Technology and I
Technology. We used to be best friends. When I was younger, I wanted all the new electronic gadgets and overall, they never took me very long to figure out. I remember I would/could program simple things on my Apple IIe. Now, it's a completely different story. I don't know if it's me just being slow and retarded or technology is so advanced that a quasi-technical guy can't really figure it out. It's probably a little of both. By the way, I am one of those types of guys who don't like to read the manuals and just like to figure it out for himself.
Take these three new possessions of mine as examples of my decline:
1) Lexus. In 3 months or so, I still haven't completely figured out how to use some of the main features. I still have trouble with the navigation system. For instance, I plugged in a destination address because I was looking for a store in an unfamiliar area. It located it thought I was on my way. To my surprise and annoyance, it chose the starting address as my home instead of my current location, which was my office 20+ miles away. As much as I tried, I couldn't figure out how to reset the start location. The system is billed as intuitive. For the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. I ended up following the directions I printed out from Yahoo maps, like I used to do. So is Lexus trying to make a statement about my intuition or lack there of? Then there's the voice activated functions. Don't even get me started with this one. I can't even figure out the first commands to even begin to use the function. This is an example of a conversation I have with my car.
Steve: (pushing voice command button)
Lexus: After the beep, please say a command
Steve: Destination
Lexus: Please repeat
Steve: Destination (with a louder volume)
Lexus: Please repeat
Steve: DESTINATION!!!!
Lexus: Voice command cancelled
Lexus: (mumbles) dumbass
2) Motorola Krzr. About a month ago, I got the new Krzr because and since I've had it, I realized that I barely know how to operate it (besides the usual of adding contacts, sending texts, and making and ending calls). I can skip most of the fancy features like Power Vision, but I realized that I might be in trouble when my phone rang and the ringer was different from the one that I set it to. When I went to examine the ringer volume settings, I see the options, Vibrate Only, Ringer Off, Silence All. Now is it just me or does Ringer Off sound very similar to Silence All?
3) Canon S80 digital camera. Lastly, I got myself a nice new digital camera about a year ago, and minus the basic features, I don't really know how to use this new toy just like the aforementioned two. I can pretty much get it to take pictures and download. It takes great pictures, but I just don't feel like I maximize it's potential. I got it because it had a better zoom and megapixels than most of the Canon Elphs available at the time. What I didn't really realize was that it was it was meant for amateur photographers. This meant that there are a ton of features I would have to figure out. Sometimes I find features, like a fireworks setting, that I can't always find if I want to try it.
I still love getting new new electronics, and I'm not going to stop any time soon. But is anyone else having this problem? It's just a blow to the ego when I scratch my head like a fool and navigate around the same menu over and over since I can't find the exit button. At least I'll always know how to pull the battery out.
Take these three new possessions of mine as examples of my decline:
1) Lexus. In 3 months or so, I still haven't completely figured out how to use some of the main features. I still have trouble with the navigation system. For instance, I plugged in a destination address because I was looking for a store in an unfamiliar area. It located it thought I was on my way. To my surprise and annoyance, it chose the starting address as my home instead of my current location, which was my office 20+ miles away. As much as I tried, I couldn't figure out how to reset the start location. The system is billed as intuitive. For the life of me, I couldn't figure it out. I ended up following the directions I printed out from Yahoo maps, like I used to do. So is Lexus trying to make a statement about my intuition or lack there of? Then there's the voice activated functions. Don't even get me started with this one. I can't even figure out the first commands to even begin to use the function. This is an example of a conversation I have with my car.
Steve: (pushing voice command button)
Lexus: After the beep, please say a command
Steve: Destination
Lexus: Please repeat
Steve: Destination (with a louder volume)
Lexus: Please repeat
Steve: DESTINATION!!!!
Lexus: Voice command cancelled
Lexus: (mumbles) dumbass
2) Motorola Krzr. About a month ago, I got the new Krzr because and since I've had it, I realized that I barely know how to operate it (besides the usual of adding contacts, sending texts, and making and ending calls). I can skip most of the fancy features like Power Vision, but I realized that I might be in trouble when my phone rang and the ringer was different from the one that I set it to. When I went to examine the ringer volume settings, I see the options, Vibrate Only, Ringer Off, Silence All. Now is it just me or does Ringer Off sound very similar to Silence All?
3) Canon S80 digital camera. Lastly, I got myself a nice new digital camera about a year ago, and minus the basic features, I don't really know how to use this new toy just like the aforementioned two. I can pretty much get it to take pictures and download. It takes great pictures, but I just don't feel like I maximize it's potential. I got it because it had a better zoom and megapixels than most of the Canon Elphs available at the time. What I didn't really realize was that it was it was meant for amateur photographers. This meant that there are a ton of features I would have to figure out. Sometimes I find features, like a fireworks setting, that I can't always find if I want to try it.
I still love getting new new electronics, and I'm not going to stop any time soon. But is anyone else having this problem? It's just a blow to the ego when I scratch my head like a fool and navigate around the same menu over and over since I can't find the exit button. At least I'll always know how to pull the battery out.
posted by Steve at 2:30 PM
1 Comments:
Everytime I used a navigation system (on rental cars), I got more lost. The city streets were the worst because every 2 seconds would be a block and when the voice said turn right, *ding*, I didn't know if that meant this immediate right, or the next one. I would usually end up stopping at a gas station for directions. Sometimes, you just have to rely on the tried and true.
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