In The Big Inning...

I just invested in another little metal box. I'm amassing quite the collection. Because I'm a geek, I think I'm addicted to such boxes. The smaller they are, the better. The more they do, the better. If they communicate wirelessly, or have a really nice screen, then fantastic!

My first metal box was my Palm V, which I got in college. It was kind of cool, especially since so few people had them, but I didn't really use it all that much. Mostly, I liked it because it was compact and I could play games on it, or take notes on it.

The second metal box I got was my digital camera, when I graduated college. Actually, my camera's so old that it's mostly plastic and not very little, but it was still quite cool at the time. I think it's 2.5 megapixels, and hardly zooms at all. A few years ago, for some event or another, I bought Sam an ELPH camera, which was about twelve times as cool. It's 3-4 megapixels, but is almost a third the size. Even by today's standards, it's relatively small. And, it's actually metal, which is way better than plastic.

My next little metal geek box was my MP3 player. One would think I'd have an iPod, but as a serious geek, I have a slight Apple aversion. Also, I got my MP3 player a bit before the iPod took off, so instead I have an Archos Jukebox, which holds 15 GB of music. It's a bit hefty, but is perfect for listening to music when working out, or in the car. I do wish it was a bit more iPod like, because it's a little clunky, but one of the perils of being an "early adopter" is that you usually get an inferior version of a technology. You also pay more, but to me, it's worth it to have the technology a bit sooner. What can I say - I'm an impatient fellow! I did get Sam an iPod mini last year, and it is pretty stylish. Maybe that's a good plan - get the earliest version of something for myself, and then later get the improved version for Sam...

Meanwhile, my Palm V quickly became obsolete, and so I got the Treo 600, which (to my dismay) doubles as a cell phone. Aside from the fact that it is a cell phone, it's pretty darn snazzy. I actually use the text messaging feature much more than I ever thought I would. One month I used 300 messages! I know it was 300, because I only get 100 free a month, and at 10 cents per extra message, that little oversight cost me 20 bucks. My Treo's a nice little combination of multiple technologies, although what it has in versatility, it lacks in quality. There's a crappy camera, a crappy speaker for playing MP3s, and of course the normal Palm functionality (including supporting some nifty games). I never use the camera , and rarely use the MP3 player, but it's nice to know I could if I really wanted to. Honestly, those features are better in concept than execution. The best aspect of it is probably the keyboard, which makes taking notes and sending text messages very simple.

A couple of years ago, Dan got me a Game Boy SP. I had a Game Boy as a kid (which was somewhat little, but definitely not metal), and this is a vast improvement. It beeps very nicely. The screen is fantastic. It's rechargeable and quite tiny. Admittedly, I don't take it everywhere, but it's great for trips. Of course, they've come out with some strange improvement on it that has two screens and a touch pad (and I think it's wireless as well), but it's not nearly as compact. What's a little more impressive is the new PlayStation Portable (PSP), which is almost like a mini DVD player. Still, it's quite hefty. I wonder if Sam wants one...heh heh.

My latest and greatest small metal box is my new XM2Go, which is a portable XM Radio receiver. It came with approximately a billion accessories, which is another key criterion for coolness. The more things you can plug into a device, the better. Normal "non-portable" XM Radio receivers are made for the car, or the home, and require the purchase of additional devices to allow them to move around. But this one came with a home adapter (so I could plug it into my stereo), as well as a car mount, and a mobile antenna and headphones. It's moderately small, and has a ton of features, including 5 hours of recording time. For once, I actually held off on getting a particular technology, so I think I have a pretty sexy version, for once. I do wonder if I'll ever use my MP3 player again.

So, for now, my little metal box craving has been sated. Honestly, I don't like having to carry around 5 different devices, and I can't imagine companies aren't moving more towards synergy. The designers of the Treo had the right idea, but we aren't quite far enough along technologically to integrate all of the devices into one metal brick that people would consider actually carrying around. But imagine how cool it would be to have one thing you could carry around that was a cell phone, MP3 player with at least 10 GB of space, 2-3 megapixel camera, XM radio receiver, and Game Boy. I think something like that is liable to appear soon, although the challenge in bringing it to market might be consolidating all of the standards or licensing the technologies from their respective owners. (You could imagine that XM, Nintendo, Sony, etc. would all want a piece of the pie.) But when they do make one, you can bet I'll have it first. It'll cost six thousand dollars, and weight fifteen pounds, but I'll have it first. And then they'll make a better, cheaper one.