Is there no limit to what we want communications wise?

They said on the news here that 2-year olds are now using the net on a daily basis, playing games and as you, Skyping... I work with a computer as a tool, so of course I use it most of my time, but as soon as I go outdoors, I leave the net behind. I hate to see people staring at their Smart-devices all over the place.

My 30 year old TV broke down Saturday night and I was thinking for a minute to get a new big flat-TV, but then I saw that in another room I had another 30 year old TV that has never been used, so now I can go on with that one for the rest of my life...

My stereo is also about that age and the loudspeakers are actually 40 years old! But still very good...

Smart TVs, what a pest.
The latest Samsung problem, adding ads to your own content, is just the tip of the iceberg. The build in Internet functions are only barely tolerable, even if you buy the latest and greatest. So you add a iMac/PC, or maybe a set-top box. A nice sound system is part of the initial setup. In my book there are only two thing that saves them from extinction. Convenience and that large TFT monitors are still much more expensive. (Not that I own a TV. I just get volunteered to admin them for the extended family.)

Data on boats.
As part of their latest satellite launch Inmarsat has announced something for the next edition of the Volvo Ocean Race: HD streams, multi camera, 24/7.
Nice, in a Big Brother way. 50Mbit/s is a major step up. That Inmarsat sponsors most of the bandwidth certainly helps a lot. For everyone else, just don't look at the invoice.

I've wondered about the way data rate is expressed nowadays. I would swear that Comcast used to express their data rate in "bytes/s" a couple or three years ago as opposed to "bits/s" now. Is that just a fig-newton of my imagination?

Back in the early 80's I started a Mutual Fund, I bought the latest and greatest from Gateway computers...it was the newest fastest thing on the market....with get this...33 mega hertz processor....and ran OS2 (Window
s hadn't even been thought of....along with 3 NEC 20 inch monitors...Price? $34,000 dollars delivered! We've come a long way, and technology is moving exponentially faster. I'd be willing to bet that within the next 5-8 years, satellite communications will equal cable speeds and have a data plan similar to cellular.
I'm ashamed to admit that I've fallen behind the technology wave, and I'm going to pay a price to catch up. I'm still fighting getting a smart phone! I was driving into Houston the other day, and 1 out of three people were texting while driving! Not one but 4 drivers came into my lane and without my blowing the horn to make them look up...I'd be a statistic. AT&T has an app that once you get over 15 mph, the phone will not allow you to text...I think it should become a law.

1 Byte = 8 Bits
Advertisement, the higher the number the better. =) Also note use of one of best inventions of all times, if you are an ISP, up to.
In more tangible terms, 100 times of what FleetBroadband 500 is capable of. - Or what I currently use to surf the net.

Smartphone? Whats that? Never replaced mine after it got stolen. (Back in the very first UMTS flatrate days.)

If you like "skyping" olderboater maybe try "facetime" on your iPhone. It's more spontaneous and portable. I use it with my kids and internationally it's great.

There is no TV antenna on my boat. There won't be one. It has a great surround sound system and we watch DVD's when we want to, but I will not spoil my boating time with TV.
As for the computers, we have no choice.
In years gone by I have had to do internet banking for my company while we were anchored.
Then that turned into checking my emails and then the kids wanted to check FB etc. So technology has crept onto the boat, with regret.
Do we really need to know what is happening at the other end of the Globe?
All the bad and sad news?
No.
As for the smartphones, emails and texts, there will come a time when people will refuse to be contactable!
It can be unhealthy to be available for everyone at all times.

I have a slightly different take; I was playing on computers in the mid 70s at Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science (a kind of museum run by both UC Berkeley and Lawrence Livermoore Labs). My school was the first in the world to teach kids how to code on the first Apples and on Bell and Howell Apple clones (yes, Apple at one time allowed licensed copies of their hardware).

My friends and I were cruising dial up BBSes in the early 80s and getting into flame wars (as kids oft do) with all kinds of people. Then Prodigy came. Then the universities got "military" capability with the net and email. Then the 386 surpassed the 286 - 8086, and the next thing I knew I was building my first computer in the late 80s and leaving AOL when they had a big customer relations issue of too many subscribers.

That's my background. I still build my own computers (and it's getting time for a new one). But, having said all that, if there's a cheaper "redundant" way I can cheaply communicate, then I'm all for it. In other words I'm thinking of ditching my high-speed ATT/Yahoo for no net and regular phone.

TV is the "poor man's" internet. I rarely watch it (shows have gotten worse too, but that's a different story). I can stream the news from stations via the net, and have for many years, verse watching it between the 4 - 6PM time slot. But, the TV is free (I use an antenna ... got rid of cable YEARS ago).

Right now I'm considerably poorer than I was back then, but, even then, even when I did have many figures under my belt and in the bank, I just got fed up with poor programming on cable, and got rid of it.

I'm coming to that same decision with my current net and phone. I shut my business down eons ago, an unemployed, do not need to rub elbows with anybody, and am happy to read books, maybe watch the news if I feel like it, and possibly get a regular full time or part time job.

If you're like one of the kids I grew up with who chose computers and other tech as a career path, and you're competing with the guy across town down in Santa Clara County, then you're probably best served holding onto that 4G or whatever the latest gizmo is.

I saw the first cell phones evolve. I've seen one generation of computer replace another and so on. And for what I do now, which is write (play the occasional game), I ask myself, do I really need it? Answer; no. Does it entertain me and keep me competitive? Entertain-yes, competitive-no.

Ergo, I'm going the way of the techno dinosaur. If I ever go back into business for myself, or rebuild my fortune where I need to manage it from afar and talk to people, then I may get all teched up again. Otherwise, as long as I can call for a pizza every couple of weeks, I'm okay

I hope that helps.

Nice Post Blue G.

I know the thread you mention, had a reply ready even though I thought the thread was not relevant to the forums, nowadays am slow at typing, so by the time I was done the thread was gone!

I think there are two types of consumers, the "needers" and the "wanters", it all filters down to your perception of matters, the value of your time and money, and how you indulge living. I remember back in the boy scout days when they used to challenge us to being light and minimalist, that really teaches something, and sets perspectives properly I think.

I really do indulge a lot in gizmos, but between 2009-2011, I gave up carrying a cell phone, smart or not, and I can't express how much pressure in life and business that got off my back. Technology is a mean, not a must or necessity.

Fast development unfortunately makes people fall easy to marketing and sales catches, especially those with less experience in life or wrong perception of matters as they are, so we read studies that people in certain age segment, are in a "love" relation with their "I" products in a similar fashion of human relations! and in such way that it effects their physical and emotional well being. I've used computers since the late 80's and the Internet since 1992, and even worked successfully in IT, running a sub-ISP and other IT services business, but still stomach electronics a bit hard, and am ready to give it all up for life at sea or in wilderness.

Cheers all.

Ditto.

Hi,

My comment on relevance was towards the deleted thread, your thread is put in a more relevant fashion with reference to technology used on board boats, and I agree with your point of view.

Cheers.

Heh... young whipper snapper! I cracked up on your note about having cell phones since you were 18. "Older" boater, huh?



-Chris