This sort of shit bugs me. This is pandering. Pure pandering. This is lifestyle commerce. This is a store that sells you the same crap you can get easily elsewhere - but if you buy it there, you're branded elite-geek. (Just as if you shopped at Barney's in New York, rather than a less elite place, you would be branded hip.) The whole "geek movement" thing has been getting under my nerves for ages to begin with, but this just ticks me off. On a related note, after ages of wanting one, I finally realized I in no way need a PDA today. I gave it some serious thought and started listing off the things I could do with a PDA: 1.) Personal organizer/appointment book. I've tried so many times to use one. I have never succeeded. And really, I don't want to. 2.) Phone number guide. This is useful, I suppose, but I much prefer my system of writing down numbers on scraps of paper. It's self-prioritizing. If the number is important to me, then I keep the scrap of paper handy. If it is not, I lose the scrap of paper and save much time by not talking to them. 3.) Various connectivity stuff. Nobody ever calls me anyway. And besides, even when they do, I like that I can go out for a walk without having people call me or email me and interrupt my walk. (This is why I have no cellphone. If I'm ever in a plane being crashed by terrorists, my family and friends already know.) 4.) Cached webpages for reading. They're called "newspapers." I prefer the smell of newsprint anyway. 5.) Palmtop Doom and similar. If I want to play portable games, I'll get a Game Boy Advance instead so I can play Super Mario Kart.
posted by
Christopher Bird at 10:52 PM
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