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Tech-Related Bandwagons I Have Hopped On

Here's a follow-up to yesterday's post, Tech-Related Bandwagons I've Skipped.

I'm not anti-tech. I'm not tech-obsessed. In fact, I'm perhaps slightly ahead of my time on a few things here and there. I'll save the mistimed technological pickups for the next post. Here's some of the appropriately timed adoptions.

- DVR/PVR technology -
A friend put together a homebrew personal video recorder a few years back, before most people had head of such a thing. I had a home theatre PC well ahead of the trend. And it's been one of the most world-changing things I've had in the house. Skipping commercials and pre-planning TV watching has been phenomenal.

- Roomba the Robot Vacuum Cleaner -
As close as I may ever come to living in the Jetsons world. Having the robot do the cleaning is a treat! Entertaining, too.

- BlackBerry -
I started using a BlackBerry for work back before they had model numbers ... back when it was just the RIM BlackBerry. It had just a few lines of black and white text, was roughly the size of a pager and ran on a single AA battery. Now I sport a BlackBerry 6290 (I think) -- the blue-plastic, semi-colour screen. Among handhelds, it's considered an antique now.

- Blogging -
I'm not a particularly prolific or famous blogger -- big whoop, I have half a dozen people (who probably know me personally) subscribed by RSS -- but I've been at it longer than some of the heavyweights. Live on the bloggah since 2005.

- Ipod, Itunes, Podcasting -
I got my ipod nano well after the first waves of ipod popularity. And not long after trying it out for music, someone suggested listening to podcasts. I started with Grammar Girl back in her early days, and now podcasts are almost all I listen to. I get CBC shows such as DNTO, Quirks & Quarks and Search Engine ... Quick & Dirty podcasts including Grammar Girl, Money Girl and Get-It-Done Guy ... funny stuff like Smodcast featuring Kevin Smith and You Look Nice Today featuring Scott Simpson ... financial stuff like Dave Ramsey and The Disciplined Investor ... and personal growth material such as Zencast. It makes the bus rides very educational.

- BitTorrent -
I was on Napster ... I was on that other file-sharing thing that came afterward ... and now I love BitTorrent more than any of it.

- The Networked Home -
As has been extensively documented here, the new house is wired with Cat6 cable, so I'm thoroughly prepared for the future.
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Comments

  1. J. MoneyMay 4, 2009 at 8:11 PM

    Whew! you had me fooled for a second there...glad you're human.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Cindy Smith, EditorMay 5, 2009 at 11:31 PM

    I have not given into the Blackberry. I still rarely carry my cellphone. It's a technology I will hate until the day I die.

    I find cellphones have made most in society lazy, rude, bad-mannered, anti-social and dangerous with its constant distraction.

    I've had too many people walk into me downtown because they are engrossed in their crackberry use.

    I've had people talk too loud while I am trying to enjoy my VACATION, text message while I am with people at a restaurant or EATING WITH ME, chat at movies, and read email at weddings for god's sake.

    No one is that important and honestly, I don't desire to be this available. To anyone.

    Seriously, I wish the cell phone/blackberry were never invented. I have no patience for how people abuse these devices.

    ReplyDelete
  3. little sisterMay 6, 2009 at 7:42 PM

    I totally agree with Cindy. I cannot understand why my husband can't even put down his Blackberry while he is giving our 2-year-old a bath. WHAT is THAT important!!??!

    ReplyDelete
  4. BigAssSuperstarMay 7, 2009 at 4:16 PM

    I dunno what's that important, really ... my blackberry goes off so infrequently that if it beeps at all, I usually grab it pretty quickly. And half the time I'm expecting it's spam or a service note from Rogers. Once in a while it's someone from work, but if I'm not at home, it's my spouse calling with a howdy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Cindy Smith, EditorMay 7, 2009 at 10:38 PM

    And here I was thinking people were going to tell me to get bent.

    I have respect for people who speak discreetly into their phones. It's the ones who yell or talk louder than necessary that I want to kick in the teeth.

    Inside voices, people. Inside voices!!!

    ReplyDelete

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