Technology....I LOVE it...!!

The wonderful world of technology. I used to be very resistant to the whole idea of such vast and different ideas; I didn't understand the whole scope of what it all means.

Back in the early 1980's, VCRs were just starting to become a household item. I remember a day at work at Westinghouse (making the radars for the Department of Defense, mostly Air Force) and I was talking to another young-at-the-time person who was really into technology. He was trying to convince me that VCRs and VHS tapes were the wave of the future; I said he was crazy and that there was no way people would stop going to the movies to stay at home and watch the same thing. To me, movies were "dates"; to him, they were things to watch and if it could be viewed on a piece of "new" technology, it was great. I thought for sure I was right. Ha!! No. In fact, I was even more wrong than I ever thought I'd be!! ha ha
 That young man (we were both in our very early 20's) was like the forerunner of Alex.....so many times Alex will say something about the "new and improved" tech stuff, and it reminds me of Wayne and our conversations.

 Now, 30 years later, in my early 50's, I LOVE technology. I can't imagine being without my iPhone 5, my laptop, my home printer (wireless, too!!), Facebook, text messages, Twitter, my digital camera, etc etc etc..... The immediacy of everything is great. With Alex being at Guiding Eyes for the Blind for such a momentous event, I hate not being there with him. However, he is keeping a blog, sending me texts, posting to Twitter, and texting me pictures that he has taken of things at GEB.

Because we all have iPhones (Alex and I have the 5; Katie has the 4 because her old phone died and she couldn't wait the few months until the iPhone5 came out), all pictures get backed up to iCloud. Once I transfer the pictures from the text to my Photo Stream, I then copy them into the folder I have of him for this Occasion. Once they are in that folder on my desktop, I go to Facebook, open the album pertaining to the Guide Dog experience, then upload the new pictures to Facebook. And, of course, I have posted the address of his blog so everyone can keep up to date with him.

 Yes, technology is awesome. The other amazingly great thing about technology is how much of the world is opened up to a blind person. As many strides technology has taken in the past 30 years or so, I have to say that Apple got it right first and the best with their Voice Over technology. It's amazing. When Apple first came out with a "talking computer" (to put it in my words; Alex would cringe) they were horrible. This was back in the early 2000's when Alex was still in Junior High. He was part of the demo team in Maine to see how well it worked.....it didn't. He swore off of Apple products at that time, badmouthing them at every opportunity. He stuck by JAWS and Windows based stuff. As he got older, he started to explore other operating systems, and whatever else they are called (gee....not much has changed for ME in the past 30 years.....).

Then Apple came out with their new and improved VoiceOver. It was amazing. It made things accessible that were never that way before. He bought a Mac Mini from someone online. He learned everything about Apple products. He joined Forums online and on Twitter about them. He started answering questions from people around the world (love Skype and chat) helping them with their Apple questions.

 Then---cue the Hallelujah chorus---Siri appeared. She was a golden voiced goddess in digital form. She was the missing piece to VoiceOver for phone accessibility. The iPhone 5 was the best of the best. He researched, learned, and listened to others for answers. Yes....nothing yet can beat the Siri/VoiceOver combination for a blind person. He loves the whole realm of technology....especially the Apple products....that in his blog from today he mentioned that two of the other students were having trouble with their iPhone and Mac that he is going to tutor/teach them. He's so incredible.

 Because of the awesomeness of the iPhone 5, he can take the pictures, then send them to me via text where I, well, I've already explained the process. VoiceOver and Siri....making this mother happy one megapixel at a time. :)