something new

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I've been thinking about how different communication is, now, compared to 10 or 20 years ago.

When my brother and sister-in-law were in Sweden for two years in the mid-80s, phone calls were a dollar a minute, and there was no email, no IM, no blogging. Many (many!) letters went back and forth across the Atlantic while my bro and sil were gone. Those letters flew (usually arriving in Ann Arbor faster than letters from Kansas City!), which was an improvement over earlier times when everything went on ships..................... (Not to mention even earlier times when ships were few and far between and powered by wind.........)

Now there are email, IM, blogs, and phone calls are free on Skype.

In addition to allowing us vastly better communication with our galivanting relatives, all of this improved communication allows for huge improvements in other aspects of life. I blogged one example, about shopping directly at Amazon.FR vs Amazon.USA.

Here's something else that is better than the mid-80s, made possible by our excellent modern communication......



Access to your home checking account, wherever you may go......


I love the story about my brother-in-law putting his card in an ATM (in Dubai, was it?). The ATM was speaking Arabic, as you would expect. Until he stuck his card in. The ATM recognized his card (recognized him, financially speaking), and immediately switched to English. The ability to easily, instantly, access your money at home, from wherever, is a vast improvement over olden times........


Another vast improvement is the ability to look at the Eiffel Tower webcam any time I want to see what the day looks like, in Paris (button on the right, for easy access). I can also check http://wunderground.com and see what the temp and humidity are. Any time I want.

Excellent. Modern communication rocks.



(Thinking about how the word "modern" is very short-lived indeed, in a context like this one! Wonder what we'll be able to do in five or ten years that I've never imagined.....)

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