Techno consumption can be baffling

Still wishing you had another year before you have to write 2000 on your checks while realizing that you’re actually still writing checks instead of banking online?

With the millennium upon us, I agree with Time Magazine that 1999 was the year of Internet and e-commerce. And I thought it might be fun to share my own “technological” successes and failures.

Honest, I’m not really a geek, but in the business news biz, I’m fascinated with what people are accomplishing. You’ll be reading a lot about them in the coming year.

SPONSORED CONTENT

People Powered: Preparing Longmont Businesses for Economic Success

Longmont Chamber and FNBO present People Powered on April 24, 2024, aiming to inform business owners about workforce development, housing, and transportation issues.

First, I guess it’s a good thing that my best intentions to do most of my Christmas shopping online never materialized.

I had scoped out sites like Eddiebauer.com, Jcrew.com, giftcertificates.com, Cdnow.com and Omahasteaks.com. I set up links to different sites, and my e-mail inbox was full with enticing offers.

My credit card was ready to go when suddenly my modem connection went kaput. Where earlier I had been surfing the Net easily, I suddenly couldn’t connect at all. Or if I did, it was miserably slow. If I attempted an order, my connection would break, and 20 minutes was wasted.

My first reaction was there was so much online shopping that the entire Internet was clogged. Then my ISP informed me that a U S West line was at fault. A repair “ticket” was in, he said, but I shouldn’t hold my breath.

So off to the stores I went. And you know what? It wasn’t nearly as bad as staring at my stuck browser. A friend who lives where there is absolutely no decent retailers except hardware stores told me that every time he placed an order on one site, it would double it in the shopping cart. He eventually gave up and drove the seven hours over here to shop.

Now I read Toysrus.com is telling some customers their orders won’t arrive in time for Christmas. That should make the little tykes especially cheerful this year.

But 1999 was not entirely a techno bust.

I finally got a cell phone. Moving to biweekly publishing meant I needed to reach my staff on more deadlines. I love that little gadget, but often at the 5:30 p.m. commuter rush, I can’t get a line. Hit an area where service is weak, and say bye-bye to whomever is on the call.

Then there’s eBay. I’ve always been a collector, and this online auction of some 3 million pieces of junk is simply too much to bear for people like me. It’s like a plague, and thousands of us flea-market types are inflicted. I started selling, too. So that meant I needed a digital camera.

So I bought one – a $299 Olympus. (Bought it at Kmart after researching prices on the Net.) Digital photography is the neatest thing since the Walkman. (No, I do not have a DVD yet.) Download your photos, e-mail them to friends or print one out and hang it on the wall.

So what’s next? I’m staring hard at those personal assistants. But my ancient (15 years old) TV only gets 62 channels. Should I go digital?

Free music downloads with an MP3 player? Might need one of those. And with all these downloads, I’ll need a faster home Internet connection in 2000.

For all of you who made a small fortune this year investing in tech stocks and the Nasdaq, you have consumers like me to thank. And don’t short the market yet — we’ve hardly just begun.