Next month marks my 20 year anniversary as a professional computer programmer (that means I get paid to write code). And as such, it’s pretty much expected that I keep up with new trends in technology. It’s been interesting to watch things like the Internet, cell phones, facebook, and TiVo become such integral parts of our lives. But I’m not easily swayed to the newest, latest, or self-proclaimed greatest advances in technology, especially when they want to “fix” something that to me “isn’t broken.”
While it may not be surprising to anyone else, in fact some of you may be saying “finally, you old fogey,” I have digitally evolved in two surprising ways this year. I say surprising because one year ago I couldn’t have predicted how much these two things would change my behavior on a daily basis. The first is: I have purchased and read eBooks, and the second is: I have vFriends.
eBooks
I used to say things like “I can’t switch to digital books I’d miss the tactile feel, and the smell of paper.” Or “I don’t want to be chained to a device that requires a battery; I’m just fine with my simple printed book.” Another subconscious inhibitor was the reality that I had a hard time reconciling the price of eBooks vs. printed books. Because some of the production cost goes down with digital books I thought the price should too.
Ironic isn’t it? A computer programmer complaining about the price of soft copy while at the same time making a living producing nothing but soft copy. I should have known better. But it wasn’t until I listened to a couple of podcasts discussing the future of eBooks, including both the pros and the cons, that I recognized the similarities between producing eBooks and software development. Both take months if not years to produce a finished product. Both require many hands and eyes to design, implement, market and eventually deliver a quality product. I now recognize when I buy an eBook I’m paying for a lot more than just a copy of a word document.
I would still like to see some pricing adjustments on eBooks, like if I buy a paper book I get the eBook for free, or at least for a nominal fee like a dollar extra or something. But in order to keep the generally high standards we expect to see in published eBooks I am comfortable with the current price range on most eBooks today. But I digress.
Here’s how I took the eBook leap. I confess, I like gadgets. I’d been toying with the idea of buying a Kindle for a few months, but just couldn’t let myself pull the trigger. I was working on a project at work that gave me access to an iPad so I thought, before I buy a Kindle I should trying reading an eBook on the iPad. That way if I don’t like it I won’t have another useless gadget in my drawer – BTW, that drawer is quite full. I chose to use the Kindle app on the iPad instead of iBooks so that if I decided to buy the Kindle, whatever books I acquired in the meantime, I’d have access to in the future. Plus I read many good reviews in favor the Kindle app.
At the time I made this decision I was reading John Brown’s “Servant of a Dark God” – I picked up a signed copy from him at LTUE this year. I thought I’d do a comparison read, some parts paper book, some parts eBook. So, I purchased the eBook version too – you’re welcome John. Well, once I started reading the eBook, I stopped reading the paper book. The eBook was so much more convenient.
A couple of things hit me right off the bat. I was reading SoaDG and came across the name Lumen. It sounded familiar but I couldn’t remember who he was. I pulled up the search box, typed in “Lumen” and instantly found every occurrence of that name. I touched the first one and found the place where John Brown first introduces Lumen – exactly what I was looking for.
The second big thing is that I love looking up words in the dictionary. In fact, one of my favorite apps is a dictionary app. Well, in the Kindle app, if you want to know the definition of a word all you have to do is touch it and the definition instantly pops up; you don't even have to type it in.
Ok, eBooks you have me hooked, on these two things alone.
A few other conveniences I really like:
Highlights – built-in, I don’t need a pencil sharpener, or even to remember to bring a pencil, if I have my book I have my highlighter. I can even see highlights from other readers.
Built in backlight (at least on the iPad) – I don’t need anything else that requires batteries too. I know the e-ink on the Kindle is popular for reading outside, but I read a lot more often inside in low light than I do outside.
Accessibility – I can read on my iPad, my iPod Touch, my PC or my iPhone. The Kindle app syncs my current reading position so I’m always up to date no matter what. It’s like having a book mark that can’t get lost.
Purchasing an eBook is almost instant – really good for the “I want it now” generation.
It’s easy to change the font size and text color – so my wife can read too (she needs glasses, but don’t tell her I said so).
I’m not predicting the end of paper. I still do like the smell of paper, it reminds of reading as a kid. But if there is an eBook version available that’s what I’m going to buy from now on.
vFriends
Let’s start with my definition of the term vFriend. A vFriend (virtual friend) is someone I feel attached to because of interactions that take place mostly online via blogs, twitter, podcasts etc. The attachment is mostly one sided, the vFriend doesn’t usually reciprocate directly to me; I’m simply one of many followers to them. I may or may not have met them in person – mostly not.
Now, before this starts to sound too creepy I want to clarify that vFriends are good. I’m perfectly comfortable with our relationships in this fashion. I have received advice and encouragement this way. Sometimes I agree with my vFriends and sometimes I disagree, but I always gain something – otherwise I wouldn't go back to listen or read more.
I know blogs have been around for many years, over the years I’ve read several that I enjoyed. But I had a hard time keeping up. It was work to keep checking for new updates. Before anyone points out the many numerous tools that could have solved this problem for me I need to say that for some reason none of them were convenient enough to get me to use them. Then came RockMelt.
RockMelt is a browser built on top of Google Chrome that incorporates facebook and other social feeds right into the frame of the browser – super easy access. I first heard about it on NPR. To be honest my first impression was do we really need another browser? But RockMelt has succeeded where other tools have failed me. I added all my vFriends’ blogs to the right side of RockMelt. So now, when I launch RockMelt to surf the net, all of my vFriends with new posts show a number next to them, notifying me they have something new for me. And when I click on that notification I see a quick list summary of the new post, and all the older posts show in a greyed-out “I already saw that” background color. Adding vFriends to my RockMelt frame is as simple as navigating to the blog. If there is any type of RSS feed there RockMelt will find it and ask me if I want to add that feed to my list – incredibly simple and totally nonintrusive. If I want it it’s there, otherwise I surf the net as usual. One more cool thing about RockMelt is that my notifications, bookmarks, and vFriend information follow me no matter where I access RockMelt from: desktop computer, laptop, or even the new mobile RockMelt app gives me access to the same stuff – so I don’t’ have to remember any that stuff myself.
Another form of vFriends I have to mention is podcasts. I’ve been using my iPad to listen to Writing Excuses and The Appendix podcasts. It’s so easy to download them from iTunes and listen whenever I have the time. Once again I know I’m late to this game, but for those of you who haven’t found them you should go check out all of the many podcasts that are available, and are mostly free. I’ve learned a lot by just listening to them a few times a week on my drive home from work.
The last type I want to talk about is my vFriends on Twitter. I joined Twitter quite a while ago, in my attempt to “keep up” with technology. But since I started writing and trying to learn as much as I can I’ve realized the incredible wealth of information available via Twitter. The idea of a micro-blog (140 characters or less) is brilliant; it loosens the fetters that prevent most people, myself included, from general blogging. There is so much going on out there, so many hash tags to follow; if you’re in need of almost any kind of info you can probably find someone to answer it on Twitter, if it’s not already out there. On Twitter I get a chance to follow interesting people, who are sharing mostly useful tidbits about what they are doing. As someone who is trying to learn about writing and the publishing industry this is incredibly helpful.
There you have it, my latest digital evolution progress. I’m sure I’ll digitally evolve even more in the future. I’m always looking for new ways to be more efficient. But I prefer simple tools so I can focus on what’s most important – the content not the tool. In summary here are my top 5 most useful, and most used, tools I started using in the past year.
iPad (podcasts, eBooks)
Kindle reader app
Rockmelt (blogs, facebook, twitter and the net on my desktops, laptops, and mobile devices)
Twitter (I joined more than a year ago, but I’m using it differently lately)
Wireless mouse (I finally shelled out the money for one – did I mention I’m cheap and that I’ve been using freebie mice for a long time. Anyway I got a new wireless mouse for my Netbook and I love it, I can’t believe I waited this long to get one. I use Netbook to write, and my iPad for almost everything else Internet related.)
Where are you at in your digital evolution?
