Tech Savvy and Served

Word of mouth sales are no longer limited to the “picket fence” conversation between neighbors. Social media has empowered consumers, but it also weakened the position of “the customer is always right”.

Not so long ago, when you purchased a gadget and it didn’t work, you’d complain. There was an expectation of satisfaction; and sometimes this was guaranteed in writing. It was understood, that if you kept the store receipt, a return within seven days of the purchase, with original packaging would guarantee you an equal exchange or a full refund. No questions, no arguments and without a restocking fee.

Back then, the link between a business’ success and a customer’s satisfaction were closely woven. It was a mature market that kept loyal customers loyal by making good products. The operative word “good” implied integrity– a Maytag machine, a Craftsmen tool and a Peterbilt truck were made to last.

I can’t say when this changed, but it did. Technology with its lightening pace warranted change, and miniscule sizes pushed out products that had their own legacies, called generations. And while the housing remained the same, the processor inside changed.

Generally, the improvement wasn’t fully tested but the product was released and onto store shelves; along with slight glitches and other failings, that if passed under the consumer radar was an “oh, well” shrug of doing business.

Now we accept updates, even expect there to be a few with each new product. Those patches that fix new technology have effectively blocked my complaint in mid-sentence. So, the consumer’s displeasure mostly goes unnoticed, because the problem was already logged and acknowledged before the products were shipped out!

The only thing left for me to complain about is how my smartphone’s battery doesn’t hold a charge. And it’s not because I’m always talking, texting or checking status, but instead it’s the result of all those push notifications that the companies send out in an effort to patch and update my cellphone… to keep it smart and me dumb.

Customer service served.

Technological Glee

For years, the term 20/20 referred to one’s vision, as measured by an eye chart; those rows of random letters, beneath a large capital letter “E”, which was taped to a wall.

20/20 beyond the occasional reference to hindsight, is also a timeline plotted on a sheet of graphing paper; expressed by those using the Gregorian calendar as 2020 A.D. it’s nearly here.

If there was a tape measure for mankind’s growth, it would show eons as decades and 2020 would be a milestone, a place to pause and take notes. And perhaps to let the retractable tape measure snap back into place.

Ten years ago, there was speculation of what 2020 A.D. would bring. It was amazing, mind-boggling technologies were suggested. Like moon mining and round-trip commercial space travel. Bio chips and synthetic human brains, paper thin television screens and all of it is nearly possible and none of it is amazing, or surprising, or extraordinary.

The Digital Age, with its accelerated technology, is a candy store and we’re like children. Lined up and ready to buy as much as we can carry. Our shiny coins are spent much too quickly, as we run up and down life’s aisles in technological glee. Our eyes wide with possibilities miss the connectivity of things, not asking deep questions, like “How much will it cost? How disruptive will it be?”

It’s all coming in so fast. Some people will whisper “Wow” and I’ll be among them.

It’s nearly here, this 2020 A.D. a date that we saw coming, without seeing. We’ll need correctable lenses, rose-colored 3D Google glasses to start recording how it was; just in case we need to put things back in place.

On Track To Pink Coding

The Digital Age, like the Industrial Age has exposed gaps in the skilled labor market, that if left to their own vices will effect a businesses’ bottom line. And those shortages need to be addressed before demand outmatches supply.

But while companies like Google are interested in funding initiatives for girl’s who code, not every girl is interested in coding.

In the ninety-four years since women were given the right to vote, there has been one female democratic vice-presidential candidate* (Ferraro 1984), there has been one female speaker of the House of Representatives (Pelosi, 2007); one female nominated for the Democratic Presidential Primary (Clinton, 2008) ; one female Vice Presidential Republican nominee (Palin, 2008); One female four-star U.S. General in the Army (Dunwoody, 2008); one female four-star General in the U.S. Air Force (Wolfenbarger, 2012); one Female four-star admiral and Vice Chief of Naval Operations (Howard, 2013). And we’ve yet to see a woman president.

The slow process of closing the gender gap in America is systemic. It has as much to do with status quo, as it has to do with nation building– that other job, of having babies. And just as not every girl is interested in coding; not every girl is interested in having babies. The truth is that finally, girls have a choice and it’s more than trying out for cheer-leading and not making the squad. It’s a real life choice, one that puts them on a track towards greatness; with real consequences and unmitigated outcomes.

Coding should be taught in the school system, as part of the core curriculum in classrooms across the country. So that all children, particularly girls can be exposed to it and perhaps discover a real interest, which a teacher can then nurture. Teaching our girls is different from teaching our boys, so it mustn’t be competitive.

But if we are going to allow companies to recruit our girls and teach our daughters coding; to essentially allow a business to restock the labor pool to their own specifications, shouldn’t we demand that it be done in good faith? And wouldn’t that include the closing of the gender wage gap that exists? And shouldn’t that include legislation?

I’m only asking, because history is gnawing at me. The legacy of businesses who shuttled and carried unskilled laborers across borders and over the seas. Who cheaply laid down railroad tracks and mined coal and fired the steel used to build skyscrapers. The un-named Chinese, German and Hungarian immigrants who helped to build this great nation, but who barely fill a chapter in its history books.

Not every girl will want to code, but we owe her the chance. Let it be in a classroom of her peers. In the end she may not become a coder, or a neurosurgeon or the conductor of a high-speed train; but society has a need to prepare her, to teach her and then to welcome her into the Digital Age.

*I neglected to include Ms. Geraldine Ferraro in the first posting. My gratitude and thanks go out to Dan for bringing the oversight to my attention. In addition to providing the link http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/geraldine-ferraro-dies-75-woman-vice-president-candidate-remembered/story?id=13228533

Virtually, You Are Here

If you are reading these words, then you are, by default here.
An effective writer can do that, through the clever use of words, similes and metaphors. By carefully stacking letters like blocks of code, until BLAM! You are here.

Reading creates a state of mind, without circuitry, or silicon, or bits and bytes of data organically designed. Like technology, it fulfills a purpose, sharing and entertaining passages that tell a story and “Once upon a time” is the crossing line, the threshold. But sometimes the reading material doesn’t begin like a fairytale.
Sometimes, it’s boring and repetitious and in our rush forward to all the great apps that the digital world has to offer, we hastily finger swipe our touchscreen and assume, the wording to be correct. Because we’ve become familiar to and insensitive to legal verbiage, the Terms of Use:

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS CAREFULLY. BY CLICKING “SIGN UP” ON THE SITE OR BY DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING OR OTHERWISE ACCESSING OR USING THE APP(S) OR THE SERVICE, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah…
For the next six or seven paragraphs, the font will grow smaller and pretty much, it will read like all the other Terms of Use, and all written with capital letters—the equivalency of screaming in a hell and damnation kind of way– we’re “BOUND BY THE FOLLOWING TERMS, INCLUDING THE PRIVACY POLICY.
And this, the usage of terms like Privacy Policy seems benign, and so it might be when used with apps; but there’s another side with far-reaching consequences, like the information stored on our things, like cellphones, tablets and soon to be Internet of Things (IoT).

There’s value to the human signature and a quiet elegance to being able to write in cursive. It’s not an art form, it’s a skillset.

Some of the world’s greatest documents, The Magna Carter, The Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, each a signed manifesto are reminders of the human condition, and hopefulness, as we press on.

There’s no lasting image to a swipe of the finger, it just can’t compare to the swirling ink of a pen. It’s little things like signatures that we need to hold onto. Especially as we enter the Internet of Things (IoT). When machines talk to machines (m2m) and massive amounts of data are transmitted and analyzed in real time. We may need the simple things to remain simple, like ink and it’s staying power.

By then, privacy may no longer be sustainable. Or attainable, as profitable markets shift, change and the economy adapts. What happens then? Will it matter?

The world is smaller than it was, thankfully we have social media. And in a virtual world, it brings us together. You are here.

Graphene, A New Technology For Women

 

We women have an astounding amount of buying power.  Market estimates vary, but reports indicate that women spend between $5 trillion to $15 trillion annually.  Trillion.

So, tell me why is all the really cool technology geared towards men?  Is it some James Bond Double O-Seven fetish? 

I’m only noticing now, because this week I started to plan our family’s summer vacation and while it’ll be based on affordability, fun and location; we’ll also need accessibility. 

I don’t mean free Wi-Fi in the hotel room internet accessibility.  I don’t mean poolside free Wi-Fi because we’re not going to be tethered to either.   We’re hoping to go down the unbeaten trails, but we’re not interested in accruing roaming charges. 

We want to take selfies next to the waterfalls and upload them to our friends back home.  We want to be able to check and respond to emails, and update Facebook.  And yes, I want to Tweet about any inconveniences that we encounter during our idyllic getaway.

So, we need gadgetry, like men’s Wi-Fi cufflinks, but not cufflinks because we’re not going to a wedding or a formal dance.

I’ve done some research and there’s a new product called Graphene that Scientists discovered back in 2004.   Made of pure carbon, Graphene efficiently conducts heat and electricity; it’s lightweight and remarkably strong.  Scientists believe it will replace silicon. Companies like Apple are interested in it, so am I.  It’s flexible and has a great deal of potential and I’m thinking it can also be used for Wi-Fi underwire. 

I hope that some tech firm will think of women.  That they’ll think outside the box.  Think of something new.  Enough of the “same old same old”, those blue jeans, mascara and stockings.  Oh My!

Frightening, because there’s so much more to women.  But the most obvious would be our fetish for shoes.  A huge market right there; hi-heels, low-heels and sandals too; I could think of a few improvements to them.

Maybe made with a collapsible heel for more efficient dancing.  Heels that transform into flats, now there’s a novel idea.  And Graphene being both flexible and light-weight would be perfect.  Of course the shoe has to be fashionable.  So, partner it with a reputable clothing designer, construct it with Wi-Fi, (cleverly concealed in the heel) and Kapow!  Portable, interchangeable and to optimize them, make them in a variety of colors!

Now that’s new technology for women.  Rethink the thought and make it happen; life re-imagined.

TEK Inclusive, Not Elusive

Life doesn’t come with instructions.  Whether we’re pushed out or carefully extracted, we enter this world ill prepared for the journey ahead of us. 

In our youth, the journey was thrilling and eventful; we often jumped to conclusions and leapt before thinking and did so with little consequence.  But we’re older now and know better. 

Technology, is best used with knowledge, but sometimes it doesn’t come with paper instructions and just seems daunting. 

It wasn’t always that way.   Once upon a time, when you purchased a product it came with instructions that seamlessly guided you along, so that you could enjoy the device.  These were usually written on crisp white paper and after you read them, you were well prepared to use the device. Then you’d carefully fold the paper instructions and store them neatly away for future reference.

But the future came quickly, without warning the instructions began to appear on recycled paper.  These thin greyish slips of paper easily tore, and usually didn’t offer a grace period, that is a small window of time in which in complete frustration you’d ball up the instructions and promptly tossed them into the trash. Later, you’d retrieve them with a cooler head; logic prevailed. You’d get it, you needed those instructions.

And then the instructions changed form again, now they were being printed in multiple languages. English on one side and Spanish or Chinese on the other.  You were left more frustrated than before and joked about it; if you didn’t understand the instructions in English, then how could you possibly understand them in another language?

And then, without warning they had the last laugh, when they intentionally stopped putting the instructions into the box!

Instead a CD needed to be inserted and run on a computer. And that too began to change as you could only gain access to the instructions by visiting the website and downloading them.   A quandary if you didn’t have the knowledge to download a PDF, yet another acronym that popped into the English vernacular.

Which brings me back to the top of this page; that you’re not born with life instructions in hand; but perhaps you don’t need them to be.   After all, we have this unique ability to communicate, that is we can paint and erect a sign to prevent others from falling off a cliff. Technology shouldn’t be viewed as a cliff.

Besides, the journey of life is fun, meant to be enjoyed; teaching, educating and sharing knowledge are important to character, integrity and human development.

It’s nice to know that there’s still instructions included on things that smell good, like boxes of cake mix.  And if that changes and a cake mix requires a kitchen mobile APP, well it’s equally nice to know there’s a 50+ community available to help you.

Taking the fear out of technology and yes, there’s AARP TEK for that.

Eye Technology: What Would Gene Roddenberry See

Like so many others, I got excited when I read that Google was tinkering with glasses; that this eye technology might be a little more scientific than gadgetry got my attention. And then Google Glass was released.

The product did what it was touted to do, but it did little for technology in an aging world.

Google Glass is a toy for the outdoorsy types, who like to jump out of perfectly good airplanes and who like the thrill of scaling sheer mountainsides. But not so much for 75% of the Americans who wear some form of corrective lens and who have some degree of AMD- age-related Macular degeneration of the eye. America is getting older, perhaps it’s time to put away its toys.

I’m reminded of Opti-Grab, the fictional eyewear gadget that Steve Martin’s character invented in the movie, The Jerk. In the end, all its users ended up cross-eyed, for having repeatedly used the little eyeglass handle between their eyes. Label it gadget fail.

But could the influence of science fiction writers like Jules Verne and Gene Roddenberry, who gave us such great inspirational communication technology, likewise have stifled eye technology by mostly leaving it out of their written works?

What if Star Trek’s Lieutenant Commander LaForge had been cured of his blindness? What if scientists had eradicated that defect, would Google Glass have evolved as lighter version of the commander’s visor?
And maybe that’s the whole point, not to see the world as it is, but to see it as we would like it to be.

Because if we were given a pair of glasses that flipped images upside down, and we wore them for a few days, our brains would flip the images right side up. That’s been scientifically proven.

And I think that’s what happened last month, when Google released it’s Beta version of Google Glass. Now, it’s up to us to figure out some good use to put them to and for that, I’d like to first be paid.

Baby Boomer 1st Tweet

Hello world! I’m excited. It’s as if some part of me has just emerged from a cocoon, where for the past umpteenth years, I’ve been passively learning and today, all that changed. And if you were born between 1946 and 1964, well you’re about to feel excited too!

Because you’re a Baby Boomer, one of the 74.6 million babies that were born after World War II; you are a part of the largest generation to be born in American history.

The American Baby Boomer Committee (ABBC) wants to acknowledge us with some Baby Boomer trivia: The Boom peaked in 1957. If you were born that year, then you are 1 of 11,780.8 babies that were born per day in America. Yes, per day; that’s the equivalent of about 8 babies per minute! And if you were born in 1964, at the end of the Boom Era, then you’re one of 11,002.7 babies born per day in the U.S.

We fearlessly rode our bicycles and roller skated without helmets. We fell down and scraped our knees; but we got back up and were better prepared for life because of our bruised feelings. We played outdoors, partied and sometimes drank too much. Our “Been there done that” attitude helped build up integrity, without tearing down character.

We’re no longer buying diapers and saving for tuition. Our kids have graduated from college and while they’re trying to figure out their lives, we’ve discovered new ways to balance our household budgets and there’s money left over!

We’re the newest consumers on the internet, stabilizing the economy and finding better ways to use social media. Our impact will have far-reaching effects on a global scale, in politics and on the ecology. We’ll have a chance to eradicate racism and perhaps close the gender gap.

We baby boomers are a voting bloc, a movement that will drum out a new beat and our first tweet on Twitter will be: “Hello”.

Music Streaming- It’s Not That Complicated

Pandora, the internet radio giant is being sued for streaming music that was made prior to 1972. And as far as lawsuits go, it’s quite a story.

But the real story ought to be the relationship between technology and music. Because unlike any other industry, music from the 1970’s owes a great deal of it’s current success to Rappers and the technology that’s literally played it forward, by taking it from analog to digital and revitalizing the music industry.

No one knows where music came from, but primal rhythms created with natural objects like gourds, bones, and shells; evolved to the more complex pitch and tone controlled instruments, like strings and windpipes.

In 1999, a seven-holed flute was discovered in China. It dates back to 7000 B.C. and it has one offset hole, perhaps a mistake that indicates earlier man’s sensitivity to pitch and tone. That sensitivity still exists today, except now we call it an ear or an appreciation of music.

The profitability in sharing music via CDs, apps, streaming and the web is a work in progress. But music, like life itself, is a constant. It’s the sharing of cultures and the distribution of a soul’s wealth.

Together, music and technology will continue their dance down Wall Street to Main Street, USA. Shimmering and repackaged, the music will float across oceans and be heard. Because as William Congreve wrote, “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast”.