Word: gadget
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...always been something of a gadget hound. The microwave. The cordless phone. The CD boom box. The Clapper. She was a consumer-electronics maven before it was fashionable. Radio Shack should have put her on its board of directors. So when she came to visit and started eyeing my handheld computer, I knew what was coming. "I've been thinking about getting one of those," she said pointedly. Perhaps it was a coincidence that her birthday was on the horizon...
...miniaturization and techno-chic, weighing in at just 3 oz. And I was intrigued by the notion of browsing the Web and sending e-mail on something smaller than a Twinkie. But I've always thought carrying a cell phone everywhere you went was silly--just another must-have gadget designed to keep boredom at bay. Factor in the $400 list price from Sprint PCS (or $500 from Verizon Wireless), and this bauble struck me as something I could live without...
...sleeker, more sophisticated Elizabeth. My new standard-issue GTE Visa bought me a tastefully simple Gap wardrobe to replace the brighter colors of my more attention-getting high school garb. And I brought absolutely everything I owned to school. Every item of clothing, every photograph, every handy gadget, every poster and wall sign, because the truth is that I was terrified I wouldn't fit in. I had to have with me every possible option available so I could craft the Elizabeth I'd present to the Harvard world...
...serve as an appliance-control remote, a digital wallet, a cell phone, an identity badge, an e-mail station, a digital book, a pager and perhaps even a digital camera. There is sure to be a catchy name for this all-purpose Internet-enabled thingy, perhaps Wireless Internet Digital Gadget for Electronic Transactions, or WIDGET...
...starters, technology will be "invisible but unavoidable," as Bob Arko of industrial designer IDEO puts it. The tangled cables that snake through every office, for instance, should disappear, replaced by wireless systems that zap voice, data and video through the air. Smart materials could make any surface or gadget feel like wood one day and metal the next. Intelligent chairs might conform perfectly to your posture, giving you a much needed back rub in the process. Embedded systems and biometric, body-sensing technology will enable every piece of hardware, from cell phones and PDAs to PCs, to know exactly...