by Cj Luddeni

Created on: July 20, 2009

Technology is a great thing. It improves our lives, does things faster than when used to be able to, and it moves at the speed of light. Changing constantly, even now, the technology gods are working in secret underground laboratories devising the next big thing that will make all of humanity say, Ah. I need that so bad.

Today's hottest tech gadget will be tomorrows worthless device that can't even do X, Y, or Z.

A million years ago when I purchased my first computer the 100-megahertz barrier had just been broken. So my 75-megahertz system was a bargain at a cost of

$2700.00. It bragged of a massive 8 megabytes of memory and a huge hard drive of 852 megabytes. Well sir, that was the top of the line, especially it's 14k modem and the 4X CD-ROM drive. It came with a color printer. The dot matrix types that shook the desk when it produced a single color page every two or three minutes. I was King of the World. Well, I was, for a few days. Back in the late 90's, computer prices were changing as fast as they were releasing newer and faster machines. What that amount of money bought back them, you could run an entire country for on a comparable cost of one of today's machines.

I do recall explaining to my wife that we would never need to purchase another machine because this thing had a huge hard drive, it was fast, and the internet? Well, we hadn't signed up for any service at that time yet. I was just getting used to paying for my television service through cable at that time and wasn't about to incur another unnecessary expense of a fad.

But, I was one of the first to buy a Walkman back in 1982, actually it wasn't a Walkman, it was a competitors brand that was just as good as a walkman, although it really wasn't. I do still own it today, and use it occasionally, just like my portable CD player. Well, really not that much I guess. I mostly use what the rest of civilization uses, an MP3 player.

I just purchased the latest iphone. I actually hesitated, not so much for the expense but because with today's cell phone contracts of two years, I would be stuck with this, although brand new technology today, it would be ancient technology next June when Apple releases the next version.

We have become, or is it just me, a people who almost worships the Next Big Thing. For me, it is not so much staying ahead of the game, or keeping up with the Jones's, it is more of a 'cool factor'. I have to say, this is the coolest thing I have ever owned, but I do recall saying the same thing with my knock-off walkman, my first cable television subscription, my first computer, first video game system and, well you get the picture.

By the way, my first video game system was Pong, actually, it wasn't even the official Pong, it was a knock off. It sported a huge console that played three games. Ping Pong, Tennis and I think it was handball. You couldn't play alone; you needed to have someone to play the game with you.

So in 18 months when I start going through the DT's for a new phone, whatever I purchase will be The coolest Thing I have ever owned.

Of course, only until the next big thing comes out, and the one after that, and the one after that, and the one after that'

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