Freedbacking

9:30 PM Tuesday, July 11, 2006

[Free feedback for Apple Computer]

Being a blogger, I had planned to attend Bloggercon IV, the fourth mega-event for bloggers, held in San Francisco, which for me is only a quick trip away over the Bay Bridge. As, it turned out, however, I couldn't go due to conflicting social events. Or so I thought. Because, you see, I actually could go, since Bloggercon IV was an unconference, meaning that the medium was the message, or more specifically, the participants were the agenda. Discussion leaders encouraged attendees to speak into microphones, and the discussions were then published as podcasts, for all to hear, including me. And one of the things that I heard, in a podcast, was a word coined by Chris Pirillo, creator of the Lockergnome phenomenon and high-tech Renaissance man. The word was freedbacking, to be used (I think) as a tag for web content in which users give free feedback to developers and hardware manufacturers. This post to Jonathan's Coffeeblog is intended, then, as a freedbacking gift to Apple Computer.

Why, you might ask, would I be freedbacking to Apple about the MacBook when I am the proud owner of an iBook G4 purchased about a year ago? Excellent question. The answer is that I bought a new MacBook about a week ago. Elsewhere I mentioned about the problems I have had with recurrent directory corruption on the iBook, and the iBook, as I understand it, is right now on its way back from its third trip to the Apple Depot, a sort of Lourdes where sick computers are miraculously cured. Or not. I have complete confidence that sooner or later my year-old iBook will be working again, or even replaced by Apple, but at this moment I have other fish to fry, and the fish, in this case have to do with the sharp edges on the MacBook case.

There is a theory that the sharp edges are actually a feature, not a bug, since they purportedly prevent carpal tunnel syndrome by discouraging users from resting their wrists on the edge of the laptop case. There is another theory that they are a serious design flaw in what is otherwise a really cool, and fast, laptop. Now if I was one of those people out there with perfect posture who never, ever rest their wrists on the edge of a laptop case, I probably would know nothing about the sharp edges. Being, however, an ornery cuss, I use my laptop at cafes where the tabletops are too high for good posture, and I habitually rest whatever parts of my body can be rested on any available support, so I do not have good posture. The sharp edges, consequently, have rapidly become an irritant, although no blood has ever been drawn and no sutures ever needed. I duly solved the sharp edge problem by purchasing a foot and a half of 1 and 1/4-inch clear plastic tubing, which I cut horizontally to fit over the sharp edge, with a cutout for the trackpad clicker. The result is shown in the image above, along with a cartoon depiction of Chris Pirillo, freedbacking evangelist, which was purloined from his website. Although I am not expecting Apple to read this blogpost, necessarily, I will hazard a prediction that Apple's next version of the MacBook case will have less irritating, yet still insanely elegant, edges. The Age of Freedbacking has arrived.

More Links: Freedbacking Bloggercon Chris Pirillo MacBook Sharp Edges

Images: Freedbacking MacBook Bugs

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