Danny Novo outlined his plan for his home computer system. The reason I invest in technology at home is three pronged. First, I need to know what is going on in the electronic gadget marketplace and watching the electronic shopping channel doesn’t really cut it. To this end I just shop. Purchasing equipment at NewEgg, Bestbuy, or OWC is what keeps me amused and informed. What turns my head at this moment is SSD drives and the discussion of their life span. Another prong is entertainment. The computer system in the studio is the hub of watching off-air channels, radio, and Internet stuff. And the third prong is making content and having the capacity to work creatively at home especially if I loose employment. I’ve always thought of the home computer as an hedge against being unemployed. I try to do this without breaking the bank.
A current goal is to create an off-site backup of our picture libraries, we have a safety deposit box. I just wonder if I should just dedicate a HDD to that task or burn BDR discs. I kind of let my archive get too big in iPhoto. And there is residue from various version changes to iPhoto. Big iPhoto archives are hard to backup and if it becomes corrupted too big of a failure. I think what I am going to do is duplicate the archive and then delete half on either copy to split in half. And in the future make new archive files every year.
Another goal is to organize my files more carefully. It must be a genetic predisposition to making a mess that I inherited from my parents. They were always messy in their offices and drawers. Clutter is so depressing.
So the three big prongs; shopping, entertainment , and job security are behind my technology interests.
I was reading a blog (I think it was Macintouch.com) where someone posted a question. They asked if anyone knew of a museum of old technology that they could send their outdated technology. I hold on to old stuff but I could help build a great museum. I must have 100 yards of RCA cables. I have some original boxes of Apple branded DVDs. Some copies of Mac Addict demo CDs. I have a box of Magneto Optical discs and no drive. I have one floppy disk. I even have a cassette 4 track recorder off in the corner.
But I hang on to stuff. Things that have no value but are increasingly part of the past and history of computer technology. Maybe I should start a museum?