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Technology Thursday
Spouse and I are likely going to avoid bringing any new gadgets into the house until sometime in 2011. But 2011 is likely to be fairly gadget-heavy (assuming all of our assumptions continue to hold, which I recognize is optimistic these days). We expect version 2 of the iPad to be released - and one of us is going to have to get one of those - I'm sure I'll write more about it then, but it's an Apple product, so there's not much that hasn't already been written! I'll probably replace my laptop in the latter half of the year - as I mentioned, more than likely with a Macbook Air.
The harder decisions, though, have to do with entertainment options that we don't currently use very often, namely, the television and the gaming console. Our plan is to overhaul the basement/family room so that all 3 of us can enjoy and use that space. In the summer of 2009 we had the floors done on every level but that level, and so a lot of stuff ended up down there piled into nooks and crannies and we still haven't managed to clear it all out. That space has also served as a holding area for things that our 2-year-old has outgrown and that we haven't managed to give away or sell yet. There's still some stuff like that down there, but I think we are finally reaching the point where such items are becoming smaller and more manageable. No more cribs, pack-n-plays, indoor riding toys, portable baby gates, changing tables, and so on.
With all of that stuff finding its way out of the house, we've begun thinking about an overhaul of our finished lower level. We'd like a pleasant, well-lit space for movie watching, game playing, quilting, and hanging out.
Even though I don't see anything wrong with letting the tot play with toddler games on the iPhone in moderation, we are very careful about screen time. Still, it will be nice to get some sort of gaming console that has fun games that he can play or that we can all play together. I've been thinking about a Wii for a little while. I was intrigued by David Pogue's review of Microsoft's new Kinect:
The system tracks 48 parts of your body in three-dimensional space. It doesn’t just know where your hand is, like the Wii. No, the Kinect tracks the motion of your head, hands, torso, waist, knees, feet and so on.
The point is to let you control games with your body, without having to find, hold, learn or recharge a controller. Your digital stunt double appears on the TV screen. What you do, it does.
One of the apps is apparently a whole-body version of Dance Dance Revolution:
Dance Central, for example, is like Guitar Hero for your whole body. You learn and perform dance moves by following the on-screen model, as pop songs play and the crowd cheers.
[...] you can’t play Kinect sitting down, and that’s a plus. I left my two youngsters alone with Kinect Adventures one afternoon. When I returned, they were drenched with sweat, panting hard and practically levitating. “Dad! Dad! Can we get one for Christmas? Please?”
It'll be late next year for we decide to act on this, if not later, and by then there might be something new, but this is intriguing me.
As for the television - I have no idea. We've been talking about replacing the tv for a long time, but we keep putting off figuring if we wait 6 more months, whatever the latest and greatest is now will be that much cheaper. Then we had the kiddo and canceled cable and stopped having time to watch anything at all. But as the little one approaches pre-school-age, perhaps that will change. So what's all the rave these days? Plasma? LCDs? Or are those all 2005 technologies? We may replace the tv in the first part of the year, in which case I'll be consulting Consumer Reports. But like my friend Katxena over at Breaching the Web, replacing the tv brings it with it a furniture replacement challenge.
It seems that contemporary TV furniture comes in three styles: credenzas that are long and low, cabinets that have big towers on the sides, and consoles that raise and lower the TV from inside at the push of a button. That last style is really cool, but out of my price range (or more accurately — I’d rather put the money into design than technology). I’d love to have one though — every time I used it, I would imagine that I was in a swingin’ 60s bachelor pad. So that leaves the other two styles: long and low, or giant towers.
In geek circles, the numerous steps to get to our desired outcome that I'm talking about in this post are an example of yak shaving. And I've left out many other tasks we'll need to accomplish along the way to our Overhauled Usable Basement of Relaxation. Yak shaving is pernicious, but inevitable when it comes to some household tasks. And at least in this case it'll be somewhat fun. Check back at the end of 2011 to see if we managed to accomplish any of it!
How weird, we were just having this very conversation about our basement/family room. We have a decent TV down there, but it's a very heavy tube and it's causing our Walmart TV cabinet to sag in the middle. Meanwhile, we want to replace the basement carpet with something that is not carpet. So do that first... then figure out the furniture. But since we're not planning to replace that TV yet, the furniture will have to be something that works with a heavy tube TV now, but also will work with a flat screen in the future. I'm thinking a credenza is the way to go. But I also envision a whole wall full of useful cabinets and shelves around it. Then there's Komputer Kable Korner, which I have grand plans of turning into a fancy office space.
I have a feeling none of this is ever going to happen unless a giant crate filled with money and Xanax appears on our doorstep, but I can dream.
We did just buy a small flat screen TV for the upstairs. It's a Vizio VIA HDTV. It's the most awesomest thing ever. It has Netflix streaming and some other internet stuff built right into it! You just hang it on the wall and plug it in!
Posted by: JenBeee | Friday, November 12, 2010 at 10:29 AM