There's An App For That!

Well, at the rate technology's going lately, the speed of light's the slow lane. I've definitely at times in recent years "limped on down the shoulder on the rim". But not today!

I'm the recipient of a new (to me) iPod Touch, a b-day present from a real great guy I work with named Adam. This was Adam's little treasure before, but since he's moving on technologically, I'm the beneficiary of his generosity. And I'm loving this little puppy.

Those of you who already have one of these little guys don't need me to tell you what all they do. Those of you who don't, I will just say, go out and get one! I will just tell you I am definitely sleep-deprived playing with this thing. Getting apps, adjusting settings, putting stuff in the calendar, looking at various locations on Google Earth satellite, etc. YouTube has gotten a new lease on life with the iPod. Claudia's 8-month-old Wi-Fi radio's on the fritz? Who cares? There's an app for that! Two minutes and Claudia's got Alex Jones and the CBC on her iPod, no problem! I have two different weather channels, with maps, satellites, and a ten-day forecast. Of course, whether I can sync my music library onto the IPod so easily remains to be seen. I have definitely had a love-hate relationship with my Sansa Fuze. Perhaps like many 45-year-olds, I will not set the world on fire with my techno-savvy, and the frustrations putting music on the Fuze before my yearly Niagara trips have been legion, so next week trying to do so with the IPod may have me singing a different tune, but anyway...

What often surprises me is how reluctant some people are to embrace technology. I have an aunt who will only use her computer to play games, as well as an elderly friend who will not go on one at all for fear she'll mess it up somehow. I kind of understand that fear. But I don't share it. On the opposite end of the spectrum are those that grab up every form of new technology, just because it's new. That isn't me either. I didn't get a cell phone until my mother gave me hers to take with me when I went hiking. (Mothers still worry about you, no matter how old you are). I also didn't get an mp3 player until I realized the dubious wisdom of carrying umpteen CDs and a CD player in a carry-on bag. Technology should follow form and function --it should have a purpose beyond "everybody else has one".

Worrisome, too, is the decline of social graces accompanying the dizzying ride of technology. I see it everyday in the workplace -- the people so absorbed in their cell phone conversations they can barely tear themselves away to place their order or confirm its correctness, then they're annoyed with you if you interrupt their call for the purpose of clarification. Too busy talking or texting, they walk away in the middle of your "positive parting phrase" til you almost feel rude in those situations for interrupting them! Too, practically everyday I'll go out for a cigarette with someone and they get on their phone talking or texting. Some of them have kids they must check up on, so their multi-tasking is understandable, but increasingly people have lost the art of face-to-face interaction. Does anyone in this age of Facebook miss real communication and companionship? My fear is they don't. But maybe I'm just an old fart.

One of my co-workers and I were discussing the maps app yesterday and I was saying how cool it was that you can look at your house, or, for example, Niagara Falls, on Google Earth on the iPod, and I said, "Erin, not in my lifetime, but maybe in yours, there'll be a little gizmo about the size of an iPod, and you'll enter a location into it, hit a button, and BOOM! You'll be there! Just like Star Trek." From my lips to Jobs' ear...

Well, I'm off to clean my kitchen. Steve Jobs, is there an app for that?

Good vibes to all of you, most especially Adam!

Claudia