OT: Frightened by technology?

[Narcosynthesis]

I don't fear new technology, just most of the time the slightly older stuff does more than well enough and the new stuff costs as much and gets replaced as quickly as to make it a bit pointless to buy a fancy new giant lcd tv when the 20something inch crt does the job fine for all that I use it

I bought a lovely top of the range 20gb sony walkman a couple years ago, and it was outdated about six months after I bought it (and halved in price...) but it does what I need of it brilliantly, so I only intend upgrading when something comes along that is appreciably better, or mine dies, unlike everyone getting the latest ipod or walkman phone or whatever else which dosen't really do anything mine dosen't that I actually want to use, I have a phone with an mp3 player and camera and whatever else, and I use it for phonecalls and messages, and for the handy notepad bit (which is actually very cool when I don't have a notebook or something with me)

Hell, a lot of us still use valve amps, and that technology was superceeded in the 50's

David

 

[cat_empire]

I fear the lack of it! I'm telling ya if the broadband goes down we call that "camping out" here in Psycholand.

I got a generator so we always have power, we got 15,000 gallons of water in the backyard, but if cable goes out... we are doomed!!!

hahahahah +1 to that.

When the internet goes down ehre i immediately start to feel a bit lost.

in relation to the thread though, i was born into technology, ive grown up with it all so its all second nature to me now i guess.

 

[phatduckk]

im a tech type guy. always have been cuz my dad's been an electronics nerd forever.

i dont like stupid technology like tv's in teh fridge door... that;'s not even technology its just some random combination of appliances.

as far as gadgets go... my blackberry rules. the iPod is the best. mine's scrathed to hell. i dont take care of it... i throw it around etc. but honestly i dont really care if its scrathed... scrathes dont stop it from playing mp3s and thats why i got it.

personally i use the hell out of all my stuff. i didnt buy it to be afraid of it and to keep it in mint condition.

anywho... as far as technology/gadgets go. i can honestly say that in the last 5 years or so the 2 best devices ive come across are the iPod and the Tivo. i cannot imagine life w/o those two.

i usually guage how good some new toys are based on the questions "does it make donig what i used to do/always wanted to do easier?". anything i answer "no" i either wont buy or dont use much and wish i could have my $ back.

everyone go buy a Tivo.

 

[Randracula]

anywho... as far as technology/gadgets go. i can honestly say that in the last 5 years or so the 2 best devices ive come across are the iPod and the Tivo. i cannot imagine life w/o those two.

Two of my favorite also Arin......BTW the FM transmitter I bought for my Explorer works pretty good, not quite as good as the 1/8" jack in the PT Cruiser but not bad for $40

 

[Bill]

I've been saying lately that I'm going to invent a cell phone that allows you to make phone calls & nothing else. I'll make a fortune! I, for one, don't see the need to have a phone with a camera, mp3 player, video player, PC, solid rocket booster, and electric butt wiper all built in.

I do want an iPod, though!

 

[Psycho Ward]

I’ve always been into high tuch…

For X-Mas I got Beth one of these….
http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INT...e=cpu_VAIONotebookComputers_UX&Dept=computers

The thing works great! She loves it and will be another cool device in her bag of tricks, she does lots of presentations and this thing is made for those.

Here are a couple of other tech toys that I bought recently that are turning out to be cool.

First is something I bought off the TV while drunk one night, “QuickBrites”. I don’t know if you’ve seen the ad but these are little stick on LED lights with magnetic switches. You can put them almost anywhere, inside a drawer or cabinet and when you open them the light comes on! The sticky mounting stuff is great, you can reposition these things several times, it sticks just enough and it’s not like the super glue one shot only stuff. I put a couple of these in my wife’s jewelry cabinet, she loves them… plus the new pieces of jewelry didn’t hurt.

The next “big thing” at Camp Psycho is the “Sling Box”. The Sling Box is this … well, box that lets us stream our local cable TV over the internet, with full control of the cable box. This is a big deal to us, we have a house in the mountains of VA that is so far back in the sticks that Saturday Night Live comes in on Sunday afternoon! There will never be cable TV in Elk Creek, VA.

Lucky for us, the house is close enough to the phone company relay station so we could get DSL. Now we’ll be able to watch TV just like we are at GSO!

 

[tkarter]

I hate it every year this time when it becomes time to recertify.

tk

 

[ibanez2005]

I work as a Satalite/Aerial engineer and in the past ive had to take out the latest TV or DVD player to 80 something year olds . Thats the only thing i hate about technology
Thankfully i work on building sites now and i dont have that headache anymore

 

[phatduckk]

I've been saying lately that I'm going to invent a cell phone that allows you to make phone calls & nothing else. I'll make a fortune! I, for one, don't see the need to have a phone with a camera, mp3 player, video player, PC, solid rocket booster, and electric butt wiper all built in.

I do want an iPod, though!

ya im also against combining 12 gadgets into 1. makes no sense to me... tho i do have a blackberry, so go figure. somehow, email and phone both fall under the "communication" camp in my head so that gadget makes sense to me. but, ya, i dont wanna watch videos on my phone, take crappy quality pics with it or listen to music on it ... IMO all that would just kill the battery and id be stuck with a dead phone during my next 3 hour conf call (which might not be a bad thing)

 

[SteveB]

As a guy who writes software for a living, let me tell you that the only thing more terrifying than technology is the customer support behind it.

 

[tadawson]

As a guy who writes software for a living, let me tell you that the only thing more terrifying than technology is the customer support behind it.

As a guy who has been selling software for a living, I am more scared of the knotheads that buy it (which leads to the support issues you mention) . . . . no matter how idiot proof you make it, the world just seems to churn out an even more incredible idiot . . . .

- Tim

 

[syciprider]

In my work pack I have a 4 Gig Wifi capable PDA (runs my life), a 20 Gig iPod (office), a 1 Gig Nano (running), a SLVR cell phone (that also uses iTunes) and a laptop.

In my safes I have 80 + year old firearms that I still shoot and in my garage I have apparatus for casting my own bullets and making my own ammo.

Oh I have an SVT as well.

I'm a mix of old and new tech

 

[phatduckk]

As a guy who writes software for a living, let me tell you that the only thing more terrifying than technology is the customer support behind it.

he he. im in the same boat.

I used to be a net admin at an isp so if my dsl goes down i'm pretty much a cut to the chace guy. I already know the 12 million incorrect things theyre gonna ask me to try and give them all the stats/results up front and within 1 minute get em to escalate to the ticket to higher level support.

the folks in the higher level support departments are usually pretty cool and stoked to talk to someone that knows what they're doing.

i honestly couldnt imagine having to guide my mom thru some of the troubleshooting steps for "serious" problems so i totally feel for those reps.

 

[tkarter]

If I have to take a test over an iPod I am done being an Apple tech. I spend more money on certifications than I make over warranty work. Must be the BG share of Apple kicking in.

tk