carpelogos: Week 3 Thing 7: Waiting for the Price to Drop

The real difficulty with the instruction to blog about “anything technology-related that interests you” is how to narrow it down to just one thing. Recently, I read that the US is using robots in warfare, and that the first kills by remote-controlled flying devices had been made. That seemed pretty earth-shaking, although “interest” seems a little mild to describe my feelings about it. Then, yesterday, I spent part of the afternoon pricing Roombas, these fantastic little robots that vacuum your carpet while terrifying your cats. Last week I discovered that the Japanese were building furniture that would change color based on who used it or sat on it. Whoa. Pretty neat.

But if I had to say what piece of technology interests me the most right this moment, if would definitely be the iPhone which I haven’t yet purchased. There seems to be some kind of quiet revolution taking place, with hackers developing ways around the software limitations and restrictions, and Apple and other companies involved in the product using their own wiles to try to assert control. Who knows how many brilliant young minds will be recruited to Apple through their hacking exploits? And will I benefit from their genius, or will the version of the iPhone I eventually buy have tons of useless software just to control my use?

I still want an iPhone, draconian hack-busting or not. Here you have a device that can allow you to communicate almost instantaneously with anyone almost anywhere in the world, while listening to music and working on work or hobby projects at the same time. You can capture your environment visually, alter it, and upload your creation to a blog that reaches potentially millions, and reporting will never be the same again. It’s also very shiny. With the advent of ebooks, you can read on it. If you prefer sound, you can play audiobooks, listen to podcasts, cycle through your favorite songs, or even listen to real-time live performances. If none of this suits you, instead of being a couch potato, you can watch TV while you exercise or ride the bus.