Famille Du Pentium

Evel Knievel died today, according to his website.  Although he was much more active in the 70’s with all kinds of high-flying stunts, no kid who grew up then can forget the hype around his infamous Snake River jump. 

These were the days when we built ramps out of pieces of plywood, propped them up on bricks, and took our bikes waaaay back and started peddling like mad toward the ramp.  More times than not, it ended badly, but we all survived – and so did Evel.  That was the magic of it, facing down danger and whether you got beat up or not, ultimately living to try again tomorrow. 

Sail On, Evel. 

Note: This is not a review or product endorsement.  I’m actually making fun of this product.

So it’s come to this.  As if WebTV wasn’t enough, and those stories you hear about Internet-shy executives who have their secretaries print out their email for them, now you have  a service that does this for you.

Billed as "Email without a computer for your parents or grandparents", BUY.COM is selling the HP Printing Mailbox for $30.  I’m sure there’s a monthly service charge too.  Basically, you set up a service (called "Presto") which this device calls into, and any email sent to your Presto mailbox is printed out by the device, pictures and all.

I see some value for this, they point out that it can be used to get extended families more involved in elderly care by keeping them connected on the go.  You could, for instance, use your iPhone to send a reminder to Grandma to take her pills.  Then, Grandma gets a nice little printout on her HP printer.

Despite that, I can’t help but laugh about this.  I won’t endorse this product, so you’re going to have to go to BUY.COM yourself and search for "HP Printing Mailbox" if you want one.  I’ll be here at home, laughing.  🙂

Happy Thanksgiving from the Humphries-Dolnicks.