December 9th from 3 to 4 30 p.m. for tickets only $20 each go to WBA i.org
tell them
okay well it's currently 8 o'clock you're listening to WBA i-new york and
it's time now for off the hook
so I ripped it off the wall. I cut myself while shaving. Now I can't make a cough.
It couldn't get much worse. But if they could, they would.
Bum diddly bum for the best, expect the worst.
I hope that's understood. Bum diddly bum!
Bum diddly bum
Bum diddly bum
and a very good evening to everyone. Bergen is off the hook. Emmanuel Goldstein here with you on
this Wednesday evening joined tonight by Kyle. Hello. And everybody else has got
fundraiser illness I think. No one's here. Where is everyone? My goodness. Yeah it's a
fundraiser folks. Nothing to be afraid of here. Yeah but you know if you call in
call in and and pledge you'll make the pain a lot better for us and and you'll
feel good too. 516-620-3602 is our telephone number and yeah we would love
to hear from you. We were just listening to a radio show actually from a few
years ago about 10 years ago and we made a deal with listeners. We said you
know we're not going to spend the entire hour asking for money if people call in
in the first 10 minutes and and and pledge and our goal was a thousand
dollars in the first 10 minutes and you know what we made that goal. We've and
not only did we make that goal we made double that goal. Yeah that was back in
the days when we had a room full of volunteers and we could see the phone
ringing and we could see you know the the tally number changing because of a
little camera on the calculator that we had down the hallway. We don't have that
now. Maybe someday we'll get it back. We're building out studios and and
expanding the place. I'm hoping we come back to those days where you know we
could stroll down the hall and and you know see who's there but we we we still
have the radio station. We still have the phone number and we still have all kinds
of things that that you can pledge for. Here's one. Here's something you can
pledge for. We have the Hacker Digest lifetime subscription which normally
goes for $260 and we are offering it tonight for a contribution of $100. Yeah
they call it holiday insanity whatever but what you get for that you get every
single edition every single issue of 2600 magazine that has ever come out and
will ever come out in digital form. You get them in the form of an annual digest
so basically every year is wrapped up into a single digest starting in 1984.
Yeah and these are many many issues that are no longer in print no longer in
existence. You can't get them anywhere except this way. You will go back to the
early years of the Hacker Quarterly. Well it wasn't even the Hacker Quarterly then.
It was a monthly publication. It was we printed an eight and a half by eleven
sheets of paper and Xeroxed it after hours in an office that we really
shouldn't have been in the first place and that is how we got the newsletter
out to to people back in the 80s and then we went quarterly and wound up on
newsstands and have continued to this day. So if you call 516-620-3602
and say I would like the Hacker Digest lifetime subscription for a pledge of
$100 the nice volunteer on the other end of the phone will take your name and
and info and you will start receiving this via email. You'll receive links you'll
receive attachments and you'll be able to read every single issue from the past
all the ones that we've digitized so far we're almost completely done digitizing
and three left there's only yeah but we just released volume 21. Yeah. So 1
through 21 have all been scanned and they come in PDF format they're
completely non-DRM you can copy them and we also have volumes 25 to I believe 34
was the most recent one so there's only a gap of three left and they get
released every three months so the next one will get released in February and
then there's only two more after that and then you have everything and once a
year you'll get the latest years so you won't miss anything you won't miss
anything but that's only being offered now that's only being offered tonight we
only have a few of those and if we see you know a few calls come in and we see
it electronically now we don't see it through a little camera down the hallway
but we do see it it might take a little bit more time because this is the
digital age and things take longer but we will see it and it may not be $2,000
in the first 10 minutes but at least a few hundred would be very nice so call
516-620-3602 pledge for the hacker digest lifetime subscription pledge of
$100 less than half what it normally cost and believe me people go for this
people really want those digital copies they are relevant you know you read
something in the in the 1980s you would think it would be outdated and yeah the
technology is different for sure but not the thought behind it not the theory
behind it there is so much you can learn by simply delving into the past I mean
we do that with film we look at early films and we see things that are
happening that are happening again now we learn from our mistakes we see what
people have done and we apply that to the present day we see different
examples even just in that area with film of how people dealt with situations
that we don't necessarily know in our collective memory just how outspoken
people were at different periods in time or how outspoken the film industry
proper was at you know building up or after the World War one or wherever you
are in American and global history it's surprising to see what you maybe forgot
or what is it kind of goes unnoticed or through time but upon looking at it out
of context it really has deeper meaning two things I wanted to remind people is
that the digest themselves have all sorts of additional content I think you
might have mentioned that but I wanted to reemphasize I did not mention that
there is explanations if you've ever wondered why is a certain message and in
in a certain cover or on a certain page there's some some small thing or the
whole thing you had a something off or different about it that's explained and
you get that in the digest package so a lot of explanation a lot of thought goes
into figuring out what was going on then what were the secret secret
messages or the the inside jokes of the era and what did it mean how how did
that come about it's fascinating to see what we were up to back then and and and
try to figure out some of those puzzles and we basically organize all of that
for for you the reader so that you can so that you can follow along you can see
the original publication and in its its printed form and then go back and follow
along and look for some of those little little Easter eggs and and features that
were a part of the conversation at the time and lastly the the donations you
make the station are a tax-deductible donation and I know a lot of people are
thinking about the holidays this this time of year and yeah that that's
something you can do if you're planning your gifts for the new year and and you
might forget that that contribution itself is tax-deductible that's that's
right and you and I have been very involved in this project over the last
few years and what do you say about the extra content it does ring true because
we learn so much just by going back and looking at our own material and asking
around saying why did we put this particular image on the cover did it
mean something in particular and what's this is this something hidden in the
background is this something printed in ultraviolet ink it what why is there a
secret word on this particular page it's a lot of fun to go back and what we do
is it's it's it's very archaeological we go back and we you know once once we
have a record of emails and and alternate versions and debates and on
various things that we're doing we start to piece together again and we say oh
that's what we were shooting for here and and and this is what that particular
concept meant and how it ties into the next cover so every every digest and
every digest that we have printed out that we have put together has more
explanations as to what it's all about sometimes as many as eight pages of just
explanations to what was happening at that particular point in time in history
and technology and what we were up to the challenges we were facing it's it's
never a dull moment it's the equivalent of you know a huge book that just gives
you all kinds of of insight and you know not just that but the articles that are
written by all kinds of hackers all throughout the planet about various
emerging technologies old technologies future technologies ideas for things
people have have been readers of 2600 and gone on to do amazing things with
the technology many people come back and say hey I was inspired by the
magazine to do this and that and many times that's something really awesome
and cool so you can you can take that journey as well and you can share that
journey with other people the the PDFs are meant to be copied they're meant to
be shared and unlike the actual paper issues if you're lucky enough to have
those yes there was a collector's items as well but they're not as easily shared
and you know they do age after a while this is something that will last and
it's yours for a pledge of $100 516 620 3602 that's our phone number that's what
we're offering tonight and I think it's it would be something really cool in the
holiday season to to receive again you'll get it via email you'll get every
single digest from the past and into the future it's a lifetime subscription to
that so that's what we're offering 516 620 3602 please spread the word if you
know somebody else that might be interested in this I don't know if
we'll have this next week it's it's it's not likely because I know we had a
limited number I know we've given this away in the past I don't know if we gave
it away for this lower price but it's it's not the normal price it's it's well
below what it normally goes for and it does go for that as we've said in the
past it's not really about the premium itself that's our thank you our
contribution to you and to the station in acknowledgement of the giving and
and the the contributions of our audience and and that in and of itself
is is is is what's most important is is supporting this community radio project
and supporting off the hook it is a it's a way of saying you know thank you for
for being who we are and and producing the the interesting discussions that
we're able to hear on the airwaves in New York and and really around the world
all over the place so and yeah the number again for those of you who would
like to call it's five one six six two zero three six zero two you can also
order at any pledge level and I want to write people I think this is still true
over $25 is you become a member of WBAI so this package at a hundred would
definitely bring you into the WBAI family but we're we're also still doing
the WBAI buddy program which is a way to make continuing contributions as well as
if you want to make a one-time pledge right now give to WBAI org or you may
also use a short short number system with SMS just type WBAI to the numbers
41444 and that will send you a link to make your contribution online great way
to do it probably from your phone if you're if you're getting that via SMS so
of all those ways really it just matters that you give a call contribute whatever
you can five ten bucks become a buddy whatever that may be maybe you want the
package on $100 become a member of WBAI and give a boost for this show and for
the station in the run-up to the holidays here yes and again if you call
five one six six two zero three six zero two you can pledge for the the hacker
digest or you can pledge for anything else there's all kinds of things that
that are available the important thing is that you make a donation and again we
take all credit cards or you can you can send a check you can pay over time
whatever is is most comfortable to you the person picking up the phone five one
six six two zero three six zero two will be able to guide you on that journey but
again the important thing is to make that phone call to keep WBAI going and
the advances we've seen here are really inspirational and uplifting the the new
studio should be online in the next few weeks and we have more phone lines now
in this in this particular studio you know what I see line six is lit somebody
on the phone I don't you see that it's lit it's on the air is anybody there
okay I'm gonna hang up this phone then I'm gonna hit a button first okay are
you there wake up how is a phone line just attached like that somebody is
connected all right well you're not gonna be connecting much longer I'm
gonna disconnect you now and they're gone just like that but you don't have
to be disconnected you can call five one six six two zero three six zero two and
pledge your support become a WBAI member become one of our investors keep WBAI on
the air we've been on since 1960 100% because of listeners like you the
improvements you mentioned are actually ongoing and accumulating quickly I know
last week we mentioned the new paint and carpeting in the the control room the
the CR1 or soon-to-be control room one right above Atlantic Avenue and it is
impressive they've already put in a bunch of furniture for a new desk and I
know wasn't in there today Wow I haven't I haven't seen what they've done since
but I'm pretty sure some of the next steps are running a whole lot of wires
and getting all of the utilities and stuff switched over in there so that we
can eventually move our our microphones and broadcast board here into that new
spot and and then we'll continue to grow into that that new space over the next
2019 on into 2020 so those contributions are a real big factor in keeping our
operating expenses at bay and helping us with extra funds for projects like
that with major capital improvements around here at the radio station and we
hope to be getting improved equipment maybe maybe you know people have
equipment to donate as well if that's the case email us OTH at 2600 calm we'll
be happy to answer you as far as that goes but that is how we've gotten to
where we are now is through people pitching in and doing all kinds of
incredible things and not the least of which is the listener because without
the listener we are nothing 5 1 6 6 2 0 3 6 0 2 okay you know what let's update
people on last week last week we did a special program with Nancy Wyden about
the strand and the danger that the strand has is facing the strand being
one of New York's most beloved bookstores has been around almost a
hundred years now and the the city has expressed an interest in landmarking it
something you would think would be a good idea but actually when you look at
what that entails it can be fatal to a business well they had a hearing on
Tuesday and it's gotten a lot of attention since so let's let's listen to
a report that Rob T Firefly put together he was at the hearing yesterday as was
Alex and well here's here's what we know so far
you
okay I I double-clicked it Kyle just got a little circle spinning all right now
the program has finally opened up oh my god we have got to get better computers
than this I'm sorry I probably should have queued up that application yeah
that might have been a good idea take this running on a floppy disk okay let's
let's let's try that again strand bookstore has been a lower Manhattan
institution for 91 years and has been residing in a charming Renaissance
Revival building for 62 of those years the building little changed over its
life has caught the eye of New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission
who have grouped it with six other buildings in the area now being
considered for landmark status a public hearing was held on Tuesday December
4th during which the Commission invited public comment on the proposals the
Honorable Sarah Carroll Commission chair
while the board cursorily cited the building's architectural appeal its own
landmark proposal leans heavily on the importance of the strand of bookstore
itself as a cultural institution Commission architectural historian
Margaret Herman supporters of the strand a highly visible presence at the meeting
with shirts and badges in the store's signature red expressed similar views
regarding the store's local value but argued that that is precisely why the
building should not be landmarked as landmarking the building would threaten
the business within strand owner and building owner Nancy Wyden
strand legal counsel Alex Orbelis
reminds me of John J. Audubon who is considered America's greatest naturalist
and a preserver of American ornithology however John J. Audubon did this by
shooting and killing and stuffing his birds before painting strand patron
Margaret Mercer
strand employee and Union shop steward William Bob Roski
job which pays a reasonable wage and author Gary Steingart
though the majority of public viewpoints presented were against
landmarking the strand building dissenting voices were also heard
village resident Trevor Stewart
Christabel Goch of the Society for the Architecture of the City
because the objections raised by the ownership of the strand seem to us to be
unfounded in reality unless they were planned to sell after the hearings
conclusion feelings among the strand supporters were mostly positive Alex
Orbelis I think we had a tremendous show of support today the whole hearing room
was completely packed and the speakers just were lined up we had more speakers
here in support of the strand than any other building people really get it to
they understand that the architectural history here may be unremarkable but
what's really remarkable about this building is that it's been the home of
the strand for over 60 years and that the landmarking process could
unintentionally kill that which it is seeking to preserve Nancy Wyden it was
such an outpouring of support and people speaking and and red t-shirts and
protect the strand and already a landmark I think it really and media I
think it really made a big difference and it's so nice when it's grassroots
like that now the strand and its supporters await their next move well
then we have to wait until January or February it's all in their hands they
make up all the rules so it's and then I think there is a vote from the 11
commissioners six of which have to agree to it but I think the pressure from the
media and the pressure from the village and the New York community will make an
impact I hope Rob T Firefly off the hook WBAI thank you very much Rob T
Firefly correspondent on the street and that was what happened at the strand
hearing to discuss preserving the landmark status and why that might not
be such a good idea and it's gotten a lot of attention they really has it's
there's an editorial in the New York Post of all places New York City should
leave the strand alone I don't often praise the New York Post but in this
particular case they got it right there was a piece on Channel 7 you saw Alex
giving that same Audubon analogy which yeah that that kind of woke me up wow
that's you have to kill the birds to you know to appreciate them that's doesn't
sound really that good it was in the Guardian all kinds of media coverage was
there so it's that's really heartening to see I hope it results results in
something positive and that that institution is saved because as you
heard many people were inspired by that particular bookstore bookstores in
general literacy in general so happy to to share this kind of thing with our
listeners yeah no it was great to get that recap of what was said and how
people feel and I'm glad that we were able to talk about it and discuss just
the basics the principles of it are kind of interesting from a development
standpoint but also with regard to information and sharing information and
and having outlets and places to to discuss things and to learn and and what
the future holds for for institutions like this and just the the human aspect
of you know how many employees there and and as you said individuals who are
inspired by the place it just really hits home that this kind of stuff you
got to look at it you got to look at it and not not blink you know because you
let too much go by and all of a sudden something you knew of for in a place
there's so long just disappears and you've you've not had the chance to even
find out why and this seems like it really benefited from the discussion and
yeah like you said like you showed me a couple articles and it's it's pretty
impressive the response from the city from the community yes absolutely and
we'll continue to follow up on that story and and give updates and of course
you can always visit the strand to there on Broadway just below 14 I think on 12
Street on Broadway you know where it is if you're in downtown you'll know where
the strand is everybody does here's a letter we got from a listener named Mike
hope you're successful in saving the strand from this threat I live pretty
far away these days but I lived a few blocks from the strand for almost 20
years and went there quite often bought lots of books there I wish to note that
while defending books and I concur you used Homer's Iliad as an example I think
I used Odyssey as an example yes but that was probably the worst example you
could have chosen well of course I you know I excelled that kind of thing how
was it the worst example I could have chosen I'll get the Iliad wasn't
originally written being passed by oral tradition we wouldn't have it today if
it weren't eventually written but it was created before the Greeks had a written
alphabet and existed for some time simply as an oral work no book all right
Mike you might get you might have me there okay good let's say Shakespeare
then all right they had books then but my point is if all you had were Kindle's
back in the days of Homer or the days of Shakespeare I guarantee you would not
have lasted would not have been passed on somebody's version somewhere would
have gotten corrupted or it wouldn't have been compatible with the previous
one and you would have lost it whereas you know at some point whenever you
actually write something down that is when it becomes a permanent record and
books are the are the thing that I think are the common thread throughout any
civilization no copy protection you know no incompatibilities yeah fires their
problem but that's why you have a lot of books because there's always a copy
someplace and I'm not saying you know let's let's not have digital technology
I'm saying let's not make that the only thing we rely upon because guaranteed it
is not going to go well if we do rely upon that solely I would the Bible work
would that be a public printed book I mean it just feels like any storytelling
is not necessarily something that's printed your idea for your novel that
you're gonna write down someday is not printed it's an idea those words have
yet to be organized and and made portable by printing them so well once
you print them that's when it becomes a permanent work of one sort or another
right but was the Iliad you know I don't want to go down this rabbit hole forget
it forget what you already went down the rabbit hole so you might as well come
back out of it no no it's fine once you write it down that's when it becomes a
work of one sort or another and it can get passed on to more people yeah and
you know the you know the printed the printed book is something that is really
sacred and I think we realize that with bookstores and you know with with
magazines and all the things that we are involved in it's the portability of it
the the ability of it to be shared and transferred and and then revisited and
revised over time which I guess is kind of like the editions or the the versions
of the Bible uh-huh yeah try try looking at your first iPhone and and see if you
can read the messages on that find your first digital camera see what where the
images are or what if they didn't write down the stories from the Bible well
maybe they didn't maybe there was a whole other set of stories they didn't
or clarification or things like that we wouldn't have all the virtues of
religion we wouldn't have Christmas we wouldn't have baby Jesus's birthday you
know there's another story that we read last last week that another listener has
decided to write to us about and pick apart a little bit of concerning the
Proud Boys longtime listener appreciate what you guys do I'm writing in regards
to the November 28th off the hook because I think there was a
misunderstanding about the Proud Boys an important thing to note that the news has
admitted the Proud Boys isn't actually a racist group or at least it was never
meant to be and was in fact started as a joke on a podcast slash radio show what
started as a joke was taken by the audience of the show and they ran wild
with it this is why it seems to be a disorganized mess because actually
wasn't meant to be a real thing this is a letter from Dan s continues to people
who know the members of the show that spawned the Proud Boys and the real
backstory are Joe Rogan and Anthony Kumia formerly of the Opie and Anthony
show they discussed what spawned the group on the Joe Rogan experience
podcast episode number 1209 although I'm sure you probably won't listen to the
show it got that right I wanted to at least provide an avenue for more accurate
info from people who know what happened I'm by no means a member of the group
nor had I even heard of them before the news story came out at any rate keep
fighting the good fight thanks Dan for for your letter but I gotta say you know
okay it may have started as a joke but these guys are racist these guys are
racist they're jerks they're violent I don't know what more we need to you know
to prove that particular fact and if it's got started as a joke great you
know what sort of Scientology that got started as a joke look where that wound
up going the truth or movement that started as a joke as well all kinds of
things start as jokes and then turn into you know serious regrets and I think the
Proud Boys definitely have some serious regrets or should anyway but that's
that's just my opinion yeah I would say the 2016 election had some jokes in it
the 15 candidates well 17 candidates you could say that you know Trump's campaign
was sort of a joke well you could say that and you know in the early days most
people would have thought of it that way but then all of a sudden people took it
seriously and people you know decided to to go for it and it's no longer a joke
so these things that seem to be parodies seem to be long shots turn into reality
and everything is turned on its ear yeah yeah South Park was probably a joke
maybe that started as a joke yeah this show was started as a joke no I don't
believe that I'd never intended for it you know this you made that up no I
don't believe that he won't just have to listen to the slide and one way you can
decide is by calling us five one six six two zero three six zero two yeah we got
phone lines now right well not here the the phone lines for the pledges ring
somewhere else we don't see those but we see the people that call in to us when
they want to be on the air and there's there's lots of them but we need to see
people pledging 5 1 6 6 2 0 3 6 0 to ask for the hacker digest lifetime
subscription or really anything else that might be available that you can ask
the people who pick up the phone to offer for you for whatever pledge amount
you wish to to donate to the radio station but for a pledge of $100 you'll
get every single issue of 2600 magazine in digital form from the very beginning
January 1984 until the future however long that lasts for for a pledge of only
$100 which is the equivalent of about what four years of a subscription except
you're getting 35 plus so that's that's pretty good and it's it's something that
will will last something that you can copy you can even print it out you know
in case you're worried about your computer disappearing or something 5 1 6
6 2 0 3 6 0 2 we really appreciate those people who have called in and and
support the radio station and your your call at this particular point in time
also is a vote for off the hook to keep us going keep this radio show going on
this radio station to demonstrate that people are listening and that they do
care about these issues and we do our best and in light of the letters and so
on we we definitely respond and we we give our listeners an opportunity to use
these airwaves as well we read your letters and of course occasionally let
listeners call in and take those which I'm not promising but it maybe if we get
a flurry of of donations that'll be a sign that that we give that number out
okay yeah no that's good if we see a bunch of people pledging then we'll take
phone calls later on the the capability is there it's been restored and last
couple weeks you took some calls we are always happy to hear from listeners and
well it's a little a little sparse today so maybe we could we could use the input
but we do we get a lot of space in the room though we can move our arms around
I know yeah it's like full full arms stretched all the last time you did that
hit Alex in the face you know it's basically there's no room and you only
move to the bigger studio that'll be good but you can't do what you just did
with your arms no no we can't Wow but anyway we get a lot of feedback and we
are always always excited to read your comments and your thoughts I'm excited
to read this one right here because we got more man we all we love getting mail
and don't get me wrong people who critique us people who nitpick us to
death we love getting your letters as well you know sure we may give a fact
wrong sometimes we may use the wrong word and we expect you to call us on it
when we do because we live for that kind of thing and all right let's let's
let's look at this one we were talking about we were criticizing Apple a few
weeks ago and of course yeah oh yeah people people you know jump on you for
that and you expect them to you criticize Google you know everyone's
gonna jump on you for daring to do that that's that's just the nature of the
game okay so here's um here's a letter from
ultra bunny that's your name okay fine last night's radio show tirade against
Apple sounded just like a Trump rally against the press false accusations wild
speculations ignorant assessments delusional paranoias you had all the
bases covered now mind you I only have 30 years of professional experience as a
Mac tech for a wide range of small medium and large companies in New York
and many dozens of regular folks running their own business and I can't disagree
with you more I can't recall all the crazy quips you guys threw at them but
one no one I've ever met bought a refurbished Mac on Amazon never period I
wasn't even aware they did that and as a pro I would not trust those sources I've
bought maybe a hundred refurbs from the Apple online store and never had an
issue with them all in top shape and with a one to three year warranty which
I'm sure Amazon doesn't do okay you know that's that's you and one of us I
don't know if it was Alex or Rob one of us said yeah I bought a refurbished Mac
on Amazon after the show so I know there are people out there lots of people out
there that have done that in the past so okay great you know you have one
experience other people have other experiences the point is that we all get
to have these experiences and also consider the the store Amazon itself has
this sort of implicit trust behind that brand so you may be a little bit more
skeptical of the source but someone else might take Amazon selling this and
and something that looks like a good deal as as trustworthy by virtue of the
association there continuing along here as for why there are fewer Mac resellers
because there is no profit margin not since the mid 90s because the Apple
store has the lowest prices B&H and Adorama may undercut a few bucks by
selling you last year's models or upselling you peripherals but also no
real reason to buy from them unless your company has a bulk discount deal
resellers are just unneeded middlemen and not mom-and-pops in any way big
margins corporate accounts huge markups TechServe went out of business because
they overcharged on nearly all items and offer $200 an hour service rates while
paying their techs minimum wage most other shops operated the same way
screwing their workers for the boss's profits to quote a great bands lyrics no
tears wasted no sorrow no pity no crying no loss yeah yesterday I dropped a
client's Mac Pro MacBook Pro off I'm not reading this lyrics anymore I don't think
that's in there yesterday I dropped a client's MacBook Pro off at an Apple
store and despite being out of warranty they did the job for free I often come
back from genius bar visits with no charges or a much lower than expected
rates and never asked to buy anything I didn't want and I'm a tech and these
people work way cheaper than I do I often refer to my clients just go to
Apple to save money well that's great you know I'm happy that you know you
you're getting along with these people and and you know you you trust them and
they seem to like you but how about some choice how about some you know
competition that's what it's all about and what it sounds like you're saying is
that these guys do it right so they should dictate who else gets to do it at
all doesn't seem fair it doesn't seem like there's any incentive for them to
stay on their toes the not hardware hackable argument well it's true that
right to repair is valid issue in general but you're missing the point that
computers now are appliances and even more so for phones really honestly no
one needs or wants to putz around with the internals of their machine anymore
people use computers to get their work done seems like kind of a blanket
statement there so is that true folks nobody out there wants to futz around
with their computers anymore that's it done we're just gonna seal them up and
bring it to the genius bar and have them deal with it in the future yeah speak
for yourself I mean that's a pretty bold claim coming from something that began
as homebrew and and something distinctly of the hobbyist world people
who really like to hack and take apart and understand their machines that they
own and build that may be a popular or convenient attitude to have but it's not
necessarily it's not necessarily something that serves everyone uh-huh
well again it's it's an experience and it's not an invalid experience it's
your experience but it's not everybody's experience anyway continuing
I think the only people who care about hardware hacking just do that to build
gaming machines not to start their own businesses or work efficiently in their
jobs find me a video editor or a florist or a music producer or a school
administrator or an interface designer who has free time to care about the
cooling units on their GPUs or needing eight-year-old legacy peripheral ports
you want a reliable machine that has few if no user serviceable parts and just
works and can be fixed by friendly faces when needed who won't upsell you
price gouge you or treat you like an idiot well you know I can see that I can
agree with that I can I can identify with that completely but also I want to
be able to pick where I take something who I trust and just because you trust
Apple doesn't mean I trust Apple maybe somebody else knows something more than
they're willing to tell you maybe they don't but let me make that decision
don't make it for me continuing you want to hack hack the culture hack the world
RAM and hard drives are utterly insignificant for big-picture thinking
your opinion you know you can't make these these blanket statements and
expecting to apply to everybody anyway amidst all this naysaying look at all
the great art the great beauty great films and music and photography and even
great coding and app development that were done because max inspire people who
wouldn't be inspired by the DIY minimalism and head-scratching
complexity of Linux or Debian or Windows 8 okay you just open up some Pandora's
boxes there that I think you might not have wanted to open up number one
including Windows 8 in a sentence with Linux and Debian okay there's that but
also to say that nobody has ever been inspired by DIY minimalism and and and
dealing with these OS's you know what I'm gonna let them write into OTH at
2600.com and express it in ways that I probably would not be able to do justice
to I I just think that is that is completely you know what one person's I
you know your perspective but it does not apply to everybody by far yeah it's
a reductionist attitude I think and the the the software and and stuff that he
mentioned I mean is something that has been really inspiring to a lot of people
specifically Linux and and and versions of it like Debian and and so on and so
forth but the the statement about it being hard in some ways of the
head-scratching I mean that is historically had has been an attribute
of some of these operating systems that are you know projects or that had more
advanced they required more advanced skills like compiling your your software
packages or the entirety of the OS and and so on and so forth so installation
historically was was a hurdle for a lot of people but a lot of that has changed
a lot of these work out of the box even Raspberry Pi stuff you basically can
just get an imaged memory card and not even install you're not even compiling
it or formatting anything you're basically just turning it on so many
people have been inspired and and and in in realization or in reflection upon
those difficulties and have since fixed them so there's there's been a lot of
development in the area and and as far as creativity being you know that people
want simple stuff to just do their work and and to to make art and and wonderful
things yeah I agree that that's that's great that a lot of stuff has has come
about from the ease of use but that ease of use is not the stock and trade of
just one company it's done well with Apple and in in some regards but the the
ease of using technology is something that any technology or any software
system or hardware could have as an attribute of it and and someone could
just as easily I would say make art or a script or some film production with with
another version and say the same thing so it's not an exclusive attribute I
think of that brand of in this case Apple right well the thing is you would
not have max today were it not for that DIY minimalism and head-scratching
because that's how you develop things that's how you build things and to say
that okay this is done you're not allowed to touch it anymore it can only
go back to the authorized dealer they're the only ones that understand it and
will fix it that to me just seems to be flying the face of the spirit of hacking
the spirit of learning and it's just something that by default we object to
and I don't think that's ever going to change it's you know it says it's not
defying what has been accomplished with these machines and yeah amazing things
have been that's great those are people that are not interested in doing the
things we're talking about they want a machine that works and it's great that
that exists but there are other people there that want to tinker that want to
learn more they want to take things apart break them fix them have other
people look at them and not simply be beholden to a corporation just because
they got it right and they want to reuse them and reimplement them in ways they
weren't ever intended to be used and that's another I think big part of
innovation and pushing things but also preserving things I know a lot of people
that are using older systems and retro computing just to get older stuff to
work you need to kind of have an understanding a low-level understanding
and also just you know our world in general is not just going to be Apple
movie produced you know people making things with Final Cut or like you know
artists who have a Mac like that is not the entirety of our society and I really
don't want to live in a world that accepts that as they're those are the
only people that are using technology is like a guy who you know is writing music
on his Mac and a girl who's you know making a beautiful website on her Mac
like whatever that that is kind of really stereotypical and not not at all
the reality I think we need a flourishing of all kinds of knowledge
around both the hardware software and the creative tools that they enable yeah
yeah you talk about this kind of thing and a lot of images stand out we were in
a mall yesterday we walked past the Apple Store and it was just weird
looking in because every time you walk by an Apple Store you just see all these
people just standing around and it was like I don't want to you know mock it in
a way but it did seem kind of like looking at a pasture full of cows just
sort of standing there well they were like at the trough you know I don't know
what was going on the heads down in there in their rows of other livestock
and they're just you know had their nose in the trough and those stores are
supposed to be eye-catching too I mean you're supposed to walk by and sort of
be in awe of this this space that is unusual in the midst of a mall I was in
awe for sure but it was just it was weird and I've been in those stores too
and it just seems like the mentality there's just keep buying things keep
buying a new version the new hardware and okay you know that's how Mac has
become successful ever since the very first Mac which this this reader delves
into an in just a moment I've noticed you know a particular routine that seems
to happen where you buy this this new versions new computer it's fast lightning
fast amazing and then over the months just gets slower and slower and then a
program that you want to upgrade no longer works in that machine and you
have to buy another machine in order to run the program and it just keeps going
in an endless loop and come on folks how many iPhones have you bought how many
Macs have you bought you know I I don't brag about the fact that I sometimes use
the same machine for over 10 years but it's good to be able to do that it's
good to have that kind of stability for something that you don't need to upgrade
if it's just simply you know a mail server or some basic communication yeah
if you're if you're making films if you're if you're you know painting
things and you want you need the latest art software you're gonna have to
upgrade to to keep up but if you're a true artist you'll make it work no
matter what you have and that's something I think a lot of people get
lost in in the Mac world that they have to constantly be buying things no if
you're good you know you can make it work on virtually nothing and just
because everybody's got a camera in their phone does not mean everybody's a
photographer does not mean that because everybody can can can can run a program
they're not all publishers and this is something that we keep coming back to
just the the mass proliferation there's that's good and there's bad anyway let's
finish up this this letter the the world is much larger than basement hobbyist
and server farmers I never needed Apple marketing to show me why max created joy
actual joy I just turned on my tiny beige plus in 1987 saw that smiley face
and I knew the world had changed to a better place and a week later I was
running my own noise rock cassette label and fanzine and shortly afterwards
parlaying those skills to a film a fun career surrounded by hundreds of
brilliant New Yorkers happily using their max to make the world better I've
just read a Mac commercial haven't I well I don't think they're all making
the world better well you know some people are and I identified I you know I
felt the same feelings when I saw that little smiley face the people using max
are making the world wholesale worse yeah Isis they use max do they well I
think they could yeah maybe they get like a bulk discount or something yeah
ultra bunny thank you for your letter seriously it was it was it's good to
hear different perspectives but here's some here's here's another perspective
I'd like you to read this too because the print is really small this is
actually from one of our digest okay oh wow yeah I recognize the page it's under
it's under the the title complaints and this is okay this is just one of the
things you can get by calling five one six six two zero three six zero two this
is an excerpt from one of our past issues if you call that number and you
pledge for the hacker digest for $100 you'll get every single issue every
single digest of 2600 magazine that has come out since 1984 and you'll get every
single one into the future five one six six two zero three six zero two so Kyle
there's a letter there that's rather apropos today yes is there a date on the
page there yeah this would be the summer of 2004 okay so it's about 14 years ago
yeah yeah this is under the complaints subheading in our letter section starts
dear 2600 if Apple would stop trying to make themselves a monopoly in their own
market and use a standard PC architecture they would get so much more
business I realize they do use some standard PC components in their
computers but the core components like the motherboard still have to come from
Apple Microsoft obviously didn't get where they are today by having good
software they got where they are thanks to everyone not having to buy PCs and
their components from a single manufacturer this created competition
which drove down PC prices and greatly increased their popularity Apple has
some real breakthrough ideas but the problem is that most people aren't
getting to buy a new very overpriced computer just to use them or aren't
going to buy a new very overpriced computer just to use them I remember
back when PCs used to cost twenty six hundred dollars without a monitor but
their popularity and competition has greatly reduced their prices yet Macs
still cut still cost close to the same at least for a decent one you can get a
PC loaded with software and a monitor and a printer for the same price if not
less than the than that of a Mac if Apple were only smart enough to take
advantage of the PC's popularity and price drop I think they could greatly
increase their market share unless Apple stops this anti-competitive crap Linux
will triumph over the Microsoft monopoly long before Apple even has a chance Wow
and that was from the summer of 2004 people writing about about Mac the Apple
mentality to 2600 and this is an example of how you can learn from the
past you can you can apply that perspective to today see if it's changed
if it has not changed again five one six six two zero three six zero two pledge
for the hacker digest $100 you'll get that and every single other letter and
issue that we have put out since 1984 I think of so many different things in
between that are sort of related like boot camp working on some of the
original Intel core processors that Apple had in their laptops that allowed
you to run PC OS in like a dual boot scenario and stuff and and and then
various milestones with with other hard hardware generations and size then
becoming increasingly diminutive with phones and cell phones proliferating and
on into now where we are with some of the Linux and free software there's one
more letter I'd like to get to concerning this it was good hearing you
cover Apple and Amazon basically working together to thwart the right to repair
I've learned much about this from watching Lewis Rossman's channel which
started as a collection of videos teaching repair of common motherboard
faults it got interesting for him when he started getting threats for showing
simple things like how to replace fuses now it's amping up with his orders of
parts being seized by customs that's what we're talking about folks it comes
as no surprise that an authorized repairer went out of business since the
process of becoming authorized denies them the right to make straightforward
and timely repairs for common faults what an independent can do in half an
hour takes weeks and cost the customer big money over $700 for a replacement
but not new motherboard Apple doesn't allow authorized repairers to stockpile
parts nor do any board level repair even trivial things new Apple models add
repair challenges including the use of chips with internal programming which
can only be sourced from broken machines quote-unquote donors diagnostic code
documentation only available to those who cannot use them for actual repair
very familiar to car enthusiasts gluing in batteries a consumable making
replacement dangerous soldered on RAM and SSDs with latest models now removing
a data recovery port Apple won't data recover at any price you offer use of
bogus moisture sensors and laser micrometers to wriggle out of servicing
contracts digital keying of components like screens so swapping working parts
between machines can be detected and the machine remotely disabled like from
iTunes at Apple's whim remember we're not talking phones here these are
multi-thousand-dollar computers so if you watch any videos what is being
suggested here by our listener Ricardo is the one that that is described as
Lewis featuring on a Canadian CBC TV expose of Apple's shady practices I'm
sure if you type that into YouTube you'll you'll be able to find it Lewis
spelled lu is a review of Apple suing a repair shop owner in Norway making the
case for a distinction between refurbishing and counterfeiting or
fighting us customs for batteries they've seized Alex who's not here
tonight you might find this open Q&A with his lawyer interesting given how
Apple is using border protection to bolster its business with Lewis being
New York-based you might be able to hook up for a chat his ability to diagnose
faults is incredibly complex and tiny circuits using little more than a
multimeter combined with the tenacity and his repairs for me truly embodies
the hacker spirit and Ricardo I could not agree more and that is precisely the
kind of thing that we're talking about here but again we're open to all
perspectives we'd love to hear from opposing views OTH at 2600.com is our
email address and 516 620 3602 is our telephone number and we hope that you
call in pledge your support and get the hacker digest for a pledge of $100 and
you'll be able to hear about all sorts of amazing advances in technology of the
past present and you'll be able to theorize about the future as much as
anyone else that's gonna do it for us tonight just me and Kyle tonight next
week hopefully you know what we should just not show up next week how about
that yeah it will get even see you see how you like it yeah see how you like it
folks so we'll be back next week one form or another stay tuned for more
exciting programming here on WBAI till next time good night and right to us OTH
at 2600.com bye-bye oh yeah and there are 2600 meetings this Friday all
throughout the world check out 2600.com slash meetings for more information on
that