Early-Adopters Be Damned, Long Live Pagers, Dot Matrix Printers

While many Americans are busy Instagramming pictures of their pizzas and fat-facing themselves, millions were still using pagers, dial-up internet and dot matrix printers.

In 2012, ten million Americans still had dial-up internet, approximately 10,000 pagers were sold, and fifty million calls were made from pay phones.  13,000 blank cassette and VHS tapes were sold, 350,000 PDAs were sold, and a staggering 20,000 dot matrix printers found loving new homes.

A study by the Consumer Electronics Association said that only about 15% of Americans are considered early adopters.  A further 25% jump on the bandwagon and a full 60% are content to sit at home watching TV on their 60"x60"x60" cube while recording Dallas on to VHS so they can watch it after they return calls from their pager.

I'm just shocked that anyone can actually use the internet still with 56.6 speeds.  I guess they just have to wait a bit longer for their naked pictures of Pamela Anderson circa 1992 to load.  Even with the stats from the CEA, it's hard to grasp just how many people in the US are still using 20+ year old technologies.

6% of Americans live in areas that don't have broadband internet access yet.  But that doesn't account for the ten million that routinely still (over) pay for dial-up.  I'm assuming many of these folks are the exact same ones who decided they needed a new dot matrix printer last year.  The only useful way I can think to use a dot matrix is to peel off the strips on either side of the paper and fold them into springy chains.

The 10,000 pagers sold in 2012 also confuses me.  I thought drug dealers knew about cheap pay-as-you-go phones that are affectionately called "burners"?!  At least the 305,000 pay phones and 50 million calls made on them last year are partially explained by the pager phenomenon.  High powered CEOs still have to find that nearest payphone to dash into when the important page comes through from Japan.

10,000 old-fashioned tube televisions also sold last year in the US.  I guess that's a sign that many Americans have very big living rooms that need space taken up in them by massive TV cubes.  This must explain the 13 million blank cassetets sold in 2012 - people who refuse to adopt the DVR.  Even the CEA doesn't track cassette recorders anymore, but apparently 15,000 cassette-based car stereos were sold in 2012.  Long live the mix tape!

Google Gunning for Spotify and Rdio

Google Music has just launched their challenger to Spotify and Rdio, called 'All Access'.  It's a subscription-based service that lets you play unlimited music from around $9.99 per month.

It's setup as an upgrade/add-on to Google Music and was made available to web-users and Android mobile-users last week.  The original Google Music is a free service that allows you to upload around 20,000 tracks from your own music collection to Google's servers and listen via login. 

You could access your collection on the go and also add music you have purchased from GooglePlay.  An All Access subscription gives you access to unlimited streaming and even downloads for offline use. 

All Access will also have a radio feature similar to Pandora or Spotify that will allow a user to choose an artist, song, genre or album and will create a playlist after that.  It will come with unlimited skips if you get a subscription. 

The $9.99 price tag matches the offerings from Spotify and Rdio for mobile streaming and access.  Both the latter offer a cheaper service for $4.99, but only for streaming on desktop computers.  It's not clear what Google's long-term mobile plans are for the service.  Spotify and Rdio both can be run on iOS and Windows devices, while Google limits it to their Android phones. 

They are offering a 30-day free trial (with a credit card submit) and then subscription of $7.99 per month if you signup before June 30th.  I might just give it a try since my laptop and phones are getting burdened by saving all my music on them. 

Are You Ready for Waikiki Spam Jam 2013?!

Hawaiians eat almost 7 million cans of SPAM per year.  I've done literally no backing research, but I think this must be more than any other concentrated population in the world.

SPAM was introduced in 1937 and then quickly became part of the Hawaiian islands culture during meat rationing in World War II.  It was perfect for the isolated islanders in that is had a long shelf life and didn't need refrigeration.  It's been an island staple ever since.

On April 27th, an estimated 25,000 locals will descend on Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki for the annual SPAM Jam. The free event will feature local restaurants preparing spam in all kinds of ridiculous ways.

Most Hawaiians are familiar with things like Spam, Eggs & Rice, Spam musubi, and Spam saimin, but the crazy recipes that will be on shown at the 'Jam' will include Spam Laulau, Spam Mana­pua and, for those with a sweet tooth, Spam Cheesecake, Spam 'n' Apple Cobbler and Choco Spamalicious, a milk chocolate ice cream bar studded with chocolate-covered chunks of candied Spam.

There will also be two stages with live music and performances from local groups.  Naturally there will be a wealth of SPAM merch on sale as well for all those who want shirts, flipflops, or other SPAM memorabilia.

Hormel developed America's first canned ham in 1926.  It got the name SPAM in 1937 after a naming contest with the prize of $100 to the person who thought up the best name.  Hormel originally made just normal hams, but after the hams were cut, the company was left with thousands of pounds of pork shoulder.  Jay C. Hormel, the son of company founder George, developed the idea of using the nearly worthless shoulders by grinding them up and canning them in a new product called "Hormel Spiced Ham."