My Life with Technology

Experience is the Best Teacher

One morning, I woke up from a dream of a simpler childhood—a time when the world felt uncomplicated and slow. That dream became the spark for this book. I realized my life wasn't just a series of personal events; it was a journey interwoven with the staggering technological advancements that have reshaped us all.

From the invention of the wheel to the birth of the integrated circuit, the Technological Revolution has catapulted society to heights once unimaginable. Today, we aren't just looking at the stars; we are landing vehicles on Mars and receiving real-time data from robots millions of miles away.

Three Party Line, What?

I remember my grandmother had a telephone in her house in the 1940s that was a party line. In those days, it was considered high-tech to make a phone call on a three-party telephone line! They provided absolutely no privacy in communication. Instead, they were frequently used as a source of entertainment and gossip, as well as a means of quickly alerting entire neighborhoods of emergencies, becoming a cultural fixture in rural areas for many decades.

Connecting two phones wasn't automatic, either. It had to be done on a massive telephone switchboard at the Telephone Company Central Office, where the lines were manually connected by a human operator.

Sandy listening to the radio

Technology was very different 75 years ago. My first memory of anything technical was listening to The Lone Ranger, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, and a few other radio programs. The radio was housed in a massive wood cabinet.

I later learned that the technology at that time relied on vacuum tubes, which were large and generated plenty of heat. It’s important to stop here and talk a little about the radio, since its invention was a major advancement in technology. Even after the development of the radio in the late 1800s, it took many years before they went mainstream and became a household fixture.

The history of the radio is a fascinating one that changed how the world connected and communicated from distances far and near.

The Invisible Tool

Technology didn't just evolve during my lifetime; it accelerated at a breakneck pace. While I can mentally scrape up 82 years of memories, it's the modern 'magic' of photography and search engines that truly keeps my 'old memory stove' burning bright.

My goal is to show you how these innovations didn't just change my life—they became the very oxygen of my existence. For over 60 years, I have stood on the front lines of innovation, including a pivotal 13-year era helping companies like Sony and Technicolor A/V develop products that moved society forward. We transitioned from the tangible to the digital, eventually becoming reliant on an invisible giant: the Internet.

Algorithms

Today, we’ve entered a new frontier. With Algorithms and AI, we aren’t just using tools; we are feeding data to a new kind of intelligence. As we watch these 'robots' learn from us, a collective unease is settling in. We find ourselves standing on the edge of the unknown, asking the ultimate question: What’s Next? — Shocking!"

Stone Tablet to Electronic Tablet

The Ultimate Freedom

This RAV (Read-Audio-Video) book is a product of that very revolution. It’s being forged on an iMac in Arizona, stored in the 'Cloud' via Google Docs, and refined on my MacBook Air during meetings. Whether I’m visiting family in Washington with my MacPro or capturing a sudden 'Shock' of inspiration on my iPhone, technology has granted me the ultimate freedom: the ability to create from anywhere, at any time. It’s a fast-paced reality, but it works!

Speech to Text: The New Frontier

One day, I got mentally sidetracked. Could I talk to the computer instead of typing? I called Apple and spoke with a lovely lady named Nina, who walked me through dictation. I connected my Bluetooth Sony headphones and began.

Later, I took this amazing technology one step further by writing on Google Docs for free. Now, I can work on the book on any device instantaneously. I don't consider myself a professional writer; I'm just someone sifting through the "BS" to get to the meat of the subject. Imagine how hard this would have been 20 years ago without search engines! The inventors are answering my question: What's Next? It could be Shocking!

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