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Whole world may be too handy
(by Barbara Christian - January 04, 2012)
WINDOW ON MAIN STREET, BY BARBARA CHRISTIAN
Whole world may be too handy
I am the proud new owner of a Kindle Fire, the newest wi-fi and Internet-ready edition of Amazon's wildly popular e-reader.
Yes, the very same e-reader I said I would never touch, let alone own, because that would mean participating in the demise of beloved places like the Fireside Book Shop and public libraries, at least as we now know them.
But that was then. This is now, and I would be lying if I didn't tell you how in love I am with this 7-by-4-inch wonder I have been clutching to my heart since receiving it.
It's easy to see why all of the new hand-held technology is so mesmerizing and addictive. Smart phones, tablets and e-readers like the Kindle Fire can do everything and more than those original room-sized computers did back at the dawn of the cyber age.
And how I once looked down at all of you who stood in public places staring at the thing in your hands with that far-off, slack-jawed, disconnected look on your faces. Now, I too am slack jawed and disconnected. And yet I feel no shame. I am, in short, smitten.
However, not everyone has unconditional love for the Kindle Fire -- or KF, as I have come to call it. The techno geeks of the world have given it a grudging thumbs up but tempered their praise with criticism of technical minutia most mortals could care less about.
As far as I'm concerned and as far as any KF shortcomings there may be, I don't know what I don't know, and I don't care.
Bottom line is there is no end to the information these hand-held smart devices can do and oh, so many ways to waste time. These are called applications, apps for short, and they have produced the newest buzz question: "Is there's an app for that?" The answer is usually yes.
So far I have stuck to downloading only Amazon's free apps, of which there are many.
For instance there is a dog whistle app with a range of sounds only dogs can hear. There is a human enjoyment component too. For instance, I find it amusing to pester my two mutts with the thing.
I play gin rummy with a cyborg named Aiden and endless games of Angry Bird all by myself. Will someone clue me in on how to beat level two of Mine and Dine. That bottom pig with the hard hat is impossible.
My KF also holds an app that unscrambles words and which is helpful when playing the Jumble game. There are apps for solitaire and Scrabble too.
The KF is not all fun and games. There are other apps too, useful things like dictionaries, and you can access the news and weather whenever you want. It can even become a flashlight or emergency flasher should the need arise. There is an app that turns the thing into a kitchen timer or an alarm clock. A calculator? Yep, there's an app for that. I could go on, but you get the idea.
But alas, for all their serviceability, have these fascinating devices also served to isolate us from each other? Have their fantastical abilities lured us into living in a virtual world rather than the actual one?
The questions beg for answers. Will we ever be the same again? Can we go back to the way things were before we held the world in our hands? Is there an app for that?
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