Personal Technology: Internet on the Road... and In Flight

With the help of an air card (AKA data card), I kept on computing last week while crossing the country on an Interstate highway. (I wasn't driving.) That is, I kept online, not just computing. Any place I could get cell phone service, I could get the Internet on my laptop because I had the air card in a USB slot. Think of it this way: the air card is my computer's cell phone for one function, to access the Internet.

Now, as nifty as I consider this capability, I have to admit there's something fancier: Internet in flight. A colleague emailed me as she crossed the country via plane. Her access cost $7. Necessary? Nope. Nifty? Absolutely.

© 2009 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.

Computer Size Across a Boomer's History

Personal technology. The Sociologist knows this blog includes mention of personal technology about once a week. She requested treatment of this topic: size of computers she has used.

Walking to work. Over a period of 35 years, The Sociologist (yes, social scientists use computers, too) has seen computers shrink. In her graduate school years, she walked to the computer. It was the sort that shuffled cards and, yes, it filled the entire room. Her access was in the 1970s. The computer of the 1980s was a desktop style and called a "personal computer." She still walked to it.

And then came portability: The 1990s gave us laptops and The Sociologist saw it not just in personal terms but in broader terms: "social mobility" had new meaning. She also recognized the lure of the technology as she jumped at the chance for use of a laptop by joining a pilot program at the university. As she recalls, "I would have done anything they asked."

And then came mobile computing: Today, The Sociologist computes on a cell phone. As long as she can pick up a signal, she can teach a class on the web, communicate with students via email, and even twitter.

© 2008 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (www.marybold.com, www.boldproductions.com, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.