If dogs could speak...

Sunday, April 23, 2006

The Gadget Generation
The dog is out of town on a top-secret mission, so today's dumb blog is written by his slave. With none of the usual wit or charm. And past the 6 am deadline because the lazy bum decided to sleep in.

We live in an age of gadgets -- laptop computers, handheld computers, cell phones, pagers, personal digital assistants. OK wait, maybe not PDAs anymore. They were all the rage a few years ago. Everyone in this Silicon Valley had one or wanted one. Or was just waiting for the next model to come out, because it can flash, beep, vibrate, and beam you up. In meetings you sometimes see people writing on the board in the Palm handwriting code called Graffiti (which represents each alphabet letter with a unique unistroke character). At parties and conferences people exchange email addresses by synch-ing up their PDAs. It was the new social handshake, only more geek and a lot more obscene.

But, like many fads, PDAs didn't last long. The ones that are half PDA, half phone like the Treo, or that can receive and send emails like the Blackberries are still around, growing even. Without those features, most people found it easier to jot things down in a paper notebook or on a napkin, rather than having another thing in their pockets or hanging from their belts. And so companies started getting out of the business. Sony dropped their Clie line (the dumb name alone was enough to kill it). Then Handspring merged with Palm when they found out there wasn't enough business for both. Now rumor has it that Dell is planning to take their Axim line off the market too, and that would be another clear signal of the sad and impending death of the PDA in its present form.

I have a Palm m500 I bought years ago but used very little. It was one of the smaller and lighter models at the time but had only a monochrome display so I got it cheap. For a while it was convenient to use it to store phone numbers and addresses, as a kind of Rolodex that you can carry with you, but it soon became more hassle than help, so I started taking it with me less and less. Now it is actually the uncool gadget to have around, because it is so, so... 2000, and there is no point to have it if you can't synch yours with someone else's. Maybe I should eBay it, as mint condition. And get an iPod instead. I hear it's the in thing now.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 9:18 AM

Comments:

You're right. This post stinks. When does the dog get back?

# posted by

Anonymous : 23 April, 2006 16:04

I have no idea. Maybe let Woofwoof use it as a chew toy?

I know what you mean about the age of gadgets - we have this thing that cleans the dishes in this house, something really new - I think it might be called a "dishwasher" or something. Makes me think that humans are the most incredible people of all - to invent things like this, but to have no idea of how to fix them when they break.

Hey, wait a minute, do you think that maybe most humans have no idea how to invent anything; and that they are all just taking advantage of a few highly intelligent people on the planet who think of, design and manufacture their creature comforts and toys???

Nahhhh, couldn't be - they're not that lazy or slow. Are they?

# posted by

Unknown : 23 April, 2006 21:32

I bought one in 2001. After two weeks, I turned it back in to Best Buy, and went back to my PAA. The Analog version has nearly perfect recall, and can be used nearly anywhere. All hail the PAA! I just need more ink.

# posted by

John : 24 April, 2006 20:23

Connecticut,
I can't tell you. It's top secret. I heard he joined PETA and is planning to unfurl some animal-rights banner on the Golden Gate Bridge soon.

Cal,
Oh they really are that lazy and slow. If it were not for us dogs, the Earth would stop spinning.

John,
Haha PAA. I don't care much for the PDA, but I do love the cell phone. Greatest invention since Cheez-It.

# posted by

Woofwoof : 30 April, 2006 08:52

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