Monday, October 23, 2006
An iPod story
About a year ago I started talking about the Apple iPod. It was for a column but by Christimas time I had decided to buy one for myself and one for my wife. My family has since jumped into the deep end of the iPod pool. We all have them. To top it off, we gave my dad one for his 80th birthday last week.
It was a big family gathering with his twin brother (also turning 80, of course) and his two other brothers coming from as far off as Florida and New Hampshire. My sister and I thought it was time to get him hooked on the iPod.
I was sure my dad would embrace it. He has been computer savey for a number of years. He does his banking and stock deals online. He has a digital camera and saves his images to his laptop.
But he had never bothered to get into the personal digital music device arena. He had long ago switched to CDs for his music and enjoyed listening to books on tape or CD. My sister and I thought it was time to introduce him to iTunes and the wealth of music and audiobooks available there.
I had done a mock newspaper filled with old pictures of my dad and his brothers from back in their youth and through their careers in the Navy. While the family was distracted by this quasi attempt at family journalism, I went downstairs and loaded iTunes on his computer. We wanted to go ahead and download a book for him so the iPod wouldn't be an empty gift. I took a break after loading the software and came upstairs.
It wasn't long before my dad came up to me asking what that software was that now on his computer. The jig was up. I got my sister and we took him back to his computer and gave him his iPod--a black 30 Gig video model. I then showed him how to download tunes and audiobooks. We downloaded the book for him along with several tunes like Glen Miller's "In the Mood" and several John Phillip Sousa marches (after all he is retired Navy).
This is just one iPod story. But there are literally millions of them. The little device has earned Apple something like a billion and a half dollars this year. It has become the dominate music device with an 85 percent market share.
The iPod is now celebrating its fifth anniversary and it appears to be going strong. The latest rumor is that there will soon be an iPhone. Such a device is inevitable. It is another one of those convergence issues. People want a single all-purpose device. I predict there will be an iPhone and it will be a success.
It was a big family gathering with his twin brother (also turning 80, of course) and his two other brothers coming from as far off as Florida and New Hampshire. My sister and I thought it was time to get him hooked on the iPod.
I was sure my dad would embrace it. He has been computer savey for a number of years. He does his banking and stock deals online. He has a digital camera and saves his images to his laptop.
But he had never bothered to get into the personal digital music device arena. He had long ago switched to CDs for his music and enjoyed listening to books on tape or CD. My sister and I thought it was time to introduce him to iTunes and the wealth of music and audiobooks available there.
I had done a mock newspaper filled with old pictures of my dad and his brothers from back in their youth and through their careers in the Navy. While the family was distracted by this quasi attempt at family journalism, I went downstairs and loaded iTunes on his computer. We wanted to go ahead and download a book for him so the iPod wouldn't be an empty gift. I took a break after loading the software and came upstairs.
It wasn't long before my dad came up to me asking what that software was that now on his computer. The jig was up. I got my sister and we took him back to his computer and gave him his iPod--a black 30 Gig video model. I then showed him how to download tunes and audiobooks. We downloaded the book for him along with several tunes like Glen Miller's "In the Mood" and several John Phillip Sousa marches (after all he is retired Navy).
This is just one iPod story. But there are literally millions of them. The little device has earned Apple something like a billion and a half dollars this year. It has become the dominate music device with an 85 percent market share.
The iPod is now celebrating its fifth anniversary and it appears to be going strong. The latest rumor is that there will soon be an iPhone. Such a device is inevitable. It is another one of those convergence issues. People want a single all-purpose device. I predict there will be an iPhone and it will be a success.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
I felt a chill....
I felt a chill when I read the news reports last week that the gunman that took the girl students hostage in Colorado had found them on the social networking site MySpace.com. He knew their names and picked them out to hold while he let other students leave the classroom.
When I was young (in the last century), I remember being told not to talk to strangers, stay away from the stranger on the playground, don’t take candy from someone you don’t know and don’t get in a car with someone you don’t know even if they say they are picking you up for mommy or daddy.
The Internet adds a frightening new dimension to child safety that should give parents nightmares.
Just last week I wrote on how the Internet is changing the way we share information. We all have the ability to be on that big information superhighway. Parents are admonished to monitor their children’s chat room habits. Many innocent young people have run a foul of predators disguising themselves on young people. Now it looks like even innocent simple web profiles can bring the wolf to the door. In this case, it appears, the wolf appeared at the young ladies’ classroom.
Duane Morrison, the gunman, some speculation has it, researched his victims on the Web. He found their profiles on MySpace.com. Reports have it, he asked for the girls by name. It is chilling to think that an innocent instrument for social networking can be used for such a sinister intent.
I can't continue without making reference to the other tragedy that occured last week. The Internet did not play a direct role in this horrible crime. But some think that the Colorado tragedy may have inspired the gunman who killed the Amish girls to take action when he did.
My heart goes out to all the families.
When I was young (in the last century), I remember being told not to talk to strangers, stay away from the stranger on the playground, don’t take candy from someone you don’t know and don’t get in a car with someone you don’t know even if they say they are picking you up for mommy or daddy.
The Internet adds a frightening new dimension to child safety that should give parents nightmares.
Just last week I wrote on how the Internet is changing the way we share information. We all have the ability to be on that big information superhighway. Parents are admonished to monitor their children’s chat room habits. Many innocent young people have run a foul of predators disguising themselves on young people. Now it looks like even innocent simple web profiles can bring the wolf to the door. In this case, it appears, the wolf appeared at the young ladies’ classroom.
Duane Morrison, the gunman, some speculation has it, researched his victims on the Web. He found their profiles on MySpace.com. Reports have it, he asked for the girls by name. It is chilling to think that an innocent instrument for social networking can be used for such a sinister intent.
I can't continue without making reference to the other tragedy that occured last week. The Internet did not play a direct role in this horrible crime. But some think that the Colorado tragedy may have inspired the gunman who killed the Amish girls to take action when he did.
My heart goes out to all the families.
