Jevon convinced me today to sign up for VOIP with VBuzzer. My understanding is that it’s like vonage but ( preposterously) $2/month rather than $24/month (or whatever vonage is). I can sign-up for a local (416) phone number, buy a subsidized (by vonage!) $10 broadband adapter thingy from future shop, unlock it using some free utility (good thing we have no DMCA law in canada?), plug in a plain old telephone and bob’s my uncle. A $2/mo landline.
Only trouble is I don’t own a telephone. I’ll have to go out buy one this weekend. went mobile + skype a long time ago.
this reminds me of a conversation I had visiting my parents for dinner the other day
Parents: have you seen that annoying commercial on the television?
me: I haven’t seen a commercial on the television in a few years (downloaded tv doesn’t have commercials)
well what about the radio commercial?
I don’t listen to commercial radio (just CBC and/or podcasts)
So what else do you listen to when you drive, just CDs?
I don’t own any CDs (switched to exclusively mp3, vinyl years ago)
So you just plug in your iPod when you’re driving?
Oh, I don’t drive anywhere (except in summer. To get where I need to go I take bikes, taxis, transit or airplanes not my own car)
parents: [no small skepticism] hmmm
Do you get the feeling the world is changing. Do you get the feeling that it’s not yet affecting everyone equally? am I an oddity or the prototypical future consumer? (I suppose I could be more-than-a-little of both)
song of the day: Bad Religion 21st Century Digital Boy, (a clasic Punk Rock lament for the digital future). click to play:
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It does feel like a new, different marketplace is evolving underneath the surface. My consumer habits are very similar to yours. I wonder if it is connected the emergence of Richard Florida’s creative class? The mass market is still there and dominant, but these new values are evolving among creative types and nerds with enhanced choices and the ability to realize them.
It does feel like a new, different marketplace is evolving underneath the surface. My consumer habits are very similar to yours. I wonder if it is connected the emergence of Richard Florida’s creative class? The mass market is still there and dominant, but these new values are evolving among creative types and nerds with enhanced choices and the ability to realize them.
I’ve had nearly identical conversations with my parents: I don’t watch TV commercials (or much TV at all), I listen to podcasts instead of radio, all my music is on my iPod, and I don’t even own a car. It’s not strictly generational, however; I’ve had the same conversations with my nieces, who are in their 20’s but sadly have no interest in technology and don’t really recognize how it’s changing our world.
I’ve had nearly identical conversations with my parents: I don’t watch TV commercials (or much TV at all), I listen to podcasts instead of radio, all my music is on my iPod, and I don’t even own a car. It’s not strictly generational, however; I’ve had the same conversations with my nieces, who are in their 20’s but sadly have no interest in technology and don’t really recognize how it’s changing our world.
You all are right, as far as consumerism is concerned, this is the new digital divide.
or the new and unofficial consumer subsidy for the well-connected
or the new tax on the… [insert adjective]?
You all are right, as far as consumerism is concerned, this is the new digital divide.
or the new and unofficial consumer subsidy for the well-connected
or the new tax on the… [insert adjective]?