intense. Tons of channels, super-fast Internet (25Mbps up and down), and a really nice DVR that lets me stream my iTunes music and iPhoto photos right over the wireless. Also included are widgets that let me check out Facebook and Twitter right on the DVR, as well as get weather, sports and news. 

With the subscription, I can schedule DVR recordings right on the web and watch HBO online. That's a nice feature.

Now I've got too much going on. My own music and video collection and podcasts on iTunes, newspapers and magazines on my Kindle, and talk shows and more music on my XM radio. At any given time, I have a multitude of choices in what to do with my leisure. (That's not even to mention being here, on my MacBook Pro, online, trying to keep up with tech news and other things.) 

Are our lives getting too crowded with too much choice in entertainment? It seems like every ten years or so, our selections for leisure time double, along with our subscription costs, while our time spent doing other things lessens. Granted, all of these outlets are expansions on already-existing pastimes - music, TV and reading are nothing new - but the way these things are delivered and presented becomes, all the time, more appealing and more convenient (for a cost). With all this comes questions we must ask ourselves, like, "am I using my time wisely"?

Yeah, I'll ponder that question later. Right now, I've got about six HD shows on my DVR I need to watch before it fills up.

This recent article from Mike Elgan of Computerworld outlines seven reasons e-book reading devices (like the Kindle) will make lousy gifts this year. Mr. Elgan is reaching. Go read his list, and then read my rebuttals here.

1. We're not on the brink of changing how we read. While it's nice to always try to predict how things will revolutionize themselves every other year, technologies like this tend not to take steps backwards. While a tablet device sounds cool (and it will be), a reading device it isn't. The purpose of an ebook reader is that it's more like reading on paper. If we wanted to read on phones and laptops, the ebook wouldn't be such a hot mover right now. But reading on e-ink is decidedly unlike reading on those devices. It's smooth, it's easy, and it's better than reading on a phone or computer for lengthy reading.

2. E-book devices are the least discounted gadgets on the market. This takes away Elgan's reason six ammo, but for now, let's stick with the facts. Sure, they're not discounted - which is why they make great gifts for the reader in your life. Maybe they can't afford one, maybe they've been on the fence. This will surprise and delight them.

3. There's only one other comparable way to read books. Yeah, there's other ways to read books - your phone or your computer (see reason 1), but those are not comparable, and anyone who's done both can tell you why (again, see reason 1).

4. Giving someone this kind of technology decides which format they'll go with. Sure, there's competing formats. So what? Should we just sit and wait and never buy technology that has formats, based on the fear that some other format will win eventually? And if your gift recipient is indecisive, getting a FREE gift will sure spark that decision-making muscle when it's made for them.

5. For people who haven't used them, e-book readers use exciting technology. Elgan might like to think he's enlightened and above it all, but most people who've never held a Kindle or a nook are amazed e-ink technology. Yeah, it's been around for awhile, but most people haven't used it and, in my experience, are mesmerized by it when they actually get to play with it.

6. Lots of people want one but can't afford it or justify the early-phase costs. This is where gift-giving comes in. I know tons of people who want one but can't afford one, or, because they're not yet widely adopted and therefore more expensive, can justify waiting until prices come down. But if you're a generous gift-giver, why not spring for one for that special reading friend?

7. If you wait around for better technology, you'll wait forever. This is true of all gadgets; waiting for the next one will make you always wait for the next one. Elgan pre-emptively says the B&N nook is the "better device", but this comes before he's actually used one. There's no reason to think that the competition of the nook means any of the readers out there now will go away in the future. If anything, the nook will keep the Kindle competitive and innovative.

Sorry, Mike. You've got it all wrong. In fact, you sound like a hater. Or maybe you're just jealous. Either way, e-book readers are gaining ground. I've got one now, and I'm a fan.

Maybe if you're good, I'll get you one for the holidays.

Just the other day, Yahoo! pulled the plug on GeoCities, one of the first DIY-website websites. 

I have a lot of nostalgia of the early Internet, both pre- and post-WWW. I remember my first e-mail account, hosted by a local BBS in New Jersey (The Mt. Head, pronounced Empty Head, bulletin board system, for those around at the time). The sysop paid a lot of money to get a few of us regulars actual Internet e-mail accounts, with his domain and everything. I spent a lot of time on BBSes, playing games (called "doors") like Legend of the Red Dragon, until I found the actual Internet.

Back then, the web was still being hashed out by Tim Berners-Lee, so we were stuck with telnet. I joined Grex, an Internet BBS, which was much different than the local dialup jobs. I also found LambdaMOO, a text-based virtual reality playground, which is still up and running today. It wasn't until a few years later that I joined the world of the web, after a few years of thinking it was a fad. 

The early days of browsing weren't so exciting, but the neat part was how easy it was to make a website, thanks to GeoCities. 

The problem was, none of us knew how to make good websites. 

And so began hundreds of thousands of terrible, awful, eye-bleeding bad sites about everything and, ultimately, nothing at all. "We have a voice now! An equal chance to be heard!" Ah, to be young and naive, and believe that our burgeoning, inexperienced skills in HTML would give us web fame.

No, that had to wait for CSS. 

What it boils down to is that, while I have nostalgia for how the exciting world of the Internet made me - us geeks - feel, I have none for the crappy websites that came out of it. They were bad then, they're bad now. The craptastic trend continues with MySpace though, so don't feel too bad if your page was pulled. You can still have your Internet notoriety of bad design live on under Rupert Murdoch's watch.

This past Saturday, I finally received a gadget I'd been drooling over for a long time, the Amazon Kindle 2. The price had finally come down enough, to US$259 (though I got mine refurbished, for the same warranty, at US$219), that I was able to afford it. 

For those who live in caves (though I wonder how you're reading this if you do), the Kindle 2 is Amazon's second iteration of its ebook reader, a device that uses "electronic ink" (also sometimes called "electronic paper") to create a paper-like reading display. It's not at all like an LCD; there's no backlighting, and thus, unlike any kind of regular phone or computer display, reduces that eyestrain that most people experience when reading for long periods of time on those kinds of devices. 

On the Kindle, users can connect wirelessly to Amazon's store and buy books with 1-Click, or download first-chapter samples. In addition, owners can also subscribe to magazines and newspapers at a substantial discount, with two week free trials. Amazon boasts a collection of about 365,000 titles, which includes public domain books, many of which are free. Other amenities include blog subscriptions, text-to-speech, an experimental web browser, a dictionary, annotations, and even paid or free PDF conversion.

I love this thing. I'm already reading a ton more than I have before. My New York Times subscription arrives on my Kindle before I wake up, so after I hit the On button on my coffeemaker, I'm already immersed in the day's news in the morning. My small collection of Kindle books I'd already bought for my iPhone, in anticipation of one day owning a Kindle 2, synced over easily. I also renewed my interest (and subscriptions) in Time and Newsweek. 

Then Barnes & Noble threatened to make me wish I'd never bought the Kindle 2.

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B&N announced yesterday, confirming previous rumors, its own ebook device, the "nook". Similar to the Kindle in size, it features, instead of a keyboard, an LCD touchscreen under the e-ink display that users can employ to select books and see information. In addition, nook owners can lend a book to another nook owner for two weeks, during which time the original owner cannot read the book. When in a B&N store, the device will automatically switch over to free wifi, which the Kindle does not have, and push out coupons and recommendations. B&N touts "over a million titles" thanks to Google Books. 

Well, crap, I thought when I first saw all these neat details. But some further thought, as well as additional details, made me realize I made the right purchase.

First, I don't care about wifi. The 3G wireless modem on the Kindle is far sufficient to get books in under 60 seconds, and having free wifi in a bookstore is meaningless, since I don't need to go to a bookstore. While the nook has a neat feature that allows you to read any B&N ebook for free while in a B&N, it still kind of defeats the purpose of owning an ebook reader. 

Second, setting aside the fact for now that most owners of ebook readers don't know many (if any) other owners,  the lending feature is predictively restrictive; you can only lend out a book once. Ever. So if your friend doesn't finish the book in the two weeks (unlikely but not uncommon), you can't even re-lend it. 

Third, B&N's claim of over a milliion titles is offset by the fact that most titles available for purchase will be obscure academic or self-published titles. The vast majority of books that most people want to read are available on the Amazon Store - and even ones that sell well in other mediums, such as Mobipocket or PDF, can be converted for the Kindle for free (and it's really easy to do). 

Fourth, the battery life of the nook is shorter, only two days with wireless on versus four on the Kindle. That would explain the replaceable battery on the nook.

Finally, and paradoxically, depending on your point of view, the most or least important point of all, readability. Of course, the displays are the same, so what do I mean? One of the features of the Kindle 2 is that it "gets out of the way" - nothing on the device distracts you from your reading, and so, like a paper book, it's easy to get lost in the text and not the fact that you're reading on a cool, slick gadget. On the nook, the LCD panel is bright, and easily distracting. It provides a stark contrast to the grayscale e-ink display, and would easily remind you constantly that you're reading on a cool, slick gadget. 

On a final note, competition is good. It sparks innovation, and keeps the demand for new features high. While the nook does have some neat features, I'm confident that Amazon will welcome having the fire lit under its butt to keep moving forward, introducing interesting new aspects of their product on their own and improving on their competitor's ideas.

And for right now, I'm glad I made the decision I did. The Kindle 2 is wonderful. No matter which device you decide on, ultimately, the resurgence of interest in reading for many people is really the best feature of all.