Technology

I found two of the posts on Library Bytes to be interesting. Here is the link for one of them - http://www.librarybytes.com/2008/06/web-date-1934.html
The other concerned wordle - which really looks neat and I can use it on a scrapbook page.

Technology is great in many ways. Some of it is quite beneficial while others are simply useful. My fear about technology is that society is becoming obsessed with the latest and greatest. They are not concerned if it is actually beneficial so much as "look what I have". For example, I scrapbook as a hobby. I own the original Cricut that will cut out letters and shapes up to 5.5 inches in height. There is now a larger Cricut out that can cut up to nearly 24 inches. While a really neat shapes cartridge comes only with the larger Cricut, I do not need something that can cut shapes that large. So I will stick with my "small" machine for now. Others I know had to have the larger one even though they too have the "small" one. Why? Because it was new and big and they "had to have it".
I can also point to some of the new "and improved" toilets in Japan. Do we really need a toilet seat warmer? Is it really necessary to have a instant odor remover when a plug in does fairly well. Ok, I will concede that some people may need this - :). I can't remember some of the other "features" but that is part of my point. Why get the "latest and greatest" when the original does the intended purpose just fine.