Posts Tagged technology

Is it just me or has there not been any stunning, change the world inventions of late? And I’m not talking about breakthroughs such as Blu-Ray or the iPod or the ability to update your Facebook status to “David is sitting on a bus” via your mobile phone – as these are pretty much just adaptations of current technologies – plus they haven’t really changed our lives as such (no matter what the advertisers are telling us). Where is the flying car? The bionic eye? The cure for cancer? The never ending roll of toilet paper? Sure, there’s recently been the Large Hadron Collider, but who the hell knows what that’s all about?**

Actually, I don’t care what they invent next – as long as it’s a Time Machine (do a google search on Sketchycron)… Once we’ve got that, we can go back to the future and bring back the Holodeck, the Hypospray, Warp and Transporter technology. Sorted.

** Look up CERN’s Large Hadron Collider on Wikipedia – it’s actually quite fascinating.

There’s a lot to be said about calls to action. Particularly those of the online variety. I speak from the eMarketing sense a) because it funds my lifestyle b) because it is the main culprit to my expenditure and c) because it is threatened by the cyber pirates preying on the technologies, as experienced today.

First the expenditure side. There are Early Bird deals to Europe on sale til 19 December with the window of travel only open between next September to November. Thus, I have chosen my travel date as 25 September 2009 and have just under two months to commit to this.

Secondly, the funding side. Longchamp have branched out into the ‘blogosphere’ and encouraging fashion bloggists to blog about their new line. An admirable, if not brazen move in this Hound’s eyes. I am a fan of the Pliage tote… and as it cannot be delivered to Australia, shall forego the potential postal co-ordination of EU based contacts, and select one in person in 2009/2010.

Thirdly, the online security bit. As a Hound averse to online transactions (ie banking and bill payment, but not online shopping) due to the lack of social interaction this ‘convenience’ affords us, it was by pure necessity that I logged in to the bank account today – and thankfully in time! There was a $1.00 debit from the account, which would have gone unnoticed, if not for a family member who recently had $1.00 withdrawn from their account – leading to immediate cancelling of cards by the financial institution. Apparently this is a tactic employed by digital villains to determine fund availability before siphoning potential thousands. With a credit account linked to savings, it was the nick of time for this here Hound, as there was no such automated-cancellation. Hooray – and dismay – for the online banking process.

The Hound is onto you!

Now Playing: Stevie Wonder [Live from ACER Arena, via Pika's phone!]

TRS-80… ZX-81… VZ300… Apple ][… Amiga 500. Do these seemingly random mix of letters and numbers mean anything to you? I had read somewhere that in Rijeka (Croatia) there was a museum of calculators and computers… “Wow! Let’s put that on the list of things to see and do.” Whilst wandering around unable to find it, I suddenly shouted “Look over there… Peek and Poke… that’s where I wanna go!” My partner in crime said “Sure… OK”, but at the time thought I must have had a sudden urge to go to a cheap peep show.

Much to her surprise it was the computer museum we had been unable to find earlier. Back in the older days of computers, to “Peek” was to look at a memory location, and to “Poke” was to put something into that memory location. This is an unmistakable mating call to a computer nerd. This place had just about every PC ever from the heady days of personal computing in the 70s, 80s and 90s. The only disappointment was that they didn’t have a Dick Smith Wizzard – which no doubt made me the person I am today. Thanks Dick.

Check out their website: www.peekandpoke.org

Did any other nerdburgers out there watch The New Inventors the other night? They featured that wonderful burgeoning breed… futurists. In particular there was a lady who talked about how in the future, buildings may have a kind of exoskeleton that would allow vegetation to grow on the outside and act as a cooling agent, replacing the building’s air-conditioning systems. Wonderful, I thought.

But as with many of these great prophets of things to come, they always go that extra mile and leave their audience behind. To paraphrase: “There would no longer be any need for cafes, as people working in the building could simply open the window and pick their own salad for lunch.” Yeah right. Unless you’ve got a schnitzel burger tree growing outside your window, or possibly a BLT bush, you ain’t gonna appeal to the greasy lovin’ masses (so to speak). One… ~wheeze~… step… ~wheeze~… at a time, please.

Cheaper than dumping goo on your friends from a bridge (have you seen the price of goo these days?)… Easier than drilling into huge ice blocks and racing them down hill (a highly likely thing for a bunch of slackers to do). Will I get to the point soon? Hell yes, I’m talking about TECHINIPETS: Those little robot things that come with a McDonalds Happy Meal. Sure, they’re kinda cute, and they interact with each other, and they make a lot of noise when you clap your hands or whatever… BUT… did you know that they also go off BEFORE your mobile phone rings or gets a message? That’s right… get one of these little things and you’ll always know when your phone is about to ring… how cool is that? I excitedly told my hairdresser this last night and he said: “You need to get out more.”

Anyway, if you get one, stay away from ‘Chee Chee’ the monkey… that little beggar’s screech becomes real annoying, real fast.