NYT Magazine article about a piece of software that keeps you offline
…an app called Freedom, which blocks your Internet access for up to eight hours at a stretch. The only way to get back online is to reboot your computer, which — though not as foolproof as, say, removing the modem entirely and overnighting it to yourself (another strategy I’ve contemplated) — is cumbersome and humiliating enough to be an effective deterrent. The program was developed by Fred Stutzman, a graduate student in information and library science, whose own failsafe self-binding technique — writing at a cafe without Internet access — came undone when the place went wireless. “We’re moving toward this era where we’ll never be able to escape from the cloud,” he told me. “I realized the only way to fight back was at an individual, personal level.”
“Freedom, which runs only on Macs” — ha!
ha, ha,… see, having a pc that crashes and reboots is a plus.. who’s laughing, now?
What a wimp!
Lack of self control or what!
We all have to have some level of control, if you’re supposed to be working stick to things that are work related in worktime (like Lisnews!), other times use some common sense.
Very good, almost
Self control? Supposed to? Common sense? C’mon…
I love the idea and plan on looking into it. However, the ideal situation would be that it would ban internet use except for certain sites that are necessary for whatever you’re “supposed to” be working on – the UTL website for example and sites that provide articles. Even your regular hotmail is probably justified. I’m sure this isn’t a difficult addition – perhaps it’s even an option (I’ve yet to investigate the app). But it would be no different than public computers that stop you from visiting certain sites.
Umm…
Rebooting a computer is “cumbersome and humiliating”??
Software to keep you offline
This is called a vacation. I need one.