Major update time again. I keep saying that if people where to complain more about me not updating this, I’ll be all the more driven to do so. This does not seem to be the case this week with IrsSm being the one to make noise about it. Maybe it’s just her 
Nahh..just kidding. It’s good to have readers again. Yes all three of you. Once again I have to tout the usefulness of Friendster, however, while for most it allows them to make new friends, for me it seems to be more limited to catching up with old ones. Not that I’m complaining of course. I have always been more concern with losing old ones than making new ones.
Finally closed the deal with Nigel, he is now a proud owner of a Sony Ericsson T610, while I have a freshly signed new 2 year contract with M1 and have taken over his 9 month old Nokia 6610. For those of you who think that I have been dealt the short end of the stick here…
…you’re right.
But it’s all good. Nigel cares far more for handphones than I. To me they are simple communication devices. I leave the personal assistance, information and entertainment applications to the far more capable Palm OS PDA. But to him (and many others I’m sad to say) it is the one-stop portal to social contact and iconic status symbol. Therefore the more things they can fit inside, the more things he can make it do and the lesser he has to pay for all of that, the happier he is. Me, I’m happy as long as people can contact me when I want to (and even when I don’t want to), I have good call reception, able to fire off an SMS when the thought strikes and have good standby battery life. I have no need for a sub-standard camera in my phone and Bluetooth is only useful if my PDA is equipped with it as well (which it is not at the moment).
Bottom line. I believe that devices should be made for a specific purpose and made to do it well. Then people can mix and match what devices they need to carry around according to the situation instead of being forced to carry one device that can do everything, but not as well, and be put at the risk of not being able to use any of the functions if the one device where to malfunction or (horrors!) run out of battery.
I hope to see in the future a device that is no more than a battery compartment that acts as a “skeleton” that the user can plug various “modules” into as the user sees fit. For example, going on an outdoor trip? Then plug in the 5 megapix camera module to take pictures, the screen module for viewing the pictures that you take and to show the GPS location, the GPS module so you don’t get lost, a memory module to store your pictures and a software module containing the GPS software, maps and outdoor survival todo list.
Just going to the zoo instead? Swap out the GPS module for the MP3 player module with the headphone jack.
Simple.
But knowing the device companies, they will take years before they agree on a standard interface for the modules and the software that controls them all (even though the Palm OS would do well in this area).
Oh well, one can only hope I guess.
Other updates to take note. My MIDI controller keyboard that I got off Ebay arrived today. Haven’t had the change yet to test it out though. And I have been approached to DJ for the Second Life Internet radio station called SLive. More news on these later but first it’s back to the books to study for my test this Sunday. Stay tuned.
