Monthly Archives: January 2016

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The Ballad of the AlphaSmart Neo

A while back I lamented the fact that I was having some difficulties with transcription and writing. All that was the result of not being able to use the computer as much as I’d like. Anyway, the post was really touched off by a tweet from the fabulous Sarah Griff about something that could’ve been a solution, an interesting piece of technology called Hemingwrite (which seems to have since been renamed “Freewrite”) which is basically a machine dedicated to writing and only writing, something to allow some of the benefits of electric writing without all the distractions available on computers.

It wasn’t available yet and even if it was, it was a bit pricey. I wanted something “more than a typewriter, less than a computer” and I wanted it now (by which I mean then) but little did I know something like that already existed.

Quite how I came upon the AlphaSmart Neo I don’t exactly remember but I think it was in the course of researching a story about a retro present which led me to looking up what used to be called notebook computers. The term has became more or less synonymous with laptops but apparently originally referred to things that looked like keyboards with LCD screens instead of the familiar clam-shell laptop design.

They were early mobile computers, around before laptops as we know them really took off. Something of a descendant appeared in the early part of the century in the form of the Neo (I’m not aiming at a comprehensive history here, I know there was a somewhat similar model called Dana but the evolution of those things I’m not entirely clear on). They were originally aimed at the educational market as writing devices that were cheaper than computers. Along the way though, writers discovered them. AlphaSmart stopped making them in 2013 though used ones are still around and I got my hands on one. It was fairly awesome.

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My Neo amidst all the crap on my desk (camera still terrible)

It’s a simple piece of technology and for me that’s part of its charm. It’s just a keyboard and a screen with arrows for navigation. It does all the basic word processing functions. Microsoft Word it is not and that’s okay, I just wanted something to write with, I could edit elsewhere, files can be sent to computer via USB. It’s not perfect but it works pretty well, it’s lighter than a laptop and considerably cheaper. Getting it was something of a relief; it solved a lot of problems.

There was something about the keyboard though. Mostly it worked fine but it did have a tendency at times to double letters on occasion, something easily fixed by deleting the extra letter though it was slightly annoying. And then another problem cropped up. It first showed up when I was writing the “Nightfall” post. I don’t remember the exact order of events but at some point or other, several keys stopped working. Occasional bugs had popped up before so I put it aside and wrote on paper a while, returning to find it still not working correctly…It took me a while to conclude it might be a permanent malfunction. It’s worth noting (again?) I am quite the procrastinator so while I looked a little to see if the problem was correctable I meant to look more and haven’t really done so. So maybe there are solutions out there…but I’m not so sure. As I said, AlphaSmart stopped making the things and while I think there is some level of support for them I’m not incredibly optimistic.

You might wonder (or not) what I’ve been doing since this whole problem cropped up. More on that next week when I talk of searching and replacing and periods.
-AK

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Francisco X. Alarcón

The phone was ringing when I learned of Francisco Alarcón’s death late last Sunday. The news was on KQED radio, my dad was on the phone, it was a strange moment. I’d heard a while back Francisco Alarcón was ailing so it wasn’t a complete shock but still I was saddened. Like many poets/authors he was someone I haven’t read much of though I would like to. I heard him read at Voz Sin Tinta in July and I’d heard of him before that. There is much to be said of his life and career but others have done so far better than I could.

When I think about that night at Voz, I remember an air of great warmth about him, in his reading and afterward and I remember one poem in particular, one about about the time–if it can be called time–after the end of the universe. The end of existence―my own and the end of existence itself―disturb me greatly but that poem in very few words described the spent remains of matter and energy dreaming of all of this, all that existed. He put it beautifully and that made me see that kind of ultimate, inescapable end in a different light which really touched me.

After he read I got ready to leave and went over to say goodbye to a friend who was talking to him. I wanted to say something about that poem, about his reading. Up close I felt that same warmth but somehow I didn’t manage to get those thoughts out and I still wish I had…all these intersections in life are rare and special in their own ways. It feels sometimes like there’s nothing to say other than that you liked someone’s poem and yet I do think it’s important, not that doing so will change anyone’s life but if it’s real I think it’s good to show that appreciation.

Thinking of that poem, it’s hard not to think about death and what it means. To extend Francisco Alarcón’s metaphor a bit, aren’t all of our lives dreams of the cosmos? We stand back from it all for a few decades and think and watch write, sing, dance, to speak and then return to that from which we came. We remember, we dream of those who are gone, perhaps they dream of us but in any case, many will remember Francisco Alarcón.