The geeks inheirit the earth and your HDTV setup, too

Steve Safran January 29th, 2007

Good piece on 60 Minutes last night. Nominally, it was about the “Geek Squad,” an interesting story in itself. (Started by one guy, eventually bought out by Circuit City Best Buy. Also- why they wear those outfits.) But the excellent reporter Steve Kroft took the story a step beyond, to examine how computers are taking over our lives - and why they are so damned confusing. Best bit: Northwestern professor Dr. Donald Norman, who helped set HDTV’s technological standards, had to hire a geek to set up his own HDTV. “Someone complained to me, ‘You’d need a degree, an engineering degree from MIT, to work this damn thing’…Well, I have an engineering degree from MIT. And I couldn’t work it.” (Video is on story’s page.)

6 Comments Add your own

  • 1. Tobey Cook  |  January 29th, 2007 at 8:15 am

    Geek Squad is owned by Best Buy, not Circuit City. Just a clarification.

  • 2. Vinny  |  January 29th, 2007 at 8:26 am

    I was gonna say that was quite a coup seeing as they’re in every Best Buy store :-)

  • 3. thedetroitchannel  |  January 29th, 2007 at 9:59 am

    safran, tell us you knew that, and were just setting the stage for a follow-up. please!

    i would have jumped on this right away, but i figured you had something up your sleeve… (one of those short sleeves like the geeks wear - btw)

  • 4. Steve Safran  |  January 29th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

    Only a geek would have noticed that… :)

  • 5. Adam Cobb  |  February 6th, 2007 at 8:06 am

    I recently found this site, http://www.fixya.com, who happen to save all of us facing these horrible tech problems. It a user to user tech support community with coverage on most products out there.

    worth checking.

  • 6. Original Agent  |  February 6th, 2007 at 11:56 am

    I once remember Robert speaking his wisdom to us before he sold to Best Buy (circa 2001) and said, “working here is just a stepping stone - I mean, you have the idiots at Best Buy, then you work your ass off and you come work here. Then one day you get a real job.”

    So we still sit around and laugh that Robert took a step BACK - not a step forward. While we all went on and got “Real jobs”.

    He turned his back on a lot of great people when he sold out to Best Buy. But what does he care - he is a VP at Best Buy with a guranteed income.

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