Laptop, you're fired.

A few years ago I was at Austin Java (a wonderful little coffeeshop) with two good friends of mine. We were meeting about a pet project that we were involved in – bridging the digital divide between the U.S. and Latin America. Well low and behold during our meeting a guy walks in with a desktop. I’m not kidding! An old iMac circa 2000. We laughed uproariously… 1) because it was a desktop and who bothers to unplug a desktop at home and drag it to a coffeeshop? And 2) we were all on our shiny Macbooks hence an outdated iMac was humorous. (Yes, we’re snobs.)

You see I love computers. Keep your fancy smart phones, flat screen TV’s, and GPS’s. This girl is completely content with a shiny, good working computer and reliable internet. Ok, I admit it. I have an unhealthy attachment to my computer. It doesn’t help that I formerly lived in a city, Austin, that did not rectify this problem but rather embraced this bad habit. See above.

Well friends, my laptop that I’ve been using this entire summer for my school project – for the sake of anonymity let’s just say this brand sort of rhymes with Smells ® -- has decided that it is going on strike and will not power on. It’s last words were 0110010101110100 001000000111010001110101 00100000011000100111001001110101011101000110010100111111 (if you don’t know what this means look it up) I was on the phone with the support team of Smells ® for about an hour last week to see if they could fix it. Oddly enough my phone call got routed to Latin America and the operator at Smells ® could barely understand me. It was quite comical. I don’t know how many times I had to spell my email address out… but it was at least 10 times. And folks my email address is long! Ug…

So I’ve resorted to using what I like to call my “vintage laptop” ummmm a spiral notebook. When I try to push its buttons, though, nothing happens. No weather updates, no interesting news articles, no NPR goodies, and no updates on what some random friend ate for lunch on Facebook. What the??? In a word, my vintage laptop is: useless. But to be fair it has straight blue lines in it in which to guide my pen, always is willing to work, and has an appealing pink cover. So in another word, my spiral notebook is: reliable.

There were many thoughts of acting out the therapeutic Office Space scenes out on my Smells ® computer. Oh Michael Bolton and Samir, I totally feel your pain. Anybody know where to get a bat in the Caribbean?

EE Phone Home!

What is the one thing you never leave home without? Other than your keys and wallet, chances are that one thing is probably a cell phone. According to cnet.com cell phone subscriptions are projected to reach 5 billion this year. With roughly 6.8 billion people around the globe, that’s a lot of annoying ringtones!

Furthermore, with iPhones, Blackberries and Androids on the market – more and more people are opting for smart phones that have access to the world wide web and can do magical things provided they choose their apps accordingly. As a former Jitterbug owner (don’t judge me for my octogenarian phone preference) I am blown away by the technology these hand held devices are capable of.

The future of Entertainment Education will be at the touch of a button, friends. To be precise, EE will be at the touch of a button on your cell phone. Think about it. Currently EE predominantly uses radio and television to convey messages about entertainment and well education of course. However, already we’ve seen the landscape of TV change by being able to record shows, stream them online, and download episodes for on-the-go pleasure on iPhones, iPods, and iPads. Radio (in the US) though convenient and affordable has dozens of competitors, most notably the advent of satellite radio and the widespread use of iPods.

What does all of this mumbo jumbo nonsense of entertainment and technology lead to? Your cell phone! If you do own a smart phone, well essentially you are walking around with a television, radio, laptop and phone all in one. And what better way to reach an audience than by phoning them!

Here in St. Lucia Blackberries are nearly as bountiful as sand. They’re literally everywhere. And for those who don’t own a Blackberry, it’s very easy to purchase a pay as you go type of phone which automatically comes with the ability to text.

Recently, a friend forwarded me a CNN article on a trend in apps which are aimed at improving health. There’s an entire world of cell phone apps created to help people diet, send daily affirmations, teach yoga poses etc.

According to the article, the leading guy in using cell phone technology to change behavior is B.J. Fogg who says, “Most people carry cell phones with them everywhere, making them a powerful tool in creating new habits in a person's daily routine, Programs designed to improve health habits operate through "triggers," or calls to action, which can be as simple as click here.”

In addition to Fogg’s vision and insight, there are also organizations out there like MobileActive.org, who use mobile technology for social impact. You can check out their blog for the numerous ways they use cell phones for good. One example they cited was how cell phones could be used to replace paper reporting methods faster in various countries in regards to food security efforts. Apparently the UN is going the way of the phone.

I’m personally excited to see where and how EE and cell phones will blur the traditional lines of communication and utilize each other to reach people across the globe in various efforts of social change. Imagine a world where you send texts to loved ones and friends and then only a moment later to turn around and receive a text by your favorite character on your favorite TV show to do something as simple as recycle.