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Texas, United States

2/28/2014

SMART Technology Is Driving Grandma CRAZY!

Well maybe I should say..."CRAZIER!"

I finally got my estrogen problem straightened out to my satisfaction and was feeling pretty good about that snafu when my printer and USB camera cable decided to go on the fritz at almost the same time. That meant I had no way of downloading my latest photos to print. I have become quite the amateur photographer loving to save precious memories of my grandkids and their pets.

I bought a nice Nikon last year and have really enjoyed it but found out the USB cable it comes with is a piece of crap. I looked it up and read reviews and probably would not have bought the camera if I knew I was going to have trouble with the cable. I read several reviews about it and they were not good, most of them were not as kind as I'm trying to be. :).

When the cable first went out I ignored it because my Kodak printer allowed me to put the memory card in it and download photos that way and I did...until the cartridge carrier jammed and I broke it trying to get it unjammed. I know they cost as much to repair as a new one so I went looking for  a new printer at a large electronic chain store yesterday. Found out Kodak went out of business which made me kind of sad. When I was a kid that was the only brand of camera anyone I knew owned. Guess new SMART technology and copy-catters took their toll on them.

I told the clerk I mostly printed photos and he suggested an HP Photosmart that seemed to have all the functions I needed and a few I didn't. It did have a slot for a memory card I assumed worked like my Kodak had...put the photos directly into my picture file so I could edit or crop them before I printed them.

 I was so wrong! After I brought it home and installed it, I found that memory card slot would only allow you to send them to Snapfish online. No...I do not want to publish my grandkids photos online!

I was back at the electronics store when they opened this morning to find out if maybe I just couldn't figure it out, or to trade it in for a printer that does what I want it to do. Low and behold...I find out they don't make anything but "wireless" printers anymore that don't allow you to use a memory card to download photos to your computer. They want you to keep everything on the memory card and edit on that tiny little screen and print directly from it...and I suppose if you lose that over loaded tiny memory card you must be sheet out of luck..not to mention how much time you would have to spend looking though that tiny screen for a  photo you wanted to print.. I had always erased the memory card after downloading to my computer from it. Smart Progress? Not according to this old grandma!

So then the clerk talks me into buying a memory card reader I can plug directly into my computer and download from the card thataway. So I bought it, came home and plugged it in and it did download to a file somewhere in the bowels of this SMART Windows 8 software I hate that came on this SMART computer and I have yet to find the file...it darn sure didn't go into my picture file where I expected it to. The one I know how to use and email from.

Then the kids wonder why I won't get a SMART phone and I tell them it's because I use a flippin phone to talk on...not to download SMART Apps dumb Grandma's can't figure out..

Stay tuned for my next crisis.




 

3 comments:

DMS said...

I am sorry to hear about your computer problems! Technology can be tricky. I had no idea that memory cards can't be used to print pictures in the same old way. I can usually put my memory card in my laptop or my computer drive and then pull my pictures up and edit them and print that way. Both have memory card slots. Not sure if you have a laptop or if your hard drive can do that. Also- you may want to go to a library and at least edit the pictures and save to a flashdrive (or jump drive) to print. Not sure if that is too difficult, but thought it might work. Good luck!
Jess

Anna Maria said...

Thanks Jess! I bought a new laptop last year but didn't think to check and see if it had a memory card slot...it doesn't. With the printer I had and camera I didn't need one.

My biggest frustration over this is them telling me that all the new printers won't download memory cards to computers.

I did finally find the file the new memory card device puts the photos in, one generated when I downloaded Nikon on my computer I didn't recognize the name of. I don't like their edit program but played around with it until I found out how to transfer them to the photo file I do like to edit in.

Another problem solved....with a lot of frustration getting there. The story of my life. :)

Anna Maria said...
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