Tag Archives: electronics

Are Laptops and Smart Devices Worth It?

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By now, if you read my site, you know that I’m about acquiring assets that make money!  But one grey area that I think it worth considering is electronics!  My question is:  Are laptops and smart devices money losers?

In my particular case, I own a laptop that has enabled me to do work in places that I wouldn’t have though that it would be possible!  For example, I was able to crank out a few posts at my local drive-in!  During the movie “Ice Age something”, I was able to crank out articles while the family enjoyed the movie!  Normally, that would be a waste of my time, but with my handy laptop, I was able to pretty much ignore the movie and get my work done!  Actually, my laptop has made me both a more versatile and mobile person!  I’ve written many an article at libraries, coffee shops and while being inconvenienced while waiting from something (like doctor visits).

Apple iPhone

Smart devices make it possible

I find it very refreshing that I’m productive while at these locations (especially the doctor’s office).  Time is valuable, so why waste it!

So in my case, I think my laptop has more than paid for itself, and even though it will be obsolete in a few years, I think it was definitely worth the cost!  I’m very satisfied with my purchase.

Now onto smart phones…  I currently don’t have one (other than the one provided by work), but they are probably similar to my laptop.  In fact, I’m positive that I would use my phone for tweeting and other forms of socialization!  That said, I sure I wouldn’t be able to do the in-depth type of work I can do with my laptop, so I’m not 100% sure that a cell phone would be worth the costs (especially the monthly charge).  One could make the case that it would be cheaper to buy a smart device and use a wireless router for talking at home or common hot points.  Then buy a cheap phone for actually talking (or IMing).

Another problem about smart phones is that the technology is obsolete much more quickly than my laptop.  It seems like smart phones have a life span of about 1.5 years, and they cost as much as my laptop!  Still I see that they can have value, but not near as much as my laptop does!

Do you think that my justification is flawed?  Are they making you money or wasting your time?

Bests,

Don

 

 

Losing Technical Relevancy With Kids

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I just realized something today, I’m losing technical relevancy with my kids.  Not in the way that they think of me as their dad, no… more along the lines of knowing what’s important in their lives!

I thought I would be able to cherry pick the best things from my childhood and let them share in those experiences that I deemed incredible.  Well, now I realize that what I thought was important is no longer relevant!  Time has moved on and my personal childhood joys are now obsolete.

I would like to say that kids are different today, but really they aren’t.  What different is technology and the way kids adapt to it and thrive! 

From an early age, kids are exposed to electronics… even at the infant stage!  They push a button on a bear and it growls, or its eyes light up, or it sings a song or whatever the new fancy is.  Next, it’s the portable gaming systems like the Nintendo DS, my kids (including my 6-year-old) take them everywhere!  Then it’s cell smart phones, like the Apple IPhone, that do everything except iron your clothes!  My son and daughter already plan on laptops, soon I’ll hear one of them ask for an Apple IPad for a Birthday or Christmas…  it’s just a matter of time.

Electronics and computer (and computing devices) are exposed to them constantly… and they soak it up like a sponge!   The stuff I had as a kid looks like a joke compared to what kids have these days!

Then there is the sports!  Kids need to start sports  when they are young because the competition is so fierce!  If you didn’t start your kids out in sports around the ages 5, 6 or 7…  it may be too late!  And the other parents involved; OMG, you would thing that sports were a matter of life and death.

Yes, it was different when I was a kid, the things back then now seem very slow and hokey to kids today.  Electronics and the internet have really changed the game with respect to kids. 

My poor parents can no longer understand what I do on the computer, let alone my kids.  My parents are truly of a different time, and watching them on a keyboard is like watching a fish out of water flop up and down in the grass.  The technical chasm between my parents and my kids is huge!

Readers, do you feel the same as my parents sometimes? 

I know that I’m personally trying my best to keep up…  I don’t want to become totally irrelevant with respect to technology!

-MR