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Monday, November 8, 2010

Modern technology - by Bruce


Books? An acquaintance came by a couple weeks ago to pick up some firewood we had and told me about e-books and a reader from Amazon.com called Tindel. Not being the kind of person who jumps on every technological bandwagon that comes along I have thought about it and finally looked it up on the web. I have come to the conclusion that this device and others like it will most certainly revolutionize the way we read and store books. We have several book shelves in our loft full and overflowing with books. That space could be used for other things.

This little book reader can be adjusted so you can change the size of the font therefore not having to wear glasses to read. It is suitable for direct sunlight. It it small enough to go with you where ever you may be unless that is in the woods cutting firewood. You can e-mail with it. It will do your laundry, check your blood pressure, cook your meals and hum you to sleep at night. Well, maybe not all this but I'm sure they will keep improving its capability. With all these features in something a third of an inch thick, weighs less than a pound, and is portable who could go wrong. You can download classics for free, other books for a dollar each in less than 60 seconds.

So I believe this will revolutionize books as we know them and reading. I thought since I am so far behind in reading the books I already have I will wait on one but Carol is an avid reader and so we ordered one for her for Christmas.

They tout statistics that people are reading 18% more for those who have these sophisticated readers. Of course statistics are more readily available too, like 30% of all people who are in church on Sunday are not Christian. There is a baby aborted ever 6 seconds. Statistics can scare the bejeebers out of you... I wonder what the statistics are for people like me to warm up to technological equipment like this as compared to when I was a kid. We didn't have TV and listened to a huge console radio that was taller than I was for entertainment? I probably don't want to know as those statistics would be a scary for sure. If you are my age or even younger, just stop and think about all the advantages and improvements that have been made. Cell phones that do about everything verses a wall mount phone that was two long and one short and one long ring so you would know it was for you. Trouble is that not many even had telephones to call you so you got to listen in one everyone else's conversation and they listened to yours. Most folks have never heard of a party line. It is beyond my comprehension but I'll bet I could read all about it on a Tindel...

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Okay, its a Kindle not a Tindel. Not having TV until I was around 10 years old because it had not been invented yet - I'm lucky to grasp the purpose of the thing let alone get the name right.

Lois said...

Bruce, the last time our sister in law (Bill's brother David's ex) visited us a month or so
ago, she brought her Tindel and showed me the book she was reading on it. Her son got it
for her for last Christmas and I've seen the promotional at Barnes & Noble (or was it Borders?...one of them,) some time back. It is an amazing little gaget, but believe I'd miss holding a book in my hand. There's something about pulling a book off the shelf and holding it curled up in a chair or bed, and turning the pages...Kids of the future will be saying "library"----what's that?
Your essay made me think.
Lois

Carol said...

I am really looking forward to it...and hope I can wait 'til Christmas! We have so many books here and no one seems to want them. Hate the thought of throwing them out so will continue to search. Will go to booksforsoldiers.com sometime soon and see if any of them want what we have.

Deirdre said...

Well, Bob wanted to get a Kindle last year and I was Scrooge. I told him we could read the ebooks on our computers for free.(I think alot more about free stuff now that we are both retired!)I love being able to change the fonts on the ebooks. I can't read small print easily or for long anymore. Our computers are not wireless, though, so while you will be able to take that kindle anywhere, we can only read here in the den where we are connected to the net. That gives you alot more freedom to ... say -- read outside, sitting in the sunshine under one of your beautiful trees. That's really gonna' be a neat experience.
This whole technology thing is both fascinating and scary. With the Amazon Kindle app for computers, when you go to the next page it actually looks like you turn a page -- you can hear the page turn. How's that for weird? Hearing a non-existant piece of paper flip over?! Then you can turn the edge down to save your place -- seriously. It folds down at the top righthand tip in a perfect little triangle, and when you open it again,(or log back on, or go back to it from checking your stove or the dog, etc.) it opens right back to that page.
Now I have experienced the ebook, but I am probably the last living adult American, (or at least one of the few) who has never had a cell phone. I know I could never push those little buttons correctly, but the grandkids all have them and they text away with their thumbs. It's a terrifying sight -- looks like a sci-fi flick when they are here in the middle of actually talking and end up popping in and out of the conversation with several other short text conversations going on at the same time. Julia said that one night when she was sleeping over at a friend's house, all the girls sat on the bed in a circle and texted each other instead of talking! I think they actually got more said that way. I just don't get it. :) The only images for library they might contemplate, other than the one at school, are whatever links come up when you google 'library'!
I remember those party lines, and I remember, "Number please?" said by a real, live operator. My Mom and Dad's number was 2833 and I said it into the phone to call home. Ah, those were the days... or were they? Kindle is a neat concept. It is a Brave New World indeed; some of it is pretty cool and the kids don't seem to be one bit daunted by it! My mom is still alive and she remembers ice boxes instead of refrigerators, and things like that! She would think that using a Kindle is somehow akin to perfidy I think, though. There is something about the smell and touch of type and paper that is a part of her. So far she has killed three computers -- dead. You can imagine how incomprehensible Northland is to her. Come to think of it, 5 years or so ago, the concept of ebooks and Northland online, and texting, and so much of the android app this and android app that of today was totally alien just a few years ago. I guess we are all doing really well adjusting, by golly! And if we get confused about some app for Kindle, we can just google it. (Uh,when did app get to be a noun and when did google get to be a verb?)

Bruce said...

2I don't remember what our ring was but I do know the next door neighbor listened in on our phone conversations. Almost everyone picked up and listened when the phone rang on a party line. I do recall our dial phone number was Ivanho7-0952.

Carol said...

we had one of the big brown boxes on the wall and when we did get a regular phone, I was probably only 5 or 6 but I remember our number was 68-2602. the other thing I remember is my Dad's Social Security number. My bro, when he was just a little tyke, would sit on Dad's lap when he came home from work. Back then they wore a badge with their picture and their SS # on it for ID. I can still recall it (but probably shouldn't write it, even though Dad has been gone for 17 years).