talkingDigital

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all that you are thankful for, this Thanksgiving take a look around and notice all of the technology items that make your life better. I am sure on Thanksgiving Day alone you will see dozens of examples.

I am thankful for the electric knife that helps us carve the Turkey safely.

I am thankful for the TV that lets us watch football games in HD.

I am thankful for the KitchenAid mixer that helps us quickly blend, mix and kneed.

I am thankful for the cell phone that lets us call relatives and see why they are running late.

I am thankful for iPods that keep the teens busy so they don’t bother us in the kitchen while dinner is getting ready.

I am thankful for XBox, PS3, and Gameboy that entertain the younger kids.

I am thankful for digital cameras and camcorders that allows us to capture the special day in pictures.

I am thankful for DVDs that allow the entire family to watch a movie late in the afternoon as we all digest.

I am thankful for Google Maps that help us plan out our Black Friday shopping trip.

I am thankful for Pricegrabber and Shopzilla that allow us to check and see if the Black Friday specials are really a good buy.

I  am thankful for GPS that helps us navigate strange neighborhoods while visiting relatives.

I am thankful for PVR technology that allows us to rewind and pause live TV so a moment of the game isn’t missed.

Most of all I am thankful to live in a country where we must strain to imagine a day without such luxuries.

Well, the Mac loyalists are mad at me again.

Last week I wrote a short commentary on our website about how unsportsmanlike it was for Apple to release an update that broke all of the iPhones that weren’t playing by Apple’s rules.

People who simply wanted to get more out of their new $500 device had that device put completely out of commission by the very company they had paid that money to.

Perhaps I should illustrate my point further.

A few years ago several companies began manufacturing a kit which allowed Toyota Prius users to plug their car into an electrical outlet to charge the hybrid engine, thus increasing the already excellent gas mileage.

Now, imagine how those Toyota users would respond if the company issued a mandatory safety recall on all Prius’ and in the process of installing the new safety features they disabled the electrical system on cars that had the added kit. Not because it posed a safety threat but because Toyota simply didn’t like people tinkering with their cars.

Would this be fair?

This is what Apple has done with the iPhone. It’s dirty. The only reason Apple did it was to teach their customers a lesson about trying to go outside of the Apple circle.

I am not criticizing Apple’s technology, their ease of use or their price, they are wonderful products. I am criticizing the ethics of their business practices.

I hope this settles the issue once and for all.

This week’s article is for all you old people. I am not writing to the seasoned citizens, senior citizens, the young at heart or boomers. I am writing this article to the people who know they are old. They prefer to be called old because they feel they have earned the title. Anyone who prefers to be called something other than old, is not truly an old person.

Every week, I get told by people of various ages, “I’m too old to learn this stuff.” Sometimes these people are 40 and sometimes they are 90, the actual age doesn’t matter.

No matter how old someone is, it is my observation that no one actually turns old until they give their consent. I have a 98 year old client who I have tutored for several months. I never need to write anything down. I just show her one time how to do something and she locks it away.

I have a 50+ year old client who has 10 pages of notes on how to send an email and he constantly tells me that if he doesn’t write down every detail his old brain will forget it. Essentially all aging people fit into one of two roles portrayed in the movie Grumpy Old Men. They are either Walter Matheu old or Jack Lemon old.

Whether you are an old person who longs to be young again or you are an aging person who seeks to retain youth, there are a few tools that will help.

Creams, exercise, prescription drugs and romance will all help keep you young, but there is one characteristic that all young people have in common…they all love gadgets. That’s right, The fountain of youth is not found in cosmetics, clothing or drugs. Using gadgets is the only thing that will keep your mind and soul young and active.

Here is a list of the best gadgets that I think all old people should learn to use if they want to age backwards.

1. GameBoy with Brain Age – www.brainage.com – The GameBoy is a video game system that you can take anywhere. While there are many fun games that kids can play, there is one game for the GameBoy that has been proven to take years off of your “Brain Age.” Brain Age is a game full of puzzles that test your mental reflexes and require little dexterity. Hospitals and homes for the aging have adopted the Brain Age game to help their patients and clients retain their mental faculties.

2. Palm device or Treo smart phone with Palm OS – www.Palm.com – It is important here that you get a device with the Palm OS and not Windows Mobile.

A Palm is a device that you use to track your appointments, addresses, alarms, medications, shopping lists, games, and even music and videos. It may seem like using such a device would decrease your memory and mental functions, in reality learning how to use and depend on a Palm PDA will open new worlds and capabilities that you are always been afraid to attempt before.

3. Digital Camera – Go buy any name brand digital camera and start using it right away. Not only will this give you a new hobby over night, it is extremely cheap as you don’t have to use film or make prints. Just have fun taking pictures.

4. Nintendo Wii – This is another video game system but it isn’t the shoot-em-up type game system that the youngsters play. The Wii uses motion control and the games are simple. Bowling, golf, baseball and boxing are a few of the more simple games that come in the box. You can add more games if you want, but the provided games will have you hooked right away. Recent studies show that 20 minutes of playing Wii sports games nearly equals 1 hour of walking. There is a great article on the popularity of the Wii with older folks here:

http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/samiljan/5868

5. An iPod or other MP3 player – If you enjoy reading or music, this is the perfect gadget to start with. All you need is a computer. An

MP3 player is similar to a portable Walkman or cassette player but instead of playing music from tapes or CDs the music is stored on a tiny computer inside the device. Rather than hold an hour or so of music, MP3 players hold hundreds or thousands of hours of music.

Using services like Audible.com or borrowing CDs from the library you can copy audio books, music, or spoken word to the device and listen to it anywhere you go.