Technologies that have truly changed how I live
Technology is great, but there are a few technologies that have really impacted my life. One, of course, is the Internet. It allows me to work from home, have clients all over the world, and share my thoughts and family happenings with you.
Tivo is another one – I never watch live TV anymore, and only miss shows that I wanted to see if I forget to set a Season Pass or record the program. It’s not a glorified VCR as my mother thinks it is, but when working as designed (with 2 cables in) allows me to watch TV when I want to. I personally have a DirecTivo unit, but it can also be used with standard cable.
Broadband – there was a time, back in the ’90s, that 56K* modems were top of the line. Of course, you can’t mention 56K without the *, because FCC regulations prohibited speeds greater than 52K, but the modem could handle more. It’s like having a car that goes 140 mph but living in Kenmore, where you can’t go faster than 32. As if by magic, DSL emerged and we put these funny things on the phones to filter the “noise” and we’re fast. DSL wasn’t fast enough for me, so I went with cable and am awaiting FIOS, which is fiber to the home. With broadband came VOIP, allowing me to have a phone number in London and calls to Portugal for $0.03 / minute.
GPS – We realized this the other day while on a quick vacation to Cleveland. We don’t get lost anymore, and we can easily find food when the kids want to eat, or can enjoy a nice ride through NE Ohio, avoiding thruways. Of course, I’m talking about our Garmin in the minivan, but I also now run with GPS attached to my wrist, so I know exactly how far I’ve ran. If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, my times have greatly improved this year.
If I think of any others, I’ll continue this post. But for now, those are the top 3 in my life.
This is sad. I don’t have two out of four of your technologies that change lives: Tivo and GPS. Since food is more important to me than TV, which in-car GPS unit do you recommend?
I have the Garmin StreetPilot c330. Of course I recommend Garmin. You can get the StreetPilot “cheaply” at Amazon.com. The newer ones are too expensive for me, and the c330 does everything I need it to do.