Susan and I went to the Astros game at Minute Maid Park last night. When the game got out of hand, I thought I'd try out my new Samsung camera phone. The picture quality is marginal at best, but I did think it was pretty cool that I was able to email the picture to myself from my phone. Susan thinks I'm like a little kid with a new toy, which honestly is not far from the truth. I understand the concept behind these new technologies, but I'm old enough to recall when the height of techonology was a hand-held calculator. There is still a part of me that thinks all of this stuff runs on FM (F*****g Magic).
Of course, the one thing the camera did capture effectively was that we were one hell of a long ways away from the action. We were sitting under the scoreboard in center field, in the part of the ballpark where the sound quality is the absolute worst. Not only could we not see the scoreboard, we couldn't understand the announcer. The only reason I knew who was playing for the Astros was that I could recognize theirs numbers. Except for Steve Finley and Luis Gonzales, I couldn't recognize any of the Diamonbacks. I STILL have no idea who Arizona's starting pitcher was. At least the Astros won handily.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to play with my new toy....
<Curmudgeon>
One thing I've never understood is how anyone ever got the idea to put a digital camera and a cellphone together.
Sure, it's neat that the technology has gotten miniaturized enough to cram both things into one small handheld device. But they hardly seem like a natural combination. It's always struck me as more like combining a Walkman and an electric razor. Sure, we have the technology, but why on Earth would you want to?
I mean, before they were invented, did you hear of anyone who complained, "wow, these cell phones are great, but they'd be a lot more useful if only someone would put a camera in!"
</Curmudgeon>
The newer ones now have video capability instead of just still photos, which makes a bit more sense: I'm guessing we're seeing a slow evolution toward PicturePhones.