NEW GIZMO ATTACK

What's that, I thought as I noticed a 2" x 2" box in a picture of JFK making a speech 50 years ago.

It was an ad that said, "Use your QR Reader to directly access the JFK Twitter feed." I'd seen a box like that, but never tried to figure out what it was

QR? Maybe you know what QR is, but I didn't.

I Googled, saw another 2 x 2 box and this: "QR (Quick Response) code is a two-dimensional bar code that can store contact info, URLs, even paragraphs of text. Although they were invented in 1994, they were relegated to industrial applications until a new generation of consumer electronics made them practical for just about everything.

"Now the Android and iPhone have software for decoding them. QR codes are being developed into new applications called “hardlinking” or “physical world hyperlinking,” that make it easy for user's to capture data from products, magazines, billboards and even each other’s phones."

I saw a string of ads: Make your own QR Code courtesy of ZXing project. Google image search of social QR code applications. Silicon Alley Insider -- Mobile Barcodes: Big In France!”

Oh dear, oh no ... is this something new to learn? I felt myself sinking in the quicksand of the latest, newest hot, fashionable, in, trendy, smart, chic, cool thing.

I know what a bar code is, and occasionally I'd like to be able to read it and learn what something's going to cost, but this 2 x 2 code square -- that people use on business cards, on their stationery, imprint it on their T shirts -- it's important -- a new form of communication as well as a way to advertise.

Oh boy, am I ever behind the times. I have a cell phone that I hardly ever use. I don't have a laptop, (just 3 PCs ). I don't have a Blackberry, or Android, iPhone, iPad, or an Xbox, or a QR code reader.

Do I need it -- do I buy one -- how would I use it -- why would I use it? Isn't it just a popular gizmos like what we bought years ago, because everyone had calculator, or alarm clock on his wristwatch?

If I don't get QR reader will l be a Neanderthal, and never ever be able to catch up with whatever is next?

What IS next? Maybe a mental telepathy in-putter, that will send other people's thoughts into my head? What device will Steve Jobs invent -- a 3D vision of the cell phone caller?

I know it's going to happen! It's progress, right? There won't be phones -- just maybe an ear piece that gives you everything -- a jewel you can attach to your earlobe?

Maybe everyone will be wearing a ring? Like those old mood rings that changed colors -- a ring that'll tell you if it's a customer, a relative -- with one little twist, you'll know if it's a friend or a foe.

Why do I feel I need protection from progress?