S3 Magazine // Issue 45

Caution: We bite!
EDITORIAL
THE INTEGRATION GAME
EDITORIAL + DESIGN
Editor
Director of Operations
Jonathan Wooley
jwooley@s3mag.com
Yousef Alvi
yalvi@s3mag.com
Art Director
Assistant Editors
Graphic Design
Web Editor
Contributors
Director of Advertising
Guy Haynie
ghaynie@s3mag.com
Joe Gustafson
jgustafson@s3mag.com
Ross Huber
ross@s3mag.com
Alexander Grant
agrant@s3mag.com
Joe Coville
jcoville@s3mag.com
Ron Baugh
Eric Chang
Jaron Cole
Andy Eineichner
Clayton Hooker
Brady Lankford
Leonard Mayorquin
Sinh Nguyen
Conner Norris
David Otero
Paul Runge
J. Tony Serna
Danny Spittery
Brian Wagner
Jonathan Walker
Ben Whiles
Rob Wilkinson
ADVERTISING + SALES
Mike Sanders
msanders@s3mag.com
S3 MAGAZINE
P.O. Box 1536 • Loganville, GA 30052
s3mag.com
OF THE
COMPOUNDS FOR STREET, TRACK, OR RACE
Here’s something to think about.
Electronics USED to be an easy & independent thing. Right?
They weren’t all integrated.
Back in the 80’s for example, if you had a boom box, that thing would bang out
beats until the speakers blew… or until your mom backed over it with her car. But
in most scenarios, we’re talking decades! Heck - I bet most of your parents STILL
have an old 80’s/90’s radio, humming along in the garage or basement.
That boom box delivered music. Pure, enjoyable, epic, music… nothing else. It
was a one-solution device, to satisfy one desire.
It had nothing to do with your cordless phone on the wall. It had nothing to do
with your damn TV, or your camera… or your encyclopedia, or your map, or your
thermometer, or your calculator. It didn’t count your friggin steps.
It didn’t run off a world-wide network. It didn’t require updates. It didn’t talk to
the stars.
It just… played music.
But now, as we’re approaching the 3rd decade of the 21st century, just look at the
way we’ve all FREELY given up our FREEDOM to technology.
These days???
These days technology controls us… we no longer control it.
And that’s so real… that the younger people reading this mag can’t even relate
to what I’m saying.
The big players in the tech world have figured out how to make consumers totally
DEPENDENT on their devices. Manipulation. The play is in full swing at this point,
and we took our eye off the ball. They have integrated everything. To the point
where…
Apple creates a new phone.
They charge $1000 for it.
People who barely make over $1000 per month… buy it.
They remove - a headphone jack.
And now, you’re stuck HAVING to buy new bluetooth devices, iHomes, headphones,
cases, ‘dongles’ (wtf), car adapters, etc, etc.
Apple/Android sends ‘an update’, which inevitably becomes ‘a required update’.
And poof, the update mysteriously crashes 25% of the phones on the spot, another
25% suddenly can’t hold a charge… and the rest of the people realize they now
need to go buy a new computer or it’s never going to sync with their ‘updated’
phone again.
Oh - and the new phone WATCHES you. That’s not creepy.
Oh - and you pay $80/month to use it.
And keep in mind, NONE of this was broken. None of it! But it just all became
obsolete at the snap of a finger. Inoperable trash after a year or 2… because
Apple/Android made a change.
Listen, I know this is a give & take 2-way street, and it’s true that we’ve gained so
much more than we’ve lost. But I feel like what we’ve lost, is critical. People don’t
‘look up’ anymore. The power has transitioned from the ‘wallets-of-the-people’…
to the manufacturers. And it can be argued, that they’re abusing that power, and
dubbing it ‘innovation’.
Innovation is great, but it should be fostered… not forced.
And yeah - we can also argue that “Nobody’s making anyone buy a phone."
BUT - we have created a consumer-driven environment where it’s next-toimpossible
to socially function without one.
Our phones are astounding devices. But they’ve also been hugely blinding.
Because - what are we trading it all for?! We’ve chained ourselves, willingly &
unsuspectingly, over just a couple decades. And tech is in our pockets so deep,
that there’s hardly anything left over to enjoy the real world. (Flip to read Mike’s
take on it.)
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JONATHAN WOOLEY
EDITOR // JWOOLEY@S3MAG.COM
DBA 4000 T3 Slotted
DBA 5000 T3 Slotted
#DBAequipped
S3 Magazine (ISSN 1543-1428 is a quarterly published, independent
magazine. Our contact address is PO Box 1536, Loganville GA
30052. US subscriptions are $20 for 12 issues. Single copies
are available on our website (s3mag.com) for $4.95. Unsolicited
photos and manuscripts become the property of S3 Magazine
LLC. Copyright 2017. All rights reserved. Reproduction in
whole or in part without prior written permission is prohibited.
4 WWW.S3MAG.COM ISSUE 45 :: 2017
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ISSUE 45 :: 2017
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