Technology and language

I find that reading a history book on technology has an oxymoronic quality, though human technology has been around since people began manipulating their world, of course. Chapter five's (Hawisher's book) amusing title "1992-1994: Looking Forward is amusing." While 2006 is not that far removed from the early nineties, the technological leaps made since then in computers and writing have been astonishing. We learn that at the end of 1994, consumers could buy a Pentium system for under $2,000, as if that's a deal. Also amusing is the fact that "as the writing of this book, the Alpha 21164 is the fastest general-purpose micro processing chip in existence" (227). The discussion of numerical values in relation to computer speed is something with which I am not too familiar. I recognize if a computer is fast (which is why I cannot visit home that often. My parents dial up rarely works to connect to the web, and I always have online courses or students to communicate with) or if it holds a lot of information, but I need to develop a numeric sense of recognizing what different values mean. I had a 64 (whatever that refers to) computer a few years ago, and for my word processing needs it suited me fine and still does. I've since unhooked it and found that the death of floppy drives made it difficult for me to save my work using multiple machines. My dot matrix printer still looms largely in the corner, collecting dust. Now, with my video work, I do appreciate bigger and faster computers.
I also find it worthy to note that the internet was thought of in terms of metaphors (229). With something so new, it would have been nearly impossible to describe it in terms of itself. Now, I find that we use metaphors FROM the internet, since the general public (on college campuses at least) knows enough about internet to talk intelligently about its applications and uses. Goggle has become a verb. Blog has as well. Technology, then, changes our language. The relationship(s) between technology and language would be a topic worthy of further exploration.
Bethany