Slashdot Mirror
Geek Eye for the Average Guy
Yxes writes "Fortune designed an experiment: give three geeks US$15,000 and three days to bring a family of four up to date with technology. The average family doesn't know which DVD player to buy or how to setup a wireless network. What happens when even the geeks can't get it to work?"
3 days?! What a blatant anti-Gentoo bias!
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
- Get them down to one remote - Nice receiver, learning remote - properly programmed, buttons all labeled
- DVR - TiVo or Replay TV, its a must have. Enable the 30 second skip button on the TiVo remote.
- Adjust the TV properly - turn the sharpness the whole way down, go through all the test patterns and balance the colors.
For the computer:- Open source software - Install software from the Open CD, Linux if they are up for it..
- Decruft the mouse and keyboard (although even most geeks could use this)
- A decent home network, add more computers as needed.
- A nice office chair and good ergonomics - switch them over to the dvorak keybord and make them practice.
For the kitchen:- Print out list of all pizza delivery options
- Stock fridge with Mt. Dew and Guinness.
Personal grooming:I enjoyed your article immensely, especially when the Geek starts calling everyone 'bitch'. However, I can't quite get the gist of it.
Please repeat your experiment of 4 guys installing 15,000 dollars of equipment at my house, so that I may understand *exactly* the trials of learning to use technology.
Many Thanks,
Teamhasnoi
It should be the other way around. A group of average people can tell a geek how to shower. They can teach him that long greasy hair in a ponytail is not a fashion statement. They could even take him shopping to buy clothes that aren't just t-shirts with nerdy slogans or anime characters on them.
"Ok, the first thing you need on your PC is Linux. And forget a GUI, you need to do everything in text. Windowed interfaces are so not cool. Once you're set up with this, we'll go to the de-tanning booth to get your skin a nice white pasty color..."
"But why is my homepage www.slashdot.org? What is this site? What's it good for? Are there games? Oh wait, I see the games section!"
...the last few paragraphs of the forthcoming Fortune article are dedicated to the team of geeks sitting around a monitor on the other side of town, packet-sniffing the new network for leaks and shreeking at what horrible things the new users are doing to the whole system.
--
Where do I sign up to (pretend to be) technically illiterate, so I can get this kind of electronics budget? The sad thing is that these days I probably wouldn't be pretending, I've been so broke lately. I have no idea what is cutting edge on anything.
-1, "1337" speak
The $15K money would be a nice change, but I'm always spending my free time setting up WiFi home networks, etc.
The same problem would exist for both the "Geek Eye" and it's original "Queer Eye"... given a few months without supervision and the recipient will revert back into low-tech chaos. Maintenance is much harder than configuration.
Murray Todd Williams
No wonder the project failed. Where was the Requirements Document? The simple statement: "bring a family of four up to date with technology" is not a proper requirement. Did they want to make home movies? Send email to Grandma? Walk in the house and have the lights turn on automatically? What were they trying to do with that $15k?
If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
I was pretty proud of myself, i set the clock on my vcr. Too bad a blown lightbulb tripped the circuit breaker. Now its flashing 12:00 again.
love is just extroverted narcissism
Does the $15,000 include the $699 for SCO?
Trolling is a art,
From the article, "really, all they wanted to do was send digital pictures of the kids to Grandma. Heistad came back with a shopping list that would get them that, plus a home theater, a wireless network, new computing, a tricked-out music system, and GPS positioning capabilities."
Pathetic. How about a 6 month followup (honestly reported)? After all, what are the odds that most of this equipment will just be gathering dust by then?
Alright, probably not the Tivo... but still...
You're special forces then? That's great! I just love your olympics!
$15,000 = ONE REALLY FAST POWERMAC G5.
Buy it and you're done. Everything else is uncivilized.
Mine blinks 11:00 now
What happens when even the geeks can't get it work?
Blame it on Windows : it always works with budget overruns as well as questions about technical problems. Tell the family you told them about Linux but they wouldn't hear. Make sure you use a patronizing tone.
"A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
1. Install cardboard box with "Really Neat Box!" written on it.
2. Pocket $15,000.
3. ???
4. Profit!
(I think ??? involves running away very fast, but doesn't it always?)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The main problems here are compatability and demand. First, demand... The people don't need it. So, they won't use it. That's easy. The people in this article were all wrong for this stuff. They will NEVER use 20% of it.
Second, compatability. We all know and it is obvious to most people that this stuff all becomes 10 times cooler when it works with other stuff. When I buy a new X, it would be totally awesome if it will integrate with my Q, R, S, and V. Well, open standards certainly won't make much money for the manufacturers, so they don't work very well together. Heck, even all my Sony stuff has problems playing nice together. And especially the really cool features will never integrate.
Last, but not least, they kids are gonna ruin it all anyway. So to hell with it. Read a book. Take the $15,000 and put it in the kids' college funds.
"If you want to improve, be content to be thought foolish and stupid." - Epictetus
Now that being geeky is seen a cool trait, marketers are now buslily redefining the label to describe people that spend lots of money on high-fashion electronics.
Why are we letting this happen? Which is more impressive: owning a lot of expensive hardware, or turning outdated junk into useful tools?
--
Long-term effects of Bush deficits
The idea as a whole is intriguing, but with posers instead of real geeks, it's pretty pointless.
It's hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
[Geek] Okay, now you're running Linux! Your computer will run faster and be more stable. Also it's politically and morally superior, and the software is all free!
[AverageGuy] Awesome, thanks! So what games are on here?
[Geek] I have to go now.
In all matters of opinion, our adversaries are insane. -Oscar Wilde
>There isn't time to order a new PC from Dell
>--the geeks' PC maker of choice--
>so they head to Best Buy and pick up
>a $679 HP Pavilion Home PC.
Now what kind of geek would do something like that
It should have read:
There isn't time to order 100 RM1-4U cases from Koolance --the geeks' waatercooling provider of choice--
so they head to the industrial compound and get an industrial fan to cool down the Beowulf cluster of
the bleeding edge AMD Athlon 64 systems that they plan to blow the $15,000 on.
Most Geeks dont know what DVD player to buy.
Pioneer Elete series? Or do we go for the Carver Studio series? or do we go for even better? or are we happy with the sub $400.00 junk at best buy?
Most of the decisions are made based on preference as is you went for the "best" based on research and actual reviews $15,000.00 is not anywhere near enough money.
I can spend $15,000.00 on the PC,home netowrking and home server alone.
for the average Joe, the best DVD player to buy is the $59.00 APEX cheapie.. they will be happy with the picture on their 29 inch tv. and it's the one I reccomend to all my relatives as it's dirt cheap / throw away type appliance if the kids break it. plus it does a better job than the playstation2 or Xbox.
unless you have a HD tv or projector that can handle the progressive output buying a "good" player is a waste of money.. and most "geeks" wont admit that buying the cheapest is the best for the average joe.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
"Day Two The now fully assembled geek team pulls up to the Burkes' house at 9 a.m. " No real geek, given $15K to play with for 3 days, is going home/hotel to sleep!! Who are they trying to kid??? -k
Your mind moves quicker than a nun's first curry. - A. Rimmer
You read the end of the article as
/.
They pause. Ross fingers his goatse...
instead of
They pause. Ross fingers his goatee...
Damn you
Heistad grilled them on their tech needs--really, all they wanted to do was send digital pictures of the kids to Grandma. Heistad came back with a shopping list that would get them that, plus a home theater, a wireless network, new computing, a tricked-out music system, and GPS positioning capabilities.
Not only did the family not want the technology but had what they didn't want "forced" on them. This is the problem with mass consumerism of entertainment technology. You don't need it. It isn't even cool if you think about it.
- Crappy pop music doesn't sound any better on outrageously huge speakers and expensive audio system.
- The TV show "Friends" certainly isn't any funnier on a 90" plasma HDTV.
- GPS is only helpful if you don't know where you and you know where you want to go. Besides, who needs to know the lat/lon of the dry cleaners?
- Computer and console games like Grand Theft Auto X, Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, and Sims still suck and disconnect you from society whether on a slow computer or fast one.
The parents should do their kids a favor and sell all that crap. Keep a decent notebook and digital camera around for the pictures to grandma and email. Buy the kids some books, take them to the parks, get them involved in their community.All of that useless tech is going to kill your culture.
Speak truth to power.
No self-respecting geek watches Enterprise.
What happens when even the geeks can't get it work?
It'd certainly explain why four out of every ten IT guys are unemployeed.
This is why, in my ideal world, in a few months we'd see some restrospective "Queer Eye" shows and a follow-up article doing a sort of "where are they now" that details all of the stuff that's fallen by the wayside and/or been destroyed by small children as compared to the geek-toys that are still in use. I have to agree with other posters here, once you've got your plasma TV and Tivo, I seriously doubt you're going to revert on purpose.
"Linux doesn't exist. Everyone knows Linux is an unlicensed version of Unix"- Kieren O'Shaughnessy
"You call this a wireless mouse? More like a wireless HOUSE!"
"Hmm. I like what you've done with this cabling - it's very Feng-Schwing!"
"I hope you're going for a grainy, 'Kiss me Deadly' sort of thing with this greyscale monitor!"
"Nice X-Box! Can we move in? And the controllers...I haven't seen anything that big since we did Kevin Mitnik..ss house... ahem.."
Throw money at the problem.
Don't think long term. Remain fixated on the short-term.
I've taught basic Internet and computer skills classes to a wide variety of people, all over the US. In doing so I've found that the only way to really make something stick is to actually sit them in front of the computer and have them learn by doing. The "three geeks and $15k" method is like a Microsoft Windows wizard. It may help you with the problem at hand, but it's not revealing anything about the hows and whys behind the problem.
In short, the end user isn't learning. They're still beholden to the geeks, because as soon as the carefully orchestrated setup hits a snafu, Abbie Normal won't know how to fix that problem.
Immersive, hands-on teaching works. It takes time and patience. Unfortunately neither are in ample supply these days, so everyone keeps on looking for silver bullet "solutions". This attitude is everywhere, even in large corporations, where managers want the latest shiny packaged product, because they actually believe that they can get results without having to learn anything first.
The computer industry is a victim of its own hype. Or rather, society is a victim of the industry hype. If we actually acknowledged the value of learning, we might collectively be able to harness the power of computers instead of spending huge chunks of time dealing with trivial annoyances.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Why didn't they just stick with all Macs? I mean we are talking about non-techies, that are going to be using them, and the Mac is one of the easiest systems to use for a newbie. Not to mention stable. Also why did it take them so long? I've setup simular set-ups (everytime I move) in under a day.
Don't Vote for Norm Dicks! http://www.nodicks2008.com Another nutless dirtbag that voted for the FISA bill!
Hopefully, the geek-eye guys have unlisted phone numbers ...
Ahh...and the remotes. This is the kind of stuff that has ALWAYS needed a lot of work. Check out this Cooper article on an elegant solution.
MONSTER DATA CENTER!
I had a sucky sig.
Instant Street Cred:
HA! You think a group of geeks would only buy a camera and maybe a new PC? HA! GPS is definitely needed to send photos to grandma.
GPS: Know your exact location in your own home!
Without GPS:
Wife: "Kids, dinnertime!"
(no answer)
Husband: "Maybe they're in the toy room, dear!"
With GPS:
Wife: "Kids, dinnertime!"
(no answer)
Husband: "Kids are at 33 56' 52" N, 118 8' 5" W, dear!"
Just think of the fun!
Joe Technophobe: "There's muh cumputer, it's uh winders three kind, but the cup holder
on it is durn broke".
Techno Geek1 : "Dear god, something from the Jurasic period, Just look at this fossil, a 286SX
and the cdrom, I mean 'cup holder is jammed with... , oh no that's sooo
sooo soooo very wrong.'
Techno Geek2 : "There are wires everywhere, have you even heard of zip strips? Keeps your layout
nice and tidy, and you don't even have to trip over them."
Techno Geek3 : "Let's talk about Product, it's all about the preparation and the hardware,
I think we can get you a nice durable all steel case, that's coffee proof and
and with lots and lots of RAM."
Techno Geek4 : "You god damned ignorant hilljack! How can you treat hardware this way, didn't
your mother teach you to wear anti-static wrist guards? Where did you grow
up? The third world?"
Joe Technophobe: "Nope, uh work fer Marketing in the Racing business"
Techno Geek2 : "Say no more, well take it from here"
These turds blew $15,000 on gizmos and gadgets for a family that only wanted to send pix of the kids to Granny? Talk about scope creep....
What happens when even the geeks can't get it work?
You know they didn't buy a Mac, that's what.
Seriously, get 'em DSL, an AirPort base station, iBooks and iSight for each family member, and now they have high speed wireless internet with videoconferencing.
Pile on a TiVo, any DVD player, and a $1000 30"+ CRT TV, and a decent sound system.
Total cost: way under $15k.
The key is, don't buy the best of everything, buy the stuff that's proven to work.
Who wants to lay bets as to when they first get robbed?
Did they get them some high-tech security?
psmylie's dictionary: Godzillion (noun) Any number large enough to destroy Tokyo
If that happens, they send someone out to buy them a preposition.
It's me at my parent's house.
"Want in one hand and spit in the other and see which one fills up first." - My Dad
No, the cheapest is not best for the average joe.
The best for the average joe is the most reliable, and the best bang for the buck.
Did they need progressive scan? Well, if you're going to blow $4k on a TV, get the people the equipment to carry the best signal and hook em up with a nice sound system as well.
When someone who doesn't know anything about DVD asks me what to buy, I tell em Sony. Sony's aren't the cheapest, but they make a nice $100 or so model and those stand up over time.
I had a Toshiba that burnt out in a year. I know three different people who bought those $69 Apex pieces of shit and the best one lasted six months.
You get what you pay for, and suggesting Apex to your friends or family will just make sure they don't ask you for your advice ever again...
So for a family of complete techo-illiterates, they bought a PC _and_ a Mac. That way they'll never figure out how to use anything. Bravo.
The point is that these guys were SUPPOSED to go overboard. Hell, on Queer Eye the only thing really wrong with the guys are that they're messy and slobish. All they really need is a maid to swipe through and vacuum their apartment and do the dishes. Is that where the show stops? Of course not, where's the fun in that? It's more entertaining to see a guy's guy get totally redone by a bunch of flamboyant fashion kings/queens going the whole nine. New pimpish wardrobe, new interior decoration, a preplanned meal that rivals most 5-star restraunts', etc.
Sorry for the rant. It just seems that a lot of people read too deeply into the whole purpose of this "experiment". Have fun, enjoy. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go find the family's address so I can sniff their wireless traffic and blackmail 'em for that plasma tv.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned for SEGA. ..."
Queer Eye doesn't just fix their problems and say "Here is what you need to wear to not look like a slob. By the way, your hair sucks" ... they actually take the guy and say "Hey, this would look good on you, this would look good in your house... and here is how to do it from now on." They give tips, pointers, and no-no's.
/. readers, I'm sure that may be relative. ;-)
Geek Eye just said "Here's a bunch of technology, which you have no idea why you need it and not something else... now use it." There was nothing beyond the How To UseExpensive Technology for Dummies crash course that they were given.
If you want people to actually grow and learn, you need to explain why. Honestly, technology is a more difficult beast to master than fashion... although looking at many
*prepares for mod down*
"PC Load Letter? What the $@#% does that mean?!"
They did buy a Powerbook and Airport base station - which they designated for use in reading email!! Then they bought a $699 Best Buy PC to handle the tasks of camera mounting and digital video editing. Madness!!
/. - where is the post from them outlining more detail?
They should have gone one way or the other (I'd have gone Mac myself), but introducing a mixed system to non-tech people is not a good plan. They basically demonstrated no degree of ability to interconnect systems, where all the REALLY cool features you could have nowadays come from.
The interesting thing to me is that these guys, being geeks, must read
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Well, yeah - but does it *ever* really work out well when you send a group of people into someone's house (on a tight schedule, no less), and start making buying decisions for them?
This was money spent for the sake of writing a story... not for the sake of ensuring the family's goals are achieved.
It's no different than the shows where they remodel your house for you. People following up on it later find that at least 50% of the time, the homeowners undo all the remodeling work shortly after they're done being on TV.
I think, all things considered, they didn't do TOO badly. I mean, almost anyone can enjoy a large screen TV set, "technology-impaired" or not. They were already using the net for email, so they'll at least use the DSL connection for the same things as before. (Yeah, they might not need the speed, really, but it's nice having an "instant on" connection, and none of the dropped carriers in the middle of sessions.) It looks like they'll mess around with the digital camera too. I don't think I've ever met someone who got a digital camera, learned the basics of using it, and then let it collect dust - opting to go back to the film camera instead. They're not THAT tough to figure out, really - unless you dig in to the advanced features, and saving hassle and money on film developing is usually motivating enough to keep people using them.
"The PC sports a 2.08GHz XP processor"
XP processor, what's that? Is that what I use to run Windows 97 for my Outlook Explorer?
The article states that they used a Linksys Wireless Ethernet Bridge to connect the PC to the DSL connection?? They also bought an Airport Base Station. Why not just buy a Linksys WRT54G and use it to connect both the PC and Powerbook. Seems like these geeks might need to go back to geek school.
How does this help anyone? What I think would make this cool would be to form it more into This Old House, or Trading Spaces. Take the tech guys, move into the house and actually do what they need. maybe make a show on how to properly network your house. Here's an idea to fit the needs that the AVERAGE family needs.
I mean they get this fancy music system. screw that, take the money and give them a normal cd player. Chances are they can actually use it.
Give them DSL, can they afford it? is sending email instantly really that important to someone who can't figure out how to program a VCR?
Buy them a new computer... once something breaks their going to be calling tech support having the conversation: "Can you open Internet Explorer please?" "ok... now internet explorer... what is that... I don't think i have it, i'm on 2000XPME." (acutal response i've recieved lately)
If you can get along without downloading the newest strongbad email within 5 seconds, or God forbid having to get out of bed to check your email, WHY DO YOU NEED IT NOW?
I'm all for getting new high tech toys, but if a tech guy has a hard time figuring it out to get it set up, what happens when it breaks?
I consider my parents to be relatively average with technical things, they put their computer togeather without help, but when it come to trading in 5 remotes for one, the concept of pushing the TV button before controlling the TV is sometimes hard to grasp. Some people are better off keeping the 5 remotes knowing the Black on means TV, the White one means VCR and the Grey one means DVD player.
I'm going to suggest "mug". It seems to have gone unused since the 40's--"Hey, you mug!"--so we might as well dust it off. Plus, it suggests "Muggles".
One man's -1 Flamebait is another man's +5 Funny.
... you can do your average family's house for 1/3 of that maybe less... these are not geeks/audiophiles/experts we are talking about by definition... wal-mart and kmart grade stuff would do the job... or generic taiwanese stuff... come on people be realistic!
[what?]
As a geek who has set up AV and computer systems for 'average' family members, I've found that getting the thing working is by far the easy part.
It's when you say goodbye and leave the house that the problems start happining. Computer drivers become muddled. Wifi networks magically stop connecting. Stereo settings become off.
And you end up dreding answering your phone because you're going to have to do tech support.
To the average person, keeping a hi tech setup in good working order is difficult. (My stereo doesn't work. After hours of troubleshooting over the phone, you discover it's because they hit the 'a' speaker button while cleaning the recevier).
Keeping a computer system in top condition is even harder. "Of course I clicked on that attachment. It said it was from microsoft and it would clean the virus out of my computer".
The Internet is generally stupid
I was bored this summer and bought like 4 or 5 low-end DVD players to see which really is the best and could play VCD/SVCD/XSVCD/wmv and my findings were in general, cheaper was better.
/rant off
My friend has an expensive Toshiba piece of crap which only plays SVCDs and barely at that, it doesn't even attempt to play any other format.
My parents thinking they were smart or something.. went out to get the cheapo APEX/MinTek and thought they'd get the next model up cause it looked better.. Turns out the processor is crappier and won't play any VCD/SVCD without major artifacts.
The latest to market cheapo has the latest asian low-end technology to bring cost down and end up playing more formats and doing a better job. Oh, and *SCREW* Sony if you want it to play anything other than DRM, special-branded media, licensed DVDs from your region.
The qualifications of these "geeks" seems questionable. It sounds more like they had typical executives from technology companies (an IT executive at Time Inc., A former CTO, and an audio store owner) calling shots in their standard fashion:
1. Buy expensive things based on the brochures,
2. Yell when the standard lack any due diligence or research left them in a jam,
3. Demand a bonus for staying on the sinking ship! / Get the geeks to come up with a workable interim kludge. -- omitted
However, in this case, they didn't have actual geeks to pick up any slack. And, they also were forced to omit their core competency of writing memos "We are excited to announce the strategic alliance with $VENDOR! We will be rolling out $BROKEN_PRODUCT beginning next month!"