Just because some of us might not be considered technology experts, doesn’t mean we’re stupid.
Twice in the past week I learned of two examples in which so-called experts looked down on some mere “amateurs” and tried to make them look stupid. Unfortunately for the experts, they only made themselves look stupid.
The first example occurred when someone I knew went to a certain cell phone company to replace a phone a washer had destroyed. He had another phone already, so he didn’t need to buy a new one; he just needed the number from his old phone switched to the other phone.
The customer service representative looked at the phones and said the switch wouldn’t work. “That’s an Alltel phone and won’t work,” he said.
Either the guy was new to the company or he was trying to pull a fast one to sell a new phone, but Alltel was the company his had been until a switch took place last year that frustrated thousands of customers. Yes, it was an Alltel phone, but it still was compatible with the phone company he worked for.
Instead of arguing with the customer service representative, the guy went home and got his wife’s cell phone, which was identical to the one he was trying to switch to. Realizing he wasn’t going to fool the guy, the customer service representative reluctantly made the switch, but not before trying to argue the battery was dead in the new cell phone so it wouldn’t work. The guy simply took the battery from his wife’s phone and put it in the new one and said, “make the switch.”
The second example occurred to me as I was attempting to get some help from the computer lab support person at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point library.
On Sunday, while working on a paper, the computer at the library stopped working. I had saved my file recently, but apparently I had saved it to the wrong file on the computer desktop and not the H drive as I didn’t know I was supposed to do, unbeknownst to me.
Figuring I’d come back when the computer was working, I left, not worrying too much about it. When I came back on Wednesday morning, I discovered the computer and the three others around it were “Out of Order.” Now I was worried.
I told the nearest library employee about my situation and he kindly referred me to the computer lab assistant who referred me to another person who promptly told me that nothing could be done about it. The hard drive was probably wiped and I would have lost everything, she said.
Confused by the word “probably,” I explained my situation again, wondering why she made such an assumption that the hard drive was wiped. Thankfully I did so, because one of the library’s computer guys, Miles, overheard the conversation and stepped in. “If the problem is affecting other computers around it, the hard drives probably weren’t wiped,” he said as we took a walk upstairs to look at the situation.
He looked at the computers and determined something must have gone wrong with the wiring and that he would fix the issue before I came back later in the afternoon. He assured me the hard drive hadn’t been wiped and that I will be able to access my report when I return.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed he’s right, but I’m definitely thankful he got involved in my situation. I’m thankful too I questioned the initial diagnosis. Just because I’m not an expert, doesn’t mean I’m stupid.
The moral of the story: don’t be afraid to second guess what someone may tell you in technological matters. Second guessing might bring favorable results (or at least I hope in my case, which is yet to be fully determined).
****
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, Dec. 9, 2011.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Zoosh technology could make for cool future
I just got a glimpse of the future
Going public for the first time this week, Silicone Valley-based Naratte announced its new technology, which it calls Zoosh, will enable cell phones, tablets, iPods, computers, televisions, cash registers and many other computer-type devices to communicate with each other using ultrasonic technology. Zoosh literally uses the speaker on a device as a transmitter and the microphone on the other device acts as a receiver.
What does this mean to the average person?
Such communication will allow phones to become wallets, as people can make payments simply by placing their phones near a Zoosh-enabled cash register. People can also store gift cards, store loyalty cards and coupons on their devices, which can also be read upon check out.
It also allows for people to quickly exchange contact information or computer files that need to be swapped. As someone who has to think hard about how to add a contact into my cell phone, this is a much needed technology.
The technology has countless other possible uses – including ticket redemption, gym check-in and proximity-based gaming – but the big one is likely to be what takes place at the check-out counter.
Right now, I primarily use a debit card, but I would gladly welcome the opportunity to simplify that process by simply waving my phone next to the cash register. Debit cards are easy, but they can often be frustrating when the card reader asks more questions than the gas pump (Would anyone have been able to make sense of this statement 15 years ago?).
Naratte estimates contactless payments like this will reach $300 billion by 2014. That’s a staggering figure, but one I don’t doubt. Through the ages, the whole point of technology has been to make life easier for people – although I’m sure those who don’t like computers would disagree – and Zoosh seems to do that.
I was able to get a glimpse of this technology, which is scheduled for implementation in Chicago, Ill., at the end of the July, because Naratte’s chief development officer, Byron Alsberg, is a childhood friend of mine from Neshkoro I recently caught up with for the first time in nearly 14 years when I went to San Francisco in January.
Byron told me a little bit about Zoosh then, but he was limited on what he could tell me until the company was ready to go public with it. He sent me a “Launch Deck,” which is the fancy Californian phrase for “press packet” us Midwesterners won’t start using for at least another five years, outlining many of the details about his company’s endeavor.
He said other companies are coming out with technologies that will allow for similar transfer of information, but Zoosh is the only one that employs ultrasonic technology, which he said is fast, secure, reliable and, probably most importantly, inexpensive. Nearly all devices and apps will just need free updates to use it, and many vendors will be able to implement it for no cost at all, and at a max, for $30. He said many companies with popular apps are currently in the process of integrating Zoosh into them.
Hopefully this future isn’t too scary for people. I did ask Byron if he knew when Skynet will go online. He didn’t have an answer, but he did say all of his company’s software does carry Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics inside. I’m pretty sure Skynet’s technology did too, though.
Oh well. Life could literally be a blast with a robot-started nuclear holocaust.
****
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, June 24, 2011.
Going public for the first time this week, Silicone Valley-based Naratte announced its new technology, which it calls Zoosh, will enable cell phones, tablets, iPods, computers, televisions, cash registers and many other computer-type devices to communicate with each other using ultrasonic technology. Zoosh literally uses the speaker on a device as a transmitter and the microphone on the other device acts as a receiver.
What does this mean to the average person?
Such communication will allow phones to become wallets, as people can make payments simply by placing their phones near a Zoosh-enabled cash register. People can also store gift cards, store loyalty cards and coupons on their devices, which can also be read upon check out.
It also allows for people to quickly exchange contact information or computer files that need to be swapped. As someone who has to think hard about how to add a contact into my cell phone, this is a much needed technology.
The technology has countless other possible uses – including ticket redemption, gym check-in and proximity-based gaming – but the big one is likely to be what takes place at the check-out counter.
Right now, I primarily use a debit card, but I would gladly welcome the opportunity to simplify that process by simply waving my phone next to the cash register. Debit cards are easy, but they can often be frustrating when the card reader asks more questions than the gas pump (Would anyone have been able to make sense of this statement 15 years ago?).
Naratte estimates contactless payments like this will reach $300 billion by 2014. That’s a staggering figure, but one I don’t doubt. Through the ages, the whole point of technology has been to make life easier for people – although I’m sure those who don’t like computers would disagree – and Zoosh seems to do that.
I was able to get a glimpse of this technology, which is scheduled for implementation in Chicago, Ill., at the end of the July, because Naratte’s chief development officer, Byron Alsberg, is a childhood friend of mine from Neshkoro I recently caught up with for the first time in nearly 14 years when I went to San Francisco in January.
Byron told me a little bit about Zoosh then, but he was limited on what he could tell me until the company was ready to go public with it. He sent me a “Launch Deck,” which is the fancy Californian phrase for “press packet” us Midwesterners won’t start using for at least another five years, outlining many of the details about his company’s endeavor.
He said other companies are coming out with technologies that will allow for similar transfer of information, but Zoosh is the only one that employs ultrasonic technology, which he said is fast, secure, reliable and, probably most importantly, inexpensive. Nearly all devices and apps will just need free updates to use it, and many vendors will be able to implement it for no cost at all, and at a max, for $30. He said many companies with popular apps are currently in the process of integrating Zoosh into them.
Hopefully this future isn’t too scary for people. I did ask Byron if he knew when Skynet will go online. He didn’t have an answer, but he did say all of his company’s software does carry Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics inside. I’m pretty sure Skynet’s technology did too, though.
Oh well. Life could literally be a blast with a robot-started nuclear holocaust.
****
Originally published in The Portage County Gazette on Friday, June 24, 2011.
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