20050411

Too Many Wires


Kind of a "mea culpa" piece. Two take home messages:
1- A Dell Axim is NOT a "chick magnet."
2- A Leatherman pocket tool is far more useful than any handheld computer.
I admit it - I'm a gadget freak. PDAs, Blackberries, WiFi cards - if it has wires and eats batteries, I'll probably buy it. I walk around like a techno warrior, pouches filled with electronic weapons. And I love it, to be sure - but there is a downside to having tech... several, actually.

The truth is that tech isn't sexy - all the advertisements of women swooning to your MP3 player or admiring your shiny new PDA are deceiving you. I carry all of the stuff in the picture above on my belt, and let me tell you, I've never been approached by an attractive woman saying, "Is that a Dell Axim x50V on your belt, or are you just happy to see me?"

What's strange is that my most useful gadget is surprisingly low tech: the Leatherman multitool. It helps me slice open packages and pry open computer cases. It doesn't use batteries, and it always just works - unlike my Blackberry, which goes for hours without receiving a signal, or my Dell Axim, which turns on spontaneously as if possessed by ghosts.

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