Technology

I’m puzzled. I don’t know what to make of this article on ipodlounge.com. They have a review for a non apple music player (oddity), they actually recommend it over the shuffle (second oddity), and the actual product itself has me confused. I’ll stop being vague at this point and elaborate.

The product they review is called the cube. Not THAT creative of a name when you find out that it’s a flash based mp3 player 512 or 1 gig, that is shaped like a cube or dice and is the size of quarter on each side. That’s right. It’s tiny. The first thought I had was that this was a joke, along the same lines as the iflea steak posted about a little while back. Then I determined, nope I think this is for real. It gets even funnier when you picture someone actually having a set of headphones plugged into this thing the size of a good sized dice hanging from their neck. It’s a funny image that brings up a good point.

When is technology TOO small? Would I want a camera the size of a postage stamp? How about a cell phone as big as a grain of rice? An mp3 player the size of a quarter? One of the most obvious concerns is interface. But even if I can fully interface with a cell phone the size of a grain of rice, would I want it??? I have a hard enough time finding my cell phone some days as it is. I don’t want to worry about stepping on it because it is slipped under the rug and I couldn’t tell. I don’t want to put my cup down on my digital camera because I couldn’t see it.

For years and years, as long as I’ve been alive the technology race has included two principal factors: 1) Make it Faster and 2) Make it Smaller. Computers have shrunk from the size of a large room, down to a small room, onto desks, into briefcase size packages, onto our laps, and now into our hands. All the while their speeds have increased at a rate that made their shrinking look like it was happening on the same time table as tectonic drift. It really is astounding. But I think we are finally reaching the limit of how small these things can get. I have no doubt that in 5 years the most advanced desk-top computer today could be built, for enough money, to fit in a pda. Maybe that’s stretching it, but I’m not sure.

I don’t really know how to end this post because I’m not sure what the point should be. To a certain extent it all seems like an exercise in futility any way since it’s mostly about making things so people will buy them and keep the economy going. Ah capitalism. But at the same time, many of these miniaturizations have lead to better life saving products. All I know is that the idea of a giant library of records or 8 tracks being able to hang from someone’s neck in a package that could EASILY get lost in a gumball machine just seems almost silly.