LATimes Tech page has an article entitled Ten tech items you won’t be needing anymore.
Here’s their list:
- The Flip cam
- The portable DVD player
- Flash drives
- GPS devices for your car
- The (small) digital camera
- The fax machine
- Netbooks
- CD player
- Voice recorders
- PDA
The article is worth reading because it describes what other developments have superseded these 10 items. However, the list and the article also made me think of another recent issue in the news– the topic of “gadget fatigue.”
Underwriters Laboratories, which is a well-respected nonprofit group that tests and certifies products, published a study last week that found about half of consumers–or 48 percent, “feel high-tech manufacturers bring new products to market faster than people need them.” This comes from the NYTimes Bits blog, but it was news all around.
There are various interpretations of this report, but an obvious one is that manufacturers are putting out new devices not because they are any better or more innovative than the last ones. But because they must. To quote the NYTimes Bits blog:
…the new offerings companies are pushing out the door every six months or so are me-too products or ones with a just couple of new features or design tweaks. Marketing schedules, not product innovation, are driving the corporate train.
Perhaps there will be backlash to all this “innovation.”
