Arts, Entertainment

Helping Santa sort out the gadgets

The rundown on high-tech gadgets for techno-challenged parents
By Naomi Klouda
Homer Tribune
As Christmas draws closer, searching display cases for the newest digital and electronic gadgets might seem a daunting task to those on the low end of the high-tech scale. Fortunately, there are people adept – and available – to weigh in on what all these gadgets are and what they do.
The Homer Tribune consulted with techie experts, such as our own Ryan Ridge and the folks over at TechConnect, to help us embark on a quest to check out what came after VHS movies and cassette tapes.
Sure, that was a long time ago, but some of us didn’t move forward so quickly. Imagine the patience this teaches our children as they have to slow down enough to explain it all to adults.
“MP3 player” is a generic term for the most recent in an evolution of music formats that allow consumers to enjoy their tunes. None of the earlier music formats of old – including ancient 8-tracks and cassettes – provide the convenience and control that an MP3 player delivers. With MP3 player in-hand – or pocket – consumers can create personalized music lists and carry thousands of songs wherever 
they go.
And that’s not all there is to the new generation of iPods and MP3 players.

The iPod Touch – offered as a portable computer and entertainment device – can download videos to then watch on a regular screen later. Portability is a large factor in the popularity of the MP3, considering the ease of transportation in that all of that stored music and video fits in something that often weighs less than an ounce.
The iPod Touch has access to an Apple applications store, with an available 70,000-80,000 applications ranging from a number of games, study guides, restaurant finders, budget calculators, sports team trackers, recipe books, medical reference books and much more.
The BlackBerry is the grandfather of all multi-tasking phones, yet is continually updated as well. BlackBerry is a line of wireless mobile devices introduced in 1999 that developed into a smartphone BlackBerry that supports e-mail, mobile telephone, text messaging, internet faxing, web browsing and other wireless information services.
This is an example of a “convergence technology,” Ridge explained.
It’s a term he said will come in handy later on when we talk about Xboxes and Nintendo Wii’s.
BlackBerry – developed by the Canadian company Research In Motion (RIM) – delivers information over the wireless data networks of mobile phone service companies and has a broad business or corporate following. It was former Gov. Sarah Palin’s device of choice during her run as U.S. vice president.
The iPhone, brought to market in 2007, is another example of multi-convergence in technological concepts. It gives access to the Internet, provides telephone service, takes photos in high resolution, shoots videos, receives GPS (Global Positioning System) data, handles e-mail, texting and can even feed your dog. (OK – maybe not that last part.)
Still considered a tad expensive, the iPhone is nonetheless down from its introductory costs two years ago to a more affordable price now around $199, plus monthly phone and data service charges.
The iPod Nano is another device that proves being smaller isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A third smaller than the regular iPod, the Nano comes in 8GB or 16GB sizes – that’s anywhere from 1,750 to 3,500 songs. By contrast, the physically larger iPod Touch can handle up to 64GB capacity, for around 14,000 songs. The Nano takes video, plays music from the radio, downloads music and features a “VoiceOver” that speaks the names of songs and artists. That way, you can navigate your music without having to strain your eyes by looking at the screen.
A lot has been happening in the “convergence” between television and computers – and video gaming is right in the middle of all those changes. The Sony PlayStation 3 now offers the ability to play Blu-Ray hi-definition video discs, but the whole better-picture technology seems to be catching on rather slowly. Consumers seem reluctant to cash in their present DVD collections and players for the more expensive, Blu-Ray upgrade, Ridge explained. But the PlayStation 3 allows consumers to try it out on their television, in between the children’s playing.
Microsoft’s XBox 360 game console doesn’t have a Blu-Ray player, but it has paired with Netflix to offer a large and growing selection of high-quality, immediately viewable movies over the Internet for those with Netflix accounts. In fact, a number of newer devices, including some Blu-Ray disc players and even some televisions, have the ability to connect with Netflix accounts or purchase downloadable movies from places like Amazon.com.
Television is also moving again, this time LCDs (Liquid Crystal Displays) are starting to use the more energy-efficient LED’s, (Light Emitting Diodes.) Ridge said the TVs are still LCD, but use LED lights instead of the older, Compact Florescent Lights to light up the liquid crystal display. The LEDs are the same as those you see on popular keychain flashlights. These are even thinner than previous LCDs, which are now based on 10-12 year-old technology.
But with the price for LED TVs still coming in around $2,500 for a 42-incher, some of us might want to wait. The older LCDs are still considered good television, and cost considerably less than they did when first emerging.
The trend in all these technologies is that, as consumer demands heighten, costs go down. And since those old, one-trick gadgets are fading out to be replaced by the multitaskers, perhaps the best approach is to just keep an open mind. Don’t over-stress your life with gadgets that take forever to understand. Find what you like best and suits your needs, only take on applications you can really use and be willing to let the children or young people in your life play teacher.
It’s good for their self-esteem.
And who knows, maybe some of it will actually make your life more efficient.

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Posted by Newsroom on Nov 25th, 2009 and filed under Arts, Entertainment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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