Mainstream Cellular Phones

So who remembers what a "telephone" is? Not just that wireless thing hanging from your kitchen wall. I'm talking old school turn dial phones. Well, I would understand for the kids of today to have little or no recollection of such a futile tool. It was the thing of the past. Who needs those when everyone is carrying around a cell phone. It is personal, light, and useful for more than just calls anymore. So how much has the telephone evolved since the old turn dials? Let us look at just a few of the advancements that phones have had over the years.

One the greatest differences that can be made about cell phones and telephones is the literal fact that telephones run via telephone wiring and now fiber-optics along cable lines. Cell phones are run via satellites sending signals from one phone to the other. The use of satellites over cable and phone lines is the fact that it travels faster and without any cords of wires. It can get reception from just about anywhere and can be used at any time. As far as fiber optics has come for sending information, it doesn't beat the waves used in cell phones.

Another large difference in the old home phone and the cell phones is the portability. Before, when you had to talk gossip with your best friend on the phone, you would have to take the phone cord, pull it all the way to the bathroom and lock yourself in to keep from others to listen. With cell phones, you can take it outside, upstairs, in the car, in a tree, etc. Also, even when they created portable phones in the 80's, they were large and clunky. Now they are sleek enough to fit in a wallet.

The cell phones have come up with other numerous ways to just simply communicate. Not only can you just talk into the phone, but you can have speaker phone, walkie-talkie mode (where everything is voice activated), text messages, AIM connections, etc. If you thought saying words was hard, there are now other ways of "speaking".

With the advancement of memory, cell phones have features never dreamed of by older phones: Cameras, music, games, AIM, Internet, and other fun little bells and whistles. The phones started putting in the little things like the planner with calendar, the calculator, the stop watch, etc into its entourage. Then they slowly added innovations like music downloads, an Internet connection, and music that takes their importance and shoots it through the roof. Now there is no need for any other electronic, it is all on your paper thin 1 by 2 inch phone. You don't need anything else.

One last thing I can mention that makes cell phones so great is the fact that they are cheap! I mean whne I can see a hobo on the greyhound buses using a cell phone, then you know that it is accessable to anyone and everyone. In which it should....except not to hobos....

Resources: RazorTurn Dial Phone

Snap and Share

My friend is an obsessive picture taker. I don't think I've seen her recently without her digital camera tied to her wrist. And I remember all the time we spent hunched over the tiny little screen, trying to see the pictures she had recently taken. That just isn't that much fun.

So, Eye-Fi has come in to change that. This little SD card, which many digital cameras use, stores 2MB of pictures and also does something much cooler. It also acts as a wireless card for your digital camera. Now you can take a picture, hook up to the nearest available Wi-Fi connection and email those pictures to your friends.

Of course, this technology is still in beta testing, but I expect it to be a big seller, no matter what they finally decide is the final price.

The only problem is that many cameras aren't ready for the technology. It takes some special features to make the camera connect to the internet and then be able to actually do anything once that is accomplished. I still think it's worth it.

I know my friend will be especially happy to see it hit the market, and I will be happy getting to look through her pictures at my own pace.

Thanks Wired News, Eye Fi and Engadget for the content and again to Engadget for the picture.

My Favorite Place

There are tons of libraries on Purdue's campus. I spend so much time in them too because I don't live on campus and it is a pain to take a bus to my car every time I want to leave to go home. And they are one of my favorite places to be.

There is just something about libraries that makes me want to study. My favorite library in the Potter Engineering building at Purdue. There are comfy chairs I go sit in to study or sometimes nap in.

Unfortunately, there has been some talk of libraries being obsolete. Now I think that's just crazy talk.

Though, I can see how people who say that may have a small point. The internet has replaced the library's function of being the place to get information. It's also a lot more convenient to use the internet instead of the library.

But the library also serves other functions. The internet doesn't have actual human beings helping you find information. It also isn't a place you can go to study or sleep. The internet can't give that personal connection and it is more work to find credible information sometimes that it is in a library.

Like I said before, there's just something about libraries that I like. And there is nothing like curling up with a real book to read.

So let us all rally around the library and help keep it around.

Thanks University of California's Psych Services for the picture.