Skype

My new computer arrived in the mail yesterday and I could not be more excited.  There are so many new features on this one that I realize there will be a huge learning curve.  So far, my favorite feature is the camera.  I downloaded Skype and tried to talk my mother through setting up the same on her phone.  There is only so much one can do over the phone and it may have to wait for her to visit my sister next month to get everything installed properly.  But I was able to have a Skype conversation with my sister last night.

It really makes a huge difference in how we talk to one another.  Even though she is not physically in the room, I find myself paying more attention to our conversation as if she were.  Most of us are doing five different things while talking on the phone these days and things get missed or we don't completely listen to the other person.  The result is that, even though we can talk to someone more often, we're not really communicating.  I think the video call will help us to connect more genuinely and effectively.

Of course, the entire time, all I could think about was this episode of the Jetson's where Jane receives a call from a friend and has to rush to put on her morning face.  I was keenly aware of my appearance as I spoke with my sister and realized this would make a difference when calling anyone else.  Will we get to a point, with this technology, where we can make a call and not care about our appearance?  Certainly, we don't get dressed up to go on an airplane the way they did in the 50's and 60's.  And we don't have special riding clothes for the car as they did in the early 1900's.  Photographs are not the special event they once were but the invention of the digital camera has made sure almost all of our pictures meet our approval.

Like most things in our society, we are concerned with how we look or how people perceive us.  We live our lives on display with sites like Facebook and Twitter.  The mundane parts of our lives made more interesting for the consumption of others.  We run the risk of pushing ourselves to meet unrealistic standards that everyone struggles to attain yet believes they're the only ones missing the mark.  The video call will definitely help families and loved ones connect on a deeper level from greater distances, but it could also further entrench this narcissistic culture we've developed.

Dream Screens

A friend of mine posted this article on Facebook the other day: Gizmodo Article - Scientists Reconstruct Video Clips from Brain Activity.  And I couldn't help but find it fascinating.  Of course, the idea of being able to record one's own dreams is exciting.  Most of mine are pretty entertaining and make for great story ideas.  But, of course, I never seem to finish them before the enthusiasm runs out or before pieces of it start to fade.  Others are confusing or down right embarrassing, so I don't know that I would want to relive those in my waking hours.  It would certainly help with the analyzing of dreams as one must rely entirely upon one's own memory for these things. 

I was thinking mostly of the movie, Bicentennial Man, and the scene where the father asks to have his daughter's wedding replayed so he can relive the memory.  Aren't there a few memories you wish you could revisit with a little more clarity?  Once they perfect this new scientific ability, and include sound, there are a lot of things I would like to remember.  Like the sound of my Mommom's voice.  I can almost remember it, but it's been so long I'm not even sure if it's close any more.  My Poppop dancing with a broom while I waited for the school bus. 

Then I wonder, if you could perfect this technology to the point where one could call up memories at will.  Would this be viable evidence in court cases?  Could we monitor brain activity as a person goes through their day?  One could almost go paranoid about the possibilities.  I mean the thought police could become a legitimate thing.  For every cool possibility there is also a frightening application.

Cursive Handwriting

One of the girls at Hallmark this week told me that handwriting is being removed from many a 3rd grade curriculum.  She is studying to be a teacher and it's a topic of interest in one of her classes.  The unit on cursive handwriting is being removed to make room for all of the standardized testing that has to take place these days and ,with computers, the internet, and texting, there isn't a lot of reason to teach handwriting anymore. 

This made me incredibly sad to hear as handwriting is one of the more important personal things.  First I wonder how students will be able to read letters that their grandparents left behind if they can't read handwriting.  One of the most cherished things I have are handwritten recipes that belonged to my grandmother.  I also have a quick grocery list I found in her things.  She didn't intend for it to be anything other than a reminder but it's something she wrote so it had value to me.  If it had been a typed list, it wouldn't have mattered.  If it had been a temporary list on an iphone I would never have seen it.  And I am not saying these technological advances are bad things. Certainly it is better for the environment and the clutter in our homes to streamline these everyday processes.  But doesn't it make our lives a little more temporary with less evidence of our existence. 

Will cursive handwriting have to be a special class in grad school for historians and English professors, like Latin and Middle English?  Source documents from less than 30 years ago will be inaccessible to future generations without them.  There will always be a need to hand write something, but the art of cursive writing is going to disappear.  Even now most people print when they write.  I personally find cursive is faster and takes up less space, but maybe it's because I had the unit in third grade and I didn't own a computer until college.  For my cousins, printing may be faster than cursive because they are unskilled in that technique. 

And what happens if we are faced with a Jericho type situation where all technology is rendered useless and we have to go back to manual labor to survive?  (I've finished the series by the way and was sorry to see it end)  Will people know how to hand write?

I read this article today about how handwriting style is changed and influenced.  It was interesting and made me think of the analyzing handwriting book I had in grade school.  The idea being that you could tell a person's emotional state by looking at their handwriting.  It was even a major plot point in a dime store novel I read by Gypsy Rose Lee. All along people thought this woman had committed suicide because they found a note.  But Gypsy was able to determine that the woman was really murdered by someone by the slant of the writing.

It's the Final Countdown...

Thirty years ago, 1 month and 16 days after I was born, the first Space Shuttle was sent into orbit.  Though it wasn't until 1982 that NASA began using the Space Shuttle on actual operational flights, I can't help but feel a kinship with it.  Today, the last Space Shuttle flight occurred.  I've written before about the space program and what a shame it is that, as a country, we don't have the drive we once had in this arena.

image from wikipedia

 "Just four astronauts—Christopher Ferguson (Commander) , Douglas Hurley (Pilot), Sandra Magnus (Mission Specialist 1), and Rex Walheim (Mission Specialist 2)—are conducting the 135th and last space shuttle mission on board Atlantis."  Listening to NPR, I learned that this is one of the smallest crews in the history of the Space Shuttle and there is a very good reason for this.  Since Atlantis is the last of the Space Shuttles, there isn't an emergency back-up in case something were to go wrong during the mission.  So the astronauts would have to move into the International Space Station until the Russian Soyuz Spacecraft can bring them home.   As you can see from the photo to the right, there is a big size difference between the Soyuz Spacecraft and the Space Shuttle we're retiring.  The Space Shuttle was used to transport the different modules of the ISS into space and the Soyuz has a limit of four people.  I also learned on NPR that the Soyuz Spacecraft will be the only way to travel to and from the ISS for now.   

It makes me wonder at the future for the ISS.  I know that it has only recently been reprieved through 2020 and I was reading on Wikipedia that the United States doesn't currently have the means to de-orbit the part of the ISS for which it is responsible until a replacement is found for the Space Shuttle.  So will the ISS continue to be maintained after 2020 via the Soyuz and commercial space flights or will it linger in space until our government decides what to do with it.  If the current battle over our debt ceiling is any indicator, I have a feeling that it will remain in space until it becomes a problem we're not prepared to handle.

Little Sister Gets a "Super" Phone

Samsung Focus

After much debate, Little Sister has finally selected her phone upgrade.  I have to say I am a little bit jealous as she managed to get it completely free and with 4000 free XBOX Live Points.  I am sure it's also a beautiful phone with an amazing screen and other technical features, but it's really the 4000 points that I wish I had.

She was able to make such an awesome deal because she went to the Microsoft Store instead of the AT&T Store to upgrade her plan/phone.  I don't know why I didn't purchase my phone from Best Buy, with their new buyback program, or directly from the manufacturer.  Either one would surely have had some extra bonus that AT&T wasn't offering.

Anyway, good luck to sister-girl and her new data plan as she gets everything set up!

All-New NOOK

Well, Barnes and Noble has done it.  They've given me a reason to buy their product over the Kindle.  In my comparison of the NOOK and Kindle in previous entries , both here and in my Super Secret Bean Counter Blog, I liked the NOOK and all it had to offer except for that little itty bitty touch screen at the bottom.  I have said, on previous occasions, that if they offered an e-ink display with full touch screen technology it would make up my mind.

And now, they've introduced the All-New NOOK with the e-ink display and fully integrated touch screen.  For $139.   Those bastards.

I really liked the global 3G wireless offered by Kindle, but I failed to commit to it before my Ireland trip and now there is very little reason for me to get it.  But this NOOK does offer the same wi-fi access as the basic Kindle with the added benefit of reading ePub documents which would allow me to borrow books from a library or import publications from other vendors.  (Though, I hear Amazon is going to offer the Kindle 3G at a discount with special offers and the really appealing part is that the 3G would really make it like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.)  Plus, I wouldn't contribute as much to the destruction of the bee population with my cell phone like signals from my e-reader.

So many things to consider.  But it will depend on the actual NOOK product.  I intend to check it out in the stores as soon as possible and if I like the design and interface, I might just cave.

The Difference of A Decade

I came across this posting, "The Difference A Decade Can Make" on my Google Reader yesterday and it got me thinking.  I have been down on technology recently and didn't really have a perspective for how far we've come in the last decade.  I kept thinking about the power of flight being harnessed in 1908 and then landing on the moon about 60 years later.  I wondered why we hadn't colonized the moon at this point or seen that type of advancement in a similar amount of time.

from http://dangreenblatt.com/blog/2008/08/04/our-parents-wrote-letters/

But this post really gave me a very different perspective on the technological advances we take for granted every day.  It's very easy to see the difference between flying and landing on the moon.  But how much thought have I really given to the cell phone I didn't have ten years ago to the one I have now.  The first cell phone I had, the Nokia 5110, was a small brick with very basic functions.  The screen wasn't color, but the faceplate was interchangeable.  Compare this with my new iPhone 3GS, or even the HTC Fuze I had previously, and you'll see that there is a huge difference.

The dangers of owning an iPhone

This morning I received a friendly text message from AT&T to let me know that I had surpassed my 200MB usage and they would be billing me an additional $15 for another 200MB.  After consulting with my boyfriend, I learned how to check the usage amount on my phone and discovered I had actually used 396MB.  Realizing that I would soon get another friendly text message I upped my rate plan to the 2GB plan for $25.  Hopefully this will cover anything through the end of the month and I can reevaluate my usage on the next billing cycle.

The problem is that an iPhone is not just a phone, it is also an iPod.  I have run into this problem before with my iPods, where I hear a song I like and I simply download it.  Then iTunes suggests three or four other songs I like equally as much and I download them.  This problem is merely limited to my bank account on the iPods as it requires a separate Internet connection to download said songs.  On the iPhone, I merely have to think of a song and no matter where I am I can have it in only a few seconds.  Impulse control has never been my strong suit, especially in regards to music.  On top of these song downloads, I spent a considerable amount of time and data downloading apps that I wanted.  Of course, forgetting that I am no longer covered under the unlimited data plan AT&T used to offer.

Other than this, the Weight Watchers app is already proving very useful and I am happy with the choice I made.  Though, I still reach for my old HTC when leaving the house.

Selling Out....

Last night, I purchased an iPhone.  Not the new, fancy iPhone 4 that the associates at Best Buy told me would be $99 with a two year contract and then reneged on that when it came time to do the contract, but the older iPhone 3GS.  It was $50 at AT&T with a 2-year upgrade.  My choices were a new Windows phone, or the iPhone.

image from www.gandhiappliances.com

I was torn because I didn't really want to get older technology that will be obsolete very soon, but I wasn't excited about the Window's layout on the new phones.  I love, LOVE, my old HTC Fuze(aka HTC Diamond).   When I bought it I was coming out of a very bad place.  I had finally found a new job after my old company had folded and I had saved up the almost $300 to get it I desired it so much.  It was sexy and amazing, with a slide out QWERTY keyboard and full mobile windows suite.  It could do things no other phone I'd ever owned could do.  I'd made a conscious decision not to buy the iPhone when it came out over two years ago and I didn't regret it.  This phone has made it all the way through the 2-year contract despite my intense abuse and foolish decision not to get a screen protector the first day.

But looking at the options before me last night, there just wasn't anything nearly as exciting as my Fuze.  So why get a new phone at all?  The answer is, apps. (Well that and several phone drops that have left my beautiful phone a little wonky in its operations.)  When I purchased this phone several years ago there weren't any apps, at least not as we know them today, and therefore no reason to include them on the device.  But in the last ten months or so, I've wished I had the capability.  First of all, Weight Watchers offers an app that would make my tracking more efficient.  Second of all, I've been obsessed with the idea of an e-reader recently with no practical idea of whether or not I would actually use one.  I figured I could download an e-reader app and see if a separate device is worth the extra money.  (If I like the idea and convenience of an e-reader, I don't think I'd continually want to read on a back lit screen.)

I was presented with the Sony Ericsson, Windows Phone at my local AT&T store.  It was also very attractive and was definitely newer technology.  But I really wanted a non-screen QWERTY keyboard and that is simply not offered on the new, new phones anymore.  So it came down to the actual apps I knew I would want to download immediately.  I did a search on the AT&T medianet for any and all apps and there was the Kindle, Nook, Gutenberg, and Stanza apps that I'd previously seen and envied on my boyfriend's iPhone.  Then I tried to find the official Weight Watchers app; it wasn't there.  There were a lot of calculators created by other companies but not the one that was already included in my monthly membership fees.  I could still access the mobile site by going to the same location I used on my Fuze, but that is cumbersome.  I checked on the website today and sure enough it was confirmed that there isn't an actual app for Windows 7, yet. 

That fact combined with my general dislike for the layout of the new Windows 7 led me to look at the iPhone.  I didn't want to get caught up in the near religious fervor that most iPhone owners have so I have avoided it, but it was the most attractive option to me last night.   I couldn't have the QWERTY keyboard I so enjoyed on my old phone so everything was second best in my opinion.  It honestly came down to the official, and not so official, apps I would be able to download on either phone.  My weigh-ins for the last two weeks have been unsuccessful; I've gained a total of 2.2 pounds in the last two weeks and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.  So, as much as I hate to admit it, the Weight Watchers app was a big motivator for me.  I also enjoy the old school pictures that my sister's girlfriend takes with her iPhone and I'd like to do the same.  I like the apps my boyfriend uses on a near daily basis and it's a more cost effective way to see if I like the e-reader.

I think it also satisfies that desire for a new gadget, which may have been the main force behind my obsession with the Kindle & Nook.  It could be because so many people have the iPhone and it's such a common piece of technology, but I am not nearly as excited about this phone as I was about my Fuze.  But how often does one get that connection to an inanimate object?  So I purchased an older model phone, but for a severely discounted price.  And in a year I may regret that, but that's a year from now.

Note: The iPhone is a little sassy, though, and could almost match the attitude found in my VW New Beetle.  Last night, I was typing a message to my father about what phone I decided to purchase and I wrote "iphone" with a lower-case p.  The iPhone auto-corrected my typing so that it read "iPhone" with an upper-case P.

Space Debris

My company had a meeting a few months ago about the amount of satellites in space and what this means for information security.  It was the picture they showed that caught my attention more than anything they actually had to say.   Then today, I came across an interesting article and it brought up all those thoughts again.

The picture here is merely an artist's rendition of the objects in space around our planet, but it is a striking one.  Whenever we see the Earth on television shows or movies it's always a clear sky without anything obstructing the view.  This article and picture make me wonder how true that is.  Obviously, this picture is a little dramatic in its depiction of  space junk, but how far off is it really?  Seeing the damage that has been done to the actual planet over the years I am not surprised at the state of the space around us.

Bookworms

With the holiday season behind us, and my birthday a mere two months away, it's an excellent time to update wish lists.  I've been thinking lately about getting an e-reader of some sort.  I was against them at first and felt that they would take away from the whole reading experience I enjoy.  I know that the Nook and the Kindle both have features that allow one to share a book with another user for up to 14 days.

My friend has the Nook and loves it.  She takes it to the Barnes & Noble store where she is allowed to peruse titles and special offers through the Nook.  It's kind of neat and definitely fulfills my need to go to a bookstore to get a dose of that book smell.  Then my boyfriend has access to the Kindle through his iphone (that's a completely different entry) and I've used it a couple of times.  So I have learned the value of this gadget even if I don't have an immediate need for it.

I just wish that there was a way to import physical books I already own into a digital library.  Like I can with cd's to my ipod or the new packages for movies that include a Blu-Ray, DVD, and Digital Copy.  Maybe they'll start putting single access codes on the back covers of new hardbacks.  Though there are plenty of free e-books out there one can download and it would be an easy way to catch up on the classics without adding to my bookshelf.  Though, I could also just go to the library.