Dave’s Blurb for April 2014

As I write this column on my 8-year-old clunky Dell laptop with a broken shift key, to my left sits a shiny new 27-inch iMac. It has an LED-backlit display, 3.2GHz quad-core processor and 2 gigs of video ram. It’s top of the line. So fast, it actually reverses time—or so I’m told. It’s a birthday present from my lovely wife, Sandy. This is day two of it just sitting there—not even plugged in. Why? It’s new, different and I don’t know how to work it.

Yes, I suffer from technology trust issues. Maybe it’s because I didn’t grow up with computers, the internet or the witchcraft of wi-fi. Whatever scarred me, it’s left me with issues that I have to work through on a daily basis.

Just once, I’d like to watch a show I’m streaming from Amazon to my iPhone to my smart TV and trust it will work. It always does, but I keep checking my phone and muttering, “Yep. Good, it’s still working.” Before you start to feel sorry for me—let’s agree these are some pretty good problems to have.

And the irony of a technophobe owning a web development company isn’t lost on me. But the truth of it is, this affliction has actually helped shape Back40’s success. It’s given me great empathy for clients-of-a-certain-age who want to leverage technology to grow their businesses.

So as I resolve to take responsibility for my recovery, I plug in the iMac. A few minutes later, I’m using it to finish this column. That wasn’t so terrible and now I’m thinking—where’s my flying car? Weren’t we supposed to have those by now?

Dave Miller, Publisher & Back40 Design President