Rick’s Rants and Raves

Although I love technology, I am a late adopter. This has taken me a while to admit, but admit it I must. I like to think of myself as an early adopter–those people who have the cool gadgets, are on the fore-front of Technology (with a Capital T!) and generally are the people who mere geeks wish to emulate. Alas, I am not an early adopter.

I watch technology from afar. I wait. I read extensively as it goes through its second generation.

The primary limitation for me is price. I never buy the early technology, no matter how cool, because I just don’t see it as worth the inevitable premium. For example, laptops have been around for years. They have great technology in them that make them very comfortable and easy to use. They have been through many generations. But it was only when the price premium of a laptop over desktop was in the $200 range did I adopt. But boy did my family adapt to the adoption rapidly. I now sit lonely in the office while my wife enjoys the laptop while lounging on the couch. Oh, I get to play too, but that is another story.

So I obsess about the new technologies. I read extensively on the technology blogs. But I wait. Remember the Audrey? Yeah, no one else does either. It was technology before anyone was ready. And it was expensive (more than a laptop in its day, if I remember correctly). Now you can get them on eBay for $50. I’m ready to get one just to play with, but I don’t really have a good place to put it, so perhaps I’ll wait until the next geration of computing appliance comes out. I’m thinking tablet computing will be that device, but the price is too prohibitive for me right now.

So my category of entries labeled “Late Adopter” will be about technologies that I think are ready for the main stream. They are mature, and the price point, if any, has stabilized. One criteria that I’ll use to determine if they are ready for main stream is: Could I get my mom to use it? We’re talking about the 60+ generation here, but a member of that generation who is computer litterate (her peers at work are amazed to see what she can find on that new fangled Google thingy).