"‘Goodbye!’ AOL Instant Messenger is signing off for good" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff October 06, 2017
For people who hadn’t used AIM in years, the announcement brought forth a rush of nostalgia, and some even conjured up their old screen names and logged in for old time’s sake.
Reactivating an AIM account is like cleaning out a box in your parents’ attic. Some of the stuff is familiar, some of it embarrassing, and some of it only vaguely recognizable.
Beyond the specific memories of any one mothballed account, the format of AIM brings back recollections of a time when the service was a primary way for young people to create a digital version of their personality.
AIM screen names were often carefully chosen and sometimes overwrought reflections of how young users wished to be seen. And the away messages people used when they were offline were often melodramatic statements about what they were thinking or doing.
“AIM was our first chance to not only put ourselves on near-constant display but also offer a livestream into our lives: status updates on whether we were doing homework, who we were in a fight with, or when we would ‘brb,’ ” said Travis Dagenais, 31, of South Boston.
“In hindsight, it was the first ushering of a fast-bite style of communication; but I relate to AIM with so much nostalgia because of its singularity,” he said. “Back then, you didn’t feel a need to post updates ‘across platforms’ — you just put it on your away message. A simple and singular entry point into a brave new world of communication.”
Anna Rutenbeck, 23, of Jamaica Plain, said she grew up in a rural area and made many friends online through a writing group who communicated through AIM.
“I have clear memories of getting home as fast as I could to log on to AIM and talk to my friends who didn’t go to my school,” she said. “I was building real connections at the time, and I was doing it in a way that wasn’t controlled by my parents or by school. And the connections and friendships that I built on AIM have lasted me.”
--more--"
It's on to a new Endeavor:
"Mass. robot company wins big military contract" by Andy Rosen Globe Staff October 06, 2017
Endeavor Robotics, the military and security business that broke off of iRobot Corp. in 2016, said Friday that it had won a US Army contract that could pay it up to $158 million to provide robots designed to sniff out explosives and other dangerous materials.
The contract calls for the Chelmsford-based company to furnish the Army with up to 1,200 of the robots. The devices weigh about 165 pounds, use tracks to travel, and will be more capable and rugged than the military’s existing fleet built for similar purposes, according Sean Bielat, Endeavor’s chief executive.
“These robots literally save lives. They keep a soldier, or a sailor, or a marine from putting on an explosives suit and going downrange to a place where there could be explosives, or secondary threats like snipers,” Bielat said.....
Little late, aren't you?
--more--"
Related: Two arrested in Roxbury shooting that hurt guards near set of Denzel Washington movie
Turns out that which appears in my pre$$ is all staged and orchestrated fiction or agenda-pushing agitprop -- a defective scope, if you will.
