My how far we have come, how fast. I bought my first desk top computer less then 20 years ago, it had an incredibly large 1-gig hard drive. My phone has 48 times that much memory. I remember buying my first digital camera about 10 years ago, thinking it was a nice novelty but really no replacement for my Nikon SLR. Several month later I realized that the digital was so wonderful that I hadn't finished the roll of film in the Nikon, I haven't looked back. When I bought my first "smart phone" a blackberry, I was lied to, the young man said after a couple of weeks they wouldn't be able to pry it out of my hands, he lied, it was only about two days. But the thing that I have been most amazed by is my Kindle. I have barely opened a printed book since I bought the first Kindle. I review books for a journal my office publishes, one of the first things I do when someone sends me a book to review, is to look and see if I can buy a Kindle version. I can carry a stack of books, in one small device, it is easy to carry, use, store. I read more with it, then I did before it. I can go back and pull up any book I have ever viewed on it. I can read Kindle books on my phone, on a tablet, on my desktop computer, if I bookmark it on one, the bookmark shows up when I open the book on another device. E-books have gone from nothing to about 25% of publishing. I have to think that they are going to grow.
Is my Kindle perfect? No, this one has a touch screen, a random touch of the screen will change the page, a random thumb on the screen for 5 seconds can move the book 20 pages in one direction or the other. If I touch a footnote when trying to change pages, the footnotes page comes up (I hate that.) The non-touch screen model that they no longer make was easier to control. I have broken two of the, had the battery go bad in one, and had a software failure on one, so I am on the fifth one. Still I love it.
let's see:
ReplyDeletefirst desktop home computer - 1998 with dial-up connection. bought a new desktop AND a new laptop in 2010 with FIOS connection.
first digital camera - 2012
first cell phone (that's just a stupid phone) - 2011
no kindle, no smartphone
as my boss likes to ask me "why are you such a tecnophobe?", I reply "have no need, don't want, be content with what you have."
I suppose it is just a matter of time for me I get dragged into one of these items. Meanwhile the smell and feel of books (especially old used types) remains too resplendent to give up to cold metal and bright lights.
ReplyDeleteRAMEN, dear spo!
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