Bypass the tech arms race with a notebook

Grab an old notebook and be yourself.

OpeAI is now responsible for a RAM shortage that looks like it could continue into 2027. Computers already cost more due to tariffs. NVIDIA and other GPU manufacturers are making year over year record profits. Apple, Google and others saw this coming and began producing their own CPUs with integrated graphics to manage supply, reduce reliance on third parties and protect their revenue.

Well, you don’t need all that. You can grab an old notebook, that one gathering dust on a shelf, and blog on paper, for your eyes and perhaps if you desire snap a photo and upload it as a post to your own blog. Running on your own old server, maybe that old laptop, maybe a web host, like this one running ClassicPress, WordPress, Drupal or whatever you like.

For this post I chose to quickly transcribe it on my eight year old laptop, post it to my blog, free of an algorithm. No invasive ads and data collection, no endless scroll of clickbait. But you, you don’t need to be part of the wasteful tech arms race of 2026. You can think for yourself, and write something in a notebook, keep it private or post it online too.

Reza Abedini

Spent the afternoon reviewing graphic designers and came across Reza Abedini. I love his high contrast use of background elements mixed with typography.

Spent the afternoon reviewing graphic designers and came across Reza Abedini. I love his high contrast use of background elements mixed with typography.

Articles of inspiration

As inspiration for Cal Poly Pomona’s cybersecurity event

  • Thumb print with a meta data overlay, mixing analog identity and digital identity.
  • A photograph of a person, with meta data, Think of CCTV tracking or a venue that uses photos and video for event ticketing. A person has this massive amount of information jammed over their actual image making it nearly impossible to read but somehow usable information for surveillance technologies. Below is a 5 minute draft.
quick pen sketch of a person covered with metadata.
A pen sketch of a person covered with metadata.