Spoke before a small crowd at a Temple in Bennington, Vt. to raise some money for Vermont flood relief. Have no interviews or talks set up for this week except for a talk and signing next Saturday at 2 p.m. at Barnes & Noble, Saratoga Springs. I’m doing some appearances over Christmas – Dec. 2 at Battenkill Books, 2 p.m., and also 2 p.m. December 10 at Northshire Books, Manchester, Vt. Otherwise, time to make a turn.

I’m thinking these days about technology and how to use it. I am an advocate for technology, and it has worked for me, but some days it seems it will engulf me. Reading about Steve Jobs has made me also realize that Apple has piled so many things and programs into its devices that something seems to wrong with them every day. I spent a lot of time trying to sort out connectivity, Iphone and other software issues and I realize how dependent I have become on Apple, and how little I know about what is inside of these machines.

I’ve been writing about technology for some years, and I know that one of the great schisms in the technology world is between the Apple philosophy of a closed system that  shuts the user out of much knowledge of how it works, and the open ethos of much of the hacker/geek culture which opens hardware and software up to the world. Lots of people understand PC’s but only Apple techs can fix Apple products. Apple controls every facet of its devices. This is the system Steve Jobs devised and that has worked so successfully.

The irony for the Apple users – people like me  – is that we use these creative tools without ever knowing how they work. You can’t even change a battery in an Iphone or Ipad and only Apple techs in California or at Apple Stores can repair them. I had Apple computers for 20 years and never once called tech support. I’ve been to the Apple Store in Albany a half dozen times this year and on the phone many more times than that.  I’m doing a lot of things on these devices – writing books, managing photos, music, addresses and appointments. There’s now a lot of stuff to go wrong, a lot of software to overpower a computer. A lot of confusion and some anxiety. This is new for me.

This week I’ve been sorting out mail issues, connectivity and satellite, Itunes software problems, and last night, troubles with the phone. This is not a complaint. I chose to use these devices and I have to figure out how to live with them and keep them in balance with my life. Tomorrow I hope to write about the Steve Jobs biography, which I found both riveting and disturbing. I’m wondering if I’m not too dependent on one increasingly complicated thing. And if there is anything resembling a good alternative.

Looks like I’ll be heading to Albany this week too.