Project PDA

Desire the most recent and coolest toy? If you choose to be on the wounding frame of technology you will desire a PDA that does it all: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, SmartPhone, MP3 player, instant messaging, digital camera the entire with a wonderful quick processor, massive LCD screen and plenty of recollection! You can still have your PDA role as a GPS receiver, promising that you will forever recognize where you are wherever in the world.

An informal description of a technophile is someone who `overuses' technology, perhaps trying to use it in a situation where a more traditional means of communication might be more appropriate. For example, the PDA is possibly one of the most overused items of technology that I have ever seen. Often, it is little more than an over-specified, battery-hungry address book used where a pocket diary would be a better choice.

Another use of technology which I believe to fit the bill of `overuse' is mobile phones. The mobile phone industry has boomed recently and recent surveys have indicated that over two thirds of adults in the UK own mobiles. This figure is backed up by figures from the IT Education Unit of the University of Glasgow which asks first year students to fill in a questionnaire before starting on one of its courses. Figures from this reveal that about 80% of students at the University of Glasgow own mobile phones.

For the technophile who refuses to see the world in black and white, Palm has created the Palm IIIc handheld--a color version of the company's immensely popular Palm III handheld. Measuring 5.06 by 3.17 by 0.67 inches and weighing less than 7 ounces, the Palm IIIc handheld is one of the smallest and lightest full-color handhelds available. Its active-matrix screen produces vivid, crisp colors and is viewable from many angles in both dim and bright light.

While the color screen may be enough to dazzle many prospective users, the Palm IIIc handheld still performs all the functions of earlier models of the Palm III. It offers date book, address book, mail, to-do list, memo pad, expense, calculator, and security applications. Its built-in 8 MB of memory is as high a storage capacity as is available in any Palm handheld.