Cool Uses of Technology
So, my family used to use Amazon’s (you don’t really need the URL, do you?) wish list feature for Christmas and birthday gift giving. But there were two problems with it. First, you could only list and link things sold on Amazon. That left plenty of possible gifts that I (or anyone else) might want unavailable for listing. And second, it was relatively easy for folks to see what gifts someone else had bought for them.
We changed that last year, using a service called Gift Geek. It solved our two problems. First, you should know that my wife and I are massive nerds. When first started Nerd Dating, we kind of held back how big nerds we were but then we realized we both liked the same stuff so there was no point hiding it! So, Gift Geek is perfect for us – you can list anything nerd related you want, with or without a URL to the item. For those of us that shop online, it works really well if you embed a URL. Second, you cannot see on your own list what was purchased for you before Christmas day.
This year, we changed to a new service called Family Gift Organizer. It has similar features to Gift Geek. How did Family Gift Organizer come about? From their website:
The Family Gift Organizer started out as a bunch of lists on my bulletin board in my home office. I had lists of what the kids wanted, lists of what they needed and lists of what they already had. I had lists of gifts I planned to purchase, gifts I had already purchased and stashed somewhere and lists of items I needed or wanted, not to mention lists of clothing sizes and favorite colors, lists of web sites with super deals and more.
Awesome. Such capabilities were unheard of not all that long ago. Now they are ubiquitous. Yet another way that technology has empowered the individual. It is fascinating how the advancement of technology has benefitted our lives, allowing us to have some of the best new gadgets and appliances within our own homes. Of course, some gadgets, such as the ones you’d find on somewhere like DrDrone.ca, are more suitable for the outdoors. Even so, who would have thought that we’d be able to fly our own personal drones in today’s age?
I know this isn’t politics, but I am very interested in the power that technology gives the individual and thought others reading this site might be too.
