The Savvy Boomer

Consumer Electronics Show the grandaddy of hi tech shows

In the 70's and 80's and 90's, the big convention for the hi tech crowd was COMDEX.  It brought together over 150,000 people to see the latest releases in hardware, software and networking.  It was a big dollar event held in November in Las Vegas every year although the average participant was labelled "cheap" because they didn't gamble and spend a lot of money.  A cab driver told me that he hated working that week because the Comdex attendees were the lowest tippers at any Vegas convention.  While it was a huge money making vehicle for Shel Adelson who eventually sold it and built the Venetian in Vegas with the proceeds, the popularity of the internet has caused Comdex to be indefinitely "postponed" since 2004.

The Consumer Electronics Show was in the Comdex shadow for 30+ years but has now become "the" hi-tech Convention not to be missed in Vegas.  With the popularity of electronic gadgets that interface  with the web and the advent of "hi-def", CES is the place for companies to launch their new products and get the media buzz necessary to try and make an impact on the market. 

You'll be hearing a lot of announcements from the show that runs Jan 7-10, or you can go to their web site to keep up to date with all the happenings.

Our dependence on technology

This little junket to Las Vegas made me realize how great technology is but how bad it can be when things go wrong.  I booked the plane and the hotel on the internet.  We got to the airport and everything was OK but what if their computers had been down?  The rental car company had our reservation fine although they only had 1 car left. Thank goodness their computers weren't down. Then when we got to the hotel, the reservations were as booked, but what if their computers were down?  We ate at a restaurant and everything was OK but what if their computers were down?

You get the idea.  Virtually everything we do today is dependent upon computer, software and communications.  Something actually did go wrong though.  We went into the casino at the JW Marriott in Summerlin and while I played a table game (craps) that uses dealers and good old fashioned cash and chips, my companion played slots.  No more tinkle tinkle of the coins that were once the beckoning calls of the casinos because now they use bar coded pieces of paper when you cash out that you then redeem for cash or play on another machine.  And their computers were down.  Can you imagine the chaos that followed?  The machines took your money no problem but if you wanted to cash out, you had to wait for them to come over and check the machine, verify your  amount, go and get cash and bring it back.  There were about 20 employees trying to do this for over a few hundred players.  At one point the wait was over an hour and they were doing little to warn new players about the problem so that the games could keep going.

When I asked  why they just wouldn't turn off all the slots until the problem was fixed, the attendant looked at me like I was crazy.  Think about it.  If you play long enough, slot machines will eat your money unless you hit a reasonable size jackpot-but those are extremely high odds.  So many people, rather than wait, were still playing and leaving with nothing.  That was totally irresponsible on the casino's part and I'm sure that JW Marriott  would never have condoned that.

I'm all for technology but when it comes to gambling, let me hear the clinking of the coins and the clacking of the chips. Some things should be left untouched by technology.

Who cares about the RIAA? Set up outside the US!!

Another internet startup has run afoul of the giants of the music industry.  TechCrunch reports that Imeem which provides a widget to allow users to stream their music is being sued by Warner for copyright infringement.  Last month, we posted about Pandora potentially being shut down.  Yesterday, I got an email saying that because I was in Canada, I would no longer be able to get their music stream. 

I don't pretend to understand all the issues involved here, but if you are a regular web user, you know that the RIAA is the most hated organization in America.  Consumerist ran a poll and the RIAA beat out Halliburton for the Worst Company in America 2007 award.  As Michael Arrington says on the TechCrunch article:

"I hope that someday soon the labels and RIAA begin to understand that services like Imeem and Pandora are providing free marketing for their products, not stealing their intellectual property."

So if you run one of these companies, and you are passionate about it and believe what you are doing is OK, why not move the operation to somewhere that you can't be touched?  On-line casino and betting houses did it.  Sure the US tried to shut them down by making US banks block credit card transactions, but these streaming companies aren't anywhere in the same league dollar wise.  Besides, there is a big world outside of the US and while many of your customers may be in the US, that can change with marketing. 

I'll tell you if I were running one of these companies and I had a solid business plan with some financial backing, I'd be on a world tour right now trying to figure out which countries have the technical infrastructure,  bandwidth and a government that won't snivel like a beaten mule if the RIAA and their henchmen come calling.  Hint:  Most Caribbean islands and they are a few hours by plane from the US and further afield, there are places in SE Asia that would love to get these types of operations.  I'm not suggesting they would move everyone there but let's see:  New York OR Costa Rica in February hmm......

By the way, The Savvy Boomer has some experience in running an offshore internet service and loves warm countries.  Give me a call if you need some advice or better yet, an on-site manager.  Overhead is very low as you can see by the shot of my office below.

The Digital divide-Where are you on it?

The above chart and comments  about it are posted on TechCrunch.   They ask the natural question, is it a  strictly a factor of age?   They look at the fact "that such a high reported figure for those not engaging is an opportunity waiting to happen."  I definitely agree with that, and as I have alluded to in many posts on here before, once tech marketing people figure out how to market to the boomer/senior demographic, we are probably going to become the fastest growing market for new tech products because we have a lot of catching up to do.

The World Of Wikis

The wiki seems to be emerging as the next big thing on the web.  This piece looks at the range of wiki products on the market, and how people are using them. Overall the future looks bright for the Wiki, which is evolving at a rapid rate. As more advanced Wiki solutions are built, they are becoming more and more blurred from the original Wiki DNA.

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Welcome to the Savvy Boomer

What?  Another website aimed at boomers?  What's this one all about?  Well, here's a mental checklist for you.

If you're in that sought after demographic called the Boomer then this blog may be for you.
If you're intimidated by technology then this blog may be for you.
If you cringe at the thought of having to go into an electronics store to buy a PC, digital camera, a printer, a hard drive etc. etc. then this blog may be for you.
If your children or grandchildren roll their eyes when you tell them that you want to know more about technology then this blog may be for you.
If you are tired of information overload written in "geekspeak" (ie terms and phrases that are crushingly technical) then this blog may be for you.
If you wonder why technology companies never use people who look over 30 to advertise their products then this blog may be for you.
If you fit in at least 2 of the above categories then this blog is probably for you.
If you put a tick beside everything, then this blog is definitely for you.

The purpose of thesavvyboomer.com is to help unravel the world of technology for "boomers" or anyone else who has been too busy working and living the past 3 or 4 decades.  If you're under 40, you are going to find the information here probably too simple or not technical enough for your needs.  We're going to try to deal with the information on technology, software, the internet and products such as digital cameras, PDA's, mp3 players etc in a way that will inform but not intimidate you.
Why are we going to do this?  It's simple.  There are very few websites that address this area.  You can find literally thousands of blogs dedicated to boomers that cover areas such as investing, retirement communities, real estate, health care, dating (yes online boomer dating-we'll talk about it in a future article), travel etc etc but I only found a couple that are dedicated to technology for boomers.  And since I'm a boomer myself and my friends are always asking me for help in this area because of my high tech background, I figured, what the heck!

So this blog will be dedicated to the areas of consumer and high technology as they relate to computers,the internet and associated consumer electronics.  At this point, we aren't going into audio/video such as TVs, DVD players, cell phones etc (other than cameras and mp3 players) but that's not to say we won't in the future.

Take a look at this article on another website about technology for boomers.  It tells me that companies are finally starting to realize that boomers have the ability to become tech-savvy.

Finally, please bear with me.  I am learning as I go.  If you are a blogger checking me out, I'm new to this so if I'm doing something wrong,let me know.  I'll be linking to other boomer type blogs soon so that boomers can see what else is being written about and by us.