"Why low-tech living is back"

If you have enough money anything is possible.
Go make some money.
From the Telegraph:

Sales of books are eclipsing digital alternatives, while vinyl records, Polaroid cameras and even simple mobile phones are enjoying a resurgence 

Anna Wintour looks at her mobile phone during the 2014 US Open

Books. Remember them? The big lumps of wood pulp that used to clog up your shelves? Well, they’re back, and hotter than vinyl records.

Last week, the British Library announced that the rise of the digital age had, paradoxically, helped boost numbers visiting the British Library by 10 per cent. Meanwhile, James Daunt, the chief executive of Waterstones, Britain’s leading bookselling chain, revealed that sales of traditional books were rising strongly again, while demand for ebook readers had, “to all intents and purposes disappeared”.

This was something of a volte-face for Mr Daunt, who, just three years ago, declared: “Our customers want to read digitally,” while announcing a juicy deal with Amazon to sell the online giant’s Kindle ebook readers. Reports from the book trade speak of a spectacular Christmas with record-breaking sales and packed shops, but ebooks appear to have missed the party.

Meanwhile, Waterstones’ rival, Foyles, says its sales were up by 8.1 per cent on last Christmas, despite fewer promotions, and with traditional books accounting for most of the advance. “The physical book is having a resurgence,” says Foyles boss, Sam Husain. “People still like to shop online, but there’s nothing like being in the bookshop.”

It wasn’t meant to be this way. When ebooks took off in the mid-Noughties, many foresaw the death of the printed variety that has dominated the market for 600 years, and great was the wailing and gnashing of teeth among traditionalists. A slim, six-ounce Kindle could store hundreds of books, and the device was packed with nifty features for tech-addicted customers. The book was clearly headed the same way as the quill. Or the typewriter. Or, for that matter, the vinyl record.

Happily, the ebook pioneers forgot something important. There are some things that technology can’t replace, and readers began to realise that a proper book possessed something akin to a soul. Not just older readers, either. My 16-year-old son begged for a Kindle a few years ago. When I asked him last week if he still used it, he looked up from the hand-bound, folio edition of The Count of Monte Cristo he had got for Christmas, and blinked. “Oh, that, not really.”

Behind the world’s unstoppable technological advance, it seems, is the awkward human refusal to be rushed. Or conned into believing that things that will actually make their lives more complicated will make them easier. Or sold expensive solutions to problems that don’t exist. And from these stirrings of resistance is arising the phenomenon of low-tech.

To the rallying cry, “Old is Gold”, millions are re-embracing technologies that seemed doomed to a cobwebby obsolescence. Clam-shell and “flip” phones are the new height of chic, with the likes of Anna Wintour, editor of US Vogue, singer Rihanna and actress Scarlett Johansson all flaunting the venerable devices. Good-quality examples of these old phones can fetch over £800 – far more than the latest Apple iPhone 6 – and so big is the demand that Samsung, the Korean manufacturer, is bringing out a new version.

The appeal is only partly faddishness. For the old phones actually do what phones used to do, which is to make and receive phone calls, without depositing your whole life in cyberspace where it can be stolen and used to embarrass you before the entire world. According to the New York Times, one of the main attractions of the retro-phone for celebrities is that it helps keep their secrets safe. And, as rocker Iggy Pop says, “You can drop it and it doesn’t break.”...MORE

If it's good enough for Anna and Iggy, it's good enough for me.
Here's the guy who caused the 2008 financial meltdown performing Iggy's China Girl:


Just kidding about the finance meltdown thing.
Here's the 3rd hit from the keyword search -David Bowie financial crisis-How David Bowie Caused the Financial Crisis (it's us)
And the 4th hit-No, David Bowie Is Not Responsible For The Financial Crisis (it's tech dirt)