Let's start out with the amazing "Livescribe Echo Smartpen"- in short, this pen writes, and as you do, it records whatever is being said so you can play it back to listen to later. It can store hundreds of hours of recording, and sounds like a good idea...only, this has already existed, and even as a piece of tech aimed for the use of kids...remember the Flypen? (pictured left)I can't recall when exactly this pen was released but it was apparently long enough back that I can't remember...thus further driving home the fact that this is some relatively old technology ( Early 2000's), only redesigned a bit, and pushed to adults this time, instead. It did last a while, the Flypen was discontinued in 2009, and as a novelty it grounded itself for a few respectable years. But can anyone expect much more, from the new Livescribe Echo Smartpen? That's not for me to say, ladies and gents.
Next up on the list is the all new "iLuv iMM747 Audio Cube" ( Brevity just isn't a thing in names is it?)
This is essentially, what we have all seen already, and that's a plug and play base for your phone/tablet/whatever you carry. We've seen the iPod speakers you can plug into, and other similar devices and the stereo Audio Cube is just another re-skin on old technology, only for the use of an updated ( and likely soon to be dated) , iPad. For $150.00 I wouldn't be jumping right onto this bandwagon, for reasons 1. What's with all the integrated sound and audio systems and apps if you are just going to make it a static stereo system, why not just go buy a real one then? 2. Plug-in speakers simply should never cost so much for portable devices. 3. What's the point, here? You instantly made it less portable unless you tote a large bag to carry all of this in. I know there's a trend of combining functionality but remember we can let some other devices do jobs, they don't ALL have to act as if they've gone through a liberal arts college for electronics and juggle countless functions, just saying.Lastly I'd like to mention the Hitachi G-Drive Slim, an external storage device for your computers and related devices.
See, the problem with calling something "new" is that "new" is really, REALLY overused, and misinterpreted. Now, the dictionary will tell us that "new" means along the lines of something that has not yet been seen or used, something freshly created or formed, built or bought recently. Ok, so this is the same, too right? Well...not really. Even though technically yes this classifies as "new" because it was recently developed and was not yet used at the time, the idea itself has been exhaustively overused. Slim, small, light, tiny, handy...these are all the things technology today wants to emphasize with products, but the technology itself is not really changing, just the appearance of it is. Don't kid yourself, your "brand new" phone or what have you is not really much different than the last one you had if you truly consider how minor the 'improvements' were. We just think so because well, it looks different, right? And they say it's better. And I'm not saying they can't be better, many of them are, but only on such a minor scale I have to ask, why not just give it some time and really release something that will knock us over? Not just, a larger screen. That's the problem with commercial technology, it's redundant, like a certain game line of first person shooters. *cough*.
So I hope individuals would take a moment to really re-evaluate a "new" technology before they throw their precious greenbacks at it, and you may see people around you making fools of themselves when they realize what they just gave an arm for is nothing more than a tech that took a minor diet and got a buff.
Resources: http://www.itbusinessedge.com/slideshows/show.aspx?c=86885&slide=3
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/new
http://thevarguy.com/business-technology-solution-sales/updated-top-100-technology-predictions-2014
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