That Hot New Gadget That Will Change Everything

Writing for Information Week, Stephen Wellman outlines the first things he would do with the iPhone should he find one in his hands. He considers how he would test the dream against the reality.

Read the article here: http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2007/06/the_first_eight.html

I love gadgets, but I do not invest in them lightly, and I still do not use a cellular phone for a variety of reasons, including the limitations of rural mountain life and the number of tasks I'm already completing in any given day. Still, if I could get service for a Blackberry device, something that could handle my schedule and get me my email, I would be tempted.

The issue for this posting is technology, specifically the new gadget designed to revolutionize some aspect of your life. Such items are a common feature of futuristic utopian visions, and also of dystopian fantasies (including, for example, 'R.U.R. or Rossum's Universal Robots', the 1920 play by Karel Capek that introduced us to the word "robot", a word coined by the playwrite's brother Josef.)

For a specific example, we have the hypothetical iPhone. After Steve Jobs' demonstration in January, "iPhone" became shorthand for "the next big thing." It's notable, however, that this is a next big thing that is not yet available, and has not yet been subjected to the trials and tribulations of the actual consumer market, nor passed the test that is ordinary, contemporary life.

Will this gadget actually bring on a revolution? Will it simply be a "hot" version of the same cellular communication technology available today, more or less the same as other phones but bearing the Apple brand?

More broadly, can a new gadget revolutionize society or individual lifestyles? How so?

Did you ever desire such an object? What was it? Was your life changed by it? Were you disappointed by it in some way? Try to consider your own experience objectively, and to understand multiple perspectives on the facts that are part of your history. If you have a favored perspective ("it was a waste","it was the ultimate") try to engage with alternative perspectives.