The Tool Man Turns Techie
The tool belt Tim Allen wore during his stand-up comedian career and on one of the biggest sitcom hits of the 1990s, “Home Improvement,” was not just an affectation--Allen is truly fascinated by gadgets ranging from carburetors to computers. Last week, he quietly showed up at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco to take in Steve Jobs’ keynote address and see the latest in Apple products.
He most recently starred in the good-natured “Star Trek” spoof “Galaxy Quest” and was the voice of Buzz Lightyear in “Toy Story 2,” and he has finished shooting two films to come out this year. He also has a line of signature tools and employs a shop crew to build hot rod cars in a garage on the first floor of the building in Burbank that houses his production company.
Allen, 47, has written two books: “Don’t Stand Too Close to a Naked Man,” based on his women-don’t-understand-men stand-up persona, and the somewhat more serious “I’m Not Really Here,” which delves into his interest in Eastern religions and metaphysics.
DESKTOP: I’m kind of a nut about these things. I’ve got an awful lot of computers.
Q. And they are all Macintoshes?
I think so. I had never been to one of those Macworld meetings before, and at first it was humorous to me--all those people cheering whenever Steve [Jobs] said anything. But I got swept up in it. They make great products.
Q. You’re friends with Jobs, who is notoriously secretive. Did he tell you about the titanium laptop or other new products he was going to introduce?
He gave me little hints. I’m not going to tell you what he told me because then he would never talk to me again. It was just enough to tease me.
Q. What’s your current computer count?
In my speed shop in Burbank, I’ve got a G4 dual processor--that’s where I do my Photoshop art as a hobby. I have a big interest in graphic arts. In the production office, everyone has iMacs.
At home in my office in the basement, I’ve got a G4 Cube, which is a great idea, although once it has all those wires sticking out of it, it’s not so cool anymore. I also have one of the 20th-anniversary special-edition Macs that’s all ramped up.
And everything is networked together with a G4 we use as a server.
LAPTOP: I keep a G3 500-megahertz PowerBook with me at all times. It’s loaded. I have AirPort [Apple’s wireless network connection] in my house, and it’s linked up to my office. The only thing missing is a telephone--I’d like my PowerBook to also be a phone.
HAND-HELD: A Palm V. But I just use it for the address book, not for the calendar. If I used it to keep track of the things I have to do, I’d never be sure it was current. I’d like it better if it could hook up to my cellular phone, and then automatically check on changes in my schedule.
Q. You keep your schedule on the laptop?
Yes. That’s one of the reasons they are networked, so my assistant can keep it updated. Also, that means there is always a duplicate, somewhere. I’ve been robbed twice, and besides the personal violation, it meant having to somehow re-create all the information again. Now there are backups.
BOOKMARKED SITES: I don’t do a lot of surfing unless I’m doing research for a project. But looking at the computer, I do have a lot of sites bookmarked.
There is the Society for the Study of Metaphysical Religion [https://www.websyte.com/alan/ssmr.htm] and its New Thought movement page that is about the power of prayer. I also look at sites about the Kabala.
There are a lot of Macintosh fix-it pages, Dean & Deluca foods [https://www.deandeluca.com] and EHobbies [https://www.ehobbies.com], which is a wonderful site with equipment for a whole assortment of hobbies.
The Web is like a giant card catalog to me. You can’t say, “I can’t find it” anymore.
CELL PHONE: A Nextel. I wish someone would come out with a PDA/cell phone combination with a screen that was useful.
FAVORITE TECH TOY: I’d have to say my PowerBook. There are so many things you can do with it. I took my kid to CERN [the European Organization for Nuclear Research, where the structure of atoms is studied] in Switzerland last year where I shot some digital video, and on the way home I edited it on the PowerBook. It was just great.
Q. Are there drawbacks to all these digital tools?
When you get down to it, all you need to do business is a yellow pad and an answering machine. We were talking just the other day about what our lives would be like without Federal Express--now we use it just like the mail. And of course, e-mail is now such a part of our lives.
The tricky part is that all these changes come on so subtly that you have to be careful how they affect your life.
We use these tools to be more efficient, but then we just fill up the time with more work instead of spending it with our families or doing other things.
I’ll tell you one thing I’m doing: I am moving my office at home from the basement up to near the kitchen because that’s where the family is. I figure, if I am on the computer and my kid is demanding my attention, I damn well better get off the computer.
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--As told to DAVID COLKER
