Been awhile

It has been awhile since last I posted. Between the silly season and my cold/sinus infection I have not felt like doing too much. In fact tonight, the biggest party night of the year, I am home posting on my blog. Lame or what? I'm not much of a party person anyways. So let me catch up on a few things.

The tsunamis

I don't feel there is much that can be said for this. To me there is no way in mere words to capture the huge loss of life from this. 100,000+ dead, and I am sure that number will continue to climb. I lack the words to talk about this.

The PDA is dead. Long live the PDA

I have been reading about how everyone is predicting that the PDA, such as the Pocket PC and Palm devices, will be going away. Most people think that the current functionality will be rolled into either cell phones or iPod like devices. Personally I think they are all nuts, to a point.

Yes, I think we will see many of the base feature roll into both cell phones & MP3 players. It makes some sense to have your address book on your cell phone. For many they maybe able to get by with somewhat limited functionality. Sure, we can combine a cell phone, multi-megapixal camera, PDA, media player (MP3 & video), pager/blueberry type thing into one unit. Is it a good idea though? I don't think so. Here is why:

Form factor - those little thumb keyboards are not for everyone, particularly those of us with fat thumbs. Most multi-use units end up sacrificing some thing. Cell phones with PDA get very fat, or they use a little screen. PDA sized screens are better for viewing videos, and maybe that would make some kind of sense, although for other reasons that is not a good melding. Also, how can I check something on my PDA if it is built into my cell phone while talking on the phone?

Battery Life - Probably the number one reason. Everyone already complains about the battery life of cell phones, PDA, iPods (especially iPods), etc. Is combining these units going to some how make the battery life longer? Is carrying around additional batteries any better than carrying around an extra device?

Loss - The more functions a unit has the bigger the impact on your life if it is lost or broken, and of course the more you have to come up with to replace it.

Upgradability - Will these new devices be able to take on expanded software like a PDA? Remember that every function you move will mean less space for other things like music. Also, what about when the PDA functions on your frankenpod just don't cut it? What about the latest in greatest cellphone? Remember that as devices merge the complexity starts to go up, so the latest and greatest features of any class of devices will have to wait to make it into the frankenpod.


Overall I think that they will keep combining functionality into several devices. For someone who only needs a PDA for simple calander & address book these new frankenpods (I just like the way the word sounds) maybe fine. However for those who either crave the latest and greatest or need to do some heavier lifting with their PDA the separate device route will still be used. Actually I think the biggest problem with the frankenpods is battery life. Until they can get the device to have at least 8 hours of mixed use the frankenpods will be religated to minimal use.