"reboot at reboot dot com" Engadget Podcast 118

driving to the tune of a "blackberry, or iphone?" discussion, I suddenly thought, "where am I?" I wasn't lost in a literal sense, but just suddenly very conscious of being deep into a strange past time.  for goodness sake, it isn't normal to be preoccupied with old podcasts about technology. it's not as if I were combing through the archives of This American Life, or Fresh Air.

but what is life for, if not to delve into things? at least that's how I rationalize this activity.  and anyway, I'm enjoying this foray into the land of "nerd[ing] out." I have a tendency to be obsessive (I have a ph.d. in entomology), and the tendency to embrace strangeness (I also have a bfa).  every once in a while, whilst listening to these three voices go on about phones, I re-experience a sensation I had once, at a party, recklessly drunk on bourbon, encouraging two strangers I'd just met (Walther and Cougar) to get as southern as they possibly could. I was gently pried away from them before things got out of control.

Deliverance still from The Compass Rose

podcast 118 is nearly all cell phones.  the blackberry storm, bold, and iphone are heavily featured, but there is also rumination on windows mobile, sony ericsson, htc, and others.

it kills me when paul, josh, and nilay all gush over how amazing it is to be alive in this time of intense cell phone diversity and evolution.  it reminds me of an ichthyology teacher I had who named his son, Devon, after the Devonian age - the period of greatest fish diversity.  it cracks me up in the same way to hear paul breathlessly state that they are all looking for that next, life-changing phone.

geological time spiral from wikipedia

I'm so right there with josh when he's talking about how the iphone somehow brainwashes its users into becoming complacent with less-than-adequate navigation functionality.  the day my husband stood in line to purchase the first iphone, I scoffed at how many touches it took him to dial my phone number. now, I'm so deep into that world that I don't ever think about it. I bought an f-ing macbook pro for f's sake! I hated my bberries because of their terrible browsers. the iphone did it so much better, that for me, there was no contest. it's the same with my laptops, alas, yes, "it just works."

oh but, really?  does everyone use auto-correct?  I am not a power user, but the first thing I do with my text software is turn off nearly all auto-correct and auto-format functions.  I cannot stand auto-correct. "NO - that's NOT the word I mean!" is what my brain is constantly shouting at the iphone's clumsy suggestions. when I need to send a text out on my husband's phone, I'm disgusted by the words it's suggesting I communicate. sure, maybe I can teach it to get better at anticipating what I'm about to say, but is it really worth it? I'd rather just hit the back button a few times. it could be that I lead a dull, plodding life, but I haven't yet been in a situation where I had to send out an emergency text at a breakneck speed. I have time to see the words and correct them myself. is that just lame? "it's all book."