Hampton Virginia WaterfrontI noticed something this week when I was listening to a couple of Podcast. Lots of the more popular tech podcasters live in either LA, San Diego, San Fran, or somewhere along what I would consider to be the tech area of the country. A lot of the tech news and info I hear in these podcast are based on what those people are experiencing every day.

For example, phones with Wi-fi access seems to be a big deal for those people. For me…not so much, the only Wi-Fi available to me (other than at home) is pretty much those places that have T-mobile hotspots….which you have to sign up and pay for. For the most part, other than at home, and the occasional unsecured wireless router, Wi-Fi is a non issue.

For those that don’t know, I live in Hampton Virginia. No its not a big city, but at the same time its not really the boondocks. The area is a pretty big metropolitan area, the biggest in the country that doesn’t have a professional sports team. I’m close to Virginia beach that gets plenty of visitors a year. Planes fly over my house every day on their way to Langley Air Force base. We have murder and crime just like any other decently sized city. And although we aren’t first to get all the new tech, we usually get it right there close to the beginning. I still remember the first time I heard about high speed internet (in PCworld magazine) I checked and Cox was making it available in my area in a couple of months (which of coarse I signed up).

My point is, a lot of the podcasters that live in the wonderful area of technological goodness sometimes forget that the rest of the country isn’t like LA. Some things that they think makes a certain product or technology the best there is, may not have any impact on many people listening.

  •  Theres no Apple store near me.
  • Theres no Wi-Fi access points widely available to me.
  • I only have one choice of Cable internet and one choice of DSL provider.

Its not their fault, I don’t blame them or am I flaming them. The thing I have to do is just make sure when I am listening to these podcast and they are clamoring over something that just isn’t available in my area, to remember. Those features mean nothing to me, and if those features are the only thing that makes that product and/or service a "big deal" not to fall for their enthusiasm and buy it only to realize that I will never be able to take advantage of the things that silicon valley thinks are so great.