| Business Week recently ran an article, '12 Things | | | | I have as much a sense of humor as the next |
| You Can't Say at the Office'. I thought it might | | | | aging techie, but it was sobering to see that the |
| have something to do with multi-cultural political | | | | term 'PDA' was gone. PDA stood for 'personal |
| correctness. So naturally, I opened the online | | | | digital assistant' back in 1992 and referred to a |
| version only to find that the diversity category | | | | handheld computer. The article explained that |
| being addressed was generational differences and | | | | "Today, the preferred generic term for a |
| the technology terminology gap between young | | | | handheld like a Blackberry or an iPhone is a |
| and old. There are few diversity challenges more | | | | 'Smartphone'. Uh Oh! I broke the plastic case for |
| global and with more economic impact than the | | | | my beloved PDA yesterday and sent my |
| fast pace of technology development. I was | | | | husband to Office Depot to pick up a new one. |
| prepared to be on the 'old' side of technology, but | | | | I'd just finished reading the article when hubby |
| I underestimated how far into 'old' I was and | | | | came home with an all too familiar look on his |
| what that would mean. | | | | face. It was the look that said, "She's about to go |
| Let me begin describing my dilemma by stating | | | | into technology shock but she has no choice |
| that I'm pretty technically savvy for a senior. I | | | | about adjusting to something new, unfamiliar and |
| have an e-zine, a blog, an online store and a web | | | | probably expensive." Sure enough, not only were |
| cam (although I currently can't seem to make the | | | | there no cases to be found but no PDAs. Thing |
| camera's sound work). So imagine my dismay | | | | of the past and it's time to switch to a smart |
| when the article started to cite words and | | | | phone. Apparently my present phone isn't smart |
| technology that were outdated, but I hadn't heard | | | | enough so that has to be replaced, too. |
| of yet. | | | | A few months ago, my son-in-law showed me his |
| I'd never heard the words intranet and extranet. | | | | Blackberry and tried to convince me to get one. |
| They refer to sites that were either limited to | | | | He backed off when he saw my face turn slightly |
| internal corporate users or extended to corporate | | | | blue as I struggled for air. But now the time for |
| partners. Not to sorry. You can just say 'VPN' | | | | panic is over. I am marching off to get myself a |
| today - virtual Private Networks which apparently | | | | Smartphone and I intend not only to breathe, but |
| can be reworked for external use, too. | | | | to have some fun with it. If the PDA is going the |
| Apparently nobody 'surfs' the Web any more. | | | | way of the dinosaur, so be it. And while I'm at it, |
| They 'browse'. The technical reasons for this | | | | I'm going to upgrade the Webcam, too. There is |
| were explained by I'll just take their word for it | | | | no old age in technology, only out dated. If you |
| and say 'Google it.' And did you know that nobody | | | | want to make a difference in today's world, you |
| refers to the World Wide Web now? If you really | | | | need to catch up. To be technologically obsolete is |
| want to be an old fossil, just use the term, | | | | to be silenced. |
| 'information highway'. | | | | |