[elky] Re: Got a smart phone
- From: John Christensen <johncgg@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2010 06:45:44 -0500
Good stuff.
Enjoy life for what it is, and the conveniences are a bonus. I make my life
revolve around them less every day.
JC
133d0d2310
---
John Christensen
1984 El Camino "Elkenstein" 350 TBI
NECOA #042 http://www.myelcamino.net
Saint Charles, IL
133d0d2310
On Sun, Mar 28, 2010 at 7:03 PM, Dann Keller <kwhale22@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I couldn't agree more with what Mary said. Just because someone thinks up
> a new app doesn't mean we all need it. The hype on TV especially for some
> of these things is to sell product. Selling unneeded things to people has
> been part of the sales game since the age of the travelling peddler.
>
> I bought a low-end laptop and still don't need 95% of what it can do or its
> capacity. So what? I use what I need and don't worry about the rest. Same
> for the cell phone; I make calls (and text only because our granddaughter
> texts us when we're traveling.)
>
> None of us can keep up with the pace of technology; so be it. I heard
> recently that most general practioner doctors were at least five years
> behind the curve on new knowledge in medicine, but at least my doctor
> doesn't use blood draining to "release the bad humors that afflict my soul".
>
> I'm thinking that Ray does more in a day than I do in a week; I can live
> with that and I wish he'd cut back a little for his sake. I'm thinking
> maybe I ought to join Frank back in the hills (or at least venture up in the
> hills behind Mary or Rick; really nice country back there.)
>
> From my standpoint personal computers and wireless phones are still
> conveniences to make live easier, not to complicate it.
>
> Dan
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 09:10:24 -0700
> From: printces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> To: elky@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [elky] Re: Got a smart phone
>
> I wouldn't give up. I think it's kinda like kids in school - they see that
> this kid has this and that kid has that, so your kids think they should have
> both. Most of us don't need every gadget, but it increases sales a lot when
> one gadget does for everyone. No phone should have a 160 page manual in
> multiple languages. I have a cell phone. I use to to make phone calls.
> that's it. I find having the numbers programmed in is very helpful, but it
> means I don't know anyone's phone number anymore. I don't think anyone is
> expected to know how to use every feature on every gadget.
>
>
> I'm finding this new computer immensely frustrating. fiddled most of
> yesterday with photos. Dan disabled the mouse pad at the bottom because I
> kept hitting it as I typed. wheeeee
>
> I think we all need to accept that we don't need to use or understand every
> feature. That its there for someone who does have that unique need.
>
> keep taking those vitamins, but I think alzheimers is either environmental
> or hereditary. My mother was dingy, but she always was, it just got more
> extreme as she aged. what would have been considered a psych disorder when
> she was 30 was suddenly Alzheimers because she was older. She also
> gobbled calcium tablets like candy back in the 60's. Turns out they had
> lead in them. And cooked in aluminum pans scraping off the aluminum into
> the food every time she stirred it. Then along came non-stick coatings and
> she scraped those down to bare metal, too.
>
> I also think if you keep your brain busy it won't wear out. the old "use
> it or lose it." I'm more worried about keeping up with you, than you losing
> it. Everyone forgets things (too much crap in the storage facility and you
> can't find anything). I'm amazed you do as much as you do and have come so
> far in the few years since you picked up your old camera and headed out to
> the track.
>
> and even our son who grew up on the net has to go searching for answers to
> my computer problems sometimes, so don't think you are supposed to know
> everything. That's why we have gadgets - it's a vicious circle.
>
> I think if you can use a gadget to do what you need done, that's enough.
>
> take a break.
>
> Mary
>
>
>
> As I wrote a while back, I decided to get a "smart phone." I dunno...maybe
> it wasn't such a smart idea. The learning curve is approximately
> vertical. It's a Motorola Cliq. It's an "Android" phone which means that
> it 1) isn't a Mac (good thing,) 2) runs an OS based on a Linux kernel and
> for numbers three thru forty-eleven, has a bunch of applications available
> for it, many of which are open-source (this makes a big difference to me
> over an iPhone) and this one has a discrete keyboard, but much of the
> control is done with touchpad control on the LCD screen and there's a lot
> more.
>
> The main reason I decided to buy it is to have a way of showing my
> photography to prospective customers and to use as a tether, in essence a
> cellular or 3G modem for my laptop instead of that awful thing I used last
> year on the salt that required a reboot every 2 hours, generally when a real
> fast car or bike was making a run. I've been working on slide shows and
> screen savers and I'd like to be able to show those as well.
>
> I don't need the GPS (I just bought a Garmin for the Burb) or the camera
> (who needs a 5 megapixel camera when ya got one camera with 10 and another
> with 18?)
>
> After messing with it most of the evening, I was able to make an update to
> my FaceBook account from the phone, through the laptop, via my local wifi
> net, through the linux server, and over the DSL line. I think I forgot
> "over the river and through the woods."
>
> And, strangely enough, I can make phone calls with it.
>
> But the rest of the stuff...holy shit. I've been able to connect it as a
> USB device and copy files to it, but once they're "there"...well, I have yet
> to figure out how to access 'em from the phone's touch screen controls.
>
> Here's where I find myself in a quandary. For most of my adult life, I've
> been relatively close to the bleeding edge of technology...not exactly out
> in front, but well-acquainted enough to help other folks who seem to have
> trouble with technology...one of my friends refers to himself as a
> "technotard." I've always told myself that I'd never allow said self to get
> to that "technologically-disadvantaged" state. But this frikkin phone makes
> me wonder.
>
> I didn't grow up playing Nintendo games. Hell, I was writing simple games
> on a TI-99 when they first came out, then on a Commodore-64 and had one of
> the first 286 chip/hard drive-based PCs available. But my "learning
> experience" came from the top down rather than the bottom up like the kids
> who can handle a remote controller before they can walk. Well, maybe not
> that much, but you get the point. It's like the "dub wheels" thing. It's
> my opinion that they became popular because they looked (in the beginning)
> like Hot Wheels cars, which became popular shortly befor my children were
> born. I guess you could say that I wasn't "socialized with advanced
> technology" at the root level.
>
> So here I sit with a whole buncha highly technical stuff (an old
> acquaintance once called me a "technophile" and I countered by calling him a
> Luddite), but still I feel like I'm just on the event horizon of losing
> touch with current stuff. I have this fear that once I lose touch, I'll be
> sucked into the black hole of old-fogey-itis. Then I'll never get back.
> But is is worth it? I think it is to me at this time, because I need to use
> technology to further the photography and web development stuff, since I
> have no idea if I'll have an income when I hit the age of 65, 2.5 years from
> now. I guess this old dog's gotta learn new tricks.
>
> However, this whole concept was shaken when a friend of mine (nearing the
> age of 80) said that he could no longer read instruction manuals; he
> couldn't even enjoy reading a novel because by the time he got to chapter 3,
> he couldn't remember what had happened in chapter 1. Now this guy has a
> very good education, worked in a field that required him to stay current
> with advances in many fields and in general is a very sharp dude. But this
> statement was like a kick to the gut. Is this what lies ahead for me? A
> complete loss of something that's been an underlying theme for virtually my
> entire life? That scares me much more than death. Hell, I've been
> terrified of Alzheimer's Disease for a long time (as has my sister, who just
> turned 60) and I'm even trying some new "supplements" in hopes of either
> staving off or reversing the memory problems I already have as the result of
> heart disease. So not only do I have the fear of AD, but now the statement
> that my friend made has added another brick in the wall, so to speak.
>
> I guess the only thing that can be done is to keep on keepin on. Maybe
> I'll wander away from my house one day and never come back...except for the
> fact that I now have 2 GPS devices. :) I may not know where I am, but I'll
> never be lost...or vice-versa.
>
> Ok. I need something to soothe me into blissful slumber. I think a NASCAR
> race on my DVR will act very nicely as a soporific. But even that's high
> tech: satellite HDTV, digital video recorder on a 48" screen with stereo
> sound routed through an amp to external speakers. Maybe I otta pick up
> those drum sticks Rick D mentioned the other day and go find an animal skin
> to stretch over a wooden frame and return to the stone age through
> percussion.
>
> I give up.
>
> r
>
> --
> Sent from my Dreadnought using that barely tolerable Thunderbird email program
>
>
>
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