How Technologically Savvy Are You?

[Swifster]

I'd like to think I'm tech savvy enough for most things. I've rebuilt my old laptop 6 or 7 times due to various parts failures, including drives, keyboards, motherboards, screens, plastic casings, etc. My VCR doesn't have the clock flashing '12:00', I have a Droid that unfortunately I'll never use to it's full power and I'm getting ready to replace my tube TV with a flatscreen. I have set up my wireless router and printers.

My business is almost paperless (I print out my assignments and vehicle diagrams). I back up my files so I won't lose anything. I've upgraded my desk top so I can search on one and work on the other. I don't have a netbook or tablet as I need more memory than what normally comes with them. I don't have a kindel as I actually like to read a book.

[Aaronw]

ZORK is the greatest computer game ever made.

For those who need an explaination ZORK was one of the first text based computer games, no graphics, no sound effects, just typing.

You are standing in an E/W hallway near a flight of stairs.

Up

It is very dark, if you continue you might get eaten by a Grue.

Use flashlight

I looked it up a few months back, you can download it now, and it is still fun.

Technology is an attitude, the only thing it has to do with age is whether or not it is new to you. I work with 50 year old guys (can't really call them old anymore since I'm getting up there myself ) who complain about touch tone phones. My dad is 74 and fully appreciates technology. He doesn't use all of it, but he looks at it and uses the bits that interest him. He loves digital photography and photoshop. Not as good as Harry's stuff but he will take a photo of a plane or car he likes and will work it over to look the way he thinks it should have been made.

When Smart phones came out I thought it was one of the most useless ideas ever sold. Two summers ago I was on a fire assignment with a "kid" (hey he was born the same year I started with the fire department, so I can call him sport, ace, kid etc) who had a Droid X. It compeletely changed my attitude towards them, and you can have mine when you pry it out of my cold dead fingers and kill my zombie corpse when it comes to reclaim it.

The top of the dashboard is not a storage area.

Thank you, I don't know how many fights I had with my mom, when I was learning to drive. She thought the dash was a filing cabinet. First thing I'd do when I got in the car was take all that junk and throw it in the back seat.

[sjordan2]

ZORK is the greatest computer game ever made.

For those who need an explaination ZORK was one of the first text based computer games, no graphics, no sound effects, just typing.

You are standing in an E/W hallway near a flight of stairs.

Up

It is very dark, if you continue you might get eaten by a Grue.

Use flashlight

I looked it up a few months back, you can download it now, and it is still fun.

Technology is an attitude, the only thing it has to do with age is whether or not it is new to you. I work with 50 year old guys (can't really call them old anymore since I'm getting up there myself ) who complain about touch tone phones. My dad is 74 and fully appreciates technology. He doesn't use all of it, but he looks at it and uses the bits that interest him. He loves digital photography and photoshop. Not as good as Harry's stuff but he will take a photo of a plane or car he likes and will work it over to look the way he thinks it should have been made.

When Smart phones came out I thought it was one of the most useless ideas ever sold. Two summers ago I was on a fire assignment with a "kid" (hey he was born the same year I started with the fire department, so I can call him sport, ace, kid etc) who had a Droid X. It compeletely changed my attitude towards them, and you can have mine when you pry it out of my cold dead fingers and kill my zombie corpse when it comes to reclaim it.

Thank you, I don't know how many fights I had with my mom, when I was learning to drive. She thought the dash was a filing cabinet. First thing I'd do when I got in the car was take all that junk and throw it in the back seat.

I started out playing Pong and Artillery on a monochrome screen. Eventually did well with Space Invaders, but my skills haven't improved since.

Edited January 15, 2012 by sjordan2

[Aaronw]

I had an uncle who had one of the original Sears Pong games, another good example of a simple game that is still capable of wasting hours even today. Artilery is still around and amazingly popular in its current form, Angry Birds.

[sjordan2]

I had an uncle who had one of the original Sears Pong games, another good example of a simple game that is still capable of wasting hours even today. Artilery is still around and amazingly popular in its current form, Angry Birds.

Why are you playing video games when you live in Yosemite? If I lived there, I'd go all John Muir, live on nuts and berries and commune with nature in its HD glory.

Edited January 15, 2012 by sjordan2

[Aaronw]

I have a smart phone, so I can play video games AND commune with nature.

[wgflatliner]

I used to stay on the up and up with computer technology because I was heavy into gaming.

Not so much any more.

I am staying up to date now with my iPad 2, and the thing is used for two reasons.

1. Reading the forum and the use of the chat room here.

2. Research. The iPad 2 has wireless capability, so when I'm at work, I pull up photos of different cars for reference pics. Since I don't build at work, I make use of my time and save oodles of pictures to it. So far so good!

Edited January 16, 2012 by wgflatliner

[fumi]

I cringe every time I see someone sitting in a fast food joint or in the waiting room of a doctor's office or auto repair shop or wherever, sitting there and constantly playing with their cell phone.

So what will you do when you are in the waiting room, waiting to see the doctor or have your car serviced?

a. Listen on to some housewives' gossip

b. Watch mindless talk shows on TV

c. Read months old magazines and tabloids

d. Play with the phone

I will take the phone, thank you very much. At least I can look at something I'm interested in.

Edited January 17, 2012 by fumi

[Dr. Cranky]

Now that I have my iPhone I can do lots of D, Silvester.

[Junkman]

So what will you do when you are in the waiting room, waiting to see the doctor or have your car serviced?

a. Listen on to some housewives' gossip

b. Watch mindless talk shows on TV

c. Read months old magazines and tabloids

d. Play with the phone

I will take the phone, thank you very much. At least I can look at something I'm interested in.

I take a book with me when there is waiting to be expected. Also on a train.

Books are those ancient obsolete ROMs on cellulose basis.

[SoCalCarCulture]

Here's a sample of what smartphone cameras are capable of these days , leaving Salt Lake City this afternoon...

Shot through a dirty airplane window with a Galaxy S2

[Dr. Cranky]

Beautiful shots, Dave.

[crazyjim]

Pretty scenery. Looks cold though.

[Bartster]

Reading through alot of these posts, I'm hearing alot of the same type of excuses I heard in rehab to justify addictive behavior. You can claim convenience, workaholic, or anything else. What I see mostly is addicts who want what they want when they want it. Nothing more or less than new age immediate gratification.

[Dr. Cranky]

Bart, you make a good point, and being a styrene addict I have to agree that yes, I WANT IT NOW.

[Pete J.]

Technonlogy without a purpose is a toy. Having said that, the definition of purpose can get very blurred. Yes, entertainment is a purpose, but entertainment to the exclusion of useful work is a problem. Playing Angry Birds while waiting for the doctor is entirely differant than sneaking in a couple of games on the office computer.

I use a lot of technonology bits and pieces in my hobbies. For instance, I needed to cut a cove on a piece of metal I was turning for a project for my daughter. Rather than guess and approximate the cut, which a competant machinest would have been able to do(I am very much an amature machinest and far from competant), I created a spread sheet in Excel to calculate the depth of plunge cuts to accurately give me the edge of the curve. I then used Sketchup to draw and lable the dimentions of the piece I was making. Could I have done the calculations the old fashion way and drawn the plans this a pencil and paper? Yes, but I learned a lot doing it on a computer that I would not have learned otherwise. Was I playing with technology? Yes, but now I have a tool that can do this repeatedly should I have the need in the future. Yes, it will get used, so technology is making me more productive at something I enjoy and is not "work". I doubt that most would question this use of technology.

As to those who are glued to their smart phone while walking down the street, "Pay attention to the world around you!!!" Smart phones have a use. Over use is abuse! You don't need to be glued to it and expect others to get out of your way, and quit playing with the darned thing while you are driving. That is just plain dangerous!

[SoCalCarCulture]

Reading through alot of these posts, I'm hearing alot of the same type of excuses I heard in rehab to justify addictive behavior. You can claim convenience, workaholic, or anything else. What I see mostly is addicts who want what they want when they want it. Nothing more or less than new age immediate gratification.

You can rationalize anything of course but in today's business world it's nice to be able to respond from anywhere at any time!

...and you can always turn it off or ignore it!

[Bartster]

Pete J & SoCalCarCulture make excellent points. I am not meaning to put down technology. On the contrary, I'm quite grateful for it. I know it has made my life easier even though until very recently I'm not the one using it. It is turning our young people into a generation that doesn't know how to interface with people. It is erasing moral fiber to the point where manners are near non-existant. A whole new set of acceptable behavior is upon us where if a cell phone rings, that is reason to interupt a conversation, but one must wait until that call is concluded to resume person to person contact. I'm rambling now, but I miss hearing please, thank you, excuse me, yes sir or ma'am, etc. etc. from our young people.

[Rob Hall]

I'm rambling now, but I miss hearing please, thank you, excuse me, yes sir or ma'am, etc. etc. from our young people.

I don't that's necessarily a technology thing..I don't remember people saying those kinds of formal niceties in daily life when I was growing up (I'm 41).

[martinfan5]

I don't that's necessarily a technology thing..I don't remember people saying those kinds of formal niceties in daily life when I was growing up (I'm 41).

Thats socitey being rude, and can not be blamed on anything

[SoCalCarCulture]

Bart & Rob - I think you both make good points. Technology may contribute to the lack of social skills but there is more to that issue that's hard to pinpoint.

[Harry P.]

I still think that seeing a person wrapped up with playing on their smart phone in a zombie-like trance while they walk down the street or while sitting on the bus or sitting in a coffee shop or on a park bench is just weird. The idea that a person needs to constantly be paying attention to that little machine at all times, no matter what, seems to me to be obsessive behavior, and can't possibly be a good thing. And I see it all the time. People have become literally addicted to their phones.

I know that the people who do that see absolutely nothing weird about it, and will argue that I'm the one who's nuts.

[martinfan5]

Oh yea I agree that technology has changed people's social skills , and not for the better, but lets blame technology has whole, its the way people use it , its a tool, and its how the tool is used has whats changed things. I have the social apps and use the websites, but I have not let it change me and how I am as a person.

[Junkman]

Bart & Rob - I think you both make good points. Technology may contribute to the lack of social skills but there is more to that issue that's hard to pinpoint.

Yes, it's something called 'education'.

What do you think my mother would have done to me if I hadn't greeted people, said please, thank you, etc., when she took me places when I was a kid? So I better did it and it somehow took hold.

[martinfan5]

Oh yea I agree that technology has changed people's social skills , and not for the better, but lets blame technology has whole, its the way people use it , its a tool, and its how the tool is used has whats changed things. I have the social apps and use the websites, but I have not let it change me and how I am as a person.

Yes people have become way to additive to their phones, I think for some people its the most important part of their lives, and I dont get it, I have a smart phone, but I dont spend all my time on it.