I was right; something did crop up to distract me from working on the latest draft of my INTERBELLUM rules ... I bought a iPhone!
Now I use information technology quite a lot, but I have never been one for buying the latest gadgets just because they are the latest gadgets. Until now my mobile phone has been just that ... a phone that I can use whilst on the move. The fact that it can take photographs has never been that important to me; neither has the fact that it has a radio or can do various other things that I have used. I do text very occasionally, but find that the keys on a standard mobile phone are fiddly to use ... and I positively HATE predictive text!
So why did I buy an iPhone?
Because:
Now I use information technology quite a lot, but I have never been one for buying the latest gadgets just because they are the latest gadgets. Until now my mobile phone has been just that ... a phone that I can use whilst on the move. The fact that it can take photographs has never been that important to me; neither has the fact that it has a radio or can do various other things that I have used. I do text very occasionally, but find that the keys on a standard mobile phone are fiddly to use ... and I positively HATE predictive text!
So why did I buy an iPhone?
Because:
- The satellite navigation system I own and use in my car is so old and so basic that it will not and cannot be updated ... and I can buy a sat nav application for the iPhone for less than a new sat nav system will cost me.
- I am fed up not being able to access my emails whilst I am abroad (and especially on cruise ships) and my iPhone has free mobile Internet and WiFi access.
- I found that I can actually use the keyboard on the iPhone (it is a standard QWERTY design) far easier and far quicker than my existing mobile phone.
Welcome to the brotherhood old chap. Unlike you I'm a card carrying Luddite - but the iPhone has proved so useful since I bought it that I don't think that I could ever go back.
ReplyDeleteSent from my iPhone.
Conrad Kinch,
ReplyDeleteI have only had it since Sunday ... and I am already finding it useful. I have only uploaded the sat nav app so far, but I am looking forward to seeing what other apps there are out there (a dice rolling one, for example?).
All the best,
Bob
Ah. That explains the text messages. Or as the young would have it 'txt msgs'.
ReplyDeleteTim
Congratulations on the new gadget! At least, you will be able to use your camera to snap pictures of your games and projects. I am still resisting on the iPhone front, although i expect to capitulate soon before a Kindle ebook reader.
ReplyDeleteTim,
ReplyDeleteThe joys of youth! Some of my young charges have developed their texting skills (or should that be txtng sklls?) to such an extent that they use it in normal speech. For example, 'please' and 'thank you' have now been replaced with 'uugh'.
It is nice to know that the future of the English language is in safe hands.
All the best,
Bob
DestoFante,
ReplyDeleteI am told that they are lots of 'apps' that have wargaming uses. If I find any, I will let people know!
I have discovered that you can get the complete Sherlock Holmes stories as a downloadable 'app' (for free, apparently) and that there are many other books available. Although the screen of the iPhone is quite small, this is one sort of 'app' that I will try out. I have also been told that there is a dice rolling 'app', so I will be seeking that one out as well.
Its a nice gadget, and I am slowly getting to work out how to use it. I get free texts, free WiFi access, and free Internet and emails. As and when I find anything that might be of interest to wargamers, I promise to blog about it.
All the best,
Bob
It is nice to know that the future of the English language is in safe hands.
ReplyDeleteApparently our history is, too. My son (7th grade) just brought home the study guide for his "Standards of Learning" test for history. I'll bet none of you knew that Britain declared war on Germany after the Germans captured Paris, did you? Or that the Allies included France, Britain, and the U.S.? (The USSR, apparently, didn't count.) Or that the U.S. declared war on Germany after the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor? (Which is true in the literal sense, but misleading, inasmuch as Hitler did us a favor by declaring war when he didn't have to, which gave us the excuse we needed to reciprocate.)
No wonder our children are ignorant of history--this is what they are officially told to learn! Very depressing.
I forgot to add that my wife just bought a cell phone for me, for emergencies. I haven't used it yet, and don't intend to. I read recently that "health experts" (now there's a specific reference) warn not to use cell phones, iPhones, etc. any more than necessary, as the electronic transmissions do in fact constitute a health hazard! At least it gives me my excuse for staying a technological dinosaur.
ReplyDeleteChris,
ReplyDeleteIt is very depressing.
As an ex-history teacher I can tell you that much of what children are taught up to and including Year 9 in the UK (which I think is equivalent to 9th Grade) is similarly lacking in both detail and historical accuracy, and this is one reason why I moved to teaching another subject.
One is put in mind sometimes of Noel Coward's song 'Let's not be beastly to the Germans' in that we must no longer say nasty things about other nations or groups within society in case it upsets them, even if what we are saying is true. History in schools no longer confronts difficult or ambiguous subjects; instead it teaches a 'slimmed down' and 'sanitised', politically 'correct' version of events. One wonders how long it will be before this trend affects wargaming (or perhaps it already has).
All the best,
Bob
Chris,
ReplyDeleteBeware of 'health experts'! These are the same people who said that smoking was good for women as it helped calm their nerves and for men because it cleansed the lungs.
And by the way, don't forget what happened to the dinosaurs!
All the best,
Bob
Kids seem to have been taking the health thing on board, you'll see them holding their phones away from the head but near the mouth. It's the old folk like us who hold them to the side of the head.
ReplyDeleteI actually like predictive text, despite (or maybe because of) the options it throws up (apparently they are based on the most likely choice). Who would of thought 'most people' would be trying to use the word 'Shiv' after they'd typed s,h and i ?
Jim Hale,
ReplyDeleteMost of the youngsters I know either use 'hands free' kits or only ever seem to send texts. Its old farts like me who ever seem to make phone calls holding the phones up to our heads ... and we have to hold them close to our ears because our hearing was damaged by listening to too much loud rock music when we were young!
What bugs me about predictive text is that my phone insists on trying to add 'Bobo' instead of 'Bob' at the end of my texts. I have to be really quick to stop texts being sent with the predicted name on.
All the best
Bobo
I recently bought a new Blackberry - the I-Phone looked like hard work! The main benefit is that I can check and to and extent, deal with my business emails while i'm out and about so I don't have to fear returning to my office and the many emails which arrived in my absence.
ReplyDeleteTim
Tim,
ReplyDeleteI did look at the Blackberry but chose the iPhone because with my banana-like fingers I found the Blackberry keyboard almost impossible to use.
The iPhone is taking a bit of getting used to, but I do like the way in which it deals with text messages. It is easy to see the dialogue between sender and receiver as they appear in things that look a bit like speech bubbles.
All the best,
Bob