Living in a science-fiction world • 4 November 2007 • The SnowBlog
Living in a science-fiction world
When I was in my early teens* it wasn't uncommon for me to lay on my front on the living room carpet about five feet from the TV and watch repeats of Star Trek. I wanted a phaser, a communicator and a tricorder. Some part of me is aware that I'm about fifty percent of the way there now. I know it's unforgivably nerdy but I thought you might want to see the sort of techno-junk I lug around with me as a matter of course. I share this with you as a public service so that you can feel superior.
*insert for yourself the phrase, 'and dinosaurs still walked the Earth'. For scale, that first photo above is my mobile phone next to an apple. Which I plan to eat once I've finished this (eat apple, not phone). Next I've added an assortment of stuff typically found in different pockets of the (not especially large) bag I tend to carry with me if I'm out.
So what can you do with all that shiny junk? Well, I'm busy trying to do some writing at the moment, so I'd unfold that flat silver thing like this:
And then I'd have a full-sized keyboard. It's linked to a phone-based version of Microsoft Word via Bluetooth, so the keyboard and the phone can be detached from each other, which is how I tend to work on a train.
I could also simultaneously listen to some music with that stupid looking stereo headset. My phone holds a few hours of music, news programs and videos. For audio-only stuff, the phone goes in my pocket and I can control volume, jump between tracks and take phone calls using the buttons up by my ears. Because it looks so idiotic I tend not to use it where people can see me.
And finally, what happens if I get lost? Well, the little blue thing listens to the network of GPS satellites which surround this planet and then it tells me where I am. Then my phone displays the relevant O.S. map complete with a little 'you are here' dot. Like the keyboard and headset it uses Bluetooth, so no wires. The blue thing can stay in my bag.
A quick rummage through the remaining pockets of the bag revealed the following items:
You can probably identify the lip balm and Swiss Army knife. Then there's a little LED torch, a yes-you-guessed-it space pen, a little cable that let's me use my phone as a USB drive, an honest-to-goodness paper book and a gadget that will be familiar from a recent post. For people who've paid really close attention to old posts, the book's taking me ages to (re-)read because I only dip into it occasionally - though it's very good. There also seems to be a sticker with my name on it adorned with a drawing of a crocodile. Not sure why that's in there but I suspect Em's involvement. It all fits in here with lots of room to spare. And you can see by comparing it with the remains of that very tasty apple, it's not a gigantic bag.
So there you are. A terrifying insight into my teenage-gadget-freak brain. Now all I have to do is to decide whether I can be bothered to go back and resize those images so that they don't poke over the edge of the middle column.
Nahhh.
Rob
