Abbotsford News Thursday, November 17, 2011
A37
my yCity ABBOTSFORD
inside
>>
Chef creates lasting impression
Canadians send 199 million text messages per day
Got Mail? ose your phone, all is not lost. It wasn’t so long ago, though, that a phone left on the floor of a taxi or dropped into a puddle meant complete social isolation.
L
A pay phone and the few numbers scrawled in the back of your daytimer or burned to memory became your lifeline for the weekend. The wealth of ways to keep in touch and their rapid rise in popularity now mean the loss of one or more is hardly a crisis. As the recent worldwide,
three-day Blackberry outage highlighted – other than the damage to Blackberry’s reputation as a provider – no harm was done. During the service shortage people still logged into their email, Facebook, Twitter, Skype and Google+ accounts to carry on as usual. Even the Prime Minister’s office was moderately affected, but spokesman Andrew MacDougall simply turned to Twitter and urged people, lest phones be forgotten, to call him instead. Of the two billion internet users worldwide, the average has three email addresses, 130 Facebook friends and no shortage of free blog platforms to express thoughts to thousands of followers. Additionally, the Canadian Wireless
Telecommunications Association estimates Canadians send 199 million text messages per day. According to Darren Blakeborough, Professor of Social, Cultural and Media Studies at UFV, though, we aren’t actually communicating more than in previous years – just differently. “We are definitely communicating with more people and a wider range of people, not necessarily tied to geography anymore. But people are social animals and would still find ways to express themselves without all this technology.” He pointed to Siri, a feature of the newest iPhone 4S capable of understanding verbal commands. “It’s incredible. When your friend texts you, it reads it to you, then you talk back and it continued on pg A38
>> facebook.com/abbotsfordismycity
Shiva
F IN ALIST
V
IT
E
holiday parties
AN
FA
UR
FOR YOUR
T
Restaurant & Sweets O
reserve now
AU
I NDIAN R EST
R
21 years of serving fine Indian cuisine
Shiva Restaurant & Sweets shivasweets.com
| 32131 Marshall Road, Abbotsford (Opposite Best Western Regency) | 604.850.2399
Introducing our new & delicious
BUFFET $10.99
+ HST
Monday - Friday 11:30 am - 2:30 pm • Sunday 5 pm - 8 pm
10% OFF
DINE IN OR TAKE OUT With this ad, one per table.
OPEN FOR LUNCH & DINNER 7 DAYS A WEEK Mon-Thur 11.30am-2.30pm Fri 10am-10pm Sat 11am-10pm Sun 11am-9pm We can accommodate parties up to 50 people for that special occasion.
EXTRA SENIORS DISCOUNT