Technobabble

Breaking Records and Leaping Quantums
I crossed two technological boundaries this last fortnight: I played Halo 3 and bought an iPhone. One is a record-breaking release while the other’s release will revolutionize the multimillion-dollar tech niche it occupies.

Halo 3 has not revolutionized the gaming world. The entertainment record-breaking release ($170 million in 24 hours) is putting smiles on the faces of Microsoft stockholders as well as those joystick jockeys tired of the first space-aged sequel, but it has not redefined virtual consoled realities. Don’t get me wrong, I can’t get enough of the new gravity hammer, flamethrower and maps, but no quantum leaps were performed. The biggest surprise is the number of people who bought the $300 Xbox 360 console just so they can play the $60 game.

But, I put forth that the iPhone will change our lives. New cell phones, in the USA at least, are about as exciting as a new pair of boxer shorts. A user may notice the new color and slight change in shape the first couple times using it, but it gets routine rather quickly. The iPhone is not like the others. Full disclosure, I am a big Apple fan, but I scrutinized this once-$600 pocket tool for months before owning one, reading all of the criticisms I could get my eyes on. Maybe this lowered my expectations, like a bad movie trailer does for a good film, making the actual product a better experience.

Those wanting to pack the phone/organizer/MP3 player (I don’t have enough word space to list all of its abilities) with weeks of music or videos might be disappointed with its 8GB of storage space, and those not accustomed to charging their phones nightly might be surprised at its sub-par battery, but the integration between text messaging, phone services, Internet abilities, maps, etc., will not make me grow tired of this little tool too soon. Other cell phone developers will actually have to show up for work in order to at least match the revolutionary functionality of this phone, if not attempt to surpass it.

All You Need is Hate
Regular readers know my strong preference with Facebook over the sluggish, advert-filled MySpace (which just introduced Skype to its site). Truth is, I’m not a big social networker. But one new site has caught my (evil) eye: Hatebook. I’m a lover, not a hater, but an “anti-social network” that has a link that promises to let you “take over the world”? Well, now I’m clicking: www.hatebook.org.

Wacky Web site of the Week
This Web site makes me want to be a girl; or maybe a purse carrying man. Not only are these bags all made from recycled material, the company plants a tree for each one sold. www.ecoist.com.