techfengshui

Handwriting technology

Even though many would argue that keyboard skills are more important than handwriting skills, there is a lot to be said for basic penmanship (after all paper is not going away anytime soon).  For many people, me included, there is a lot to be said for making penmanship more legible.

Some people who use keyboards extensively will try to improve their typing by buying a program like Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, but rarely will they try to improve their handwriting.  Obviously, there are no computer programs that help with penmanship.  But for those that want to improve their handwriting, I recommend this website.

The efficency of misspelling

Kids today are busy, and they have a lot of communicating to do. They work in many media: cell phones, E-mail, instant messaging, text messaging etc.  And they don't have time to waste on things that slow down the info-torrent they spew out. What kind of things slow down their precious communications?

Well, correct spelling for one.

Coping with E-mail Overload

In the days of the Pony Express riders often died at the hands of wild Indians as they valiently attempted to deliver mail.  When I look at some of the junk that makes its way into my E-mail in-box I wonder where the wild Indians are when you need them.  The problem is that it's much easier to send E-mail than it ever was to send physical mail, and so it's much easier for people to blast out garage sale notices and other mundane trivia.  But even beyond the silly emails and the stream of spam, most corporate in-boxes are also infused with poorly crafted emails that simply fail to provide crisp information.  And, in many ways, that is the more insidious problem.

Is there any hope of remedying this situation?  If so, what action steps can we take right now to improve the state of our E-mail communications?

Customer to Business: Can you hear me now?

Perhaps you've seen the oft-run Verizon commercial that shows a dedicated employee testing the coverage of the cellphone system by walking around as he continually asks the main office 'can you hear me now?'  This is a dual-message ad because it is supposed to show that Verizon is not only obsessively committed to improving coverage for its cellphone customers, but also that it is closely listening to its customers.  Many companies don't listen to their customers because (1) it costs money, and (2) the price of ignoring them is not all that great.  So companies spend money on advertising rather than on actually addressing customer complaints.

After all, what's a disgruntled customer going to do?  Run their own TV ad?  Hold a press conference?

Computers & Education

Why aren't human beings more adept at learning?  Why do we often keep making the same mistakes?  Humans have had the capacity to transcribe their thoughts for thousands of years now.  However, it's only in the past few years that we've had the benefit of the inspirational For Dummies publications.  And we've only recently had the benefit of computers in our school classrooms.  Apparently, neither of these tools have helped.  But forget about the difficulties in trying to educate dummies.

Why haven't computers helped our school kids learn better?

Refrigerator technology

Some people talk wistfully about the day when their refrigerator will have an LCD display and a built-in computer.  Avoid these people, as they are delusional and probably also dangerous.  I have a refrigerator that has a built-in water dispenser, along with a built-in water filter.  And that's enough trouble, technology-wise.

How can a refrigerator with a water filter be a technology problem?

Amazon one stop shopping

Everyone knows that Amazon is a great online bookseller.  Not everyone knows that Amazon is a great place to shop for other things like electronics, toys, kitchenware, software and more.  Some people know that Amazon has a patented (literally) a 1-click ordering system, but even those who know about the convenient 1-click option don’t use it as much as they could.

Why not?

Introduction

Technology is everywhere, a necessary part of our alreadytoo-complicated lives.  Every day a new device enters our life,promising to make us more productive.  But these new devices are morelike needy infants, demanding that we set them up properly and pay themproper attention.  The more sophisticated devices require periodicrebooting.  Few of these devices talk to one another, so we have tolearn to translate. We have become bewildered shephards tending to arestless battery-powered flock.

Let's consider the origins of the problem.