Getting the parents to jump on the technological bandwagon?

I've had a cell phone for over five years now, and I feel as if I'm a minority in my age group for that. My mother's only just gotten a cell phone last year, along with a projector, her first laptop, a new desktop, a video camera, and a digital camera. She still gets excited when the pictures show up on the digital screen. Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but the truth is that I feel the vast majority of the super-technology sits in my house gathering dust, or else she's yelling at my brothers for using the projector to play video games.

To her credit, my mother's always made it her business to make sure we (her children) knew the codes, the secrets, and the tricks to all the little do-dids and gadgets. I more or less owe all of my technological savvy to her. The problem is that as a business woman, and one of the busiest women I know, I'd like her to not only know how to navigate what she already has--and do more than check her email with her laptop--but be interested in learning about the next super computer she's going to buy instead of leaving it for the kids to decipher.

I myself get frustrated if it takes me an hour to figure out how to make a call on my new cell phone, but I'll never buy a phone that can do everything short of writing my college essays unless I'm determined to use everything. Mother dear is another entirely. Whether that means easier, more clear assembly instructions for the unsavvy, or simplified technology, something's got give.

GB