Are you ever startled by technology?

 

English: This is a photo of a room full of computers all showing the same windows error message at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

As mentioned before, I bought a new computer that runs Windows 7. It’s my first with that operating system, so even now I’m getting used to it. There are plenty of features I don’t use, mostly because I don’t know what I’d use them for. Surely they’re plenty useful for many people.

 

Like the way I can apparently connect to other computers.

 

Why did I just install My Book Live? What is My Book Live? And why is one named Twonky?

 

(seriously, if you know what it is, please tell me)

 

But most of the links are to family members’ computers that I have no business being in—on? At any rate, I think my brothers especially would prefer me to keep out (although I think I’m allowed to watch their movies).

 

I still can’t find where it installed the driver for my phone. This may be because I still have a flip phone: it’s so much nicer, why do all these people like touch screens? Anyway, my computer did find me a driver for it, which the other computer couldn’t do, but apparently it doesn’t actually do me any good to have the driver.

 

Anyway, I only found the network and sharing center while looking for my device driver. Don’t you ever think it’s a little creepy how much computers want to talk to each other before you even ask them to?

 

So much for my planned argument that education is pointless!

 

Don’t worry, though, I’m still working on it. Education: always a fun topic.

 

Why else would teachers strike by not teaching at all? (If they really wanted to make a point, the Chicago teachers should have said they wouldn’t proctor the standardized tests.)

 

Warning—Digression Ahead

I should write a real post.

It’s not as though I lack material. Aside from all my saved drafts, all ready for whenever I actually feel like giving them proper attention, I also have a bookmark folder titled “Blog Topics” where I save every site I feel like I could talk about, and I don’t even want to think about how many are there—I don’t know that I’ve ever reviewed it.

But despite coming up with at least three possible posts today, I just distracted myself and can’t do more than an aside.

I’ve also been known to paint… (Photo credit: Debbie Ramone)

Because I fired up my old computer: the laptop my parents gave me for high school graduation. And while I’m not ashamed of giving away my real age in general, thinking about how long ago that was is just too depressing to think about.

Anyway, the old brick still works. It still works nicely after about five or ten minutes of loading, and it does get hot, and the pointer keys are ridiculously loud and loose.

Also? All the keys are worn smooth. It feels so strange, so warm and soft like a living thing.

Kinda creepy. I’m emotionally attached to it, so I’m not giving it up (even though my brother just informed my there’s enough dust in the average keyboard* to grow marigolds) and therefore I hope it won’t eat me with technology goes sentient.

*no citation given

In Google I Trust Not

Because I’m constantly online, or feels at that way, I often find interesting articles. Especially on the humor site cracked.com. Some of their posts are funnier than others (:0), but I wanted to respond to this one, because it reminded me of another article I read and wanted to respond to ages ago (sorry, no link).

5 Reasons You Should Be Scared of Google

First of all, most of this is: “well, duh?”

It’s like the article I read, where a commentator of Google’s collecting everyone’s wireless info while mapping exclaimed that he could no longer trust Google implicitly.

Why would you in the first place? I mean, really. It’s like they say, there’s nothing private on the internet. That’s kind of the point.

And if our government uses Google products? Well, that’s just *headdesk*, because that is seriously ridiculous. For one, there’s no privacy on the internet, thing, and that would seem a little important to me, especially federal agencies.

As for their “Don’t be evil” slogan, the author of the cracked article implies that people accepted that as a business practice instead of the obvious “we’re a corporation devoted to making money, but we hope to not be as evil as most corporations are while doing so.” Seems reasonable to me.

I still like Google. I still use Chrome. (I search using GoodSearch because I can support my local library). I won’t use the ex-Google shopping anymore, because it’s gone the money-driven route, or so it was last I heard.

No, I don’t trust Google. I tolerate them. I use many of their products. Mostly, I tolerate the internet: my access comes from corporations and that’s the way it is.

What, do you want to leave it to the government? There’s a yikes. As long as Google is making money through their “Don’t Be Evil” slogan, they have popular support, which makes them money. With that kind of commitment, they’re still one of the best bets online.

But you should probably be sure to look up alternatives as well. Don’t let them own your life.

 

Related articles

• The dark side of Google (strom.wordpress.com)
• Google’s Anti-Trust Issues: What Does This Mean to Advertisers (actionableinsights.covario.com)