Love in the Time of Technology

Posted By: PIC Friday, February 14, 2003 11:25:50 AM

Some social commentators say technology isolates people, but the lives of handheld users tell a different story, not yet captured by trend watchers and academic studies. Savvy couples from coast to coast use technology to organize romantic time together, express feelings or simply communicate.

A Santa Cruz, Calif., groom, who had a reputation for showing up late to everything, heard an alarm go off on his Palm handheld on the day of his wedding. He pulled his Palm handheld out of his pocket to see that his bride-to-be had set a "get married" alarm. He high-tailed it to the church.

Zire in Red With the approach of Valentine's Day, such stories illustrate high-tech expressions of love and romance. Now, more than ever before, people are turning to their Palm handhelds to make dates, plan honeymoons, better care for each other and set aside time to get cozy. These people are fast-food restaurant owners, police officers, physicians, stay-at-home moms and dads, and more.

A Palm m515 handheld user from New Jersey and her husband used their handhelds to plan their wedding and honeymoon late last year. Now married, they use DualDate, an application that lets users synchronize calendars and view two calendars side by side, to coordinate activities and travel schedules. They beam each other notes and information.
A couple kept track of their Disneyland honeymoon plans on a Palm handheld, while another couple used a handheld to direct them to bed and breakfast inns on their California Coast honeymoon.
A NYPD detective suffered a debilitating accident on the job and lost the ability to remember details short term. His "wonderful wife" bought him a handheld, which now does the remembering for him.
The wife of a physician and proud papa gave her husband a Palm handheld for Christmas. He uses it for work all the time, but his favorite use is to carry around photos of his new daughter on his handheld so he can show everyone he meets.
A stay-at-home-dad uses his Palm handheld to signal time for school and bath time. How? He plays "Wheels on the Bus" and "Splish, Splash."
A doting husband gave his interior decorator wife his Palm m505 handheld. He spent an entire day transferring the information from her out-of-date paper organizer, which "had sticky notes popping out of it like a porcupine." She coordinates her client requests, kids' soccer schedules, ballet lessons, meetings, and more.

For Valentine's Day, the life of the romantic technology user is a little sweeter thanks to developers who have created more than 16,000 applications for the Palm OS(R) platform. Applications such as Dating 1.0 allow users to keep track of pertinent dating information, and the Love Calculator calculates the probability of a successful relationship between two people. These dating and romance applications and more are available from www.handango.com and www.palmgear.com.

As a topic for discussion today, how do you use handheld and mobile technology to keep in touch with loved ones?

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Palmasutra

Gazpacho @ 2/14/2003 11:52:03 AM #

I believe the wonderful features of Palmasutra on the Palm haven't been discussed in the article. :-)

- Gazpacho

RE: Palmasutra

i2oadi2unnei2 @ 2/14/2003 12:03:32 PM #

Majority of my friends (roughly 20 of them), has palmsutra on their PDA . Happy Valentines Day folks!

............|3eep |3eep!!............

RE: Palmasutra

Foo Fighter @ 2/14/2003 12:05:37 PM #

Whenever I view Palmasutra, I get sweaty Palms...er, I mean palms.

Sorry, I just had to say that. ;-)

"it's better to be a pirate than join the navy." - Steve Jobs

News?

IanJD @ 2/14/2003 1:15:10 PM #

This is entirely a cut-and-paste of an article in Palm's Press Room on 3rd February, without even attribution.

http://makeashorterlink.com/?X1F121973

RE: News?

rickyspears @ 2/14/2003 1:26:05 PM #

Actually, it wasn't an article but rather a press release. I think that reusing copy without credit to the original source is rather common for press releases. :o)

To get back on topic:
I have a tendency to get caught up in projects and to ignore eveything and everyone else in my life. I use Shadow Plan to organize my projects and I actually have a project called "Romance Wife." As I think of things that I should do in the relationship (gift ideas, date ideas, etc.), I add them to this project (assigning due dates and alarms on the Palm as needed). If I didn't use tools like this, our relationship would probably deteriorate to the point that we would just be room mates. However with the tools she feels like I'm an incredibly romantic and thoughtful guy. (As a disclaimer, I'm sure that she would be offended if she though that she was 'just another project' so I don't share my ethods with her.)

Thanks,
Ricky
------------------------
The stylus is mightier than the pen!

RE: News?

popko @ 2/14/2003 1:31:25 PM #

Notice this story, unlike others, don't have an author? Maybe this is Palm's PR at work?

RE: News?

Admin @ 2/14/2003 1:35:54 PM #

Being a pretty slow news day, I elected to run a valentines related press release that palm put out two weeks ago. Press releases are released for the sole intention of getting coverage from the press and are rarely ever "attributed".

I realize this isn't the most interesting article that PIC has published, but thought it would provide a good lead in into a discussion about how people use thier PDA's to communicate.

RE: News?

abosco @ 2/14/2003 2:58:15 PM #

Anything is better than nothing. I find it hilarious how the Related News have nothing to do with this story, though. ;)

Getting back on topic, Ryan, what do you do to keep in touch with loved ones? Better get the ball rolling because the best I've got is that I use my IR to control the TV for them.

-Bosco
Proud Member of the Top Non-Mods
Members: abosco and ImpReza M3

RE: News?

hkklife @ 2/14/2003 2:59:43 PM #

I'd like to see some people comment on what they do with their older handhelds....for example, if you upgrade from a Palm V to a T|T, do you try and get a few bucks (usually via a lot of hassle) on e-bay or whatever for your old unit or do you try to "pass it down" to someone (spouse, relative, colleague etc)?

I think I've sold 1 of my old Palms, gave another to my mom (who never uses it), tried to give another to my girlfriend (who didn't want it, so still trying to sell it), and purposely kept my Pilot 1000 and PalmPilot Pro for historical interest purposes.

RE: News?

kezza @ 2/14/2003 4:02:05 PM #

on a few subjects:
My boyfriend and I find Vindigo to be generally pretty helpful when we're looking for places to go and things to do, so that's one way my Palm helps my relationship. we also play games together on it (bejewelled is a lot easier with two people, believe it or not).
as for recycling old PDAs, they generally get sold to a friend or colleague for $50, and it's extra for any accessories that I don't want or need any more. I recently sold my old m505 to my best friend, but it's giving her trouble, so I'll probably give her (no charge) my old SJ30 after Sony fixes it. I've done the same thing with my Gameboys. don't know who's getting the GBA when the new model comes out, but i'm sure i'll find someone.

--------------------------------------
"Well, if it isn't the leader of the wiener patrol, boning up on his nerd lessons"
http://stirwise.com

RE: News?

hkklife @ 2/14/2003 6:27:49 PM #

Might want to hang onto that old GBA for a while....I heard from a colleague who went to Japan and got to play with the new backlit GB SP for a bit and found it rather uncomfortable. I myself prefer the horizontal layout used by the GBA, Atari Lynx and Sega Game Gear.

Bar none, the most useful piece of mobile technology in my life has been my cel phone's mini web browser. I can go to Hollywood.com, input the zip code for wherever I might be and pull up movie listings. I think I've seen 4x the number of films since I began using the browser to check showtimes. It always beats having to hunt down a paper or call information for the number of the cinema and then have to listen to the guy recite the times!

Romantic Tech

Palm_Otaku @ 2/14/2003 3:35:19 PM #

Heh, well this morning my wife's 'pilot' flashed an alarm at her: "Happy Valentines Sweetheart! Love, Dan"

When she checks her ToDos she'll notice that there's a new #1 Priority Dated Today on her list: "Give Dan lots of smooches!"

RE: Romantic Tech

kezza @ 2/14/2003 4:09:31 PM #

my boyfriend always used to sneak little messages onto my palm, like "eat lots of pie" in my datebook, or Tom Jones and Miss Cleo in my addressbook, but he hasn't in a while. hmph.

--------------------------------------
"Well, if it isn't the leader of the wiener patrol, boning up on his nerd lessons"
http://stirwise.com

RE: Romantic Tech

M3wThr33 @ 2/16/2003 4:37:54 AM #

Everytime my girlfriend gets her paws on my Visor, she goes straight to Brickshooter.
Well, she DID write a poem for me once in memopad.

I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. We're in space.

DualDate

AlanF @ 2/15/2003 9:01:11 AM #

Quote: "Now married, they use DualDate, an application that lets users synchronize calendars and view two calendars side by side, to coordinate activities and travel schedules." If only DualDate really did allow you to "synchronize your calendars." WeSync, now closed to new users, and frankly always very buggy, did this, but DualDate just allows you to display two calendars one Palm. Maybe Palm means the "synchronize" part is to be done in our heads. Sadly, my brain is way too small for that. :)

SocialEYES

clayton @ 2/15/2003 9:45:28 PM #

SocialEYES is an interesting program that helps two people with Palms get to know each other better.
You can compare your answers to a series of questions with another Palm user via infrared beaming. Fun on a first date or just with somebody interesting sitting next to you on the bus!

http://www.evolutionary.net/socialeyes

I met love online

M3wThr33 @ 2/16/2003 4:33:51 AM #

If you get the TV channel G4(The video game channel) you've probably seen the commercial where the girl met the guy online and fell in love. I'm that guy. She was only supposed to stay two weeks, for a visit to E3. Maybe it was the fact that I was a nice guy that set it off, or.. maybe it was the GBA I won at E3 and gave to her. :)
She'll deny it, but I doubt I'd be where I am today if I never gave it to her.
Note: I already had one imported from Japan, so getting a SECOND one before launch would just make me a greedy man.

I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation. We're in space.

i've fallen in love with the new sony TX65

killah fury @ 2/16/2003 5:27:56 PM #

check it !

http://mrtaxi.karnt.com/

RE: i've fallen in love with the new sony TX65

killah fury @ 2/16/2003 5:39:23 PM #

PalmOS 5.1, CPU 400 MHz
64 MB RAM, 32 MB ROM
USB, IrDa, MS slot, CF slot, Bluetooth, JoyPad Display: 320x480
Baterry: Li-Pol
Audio: MP3

RE: i've fallen in love with the new sony TX65

abosco @ 2/17/2003 12:25:21 AM #

(Sigh) Three problems here.

#1 That's a warez site.
#2 The TX65 isn't real. It's an entry from someone to the CliePlanet contest.
#3 You've fallen in love with a piece of Vaporware. Seek professional help!

-Bosco
Proud Member of the Top Non-Mods
Members: abosco and ImpReza M3

RE: i've fallen in love with the new sony TX65

killah fury @ 2/17/2003 6:14:26 PM #

#1 That's a warez site.

so what? i wasn't downloading anything - i was searching for news on new sony clies and came across that site... it's just a picture - it's not illegal.

#2 The TX65 isn't real. It's an entry from someone to the CliePlanet contest.

okay, okay...

#3 You've fallen in love with a piece of Vaporware. Seek professional help!

er, if you notice - this news piece was posted on valentines day and is titled "love in the time of technology"... i was just keeping in theme... don't be a loser please...

RE: i've fallen in love with the new sony TX65

jodpel @ 2/18/2003 11:53:27 AM #

Quote from killah...
"er, if you notice - this news piece was posted on valentines day and is titled "love in the time of technology"... i was just keeping in theme... don't be a loser please..."

Ummmm...
It appears to me that you are the "loser".

#1. If you approve of or participate in "warez", it is utterly stupid to post a link to a site. As soon as it is pointed out in public forums, it will be shut down. Rule #1 for warez people is NEVER EVER POST A LINK TO A WAREZ SITE.

#2. If you dissapprove of warez... which is most people here... this is totally inappropriate and unnacceptable. With today's copyright environment and the draconian power of the DMCA, it is foolish for a legitimate web site operator to even allow people to discuss such things.

I contend therefore that in either case, you are the loser.