The Second Moon of Adonis

Kris watched the announcement of the Apple iPhone a few days back. Now, I just got my new HP phone yesterday, but on pondering what to do with a few thousand that just came my way, Kris asked me “Why don’t you get an iPhone?”

“It’s not available yet,” I mentioned.

“OK,” he says, “Get one when they’re available, then.”

“They’re only going to available through the cell phone provider you constantly deride as the minions of hell, and will lock me into a two-year contract with them. So we’re looking at a half grand and a large chunk of my soul.”

“Yeah, but they’re cool.”

“Oh?” I ask. “What’s cool about them?”

“Uhhh…”

He had no clue. Other than “they’re shiny,” he didn’t even know why he thought they were cool. He’d totally fallen for the hype. Now, they may end up being the coolest damn phone on the planet, but Kris was ready to run out and blow $500 on one based on having seen it spin in circles in front of Steve Jobs a few times.

I don’t know how Apple does it, but I suspect that if you crack open an iPod and dig around far enough, you’ll find the mind-control device in there somewhere.

Published at blog.Adonis.net. You can comment here or there.

You already know I’m a geek. I try to make that clear up front to prevent people to falling in love with me based on my irresistible exterior, only to find later that I have a raging inner nerd.

Like most of my fellow geeks, I have a few toys I can’t seem to live without. Here are some of them:

My Trēo

My current Palm Trēo is a 650; I upgraded from a 600. This thing’s my lifeline. I use it to make calls, as my instant messenger client, to play my MP3s, and to SSH into servers I administer. I do so much with it that sometimes I wonder how I got along without it.

Multiple Monitors

I’m not monogamous when it comes to my computer’s displays: the more I have, the happier I am. I currently use three on my primary home PC, and I’d probably hook up a fourth if I had a bigger desk. I’ll keep a browser on one screen, my mail on another, and still have one left for anything I might be working on at the time. For a multitasker like me who’s often trying to work in several programs at once, it’s a major time saver not to have to minimize and restore constantly just to keep the application I want on top.

The Trackball

Why people still use a mouse is beyond me. Who has the desk space? Give me a trackball that sits in one small space on my desk and never moves. Mouse officianados may complain that they’re less accurate, but I couldn’t disagree more. Once you’re used to a trackball, a mouse just seems clumsy.

Published at blog.Adonis.net. You can comment here or there.