Welcome

Welcome to my blog, which I hope won't be just another voice out here whistling in the wind. My name is Esther Surden, and I am an experienced journalist who for many years specialized in the business of technology. Now, I want to address the 50ish consumer who is adventurous enough to want to try out Facebook and the Apple iPhone, but is unsure of what to do and how to do it. I also wanted to speak to the manufacturers of phones and the developers of sites, to explain just how many barriers there are to adoption of their gadgets and sites for many of us. While I have a lot of experience writing about the business of technology, this is the first time I've tried to write about my frustrations with using the stuff. I recently joined Facebook; posted my resume and reconnected with colleagues on Linked-In; purchased an iPhone; and now I am using an Amazon Kindle as a part of my publishing course (I'm getting a masters degree in publishing). As part of this experiment at Pace University, I promised the Kindle folks feedback and I will be giving them the same feedback that I give you. Since I come to these gadgets and websites without much user knowledge, I think I can help others in my age group figure out these things out. As they used to say in the world of TV, stay tuned.