Not knowing how to use new computers has more to do with Windows8 than with the computer, right? A friend brought her new computer over last week and we were trying to figure it out. My first experience with the new Windows was horrible and I won't be getting a new computer until they come up with something better. I finally thought I found a navigation bar, but when I typed in "google.com" it took me to something in Bing. If it was mine, first priority would be to remove all traces of Bing and the second would be to get Firefox. I also thought the word "charms" for the icons in what used to be the control panel is downright insulting. Was this supposed to appeal to 6-yr-olds or what?! I don't enjoy pointless changes and have to be convinced that something is an improvement before I'll buy it, and I detest the time wasted learning it when I could be learning something else.
For anyone similarly stymied by Windows8, I found there is a series of tutorials for it on Youtube. I don't know if they're helpful, but that's probably where I would have to begin. That assumes you have a normal computer to view Youtube while it leads you through the Windows8 computer on your lap.
I, too, love my Kindle, and if my computer crashes for good, a bigger, better Kindle may be the replacement. I enjoy the iPhone, too, but that little screen is too limiting. I liked my old Razr phone and didn't know I wanted the iPhone until the family got it for me a couple of years ago. Besides phone calls, I use it for a camera, calculator, clock, flashlight, bargain gas finder, navigator, calling up coupons, checking the weather, identifying celestial objects, reading (when I'm stuck waiting and the Kindle is at home), playing games, and for quick web searches if a question comes up away from home, and probably some other things I can't think of right now. I have Pandora and my favorite radio station apps, but would rarely have a reason to listen to it that way. I also have police/emergency band radio on it, just because it was free. If there are a lot of sirens you can sometimes figure out where not to go. It would have been so cool to have all these gismos when our kids were growing up.