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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | JULY 2020 9 By Theresa Rossetti, Resident Technology! Most of us use something every day that didn't exist when we were younger. Cell phones, tablets, smart TVs, streaming services, even fancy faucets that turn on with a touch can be found here at SDV. Many of us were dragged into this under protest, due to jobs, kids, grandkids or because we wouldn't be able to watch TV if we didn't. Many of us love to read. Our library in the Lodge proves this, with all sorts of fiction and non-fiction to "check out." Aside from actual books, with pages that we turn and maybe a slight musty smell from being in the garage for a while, e-readers now abound. In 1997 the first e-book, the Rocket, became available. It was followed by two Sony products in 2004 and 2006 with introduction of the Amazon Kindle in 2007 dwarfing the earlier forms. In 2010 (imagine this, only 10 years ago), Apple debuted the iPad, with its iBook option. Amazon countered in 2011 with the Kindle Fire tablet, rolling the e-reader into a tablet. Nowadays, the Kindle app can be downloaded on all electronic devices. The hubs used to commute to work by train and liked to read while traveling. Books, hard cover and paperback, were taking over our house. Searching for a birthday gift in 2010, I bought him a Kindle. Although he was a bit of a techno-phobe, he loved it! After a year or so, he decided to upgrade to a Fire so he could check sports scores as well. (That Fire has been followed by three others for reasons we needn't go into now.) The older Kindle was abandoned. I decided to give it a try. That old Kindle was my reading companion for about eight years. Two weeks ago, it sighed and died. No amount of recharging or resetting brought it back to life. What to do? There were two old Fires in the house, so I charged one up and downloaded some books. Why spend money on buying a new Kindle, right?! I found out very quickly that I did not like the Fire. It was too big, the light was too bright, and the absolute worst was that it woke me up at 6 am to tell me that there was "Motion at my Front Door" when the human and the canine went for an early morning walk. The Fire had to go! I am happy to report that a lovely little Kindle Paperwhite has joined our family. It's easy to hold, has good lighting for reading before bed, holds a long charge, and is quiet! Too Much Of A Good Thing

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