Hi Marcus!

Thanks for writing and getting your words out there. I can't stress enough how important it is to hear your voice.

No one uses pagers anymore. (Maybe some really old men somewhere, but not really.) Everyone has cell phones (and most people have iPhones or iPads) so pagers just aren't necessary.

People really do watch Jersey Shore. Believe it or not, it's popular. Even people who watch it understand how dumb it is, but something about it is appealing to a lot of people. My guess is that it's simple, requires no thought on the part of the audience, and makes people feel better about their own lives. But trust me, you're not missing anything.

Blu-ray is just a new form of DVD. It's supposed to be more high-definition, so it has better picture quality. The discs look the same, but they won't play on a regular DVD player. You need to have a special blu-ray player. However, most people don't buy or rent DVDs anymore, anyway. Most people use companies like NetFlix to have movies delivered in the mail, or they just download movies right to a computer or iPad.

Twitter is a website where people can make an account and then post status updates that are under 140 characters. These updates are called "tweets." You can tag other people and locations in tweets, so you could tweet about going out to dinner and then tag the restaurant and the people you're with. You can also tweet photos and links to other websites.

I can't answer much about popular clothes or videos -- I guess I'm a little out of touch, too. And I don't know anything about the current price of cigarettes, but I can tell you that pay phones barely exist anymore. Like I said, everyone has a cell phone. It's really hard to find a pay phone these days if you're looking for one.

Ask more questions if you think of them! Happy to keep you updated on the world out here.

Hope all is well, and best wishes.

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Hi Marcus,

Glad to answer more questions.

1. "Apps" are applications for the iPhone or iPad. There are (literally) millions of them and they include things you would never even think of. Many of them are games or other novelties. There are apps that allow you to hold your phone up to a radio and it will identify the song playing; apps that will track your workout and tell you how many calories you've burned; apps that will light up your phone screen very brightly so that you can use it as a flashlight. There are literally apps for anything you can think of. The App Store, which is sponsored by Apple, is online. It allows you to browse all existing apps by category (games, education, hobbies, etc). Many apps are free to download from the app store, and some cost just a few dollars. You can even purchase an app and have it sent to someone else's phone as a gift.

2. Not sure what kind of information you're looking for about iTunes. Essentially, iTunes has the rights to sell just about every song/album out there, so users can enter their "Apple ID code" and then pay for a virtual song or album. It's just like buying a CD in the store, except there's no physical transaction. Your purchase is added to your iTunes library, which is a collection of all of your music. You can also the music from a CD into an iTunes library, which is called "ripping" a CD. Everything in your library can then be put onto an iPod or iPhone so you can listen to it on the go. (That's called "syncing" an iPod.)

3. Unlimited messaging refers to text messages. Most cell phone plans come with a pre-determined number of messages that you can send and receive per month (usually 500 or so, depending on the plan). If you go over that number, you pay by the message, which gets really expensive. Unlimited messaging usually costs extra but allows you to text message as much as you like without paying per text. (I pay $20 a month for unlimited messaging.) Unlimited data means internet access. Similarly, if a plan doesn't include unlimited data, you'll be charged by the minute for using the internet on a phone if you go over your prescribed limit. Unlimited data lets you use all the internet you want.

4. WiFi is wireless internet. Things like laptops and e-readers need WiFi to connect to the internet. A lot of small restaurants and cafes offer free WiFi, so customers can bring their laptop and get work done while eating lunch. In other places, WiFi is password-protected so that only people with the passwork can access it.

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5. As far as I know, anyone can create a webpage. To reserve a certain domain name, you would have to pay a certain amount per year, which varies a lot, but there are a lot of options for creating a free webpage. You can also start your own page or blog on a lot of pre-established sites. For example, I don't maintain my own website but I do have a blog on blogger.com that is mine.

6. A notebook is just another name for a laptop computer, I guess just because it is meant to be portable and could serve the same purpose as paper notebook used to.

Keep 'em coming! I'm glad to help and glad to be your connection to the ever-advancing world out here. Take care.

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