Digital Common Sense

I was reading this by my friend Andy on Saturday and it really set me to thinking a bit about how times have changed -

Times Have Changed

A most defining moment occured today at the resort Helene (my fiance) and I are staying at for the wedding of a personal friend of 30 years. At breakfast we had our laptops at the communal table where many of the “parents” friends were seated, many reading copies of the New York Times and International Herald Tribune, both of which I read online.

Someone remarked that it was a shame we had to work, which was ironic, for I was reading the Times too, only digitally, not the dead tree version. You see, the older generation views anything with a keyboard as something one uses for work not as an information appliance. For those of us who enjoy being connected, it’s a whole different story.

I was thinking back to days of traveling with a TI Silent Writer 700 with an acoustic coupled modem. I remembered hauling a Compaq luggable beast with a 5 inch orange screen and dual floppies. In those days, it was all for work.

Now I find that even hauling my laptop and reading news the way Andy and Helene do is more labor than I want to deal with. I realized I read the news online too. Sources ranging from the BBC to Seattle Times, to WSJ. But I consume most of my news on my Treo. It isn’t work. It’s just the handy way to retrieve information. Adding a 2 gig SD card just allowed for carrying some music to move the work along when work has to be done.

Filed by Ken at 9:38 pm under Technology