Technology and you

[Unorthodox]

The newest and greatest cameras were just announced, and I see swaths of people rushing out to buy them (despite buying last year's new crap). 

I understand on one hand the 'sell this while it's still worth something and buy new!' approach, but I'm much more in the as long as it gets the job done area. 

The only reason I have an Iphone now is hEt wanted a brand new one (she's closer to the latest and greatest), and my old flip phone would no longer receive her texts.  So, I'm using her old iphone. 

We did just buy a rather nice laptop.  Easily the nicest computer we've ever purchased, but even it wasn't "top of the line", just a hell of a lot closer than we've ever purchased before. 

[Rusty Edge]

As an ex hunter and farmer, I know a lot about doing things without electricity.

I also have a tendency to wear something out before I replace it, and patch it and rig it to keep it going. Then figure out what the current best is to replace it. Current technology is beyond me.

The only I-tech I ever used was an ipod shuffle. It was supposed to be so intuitive, but to me it was a pain. MAybe if I grew up playing game boy, it would be intuitive. To me it lacks buttons and labels.

Phone wise I stuck with the Nokia flip-phone. Eventually replaced it with a Galaxy Note2. Still using it.
Computer needs are all about playing Civ.


I'm married now. I don't worry about looking cool to impress the chicks any more. So, I don't need conspicuous i-tech.

[Unorthodox]

The only I-tech I ever used was an ipod shuffle. It was supposed to be so intuitive, but to me it was a pain. MAybe if I grew up playing game boy, it would be intuitive. To me it lacks buttons and labels.

I had the Nano that I loved.  My son got the "better" shuffle, and I don't understand it at all either.  When the nano died, I got a touch, but Talia used it more than I did as I went out and found another Nano of the same generation I loved. 

Phone wise I stuck with the Nokia flip-phone. Eventually replaced it with a Galaxy Note2. Still using it.
Computer needs are all about playing Civ.

I'm married now. I don't worry about looking cool to impress the chicks any more. So, I don't need conspicuous i-tech.

I loved my flip phone, but getting texts from my wife was fairly key.  I don't know how to use most the features on the iphone, still.  About the most advanced thing I've managed is hooking it up to my (large) Bluetooth speakers for Halloween, and I technically could have used my touch. 

[Valka]

The only I-whatever I own are my paperback of I, Claudius, my DVDs/VHS tapes of I, Claudius, and two books by Isaac Asimov: I. Asimov (volume 3 of his autobiography) and I, Robot.

I don't have a clue what the rest of you are talking about. My phone is a landline that only works when it's attached to the phone jack in the wall. It cost less than $20 and doesn't even have Caller ID or an answering machine.

[Unorthodox]

Mobile phones are an unfortunate business necessity in most workplaces these days. 

As for MP3 players, they are awful convenient.  And the iTunes interface is generally easy.  The differing devices, not always so.  My present iphone, I HATE how it organizes the music compared to my nano.  "Albums" won't bring up all my albums, for instance, because that one is a 'compilation' and that one is a 'soundtrack', etc.

(there is quite likely a way to alter how the phone behaves in this respect, but I have limited tolerance for fiddling with it)

[Unorthodox]

http://petapixel.com/2016/02/17/pentax-k-1-features-not-found-full-frame-dslr/

Yes...everyone flock to the shiny new bestest ever camera....and drive down the price on your old ones!

[Lorizael]

I have a smartphone, and all my cellphones have been of the smart variety for the last 7 years or so. I've had a cellphone since I was a teenager, so roughly half my life. I've never had the latest and greatest, and I generally don't specialize my devices. I have a laptop and a phone, each of which serve distinct purposes, but I haven't seen the need for any in between devices. I used to own mp3 players but stopped doing so once my phone made them redundant. My current laptop is close to 5 years old and is showing its age. It probably needs to be replaced, but that's not exactly in the cards at the moment.

Oh, I also have an e-ink Nook, which I've owned for a few years. The e-ink is great for reading, and the thing is lighter and has a much higher capacity than a book. But since my finances haven't been great for awhile, I tend to get books from the library rather than buy them, and figuring out how to put library books on my Nook has never been less of a hassle than just going to the library.

[Yitzi]

As long as it gets the job done.

I notice the votes tend in that direction, and considering that this is a forum devoted to an over-a-decade-old game, we're probably not a representative sample of the population as a whole.

[Buster's Uncle]

Rich people -and wastrels- serve a useful purpose to those of us who know how to hold onto a nickel; they fund the working out of the bugs in new things until the price becomes reasonable.

[Rusty Edge]

E-readers are another story.

I started with a Kindle2. I guess my wife thought it would be more economical in the long run. If nothing else, it sure saves on the space consumed by buying books. I was one of those people who preferred the feel and weight of a book.

I soon learned to appreciate the device. The built in dictionary, the search feature, and the idea that it wasn't like a book so much as a portable library. So I could easily shift between historical fiction, history, and a reference book to check facts against my recollections whenever I felt like it.
I bought a leather cover for it, so that it felt and smelled more like a book. You couldn't read it in the dark, but you could read it on the beach. It was great!

The drawback was that while I could easily change font size, tables and maps couldn't be enlarged, and I often needed a magnifying glass for them.

When the price came down on the DX model I got one. It was designed for textbook and newspaper/magazine readers, but it was too pricey to catch on.  I got a leather cover for it, and gave the Kindle 2 to my parents, who enjoyed reading some of the same stuff. It still works great.

 I loved the DX. It was tablet sized and still had a keyboard. It worked on a 3 or 4G connection. Eventually my wife bought me a tablet cover for it. Trouble is that due to my inner ear disorder, I'm subject to falls, and dropping and juggling things. Eventually it dropped on the hard floor, landing on a corner, and cracked the screen. That was the beginning of the end of it. Probably would have been okay with the worn letter cover.

I did without for a while, but I longed to access my library. I tried the app on my phone and laptop, but noticed the eyestrain. After some research, I bought the Voyage. Best reading screen ever. Works just as well on the beach as it does in bed at night. Fits in my front pants pocket. It has a faux leather cover that not only feels like a book, but it looks like one, too. The drawback is no keyboard. It's a touchscreen, and I don't like reading through fingerprints. It has superior battery life, but it doesn't have speakers for text to speech, you can't read interactive books or use kindle apps, and it is strictly a wireless device.  In other words, it's a highly specialized and refined dedicated reader.

My wife saw the commercials for the Fire model in which it was tumbling down stairs and rattling around inside a rotating box. She figured that's what I needed, and they were priced at $99 or something. If I don't plan to play games, I like to travel with it instead of my laptop. It's a nice compromise. The advantage is that it does zoom, so if there are tables/picture/diagrams or maps, I can actually study them.

[Elok]

I have the desktop I'm typing this on, and a pay-as-you-go flipphone used mostly for emergencies or "should I get bread while I'm out, hon?" situations.  Having seen what smartphones do to the kids I sub(bed) for, I have no intention of getting one for myself or my kids.  It's impossible for me to watch someone play Flappy Bird, Temple Run, etc. without picturing one of those rats banging away at a lever to get a pellet.  I don't need to feel compelled to endlessly stimulate myself electronically, and my life has gone just fine without one.

[Valka]

I have a Kindle, but it drives me nuts. There seems to be very little quality control regarding typos and formatting errors. One book I tried to read was so full of them, I just gave up. And for some reason I can't delete stuff I don't want anymore (ie. sample chapters to audition books). Once I've bought and read the book, I don't need the sample chapter anymore.

So yeah, if I put everything on a Kindle, I'd have a few hundred fewer physical books to sort through, but at least I know I've got the books and am not at the mercy of needing electricity and batteries to read them.

[Buster's Uncle]

It's gotten so any time I'm in a waiting room with a teenager -or worse, around one at a family gathering where it's inappropriate/rude- I get this Village of the Damned feeling.

You know, I'm immune to the pocket toy appeal on the face of it, being hearing impaired and not liking phones; this isn't some luddite streak talking.  But these kids today, rudely ignoring you in favor of the toy in their hands, make it seem incredibly unappealing.

[Valka]

Later this year or next, our apartment intercom is going to go through the phone instead of the normal intercom kind of system. That means that if I might be expecting a visitor or delivery, I have to keep the phone on so I can let them in (I prefer to keep the phone off to minimize the telemarketers and scam calls).

[Rusty Edge]

I have a Kindle, but it drives me nuts. There seems to be very little quality control regarding typos and formatting errors. One book I tried to read was so full of them, I just gave up. And for some reason I can't delete stuff I don't want anymore (ie. sample chapters to audition books). Once I've bought and read the book, I don't need the sample chapter anymore.

So yeah, if I put everything on a Kindle, I'd have a few hundred fewer physical books to sort through, but at least I know I've got the books and am not at the mercy of needing electricity and batteries to read them.

As for those formatting errors, I find that some of the e-books work better on one device than another, and sometimes I can't download them at all onto a particular device. It's both frustrating and disappointing. It's kind of amazing to me that the same book can be read on my android, my laptop, my niece's iPad, and all kindles and fires at all. Games certainly can't do that. Neither can apps.

As for spelling /grammar/typo perfection, I'm becoming resigned to tolerate the flexible ways of younger generations. I figure these flaws are like tattoos. They're here to stay, and my ranting against them will no more change anyone' s mind than the way neocons mispronounce "Nuclear". In fact, it tempts them to try and get my goat once I show them where it's tied.



You should be able to delete the samples and books  from your device. It's usually not logical/ intuitive to my way of thinking, but if you find the right sub menu, it can be done. When I have an issue like that, I just google it. Be sure to include the model, because they have a way of changing things around with each new product. Well, sometimes when a new product comes out they change the way things are done, and now you have to manage your collections from your  Amazon account online. It's a matter of the right sub menu there, too.  Then you have to sync your device.

I suspect that Amazon changed it save costs of 3G connections on the grand scale. A memorandum  would have been nice.