In the final episode of "Freaks and Geeks," the Freaks group leader Daniel Desario accepts an invitation to play Dungeons & Dragons with the notoriously geeky A/V club. Surprised by Daniel’s warm receptivity to the game, the Geeks wonders what this means for their future status. As Bill puts it: "Does him wanting to play with us again mean he's turning into a geek or we're turning into cool guys?" Sam answers, "I'm going to go for us becoming cool guys." It's a nice ambiguous note on which to end the show.

Outside the universe of "Freaks and Geeks," a similar drift has occurred. Geekiness has accrued cachet, and [...]

Whatever your feelings are about Steve Jobs, you will be better for having read this.

We’re in the era of service economy, but the image of a back room filled with people frantically working the phones to confirm transactions feels redolent of the older era of manufacturing. Of course some parts of the country and many parts of the world are still in that era; in New York however the nostalgia for that time is palpable. Coming to the store I passed a huge banner advertising the TV show 'Pan Am,' a 'Mad Men'-style spinoff celebrating America’s version of the Victorian era, starring (I was amazed to see) Christina Ricci. She once read slush for Open City, the magazine I edited, many years [...]

Today's the day, and we're covering it live!

1:03 PM: Steve Jobs takes the stage. Audience goes crazy.

1:05 PM: Jobs waits for sustained applause to end, calls crowd "suckers."

1:09 PM: Jobs shows audience a white ball attached to a white paddle via a white rubber band. Product name is "iPaddle."

1:10 PM: Audience applauds enthusiastically.

1:11 PM: Jobs: "That's right, you trend-sucking freaks, worship at my altar. I could connect two Dixie cups with a string and you'd pay extra for the privilege of advance ordering it. You sicken me."

Dear Mr. Zuckerberg,

We are writing to express our concern regarding recent changes to the Facebook privacy policy. Providing opt-in mechanisms for information sharing instead of expecting users to go through long and complicated opt-out processes is a critical step towards maintaining clarity and transparency.

Charles Schumer, April 27, 2010.

Just out of curiosity: You think Jesus got the same kind of reception at that wedding gig in Cana?

"Over two decades the quintessential Chinese factory worker has gone from earning $50 a month assembling $100 sneakers to $300 or so a month, depending on overtime, assembling $300 or so smartphones. If a Foxconn worker — given the other opportunities in life and the current no-cell-phone policy on the factory floor — was going to splurge on a smartphone, the only reason he wouldn’t buy an iPhone is that Apple products are inevitably a ripoff, which is the not-so-dirty secret of 31.5 percent operating margins.

"Because when you work in a factory, brands lose a lot of mystique."

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"He's the anchor baby of an activist Arab muslim who came to the U.S. on a student visa and had a child out of wedlock. He's a non-Christian, arugula-eating, drug-using follower of unabashedly old-fashioned liberal teachings from the hippies and folk music stars of the 60s." —This description of Steve Jobs even omits "college dropout"!

The New Yorker's "Dec. 6 issue wasn’t available on the iPad for more than 36 hours, which led several people within the ranks at Conde Nast to speculate that Apple was holding the issue hostage. But why?" Good morning! First Steve Jobs came for the weeklies, but I said nothing, because I was a monthly….

Apple PR is saying that the e-mails sent from "Steve Jobs" telling a steamed iPhone 4 user to calm down about his new device's tech issues because "it is just a phone" are fakety fake fake fake.

The late Steve Jobs is known to have been very keen on "taste." Microsoft has absolutely no taste, he said, going on to explain that by this he meant that "they don't think of original ideas, and they don't bring much culture into their product." Great products, he said, were a "triumph of taste." The exquisite taste of Jobs himself has long been a matter of doctrine in the tech world. Kevin Kelly's remarks after his death expressed the general sentiment: "Steve Jobs was a CEO of beauty. In his interviews and especially in private, Jobs often spoke about Art. Taste. Soul. Life. And he sincerely meant [...]

Who is this man? He's the anchor baby of an activist Arab muslim who came to the U.S. on a student visa and had a child out of wedlock. He's a non-Christian, arugula-eating, drug-using follower of unabashedly old-fashioned liberal teachings from the hippies and folk music stars of the 60s. And he believes in science, in things that science can demonstrate like climate change and Pi having a value more specific than "3," and in extending responsible benefits to his employees while encouraging his company to lead by being environmentally responsible.

A man named on hundreds

Here, in two minutes and 41 seconds, is a roundup of everything there is to dislike about Apple.

From the inbox: "Perhaps it's my inner conspiracy theorist, but I noticed a curious addition to the new iPad commercial. It includes, among other things, a cover of Time magazine featuring Jonathan Franzen on the cover. Now, I wouldn't think too much of this except that Franzen's new book, 'Freedom,' includes a lengthy diatribe against the iPod and the way in which music has become so commercialized (and thus intrinsically a part of the capitalist society against which so many bands 'supposedly' stand in opposition). Knowing how vindictive Steve Jobs can be, I can't help but think he intended the commercial to be a fuck you to Franzen, and [...]

"Retire, relax, enjoy your family. It is just a phone. Not worth it." — Steve Jobs (or someone claiming to be him?) tries to soothe an iPhone 4 user who is, shall we say, agitated about the device's issue with dropping calls when it isn't held in the proper way. Is Jobs' response indicative of a new "be chill, bro" marketing technique coming from Apple, or is this simply the response of someone who doesn't have to pay AT&T for lousy service and is thus more Zen about the whole idea of a somewhat expensive device actually working? Either way, it's kind of amazing how low our [...]