Peoria Area SeniorNet, the local chapter of a national organization that promotes computer literacy among seniors, is sponsoring a free seminar called “Trends in Personal Electronics.” on Saturday, May 21, 2011 from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. The seminar will be held in Classrooms 3 & 4 on the lower level of the Proctor Professional Building at 5401 N. Knoxville Ave. in Peoria.  Please call 1-800-872-4651, extension 1510 and leave a message with your name and the number attending. If you have any questions, you may also leave them and a SeniorNet volunteer will return your call. If you are confused by the dizzying number of ads you see on TV or in the weekly sales in the newspaper, this seminar is for you. The presenters will be employees of Best Buy.

The seminar will cover MP3 Players, smart phones, tablets, eReaders, GPS units and more. It will discuss some of the additional requirements that you do not see in the ads. Do you need wireless service that you do not already have to use the device?  Will using it increase your cell phone bill or will you need to add services to your cell phone account? How do you get new music to play or new books to read and what do they cost?

Are you impressed when your son or grandson picks up his phone and uses the Internet to answer any question that comes up during the conversation at the dinner table? What is it costing him to do this? You might be surprised to find that he does not know his costs. He just keeps paying the monthly bills that arrive.

The goal of the seminar is to explain and demystify some of the new devices and services that are available to the consumer. There are some really valuable, interesting, and entertaining services available. The devices and services one chooses depend on individual interests and the amount of money one is willing to spend on them.

Peoria Area SeniorNet is sponsored by Illinois Eye Center and PNC Bank.