50Micron.com

It’s funny, but I always get this funny look when I talk about technology being alive, evolving, and maybe even slightly sentient.

This is a non-storage post, but I never claimed to write only about storage, just mostly.

We dumped cable TV today.  And it got me to thinking on how certain technologies just become obsolete after a while.

We did it because the only ones who watched TV in our house were our kids, and they only watched two channels.  Nickelodeon, and Nick Jr, and becaue Nick Jr was a part of the “premium” cable package we ended up spending $100 a month or more so that my 5 year old could learn Spanish from a diminutive latina with a talking backpack and an oddly-dressed monkey for a friend.

Now they get that same education from the same shows, but they get it from Netflix streaming through the Sony Playstation.  Net cost $16.99/month.

But the cost savings are only part of it.  My kids are no longer assaulted by endless advertising, commercials for shows that are NOT on their age level, and are no longer scheduling their lives around what shows come on at what times.

It really is an amazing freedom when you think about it.  And it definitely signifies a technology that is finally moving away from “the way it’s always been done” to ways that may, finally, make more sense and put the consumer in control.

In a world where bandwidth is cheaper and cheaper, it really surprises me that more people aren’t making this change.

I’m a bit of a stick in the mud when it comes to change.

I dislike it.

A *LOT*

So what did I do…gave up my years-long love-affair with Blackberry and bought a new Android-based phone.

I’ve sort of had it spelled out to me recently that I resist change even when it makes sense.  Fearing the unknown and all that.

So this is my gesture. 

I managed to hit Sprint.Com during one of the 18 whole hours they had the HTC EVO in stock.  My son wanted to spend his end-of-year-report-card-money on one and in playing with it in the store, I had to admit I was pretty impressed.

First off the screen.  The EVO sports a 4.3″ diag. screen which puts the rest of the droid-based phones to shame.  (Even the new HTC Droid “Incredible” isn’t so incredible at a paltry 3.7″)

Setup was easy, but not as easy as it could have been.  After several unsuccessful attempts at activating online I was forced to call in.  The unsuccessful activations were due to the fact that the phones were tied to the number they were purchased under, and I was trying to cross-activate them.

So far so good.  The only notible exception is the inability to sync my windows “Notes” using exchange active-sync.  I depend on those pretty heavily so will have to find a work-around for it. 

I’ll update when i actually get a chance to use this in a “work” situation.