My Analog Wife

Friday, February 20, 2099

My Analog Wife

I love gadgets. I'd love to get every gadget I could lay my hands on. However, considering that usually also involves giving up money, my wife would not be so happy about that. Not only does my wife have an aversion to throwing money out the window (imagine that), she also has an aversion to gadgets. While I'd like to take advantage of everything modern life has to offer, my wife is happy to continue doing things the way she's always been doing them.

I have an analog wife.

I'm sure my experience is not all that different from many other guys. As the old saying goes, the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys. And I love expensive toys.

I am not sure why I love gadgets so much... No, why I need gadgets so much. Perhaps it's because of my technical background. While nothing new to kids today, I was programming computers at the age of 12. I worked my way through college by computer programming on the PLATO system developed at the University of Illinois. (I had an undergraduate research assistant position which covered my tuition and paid me on top of that.)

Anyway, since I have done such a poor job of writing a blog to keep track of my life, perhaps if I put it in context of the challenges I face of having an analog wife, I may become more motivated to keep an updated blog. Let's see how it goes.

Thursday, February 19, 2099

Disclaimers, etc., etc.

First, I have to admit that I am fortunate being married to Kyoko. Since I love shopping and expensive toys, if I would have married someone who shares the same passion, we would probably be about a million dollars poorer at the moment and I may have to be working until about 80 to afford retirement.

Considering such the huge credit card debt I had when we got married, we are doing fine now.

Of course, I still wish I could have more gadgets...

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

If you are having a hard time finding someone who will listen to you...

At least now you can talk with your browser.

Those of you who are familiar with Google Search on Android phones know that to initiate a search, they can go into Google Search (aka, Google Now) say:

OK, Google

You can now do that on your browser on your PC with the free Chrome extension from Google available here:

http://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-voice-search-hotwo/bepbmhgboaologfdajaanbcjmnhjmhfn

Unfortunately, it looks like this version is not as connected as the Android version as the Android version will check your personal information to help answer your questions.

Here is a sample list of Google Voice searches you can perform:

(Graphic from TrendBlog.net.)

More references:

As mentioned above, some of these commands are specific to be used with your Android device. However, many can still be used on your PC.

Just as an example:

When does Target close?

Lots faster than trying to find it yourself. Unfortunately, not all questions are answered directly, and instead, Google will do a Google search on what you said, but still…

OK, Google. Who is the fairest of them all?

See more progress on: be entertained