Jesse Joe
12-28-2009, 07:26 AM
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/902523
50 things that changed our lives
Published Monday December 28th, 2009
Over the past decade, iPods, tattoos and designer coffee became part of everyday life
By Jocelyn Noveck
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/images/empty.gif
NEW YORK - Was it only a decade ago that a blackberry was a mere summer fruit? That green was, well, a colour, and reality TV was that one show sandwiched between music videos on MTV?
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423100&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423100)
the associated press
The Apple iPod Shuffle, right, next to a Red iPod Nano, centre, and 60GB iPod, left, are displayed at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423101&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423101)
the associated press
It's not uncommon in this day and age to pay $4-plus for a cup of coffee.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423102&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423102)
the associated press
Crocs colorful resin footwear became part of everyday life over the past decade.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423103&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423103)
the associated press
Facebook.com founder Mark Zuckerberg smiles at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.
There were, of course, huge political and social upheavals that roiled our world in the past decade. But there were also the gradual lifestyle changes that you don't always notice when they're happening -- kind of like watching a child grow older.
Here's an alphabetical look at 50 things that changed our lives since the beginning of the millennium:
1. AIRPORTS: Remember when you didn't have to take your shoes off before getting on a plane? Remember when you could bring a bottled drink on board? Terrorism changed all that.
2. ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: From acupuncture to herbal supplements to alternative ways of treating cancer, alternative medicine became more mainstream than ever.
3. APPS: There's an app for that! The phrase comes from Apple iPhone advertising, but could apply to the entire decade's gadget explosion, from laptops to GPS systems (want your car to give you directions to Mom's house in Chinese, or by a Frenchwoman named Virginie? There was an app for that.)
4. ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS CARDS ... for boomers!: Some prominent people turned 50 this decade: Madonna. Prince. Ellen DeGeneres. The Smurfs. Michael Jackson -- who also died at 50. And some prominent "early boomers" turned 60: Bruce Springsteen and Meryl Streep, for example.
5. AGING: Nobody seemed to look their age anymore: Clothes for 50-year-old women started looking more like clothes for 18-year-olds, tweens looked more like teens, long hair was popular for all ages, and in many ways women's fashion seemed to morph into one single age group.
6. BLOG: I blog, you blog, he blogs ... How did we spend our time before blogging? There are more than 100 million of these web logs out there in cyberspace.
7. BLACKBERRIES: Considered essential by corporate CEOs and moms planning playdates. Introduced in 2002, the smartphone version is now used by more than 28 million people, according to its Waterloo, Ont.-based maker, Research In Motion Ltd.
8. BOOK CLUBS: Thanks in part to Oprah Winfrey, the decade saw not only a profusion in book discussion clubs but a growing reliance on them by publishers.
9. CABLE: Cable 24-hour news made the evening network news seem quaint, cable dramas reaped Emmys ... and at decade's end, even Oprah was making the move to cable.
10. CAMERAS: Remember those trips to get film developed? Nope? Even your grandmother has a digital camera, and she's probably e-mailing you photos right now or uploading them to a photo-sharing site.
12. CELLPHONES: Cellphones are now used by more than 85 per cent of the U.S. population and for some have replaced land lines entirely. On the downside, they've made cheating on a spouse more difficult -- just ask Tiger Woods.
19. DVRs: Suddenly, DVR-ing is a verb, and what it means is this: There's no reason to know anymore what channel your program is on, and what time.
20. EMBARRASSMENT ENTERTAINMENT: Embarrassment has always been part of comedy -- you need only think of Don Rickles -- but this is the decade of cringe-worthy Larry David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Ricky Gervais, and of course Sacha Baron Cohen, who as Borat and Bruno shamed perhaps the entire country.
21. FACEBOOK: Can you believe this social networking site was once limited only to Harvard students? Now it's a time-sucking obsession for more than 300 million users globally and a whole new form of social etiquette: Who to friend on Facebook?
24. GOING GREEN: From the kind of light bulbs we use to the kind of shopping bags we carry to the cars we drive, "going green" took hold this decade. Now, it's not strange to hear a schoolkid tell a parent to use a cloth grocery bag.
25. GOOGLE: This was the decade that Google became a part of our brain function. You know that guy who was in that movie -- when was it? Just Google it.
26. GPS: We can't get lost anymore -- or at least it's pretty hard, with the ubiquitous GPS systems. But you'd better type in your location carefully: One couple made a 650-kilometre mistake this year by typing "Carpi" rather than "Capri."
28. INFORMATION OVERLOAD: An explosion in Internet use led to an overload of information about practically everything. It's at our fingertips, but is it accurate? Some call it part of a larger phenomenon, namely ...
30. IPODS: An icon of the digital age, it's hard to believe this portable media player was first launched in 2001. Six years later the 100 millionth iPod was sold.
32. MUSICALS: They've been around forever, but this decade musicals came back to film, starting with "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago." But for kids, it was Disney's extremely successful "High School Musical" franchise -- three movies and counting -- that brought back the musical magic.
33. NETFLIX: The DVD by mail service, established in 1997, announced its two-billionth DVD delivery this year. For many, those discs on top of the TV are just one more thing to procrastinate over.
34. ORGANIC: Shoppers rushed to fill their grocery carts with organic food, making it big business. At decade's end, Michelle Obama planted the first White House organic vegetable garden.
36. REALITY TV: As TV viewers, we became addicted to reality TV, from the feuding Gosselins of "Jon&Kate Plus 8" to "American Idol" to "Project Runway." At decade's end, the Heenes of Balloon Boy fame and the Salahis of gatecrashing fame give reality TV some unwanted attention.
42. TEXTING: R u still rding this sty? Hope u r. This is the decade we start communicating in the shorthand of text messages. Get used to it: Email is so '00s.
43. TV SCREENS: Television screens became bigger and flatter, making some ordinary living rooms and dens the equivalent of big-studio screening rooms. At the same time, though, people were watching movies and videos on the tiniest screens imaginable -- on their iPods or other mobile devices.
45. TWITTER: The new social network introduced tweets, retweets, follows and trending topics -- as long as it fit in 140 characters.
48. WIKIPEDIA: A boon to lazy students everywhere, the open-source encyclopedia used the masses to police its entries and keep them (mostly) (sometimes) accurate.
50. YOUTUBE: Let's end this list and go kill some time by watching ... YouTube videos! The video-sharing site was born in 2005. Political candidates in 2008 even had their on YouTube channels. The most popular video yet: "Charlie Bit My Finger," in which baby Charlie bites the finger of his brother Harry.
For the {22} that I omitted click on the link !
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/902523
50 things that changed our lives
Published Monday December 28th, 2009
Over the past decade, iPods, tattoos and designer coffee became part of everyday life
By Jocelyn Noveck
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/images/empty.gif
NEW YORK - Was it only a decade ago that a blackberry was a mere summer fruit? That green was, well, a colour, and reality TV was that one show sandwiched between music videos on MTV?
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423100&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423100)
the associated press
The Apple iPod Shuffle, right, next to a Red iPod Nano, centre, and 60GB iPod, left, are displayed at an Apple store in Palo Alto, Calif.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423101&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423101)
the associated press
It's not uncommon in this day and age to pay $4-plus for a cup of coffee.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423102&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423102)
the associated press
Crocs colorful resin footwear became part of everyday life over the past decade.
http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image.php?id=423103&size=265x0 (http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/gallery/902523,423103)
the associated press
Facebook.com founder Mark Zuckerberg smiles at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif.
There were, of course, huge political and social upheavals that roiled our world in the past decade. But there were also the gradual lifestyle changes that you don't always notice when they're happening -- kind of like watching a child grow older.
Here's an alphabetical look at 50 things that changed our lives since the beginning of the millennium:
1. AIRPORTS: Remember when you didn't have to take your shoes off before getting on a plane? Remember when you could bring a bottled drink on board? Terrorism changed all that.
2. ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE: From acupuncture to herbal supplements to alternative ways of treating cancer, alternative medicine became more mainstream than ever.
3. APPS: There's an app for that! The phrase comes from Apple iPhone advertising, but could apply to the entire decade's gadget explosion, from laptops to GPS systems (want your car to give you directions to Mom's house in Chinese, or by a Frenchwoman named Virginie? There was an app for that.)
4. ASSOCIATION OF RETIRED PERSONS CARDS ... for boomers!: Some prominent people turned 50 this decade: Madonna. Prince. Ellen DeGeneres. The Smurfs. Michael Jackson -- who also died at 50. And some prominent "early boomers" turned 60: Bruce Springsteen and Meryl Streep, for example.
5. AGING: Nobody seemed to look their age anymore: Clothes for 50-year-old women started looking more like clothes for 18-year-olds, tweens looked more like teens, long hair was popular for all ages, and in many ways women's fashion seemed to morph into one single age group.
6. BLOG: I blog, you blog, he blogs ... How did we spend our time before blogging? There are more than 100 million of these web logs out there in cyberspace.
7. BLACKBERRIES: Considered essential by corporate CEOs and moms planning playdates. Introduced in 2002, the smartphone version is now used by more than 28 million people, according to its Waterloo, Ont.-based maker, Research In Motion Ltd.
8. BOOK CLUBS: Thanks in part to Oprah Winfrey, the decade saw not only a profusion in book discussion clubs but a growing reliance on them by publishers.
9. CABLE: Cable 24-hour news made the evening network news seem quaint, cable dramas reaped Emmys ... and at decade's end, even Oprah was making the move to cable.
10. CAMERAS: Remember those trips to get film developed? Nope? Even your grandmother has a digital camera, and she's probably e-mailing you photos right now or uploading them to a photo-sharing site.
12. CELLPHONES: Cellphones are now used by more than 85 per cent of the U.S. population and for some have replaced land lines entirely. On the downside, they've made cheating on a spouse more difficult -- just ask Tiger Woods.
19. DVRs: Suddenly, DVR-ing is a verb, and what it means is this: There's no reason to know anymore what channel your program is on, and what time.
20. EMBARRASSMENT ENTERTAINMENT: Embarrassment has always been part of comedy -- you need only think of Don Rickles -- but this is the decade of cringe-worthy Larry David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," Ricky Gervais, and of course Sacha Baron Cohen, who as Borat and Bruno shamed perhaps the entire country.
21. FACEBOOK: Can you believe this social networking site was once limited only to Harvard students? Now it's a time-sucking obsession for more than 300 million users globally and a whole new form of social etiquette: Who to friend on Facebook?
24. GOING GREEN: From the kind of light bulbs we use to the kind of shopping bags we carry to the cars we drive, "going green" took hold this decade. Now, it's not strange to hear a schoolkid tell a parent to use a cloth grocery bag.
25. GOOGLE: This was the decade that Google became a part of our brain function. You know that guy who was in that movie -- when was it? Just Google it.
26. GPS: We can't get lost anymore -- or at least it's pretty hard, with the ubiquitous GPS systems. But you'd better type in your location carefully: One couple made a 650-kilometre mistake this year by typing "Carpi" rather than "Capri."
28. INFORMATION OVERLOAD: An explosion in Internet use led to an overload of information about practically everything. It's at our fingertips, but is it accurate? Some call it part of a larger phenomenon, namely ...
30. IPODS: An icon of the digital age, it's hard to believe this portable media player was first launched in 2001. Six years later the 100 millionth iPod was sold.
32. MUSICALS: They've been around forever, but this decade musicals came back to film, starting with "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago." But for kids, it was Disney's extremely successful "High School Musical" franchise -- three movies and counting -- that brought back the musical magic.
33. NETFLIX: The DVD by mail service, established in 1997, announced its two-billionth DVD delivery this year. For many, those discs on top of the TV are just one more thing to procrastinate over.
34. ORGANIC: Shoppers rushed to fill their grocery carts with organic food, making it big business. At decade's end, Michelle Obama planted the first White House organic vegetable garden.
36. REALITY TV: As TV viewers, we became addicted to reality TV, from the feuding Gosselins of "Jon&Kate Plus 8" to "American Idol" to "Project Runway." At decade's end, the Heenes of Balloon Boy fame and the Salahis of gatecrashing fame give reality TV some unwanted attention.
42. TEXTING: R u still rding this sty? Hope u r. This is the decade we start communicating in the shorthand of text messages. Get used to it: Email is so '00s.
43. TV SCREENS: Television screens became bigger and flatter, making some ordinary living rooms and dens the equivalent of big-studio screening rooms. At the same time, though, people were watching movies and videos on the tiniest screens imaginable -- on their iPods or other mobile devices.
45. TWITTER: The new social network introduced tweets, retweets, follows and trending topics -- as long as it fit in 140 characters.
48. WIKIPEDIA: A boon to lazy students everywhere, the open-source encyclopedia used the masses to police its entries and keep them (mostly) (sometimes) accurate.
50. YOUTUBE: Let's end this list and go kill some time by watching ... YouTube videos! The video-sharing site was born in 2005. Political candidates in 2008 even had their on YouTube channels. The most popular video yet: "Charlie Bit My Finger," in which baby Charlie bites the finger of his brother Harry.
For the {22} that I omitted click on the link !
http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/lifetimes/article/902523