Technology Dazzles

I watch young people, and for me that is coming to mean not simply all those "younger" than me, but that generation of adults in the prime of their lives. They are immersed in technology and they take it all for granted. I'm sure the perspective has always been the same. The older, but not yet elderly, looking with amazement at the follow-on generation and pondering on whether they appreciate what has happened in their lifetime.

I've got a car that knows where it is and tells you how to get where you want to be. It reminds you of when you need service and it senses when you get in with your Blackberry in your pocket then it simply lets you talk when someone calls. If you say whom you want to call, it will do that for you as well. When I put it in reverse, it shows me a TV picture of what is behind me. When I approach and have a key in my pocket, it lets me in. If I try to lock that key in the trunk, it won't let me. It does a lot more and in a year or so when I replace it, there will be a cruise control that slows the car for traffic ahead, a warning that alerts me I've drifted out of my lane and still more gee-whiz. A veritable cocoon of computing.

My phone seldom gets to make a call. It's too busy handling email, searching the web, reminding me of my bank balance and calendar appointments, letting me read my Kindle library, offering me navigation help if I'm not in my car, checking the local weather, and finding me a decent restaurant with a wine list. It can do a lot more, but I haven't got the time to explore it.

In the kitchen my dishes get washed, my oven turns itself on and off as well as cleans the spills, the coffeepot gets up twenty minutes before I do and remembers to turn itself off after breakfast, and the microwave senses if food is hot enough, if the ice cream is ready for serving and if the steak I want for dinner is properly defrosted.

But, what really lit me up two days ago was when I actually sat down with the new TV I got about three weeks ago and did some exploring of what it can do. Oh, sure, it's got 1080p resolution, but that's old hat now. I'm on Dish and have now got the HD DVR and a nice Blu-Ray player. Everyone does these days.

No, what this TV has that wowed me was wireless 802.11n networking. It works just like my laptop. When I plugged it in the first time, it recognized my home network and in about two minutes was connected to the Internet. The TV comes with a range of pre-loaded Widgets and there is a Widget gallery to get more. There's Netflix, Amazon Video on Demand, Facebook, YouTube, Pandora, Rhapsody, AccuWeather, Yahoo and more at your fingertips.

Does it work? Incredibly well! Netflix has been the greatest. The app is quickly accessible from the TV remote. You can browse movie genres or build your own instant queue from the Netflix website. Click on a movie and in about ten seconds it will start. HD video, no stutters, stumbles or streaming interruptions and you've got full control just as though you were watching your own DVD's.

Pandora lets you pick stations from your own list that you've built online. Amazon gives access to their huge video library, AccuWeather makes sure the tornadoes don't get me in the summertime and Yahoo lets me check the markets and see if my 401k has any residual value.

I'm amazed at where life has taken me. Once as a boy, I was similarly amazed when they brought the first 7" black and white TV into the living room and we got to choose each night between the three channels. AM radio in the car wasn't too bad either.