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From: mike.elgan@elgan.com
Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2022, 2:32 p.m.
To: kevin1983@iMail.com
Subject: Re: Remember the iPhone?
Wow, I haven't heard the word iPhone in years!
That "iPhone's 15th Anniversary" article you sent me from Computerworld.com was hilarious -- I can't believe some die-hard holdouts are "keepin' the dream alive" and still using those old, clunky phones. (And how did that one dude figure out how to use his iPhone as a Linux Web server? Amazing!)
I can't believe it's been 15 years since iPhone came out. I still remember the launch like it was yesterday. The first version was totally lame, but people were calling it the "Jesus phone," waiting in line for days to buy it and talking about it like it was this amazing thing. (Remember -- this was way before the holographic display version came out.)
Remember what a disaster the launch was? It took AT&T for freakin' ever to activate all those phones (that's what it used to be called before Apple changed it to iT&T). That one store had, like, 1,000 people waiting for six hours, then they told them all to go home and come back the next day.
People paid a fortune for those phones; then when the first good version came out just in time for Christmas, everyone was so ticked off. ...
I didn't even buy one until the iPhone Metro came out in -- what? -- 2009, something like that. That was a pretty cool phone and probably the second phone ever with a fold-out display. I remember thinking that a quarter inch was superthin for a phone back then. Wow.
How long did the iPhone exist? I remember thinking the craze was over when President Schwarzenegger started carrying one. By then, everyone in Silicon Valley and Shanghai was already using an Apple EarPhone.
Hey, what was the name of that Japanese company Apple bought that launched it into the stratosphere? Sunny or Sonny or something like that? I think that's how Apple first became a movie studio -- it's hard to believe they started out as a computer company.
Anyway, thanks for the laugh -- and the walk down memory lane. (Just for fun, I'm going to go check iBay and see if anyone is still selling them.)
-- Mike
Webcam Sports Carl Zeiss Lens
Logitech International SA today unveiled its $99.99, two-megapixel QuickCam Pro 9000 Webcam, which boasts high-end features like Carl Zeiss optics, a "premium" autofocus system, "extreme" close-up capability (under 4 in.), supersmooth video (up to 30 frames per second) and HD-quality video (960 by 720 pixels).
Logitech claims the QuickCam Pro 9000 uses software to produce the equivalent of 8-megapixel images.
New Mice for Germaphobes
Two new mice for clean freaks hit this week. You can wash one with soap and water, and you don't need to wash the other.
The new, $29.99 Belkin Washable Mouse is watertight, so you can put it under the faucet and scrub it with dishwashing soap. It's a really simple, one-button mouse.
IOgear Inc. unveiled a $89.95 mouse called the Personal Security Mouse with Nano Technology. The mouse is coated with a titanium dioxide and silver nanoparticle compound that the company says kills germs on contact. (The "Personal Security" is ensured by a fingerprint scanner that replaces passwords not only for log-in, but Web sites as well -- the passwords for each Web site are stored in an encrypted database and are entered automatically when you scan your finger.)
These two mice enter into the larger arena of peripheral devices and phones that protect against germs.
Editor's Picks: iPhone to arrive, disappoint, tomorrow
The hype over the Apple iPhone is so high that no product could possibly live up to it. After years of rumors and months of anticipation, the iPhone goes on sale tomorrow -- at last.
Mike Elgan writes about technology and global tech culture. Contact Mike at mike.elgan@elgan.com or his blog, "The Raw Feed."