For the first time in my life, I’m suffering gadget overload.
When I was young, it was 1993, and Doom was released with great fanfare. Somehow, the shareware edition arrived in my household and I watched my father play through E1M1, blasting demons and barrels, swapping lead with zombies, and generally make the computer into something that I could fall in love with.
Later, the internet did it again- MSN dialup showed us this strange and new world of search engines and intertubes, information hidden Out There, for you to find. I had a Playstation, eventually, and somehow got ahold of a VGA converter box so I could play The Amazing Polygonal Adventures of Furries In Space, or something, but I never adored it (aside from a brief, incredibly destructive love affair with Final Fantasy 8).
My Playstation 2 was bought solely as a box to channel Metal Gear Solid 2 through, but my first love was still the computer, which migrated from being a Falcon Northwest Talon 3.1, to an increasingly ramshackle and high-powered collection of self-assembled bits, often transported to high school and back for monthly LAN parties. Yes, I had a cell phone, but it was more a necessary evil. Laptops were for the unfortunate- the idea that a single person could afford more than one computer was incomprehensible to me, then. An iPod was an interesting device, but it broke often, and I honestly preferred a cheap, effective MP3 CD-player.
High school ended, and I was off to college, a strange and wonderful place full of REAL PEOPLE, not the shallow caricatures that I had been forced to deal with previously. My faithful computer traveled with me, enduring humid, hot Septembers and freezing winters alike, and it now began to sport a more refined look- gone was mismatched silver and beige, replaced by smooth, professional black. I carefully groomed and patched my technology, caring for it like a beloved pet.
Of course, in the screenplay of this story, it’s time for betrayal, and I shall not disappoint. Hard drives die, so do graphics cards, motherboards and RAM… such is the way of all flesh, silicon or carbon-based. Forward progress ceased, replaced by only a frenzy of expenditure and maintenance, eventually resulting in a functional beast. But the lesson was learned- redundancy.
And so a new creature entered my dominion, the tiny and sneaky netbook, a mere homunculus of a machine, but able to reach the internet nonetheless. But it demanded much- being a linux machine, it required rituals, sacrifices and much worship, lest it cease to function in a fit of pique. But its acquisition was valuable, as it saved me once again when my main machine suffered failures, allowing me to complete my work when and wherever I chose.
At this point my stable of pets was not inconsiderable- an iPod nano, an eee netbook, a main computer, and a cell phone, plus miscellaneous accessories for each. But all these devices were independent, serving very different functions. They never competed. Over time the eee passed into obscurity, replaced by another netbook, one requiring no incantations nor summoning circles to function. The main machine grew steadily more powerful, and the cell phone and MP3 player remained. But now the MP3 player is an iPod touch, able to reach the internet itself. the phone is the same, but why call when one can Skype? The netbook is still present, but shares an uneasy truce with the touch. The main machine remains, but the Playstation 3 now eyes it smugly, fully aware of their competition for network bandwidth. And now, as augmented reality comes closer and closer to adoption, I find myself confused.
What do I want? Is it a phone that mimics a camera and laptop, calling but still seeing and browsing? Do I want an MP3 player that browses and sees, and offers the ability to call? Do I sacrifice size for power, and bedazzle a netbook with accessories to give it the senses it requires to taste this new realm? Or do I ignore it as the overly-excited cries of early adopters and content myself with webcam experimentation in my room, scoffing at the idea of walking the streets in search of AR zones?
The last is unacceptable, but the first three confuse me mightily. I do not have unlimited finances, and I must choose. I suppose the coming development work I do for the touch will determine my course…
