This beautifully written 2023 article by Lucas Winzenburg in Bikepacking captures the flavor of my 17,000-mile adventure from the technological and cultural perspective of 40 years down the road. It has sparked considerable discussion and a few interview requests about digital nomad history, and I am honored to provide this link to the source. The…

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Here in late 2022, as a sort of technomadic swan song, I have embarked on a new adventure in mobile geekery. There will be no pedaling this time, nor is this another floating extravaganza of boat hacking and nautical gizmology. Instead, I’m creating a 48-foot mobile laboratory packed with the tools of my trade… digitizing…

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Shelter Publications has been producing dreamy wish books of tiny homes and efficient nomadic tools since 1973, and if you have ever fantasized about taking off in a home on wheels, you almost certainly know his work. Rolling Homes is Lloyd Kahn’s latest volume, published in August 2022, and I am delighted that it includes…

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This site in Spain posted a story about my digitizing activities, and quite surprised me with a flurry of web traffic and a few inquiries about home movie archives. According to Google Translate, the title reads, “The veteran technomad who could digitize any audio, video, film or photo format.” Since this is such a good…

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Steven Roberts portrait with console background

By Kelley Balcomb-Bartok Journal of the San Juan Islands July 19, 2022 Located in an unassuming building in Friday Harbor is a magical place inhabited by a wizard of technology bringing history back to life for clients and friends. Steven K. Roberts is his name, digitizing old films, videos and slides is his game. Harbor…

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It is a treat, here in late 2021, to see this article make a splash on that newfangled “social media.” How far we’ve come in a third of a century… with the essential tools to enable a truly mobile lifestyle now in every pocket and backpack. When I took off on a “computerized recumbent bicycle”…

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by Steven K. Roberts Friday Harbor, Washington As this paleo-technomad pushes seventy (!) there have been a few reminders of mortality… not to mention a noticeable reluctance to go gallivanting up hills every time I need something. This has become more of an issue lately with a little medical distraction, so my first solution, given…

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Steven K. Roberts Friday Harbor, Washington June 8, 2021 Long-time readers of these technomadic tales know my history… including nearly a decade wandering 17,000 miles around the United States on a computerized recumbent bicycle. There were three versions of this high-tech machine from 1983 to 1991, whereupon I donated the bike to the Computer History…

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by Steven K. Roberts updated January 10, 2023 currently 27 pieces Latest updates: Gabriel does an IDU run with a smuggled VR headset, we turn up a 1934 pulp sci-fi magazine with a story from the Pit of Immolation, and we chat with Salvo the Unmerciful (author of Brutal Arrows). There is also a book…

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Over the years, there has been one stylistic constant in my pursuit of übergeekery: equipment consoles. It started one 1964 afternoon in Louisville, when this skinny 12-year-old electronics-obsessed geeklet got a peek at how the big boys do it. Via a ham radio friend, I had wangled an invitation to visit the avionics maintenance shop…

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