Just got back from Mike Daisey's one-man show about Steve Jobs and Apple, "The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs" at the Seattle Repertory Theatre (my first time to the venue). Thanks to my buddy Sage for the ticket! (And even though I do have a black mock turtleneck and blue jeans, I avoided wearing them to tonight's (April 26) performance.)

Though there was almost nothing new to me in the historical content of the two-hour show, it was well-done and the alternation of past and present and general tone kept my interest throughout. It was trenchant prophetic critique by a self-proclaimed "fanboy"—yet not preachy—of what is happening in Shenzhen at places like Foxconn. He takes exclusive aim at Apple, though by implication, the blood is also on everyone else's hands who depends on Chinese labor for their manufacturing.

I still remember using Aldus PageMaker in 1986 in Tokyo on a Macintosh Plus, then later on Windows in the early 1990s while temping at the Veterans Benefits Administration in D.C.

I pretty much avoided ever having to use Quark Xpress.

It's been nice using InDesign in various flavors (including the Middle Eastern variant for Arabic typesetting) over the last few years and find that a lot of the interface conventions have remained consistent since the mid-1980s. Desktop publishing is not what it used to be... and in some ways is still not up to the things that metal type and skilled setters could do a hundred years ago.

If you are not currently backing up your computer, stop and ask yourself:

Can I afford to lose everything on my hard drive?

If the answer is no, then please, please, please do yourself a favor and get a backup drive and start using it ASAP. I can't tell you how many times I get calls from people who are in such distress because their hard drive is making clicking or scraping noises (which I can only refer to an expensive clean room data recovery service). I am encouraged that more and more people are using Time Machine or some other form of online backup, but it's still the minority of people I see.

So, for your convenience and consideration, I offer you links to two spacious external backup options from Western Digital, both about $100 at Amazon:

2TB WD Elements desktop drive (includes AC adapter)

1TB My Passport Essential SE portable drive (powered by included USB cable)

Isn't $100 a pittance for the peace of mind of knowing you have an up-to-date copy of your invaluable data?

(download)

Click here to download:

Not_backing_up_tag_Mac_backup.zip (145 KB)

The Mac App Store looks like it will simplify getting and maintaining software (just as we have seen it do in the iOS ecosystem).
I've downloaded and recommend, if you can use them:

• Twitter (free) 
• Courier (reduced to $4.99 from $19.99)