FROM THE HEART OF OHIO

Which Appliance Should

We Be Afraid Of Next?

We have long known that, when it comes to many things, we can undoubtedly be classified as a first-class dinosaur. This is particularly true when it comes to current technology. We will admit to being able to send and receive email. We can also, to a certain extent, manage to look things up on the Internet.
However, we made the decision long ago to abandon Facebook. And we must admit that we are clueless about exactly what is what when it comes to social media. So we decided that perhaps a bit of research on the subject just might be in order.
We started with a definition of social media which read: “websites and
applications that enable users to create and share content or to
participate in social networking.” That leads us to wonder just what the websites and applications might be.

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Further research informed us that there are seven different forms of social media, namely blogging, social network, microblogging, social book-marketing, video sharing, broader content sharing and forums.
As we read through the examples of each of forms of social media, we have concluded that the only one we seem to use would be YouTube, particularly when we wish to listen to various songs from our youth. We have also been known to look at selected YouTube offerings sent to us via email.
And while we are happy with our use of YouTube, we think we shall continue to avoid everything else. It’s probably for the best because the last thing that we want to do is overcomplicate things. Don’t get us wrong though, we’d love the chance to create social media accounts, and learn how growth sites like nitreo.com can help people to establish a successful and large social media presence. But unfortunately, anything like that is just so hard for us to wrap our heads around, so can you blame us for just sticking to YouTube? Of course, from what we read in a recent AP article, “Home items are getting
smarter and creepier,” there will be much more in terms of new technology on the horizon, all of which we suspect we will do our best to avoid.
Evidently, according to the article, “Internet-connected ‘smarts’ are creeping into cars, refrigerators, thermostats and just about everything else in your home.” It quite makes us wonder if our many books will continue to be technologically free. Included in the article was information about “…an oven that coordinates your recipes and a toilet that flushes with a voice command.”
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We are quite certain that we would have no use whatsoever for the oven. All of recipes are safely tucked away in either cookbooks or on plain old-fashioned paper, some of which date back to our late husband’s grandmother.
And as long as they stay where they are in the kitchen cupboard we think no stove will be able to access them anytime soon.
As for the toilet, the article points out that: “…Kohler’s Numi will respond to voice
commands to raise or lower the
lid – or to flush. You can do it from an app, too. The company
says it’s all about offering hands-free options in a setting that’s very personal for people. The toilet is also heated and can play music and the news through its speakers.”
And while the heated feature might at times be rather nice, we cannot imagine having a toilet that would play music as well as report the news. We must say the need for such a toilet quite escapes us.
In fact, we almost think that if our choice was between this particular toilet and an outhouse, we would be inclined to go with the outhouse. And we suspect that anyone trying to drag us into all of this new technology will find us screaming and kicking every inch of the way. With this being said, there would be people out there who might love to have a toilet like this in their home. Everyone is different, so just because you may not be a fan of something, it doesn’t mean that no one else is interested. You’ll be surprised at what some people like. If you are looking for something within the lines of a smart toilet, but nothing too over the top, it might be in your best interest to look into a site like Toilet Reviewer, to help find the right toilet for you and your bathroom.

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Having said that, we must admit that there is one piece of new technology making its way into the Cooperstown scene which we will most heartily endorse, namely AllOTSEGO.com’s new Otsego County’s Daily Newspaper/ONLINE. It seems it will offer a full coverage of local as well as national and world news.
Plus, it will feature such things as a crossword puzzle, Dear Abby and comics. But, from our perspective, more important it will include all material which appears in both The Freeman’s Journal and Hometown Oneonta. It will be possible to once again read what we write online. Thus, we must most certainly recommend everyone check out Otsego County’s newest daily newspaper offering.

PLEASE NOTE: Comments regarding this column may be made by mail to 125 Colonial Woods Drive, Mt. Vernon, OH 43050, by telephone at 740-993-0603 or by e-mail at cellsworth47@icloud.com.