AARP and Microsoft conducted focus group dinners in 4 cities and produced a report that shows boomer technology habits are in a state of flux. That means they’re still looking for more and better. And THAT means opportunities in this rich market for smart technology marketers.

NY Times Article

That’s just one interesting fact found in a Chicago Trib article about techno boomers, those teaching their kids about living in the digital age. The reason? Boomers have more time and more money…and a burning desire to connect with the grandkids.

Quick, interesting read: Techno Boomers

Put your glasses down and try Spezify. It’s like my buddy over at Digital Curator said: if Google and CoolIris got together for a casual affair, the love child would look like this.

VibrantNation.com, the online destination for women 50+, released new research that reveals that the niche they’ve termed “Vibrant Women” is the first generation of women in history whose social networks are continuing to expand at midlife and beyond. Defying the stereotype of increasing marginalization as they age, this study confirmed that not only are their networks growing, they are growing online.

The VibrantNation.com study of 1,000 Boomer women with household income greater than $75,000 showed:

— The personal networks of women 50+ are large and growing.

— They are in personal contact with at least 46 people each month.

— 65% share information online with others in their network.

— They are comfortable relying on referrals from strangers online if the source is knowledgeable/experienced. They rely on references on websites like Amazon.com (70%), eBay.com (54%) and TripAdvisor (27%).

— Vibrant Women are open to trying new brands and experiences, and are motivated to make particular purchase of goods and services by a variety of psycho-social factors including:

> Financial status (even with the recession, Vibrant Women continue to have discretionary income)

> Life stage transitions (such as the last child leaving home,
starting a business, losing a parent or spouse)

> Physical changes (menopause, aging, surviving breast cancer)

> New family roles (grandparent, caregiver)

> Social Awareness (travel and volunteer-work)

Now, if you use Craig’slist or Ebay or any other site that requires telephone contact info, you can maintain your privacy with LetsCall.me. At sign-up you get a special vanity URL and the option to have it direct callers to whatever number you provide. People who have your URL and want to call you can simply enter in their phone number and it will call that number to connect them to yours. It also prevents them from blocking their caller ID info, which means you know who is calling.

You can also choose to reveal other info, like an email address, on your page. But that feature is pretty limited at this point. Still, this is a pretty smart way to protect your privacy, and it’s as easy as embedding or sending a URL link to those who want to call you.

LetsCall.me

Check out Vlad Studio’s Wallpaper Clock (Chameleon Clock for Windows.) It embeds a clock and the date in some of the coolest desktop wallpapers I’ve seen. This guy’s art is simply amazing, and ranges from whimsical to sophisticated, with holiday themes available as well. Most of the clocks/dates become part of the art, which makes the look even better.

On the mac, you get a menubar drop-down that lets you change the wallpaper at will and download more clocks. Works on multiple monitors as well, although it doesn’t stretch the image across both…you set a wallpaper for each. I haven’t tested the Windows version, but I assume it’s the same.

Best part? IT’S FREE!! If you donate $20, you get lifetime access to some special stuff but I did it just because this guy deserves the support. Give it a look…it’s kinda like wallpaper crack: one taste and you want more.

Vladstudio Wallpaper Clocks

What? Those young pups don’t believe what you’re telling them? Prove it: send them the evidence in a “snapshot” you took of the newspaper story. OK, so maybe they don’t know what a newspaper is, but it sure looks official. And you can always tell them it showed up on Dlisted.com first.

Newspaper Clipping Generator

Adults of a certain age often begin to look for greater fulfillment and deeper meaning in life.

Me? I’m just trying to figure out my new cell phone.

Until last month, I’d survived with the most meager of wireless communication - you know, the phones that wireless providers give away with a two-year contract. But when the cheaper next-generation iPhone started generating buzz in June, this Luddite began to look with disdain at her poor, old cell phone. It’s little more than a tin can with a string, I convinced myself.

So I now own a BlackBerry. (It’s no iPhone, but it was cheaper with the plan I chose.) The phone has lots of bells and whistles, and joins a growing list of technology-related stuff I try to use but don’t fully understand - Wi-Fi, Facebook and Twitter to name a few.

A book floating around the newsroom recently summed up my predicament: “Too old for MySpace, too young for Medicare.” The book offered helpful insights such as, “You remember when video games consisted of two paddles and a square ball” and “You’re convinced that iTunes lacks the timeless sweet karma of the mix tape.”

I use iTunes, but I miss albums and mix tapes. I have a MySpace page. But the 20-somethings populating the vast majority of MySpace haven’t exactly been beating down my door, asking to be my “friend.” Mostly, I’ve gotten offers of friendship from local bands and spammers.

I bought the BlackBerry but began to wonder if a Jitterbug is more my speed. The Jitterbug is a new Samsung phone aimed at seniors: “Bigger, backlit buttons. Bright, large text. Powerful speaker sounds loud and clear,” according to its Web site.

Demographers and marketers make a living out of these sorts of generational gaps, creating sweeping statements like this one in a recent news release: “Baby boomers consider themselves open-minded and evolving. This is core to their identity and key to their purchasing behavior.”

But generational differences really do seem to matter when it comes to technology. For the record, I’m officially at the tail end of the baby boomers, but I’m really in some netherworld between baby boomers and Gen X. (I’ve dubbed it the “Brady Bunch” generation.) Either way, I didn’t grow up with a laptop in my bedroom.

I’ve had some success with Facebook, because it’s more straightforward than MySpace, and I’ve been able to catch up with friends I’d met while working in Asia but lost touch with over the years. But I still don’t understand how Facebook makes money when I throw Paris Hilton or Britney Spears at one of my friends. (It’s a Facebook thing.)

And let’s say your boss has a Facebook page. Suddenly, there’s something Orwellian about social networking, when your boss - or the police or the government - is able to get a glimpse into your personal life.

Millennials, born between about 1980 and 1995, don’t seem to care. They’ve grown up on computers, cell phones and video games, demographers remind us, and they seem to delight in making their every thought and movement public.

Twitter was made for them. It’s the latest, greatest social networking tool that lets users update friends, family and strangers about what they’re up to every minute of the day, via cell phone, instant messenger or the Web. They “microblog” in “tweets,” or entries that are limited to 140 characters or less.

I don’t want to be left in Twitterers’ technological dust, but do I really care that someone I don’t know “is chillin’ on the couch” right now? Or contemplating the gum he bought at Walgreen’s? Or pondering her navel?

Yeah, I’m old. But I just don’t get it.

That brings me back to my cell phone. I don’t really think I need a Jitterbug, but does anyone have a copy of BlackBerry for Dummies I could borrow?

hdraper@express-news.net

There have been ad blockers for FireFox and other browsers for months, and I posted about them. And actually, this one has been out for awhile, but I haven’t posted about it because it was giving me problems. Looks like either Safari has grown into it or they’ve made peace with the new Safari code.

Here’s what your page looks like BEFORE AdBlock:

And here it is AFTER AdBlock:

Us adguys don’t like to see our work blocked, but us browsers likey likey.

Safari AdBlock

Yes, I’m on a jag…finding simple or at least clear explanations of some of the technology subjects we hear so much about. Here’s one about the Creative Commons license that replaces traditional copyright on so many web-based properties. It’s from Jon Phillips, Business and Community developer at Creative Commons.

BTW, this is embeded using Scribd, a new site that is purported to be the YouTube of documents. You can view the PowerPoint by clicking the arrows in the graphic above, as well as zoom, share and go to the original file. Check it out…pretty slick.

Creative Commons Overview