“Think of it: the lowest common denominator in being digital is not your operating system, modem, or model of computer. It's a tiny piece of plastic, designed decades ago by Bell Labs' Charles Krumreich, Edwin Hardesty, and company, who thought they were making an inconspicuous plug for a few telephone handsets. Not in their wildest dreams was Registered Jack 11 - a modular connector more commonly known as the RJ-11 - meant to be plugged and unplugged so many times, by so many people, for so many reasons, all over the world.” PeopleThinkingWorldReasonDreamCommonCompanyKnownPiecesComputerModelsDecadesTinyDigitalMeant To BeBellsPlasticLowestTelephonesLabsPlugsCommon DenominatorOperating SystemsWildest DreamsLowest Common DenominatorConnectors Author:Nicholas Negroponte
“I remain fearless of airplanes after 9/11. But during a trip to Los Angeles on a Boeing 767, I couldn't keep my mind from drifting: What's the largest piece of this airplane that could crash into the World Trade Center, explode out the other side, and survive intact? The landing gear? My computer battery? My belt buckle? My wedding ring?” WorldMindSidesPiecesComputerTradeRingsFearlessLos AngelesAirplaneCrashExtinctionBeltsGearsLandingDriftingBatteriesWorld TradeBoeingWorld Trade CenterBucklesWedding RingBelt Buckles Author:Neil deGrasse Tyson
“You have a great body. It is an intricate piece of technology and a sophisticated super-computer. It runs on peanuts and even regenerates itself. Your relationship with your body is one of the most important relationships you'll ever have. And since repairs are expensive and spare parts are hard to come by, it pays to make that relationship good.” ImportantHardBodyRunningPayTechnologyPiecesComputerYour BodyExpensiveOur RelationshipSophisticatedSparesPeanutsIntricateImportant RelationshipsSpare Parts Author:Steve Goodier
“Novels are almost like music or poetry - they just come to me in simple sentences, whereas I think my pieces get more and more complex ever since I've started using a computer.” ThinkingSimpleNovelPiecesComputerComplexesSentences Author:Joan Didion
“Before I started working on a computer, writing a piece would be like making something up every day, taking the material and never quite knowing where you were going to go next with the material. With a computer it was less like painting and more like sculpture, where you start with a block of something and then start shaping it.” WritingWould BeNextKnowingPiecesPaintingMaterialsComputerBlockSculptureNever Quit Author:Joan Didion
“You must not you worry about leaks or pieces [stolen] on your computer. You just make songs, you gotta make music, keep stuff out. You may not know rap, but that's how it works.” KnowsMaySongStuffWorryPiecesComputerRapStolenLeaks Author:Young Thug
“Every piece of software written today is likely going to infringe on someone else's patent.” TodayPiecesWrittenComputerSoftwarePatents Author:Miguel de Icaza
“I always told my team, "You have to believe that you are not in front of a computer, but that your canvas is a piece of paper. You have to believe this even if you have a computer in front of you."” IfsBelievePiecesTeamFrontsPaperComputerCanvas Author:Alex Abreu
“Similarly, computer literacy courses tend to produce computer people who know a lot about computers or a piece of software but they don't help people become fluent with the machine.” PeopleKnowsHelpingCoursesPiecesProduceComputerMachinesSoftwareLiteracyFluentComputer Literacy Author:Seymour Papert
“Our goal in education should be to foster the ability to use the computer in everything you do, even if you don't have a specific piece of software for the job.” IfsShouldUseJobsGoalAbilityPiecesComputerSoftware Author:Seymour Papert
“I've had a lot of typewriters that I've had relationships with; one still has a piece of masking tape that says "$8" on it. I love working on them. I can't fix a computer or a car, but I can fix a typewriter. I like them because you can write on them late at night, depending on what you're fortifying yourself with, and the next morning you can still figure what you wrote.” WritingStillsI CanNightNextMorningPiecesCarFiguresComputerLateTapeTypewriters Author:Eddie Vedder
“My standards are higher than they used to be, I think. They don't necessarily have to make sense, but I certainly work on them a lot harder now -- partly because I do them on the computer, and I print them out and fix them, and print them and fix them over and over again, whereas in the early days I used to just scratch down a few things on a piece of paper.” ThinkingUsedPiecesHigherPaperComputerStandardsHarderUsed To BeMake SensePrintScratches Author:Dean Wareham