What’s The Point?

When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, there were many that couldn’t see what it could be used for. The same happened several years later with the coming of radio. What on earth would be the use of it? Lord Reith, the first Director-General of the BBC, saw radio as a means of educating people and refining their culture. For the most part, these days, one hundred years later, broadcast radio is primarily used as an entertainment medium. Of course, radio has diversed too, from high grade encrpyted military communication, to walkie-talkies to the ubiquitous wi-fi found almost everywhere, including in many peoples homes.

I am reminded of this feeling of ‘what’s the point’ though myself. AI is the latest kid on the block. Yes, it has been around for a long time, in the background being developed, but it has suddenly burst into the public arena in a big way and almost every techie publication is writing about it, and YouTube has many videos about it. My intial reaction, I have to admit, has been “What’s the point?” Until, I, and many others, have been shown the useful practical ways AI can be used in the real world, that’s the initial feeling generated for many outside of the tech world. I have always considered myself a worldly-wise techie-orientated consumer, and I had a mobile phone, and a computer and was online way before most of my peers.

I remember, the best part of forty years ago now, being asked on more than one occasion, “What’s a modem?” When I explained you could get online, after explaining what online meant, the next question was invariably “What’s the point?”. Now, pretty much everyone has a mobile device or two, and many that wouldn’t consider themselves the slightest bit ‘techy’ regularly use social media accounts.

The new kid on the block, soon becomes ‘one of the lads’, and I know this is going to happen to AI. I just need to see some personally useful real-world applications of the technology and I’ll be on board with it. I’m not at that point yet, but I certainly don’t want to be left behind, and I’m never going to be that voice that says “What’s the point?” for long.

It’s Been A While

I haven’t written in here for a while. Regular writing is the key to both making writing easier, and retaining readers, so I’ve read many times. However, I haven’t found any that I felt would be of interest to you so why bother, just for the sake of it? I welcome your thoughts and opinions on that.

I’ve been looking at some productivity apps recently. I need to make sure that I start, and maintain good habits, such as regular exercise, journal writing, reading, taking photographs and the like. One way to do that is to get into the habit of such things. I thought a little help in that wouldn’t go amiss so I’ve installed Tick Tick on both my iPad and my main iPhone. Now, when I get up in the morning there are calendar events there to remind me what appointments I have during the day, and also a list of the aforementioned habits. I simply check them off as I complete them during the day. I can have the calendar events pop up at an appropriate time, and the habits can appear as a reminder, in the morning, the afternoon, or the evening.

So far so good, but I’ll write some more when I’ve run them for a couple of weeks

Play It Again?

I have just set up a brand new pair of HomePods, 2nd Generation. I made sure I got all the updates and everything done, and this evening I am sitting on the sofa listening to some music.

It went through my mind how my late grandfather was taken aback by CDs when they first appeared in the second half of the 1980s. I got my first CD player in 1987, and my grandparents had come to visit. I wonder what he would make of this technology now when I don’t have to move off the sofa all evening; where I don’t even have to lift a finger, but just tell Siri what I want to hear next.

OK, it’s not perfect. Apple Music might state that they have 100 million tracks on offer these days, but there are still a few old favourites that the streaming services have passed by. Nevertheless, it’s a fun evening, and, for me, mostly preferable to the TV!