<p>You know you are a dinosaur when some of the things mentioned in the thread have you searching google to discover what they are.</p>
<p>^^^At least we know how to google!!</p>
<p>OK, next question: What’s Bluetooth?</p>
<p>Blue tooth allows you to wirelessly connect accessories to devices. For example, when you see people walking around with earpieces but it doesn’t appear to be connected to their cell phone. They’re using blue tooth technology. You can use wireless controllers for an xbox or Ninetendo Wii via blue tooth. Or you can connect your cellphone to speakers in your car using blue tooth.</p>
<p>I’m not sure you need bluetooth with a GPS, though some do come with it. It is to support connectivity to your phone but I’ve never figured out why you would want that.</p>
<p>As for the ‘best’ GPS for you - opinions vary. The best thing to do is read the reviews. Amazon has reviews in the thousands on these devices. That’s how I chose mine.</p>
<p>I agree with HIMom - Garmin’s name pronunciation can be a little hard to understand at times. And I would definitely get the lane assist feature and traffic alert. My Garmin is 4 years old and it wasn’t available at the time I bought it (or least it wasn’t reasonably priced) but the lane assist feature would be very helpful on high speed multiple lane highways.</p>
<p>Wow, used to think I was a luddite, but adaptation is the name of the game.</p>
<p>No GPS here anymore, I use the navigation on my Droid 2.
I have a phone charger and bluetooth earpiece that live in the car; charger works for phone and earpiece.</p>
<p>I recently learned my father doesn’t know how to use the computer. He retired (at age 41) on June 30, and he started searching for jobs recently. He got in his nicest shirt and tie and went around asking for applications, only to be told they are online (which my mother and I told him would happen). He sat in front of the computer, staring at it for fifteen minutes. (“Why are there so many little pictures on the screen? How is a person supposed to know what to click?”) </p>
<p>I’ve been spending a lot of my time showing him how to use Microsoft Word to type his resume and cover letter, how to go to a webpage, how to go from the webpage to the document without closing anything, how to open two webpages at once, etc.</p>
<p>I introduced him to YouTube yesterday because he loves music videos, and he spent an hour trying to decipher the comments. (“Who is this OMG? I didn’t see him mentioned in the video. I only saw Ne-Yo and Pitbull.”)</p>
<p>I also convinced him to get a Facebook so he could get a lot of the coupons I get, and so that we could be friends because I’m already friends with my mother.</p>
<p>He pays for unlimited texting on his phone, but he doesn’t know how to text, so today I will teach him how to text, and tomorrow, the typing lessons begin!</p>
<p>I’m 17, and I felt like a dinosaur today when the maintenance worker came into my bedroom to do an inspection and asked me why I have a big hunk of tv. (It has amazing picture, and it works perfectly!) He proceeded to ask me why I have a DVD/VCR player. I actually asked for it for Christmas last year, so now I can watch my DVDs without my Playstation 2, and I can watch my VHS tapes and record on my VCR player. Apparently, he had never heard of such a thing in modern times, and said I should convert my VHS tapes to DVDs and use a DVR (which I don’t have). I’ll probably convert eventually just to make sure I can watch my tapes in the future, but I’m happy for now.</p>
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<p>So if I want to use my cell phone “hands-free” in the car, I need Bluetooth?</p>
<p>If I have Bluetooth in my car, does it work for any cell phone, or only for one number that is assigned to it?</p>
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<p>That’s the simplest way.</p>
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<p>When you get your Bluetooth device, you go through a procedure to associate it with your phone. It’s not based on your phone number.</p>
<p>^It’s usually pretty easy to associate devices through blue tooth. You turn on blue tooth on both devices and then they ‘find’ each other, much like a device with a wifi modem will find the nearest wifi connections.</p>
<p>o.k., I just talked with my son over skype in his car driving from point A to B in the midwest. I am in my house in the Mediterranean region. It is a new car and he took the call using his steering wheel, some button on it. We talked for about 20 minutes and wow, I just thought about what had happened and this conversation on CC…so I am sharing…</p>
<p>overseas, I’m not ready for skyping while driving. . . . Let me figure out bluetooth and GPS first . . . . Gawd, is technology passing me by. I’m running to stay in place.</p>
<p>All I can say, my son keeps me current and up on the newest… But I am kind of with you, running…so many are…</p>
<p>I am thinking this is a good thread to ask this question…
What is TWITTER? Does it use up your data for your smartphone if you open up the site? Or is it like reading a facebook/social network site? How do you access it/sign up/use it??
~APOL-a Mum</p>
<p>VeryHappy,
Just to make you feel even happier, I do not have a cell on me. I do not have it on purpose. I do not want to be connected all the time. TV is way too boring to watch and I cannot read for entertainment either, puts me to sleep. I do not like to seat in front of laptop all the time. I do not care to look at my emails every day. More so, I am a Computer Programmer and I love my job. All this social networking and the rest is just making life measearable, everybody is stressed because on top of their own problems, they are resolving everybody else’s that they have no ability or any kind of power to resolve. Stay disconnected, stay happy. Enjoy what you do, resolve your own problems.</p>
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<p>See, I pretty much have the opposite opinion of social networking. I love being connected or, in many cases, RE-connected with people in my life. And I have enjoyed encouragement from friends and have also tried to provide that in cases of illness or sadness when friends are far away. You want to make me absolutely desperately miserable? Make me “stay disconnected”. :(</p>
<p>APOL: think of twitter as a “headlines” source. From people all over the world. When you sign up for twitter (using your e-mail addy and a name you come up with), you then choose people to “follow”. Could be friends (in which case it’s pretty redundant with Facebook or Google+), or could be a celebrity or a news source or you can do a search of terms that will often yield up-to-date links to other sources that people have posted on Twitter. </p>
<p>I rarely post on twitter, but enjoy following a few people. A newsguy who regularly reports on political stuff, and for whom i have a lot of respect, for example. </p>
<p>A good example, for me, of a cool use of twitter was when recently on a Sunday Evening the networks interrupted programming with word that the president had an announcement to make to the country. The speculation was crazy, but I saw on twitter FIRST that it was about the eradication of Osama Bin Laden. </p>
<p>Hope that helps some…</p>
<p>^Whatever works. As long as you enjoying it, this is the main goal of life.</p>
<p>APOL: you can follow twitter posts without having an account. People use hash tags # before a phrase to tag them with a subject so you can follow that subject. I have a twitter account but have never tweeted. </p>
<p>I agree with churchmusicmom about it acting as a headline feed; I find it very handy at the local level. In the aftermath of the Tuscaloosa tornadoes, I was able to get up to the minute news by following Twitter feeds; same thing during the Nashville flooding.</p>
<p>Agree with churchmusicmom. I am miserable if I am not “connected”. I follow my Twitter feed all day long, as well as facebook and various forums (all this while working at a demanding job…). I love being in contact with friends- old,new and those I have never met in person. I have broadened my interests and deepened my involvement with a few sports teams, organizations and topics as a result. It does feel a little overwhelming at times, but the plusses outweigh…</p>
<p>Thank you ChurchMusicMom, RobD and MomofWildChild!!</p>
<p>I was sort of embarrassed to admit that I did not know what Twitter was, and how to use it. I can see how it can be helpful in an emergency, and news making headlines like the uprising in Egypt got me to thinking it could be a valuable resource.</p>
<p>~APOL-a Mum</p>
<p>I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to sign up for Twitter. When I first heard about it, it sounded like a silly waste of time. Now I use it, to read not tweet. I have it set for headliners from news sources I enjoy. </p>
<p>For a more localized use, I follow some of the gourmet food trucks in town (a fairly recent and large phenomenon in the LA area.) Since my office isn’t within walking distance of eating places, it’s nice to know when one of my food trucks is going to be parked just a half block down the street. My favorites are Kogi and Nomnom. When I feel like a dessert, it’s Cool Haus … they make your custom ice cream sandwich on the spot, you choose among several cookie and ice cream selections.</p>
<p>People were using Twitter a lot during the Carmageddon that turned into Karmaheaven.</p>