I grew up with the original Thunderbirds -- not the Jonathan Frakes kid-flick that apparently laid an egg a couple of years ago: don't know nuthin' about that, didn't see it. No, no, the Thunderbirds I'm talking about was the dream come true of every six year old, and I was about six at the time myself.
People wore their phones on their wrists ... you talked to your wrist instead of sticking one hand on the side of your head, like you have an agonizing earache. And whaddaya know? It's happening. Right now, right here, for $399 a pop:
Just when it was almost fashionable to wear a ridiculous Bluetooth headpiece and talk loudly to yourself in shopping centres, now we'll have people talking into their wrists. Or will we?
Adelaide-based NV Mobile today launched a range of mobile phone watches complete with a sampling of the bells and whistles we see in the mobile phones in market already, including Bluetooth, touchscreens, and audio and video players. NV Mobile's CEO Anthony Cook describes the mobile phone watch as the "evolution of communications".
"In 10 to 20 years [watch phones] will take over the large screen phones," said Cook.
The range includes 10 models starting with the entry-level Motch all the way through to the top-of-the-line NV Sapphire, with sports watches and watches for tradesmen in between. Prices range from the basic model at AU$399 through to AU$999. The phones are currently available through the NV Mobile website.
http://www.cnet.com.au/mobilephones/phones/0,239025953,339294659,00.htm
Hey, man -- "Calling Thunderbird One!"
It worked like this: you got yourself into all kinds of trouble, till nobody could figure out how to pull your hopeless little fanny out again and save your worthless life, and then you yelled blue murder for International Rescue, and the next thing you knew, this tall, dark, blue-eyed hunk arrived in an ultrasonic rocketship, and uh, rescued you.
Six year olds, the world over, were delirious. A few of us grew up; a lot of others never did.
But seriously -- wristwatch phones. It's only taken forty bloody years, and we have them now. Yes, I know Dick Tracy did it back in the Days of Yore, but to this day I have only a nodding acquaintance with Dick. Couldn't pick him out of a police lineup. Was he the one that wore the hat? Then again, they all wore hats back then ... like that alter ego of Picard's, Dixon Hill. For me, the whole "talk to the wrist" thing was about being a little kid whose eyes were still starry, and this adventure show that was on the telly on a Saturday arvo.
Put it this way: the world was a simpler place.
And as you've already guessed, the Mel-o-Sphere is a vacuum that is still sitting at something like 109F. There's little to blog about save odds and ends...
I want to thank Aricia for the really nice review of Aquamarine she uploaded earlier today. As she mentioned, I did go over to Amazon, and searched for the DreamCraft version of the book -- twice. Get this: the first time, it was absent from the Keegan search results list. The second time, it showed up. Go figure. I have no idea what's going on there, but doubtlessly the pundits at the Big A do: Amazon moves in mysterious ways.
Saying "thanks" to AG, then, I'll give her other blog a little plug here -- because, frankly, it deserves it. It's turning out to be the proverbial load of fun. What was it today? David Beckham in underwear, everyone else in kilts, Ewan McGregor in -- what the hell is that he's half-wearing?! And Orlando Bloom looking like a cherub in need of rescuing. I also like the line in humor AG has going there. This blog, Aricia's Album, it top-notch and only getting better:
I've braved the heat long enough to make a swag of uploads to the photoblog, too -- this also has turned out to be a great deal more fun that I'd imagined:
Broad Pass, Alaska, in winter
An aviation icon of the north
Koalas really are too cute!
Signage
Heavenly shades of evening
Beachcombing
And the rest of the gang hasn't been idle. There's a rare collection of images online now, that weren't there the last time I looked.
Good news on the Blogger bustup, Template tantrum front: I do believe it's been fixed. The LEGENDS template has been rewritten to suit Blogger, and I owe Jade massive thanks for this. God knows what she does. I don't even want to ask, because she might explain, and I don't speak cascading style gibberish. Hopefully, The Fall of the Atlantean Empire will be online next week.
And that really is the size and shape of the Mel-o-Sphere right now! It's HOT. It's damned hot. And it's another week before the weather breaks. So --
Ciao for now,
MK
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