Non-Tech people and Tech

I am a tech person. What does this mean? Well it means I spend a lot of time with tech stuff – computers, internet, online services, gadgets – everything. Any new tool, gadget or service will get my attention and I’ll most probably at least try it out. People who have no idea what Flickr, iTunes music store or Audible is are for me difficult to understand. These services are amazing and really use the power of the internet to deliver value – so why don’t all people use them.

Well non-tech people don’t know and don’t care. My mother is on 6 week stay in Ireland and she wanted to share some photos from her stay. Before she went I set her up with a gmail account, including blogger. She wanted to document her stay and was willing to give blogger a try. Now after a few weeks she is ok with blogger but also wanted to share pictures she made there and she didn’t know how. So I helped her over Skype to get picasa and upload some albums on to the internet. It is not something she would have done without me but as I recommended her these things she got used to them and now is happily adding pictures to her web albums all the time.

The point is it’s up to us tech people to sort the really good tech stuff from the crappy stuff so the non-tech people can be what they want to be – just plain users.

Music industry situation is getting out of hand

In past posts I have written about how the music industry has ignored the trend in technology, how they failed to adapt to the new market. Now they are taking it a step further in a seemingly desperate attempt at tightening the grip on music. An article on the Washington Post’s web site describes how an Arizona recipient of an RIAA cease and desist letter fought back. He kept a copy his music cd’s ripped on his computer and now:

…the industry maintains that it is illegal for someone who has legally purchased a CD to transfer that music into his computer.

This is new – in surveys done by PC world and bloggers a majority of the public stated that they think buying a CD and ripping it to their computer/ipod is completely legal. Heck you can even make an image of your Windows cd/dvd for personal use so why not my music – I payed for it didn’t I? When will RIAA stop attacking it’s own customers? The CD is dying – sales have dropped 20% year to year, it is time to move on to new service oriented avenues of revenue. If the music industry can’t make the move they’ll wither and die – no legal suit will prevent that.

Christmas is over…

…and I am getting back on track. As usual nobody got me a tech gift (nobody would do a scary move like that) so I had to get my own. I got myself an LG Flatron 22″ inch LCD display which to be honest ain’ too good – it’s TN+ so the colors suck a bit. On the other hand the response times as well as the angles aren’t too shabby so I can live with it. The really unbeatable part was the price – 300$ and I got 100$ off that price tag by selling my old BenQ 17″ panel. All in all a good deal. I also got myself The Orange Box (game set with Half-Life 2, all it’s episodes, Team Fortress and Portal) and believe me – playing it on the 22″ inch panel is awesome and scary. What did you get (get yourself) ?