Thing #10: Technology Run Amok

That old sage of the prairie, my dad, introduced me to David Pogue's column awhile back. As a disgruntled iPod owner, I was wary of replacing my old iPod with a new one (the verdict's still out on the new one...stay tuned). Sensing my hesitation to plunk down money for something that might not work, my dad provided me with some helpful tips from David Pogue.

So when the library suggested we read Pogue for ideas to blog about, I was excited because he (Pogue) came with great recommendations from my father. I clicked on the link to his page and read his biography. He's a musician--fantastic! Pogue's biography mentions that he studied and composed music, so he's at least bringing some humanity to the lifeless internet. But, wait a minute there--what's this about an internet piano I see on his website? If he's endorsing a player piano, what kind of musician is he, really?

After watching his report about a Yamaha player piano, my faith was restored when even Pogue showed some skepticism towards this new-fangled instrument that connects to the internet; yes, you read that right: a piano--that most beautiful of instruments--that connects to the internet.

Cristofori must be turning in his grave. Render therefore unto the internet the things which are the internet's; and unto music the things that are music's.

Thing #8, or the Disgruntled RSS-er, or Too Many Passwords, Too Little Memory

I created a Bloglines account, but I fail to see the purpose of subscribing to RSS feeds (and that's indeed what a person does to RSS, right: she subscribes to it?). I find it just as easy to log onto the websites I like to read than go to Bloglines and see if a website has been updated. After all, most RSS feeds I subscribed to come from websites that are constantly being changed, and I know there will be changes when I return to that site throughout the day; I don't need an RSS feed to notify me of that fact.

Bloglines/RSS is a middleman that requires too many steps. Plus, I'm forgetting most of the passwords I'm using for all the various accounts I've created for this challenge. I know I could standardize my passwords, but that would take the fun out of these exercises--I need to blog about something!