My first computer was a Sinclair Z81, a gift from my father. I think he was tyring to nudge me, at a very early age, into the field of computer science (thanks, Dad!). It plugged into our 13" B&W TV, and a tape recorder was my "disk drive". I taught myself how to program in BASIC, and when I showed an aptitude and interest in computers, Dad upgraded me to a Commodore-64, and then a Commodore-128. All very cool toys.
I don't write my own computer games any more, and my "game machine" is a bit different today: Area-51 Quad Core flagship from Alienware. Intel Core 2 Extreme, EVGA NVIDIA 790i Chipset, ATI Radeon HD 4870 x2, 1333 MHz DDR3 Memory, Killer K1 Gaming NIC. But I like it because it glows blue in the dark. Yeah, doesn't take much to impress me.
My first laptop was an MacPortable with a 10" B&W LCD screen and built-in trackball. Despite the name, it wasn't all that portable, weighing in at 16 pounds! But it was a lot lighter than lugging the office machine back and forth, between work and home. It had a 16Mhz Motorola 68HC00 processor, and a whooping 1MB of RAM. All for the low-low price of $7,300!
Today, my mobile computer (a bit behind the times) is a Dell Latitude D610 with Intel Pentium M processor, Windows XP, and 2048 MB of RAM. The video is ATI Mobility RADEON X300 with 64MB DDR video memory. But the best feature is my Intel Pro Wireless 2915 WLAN, which lets me connect to work (or home) from just about anywhere. No more floppy drive, but I still plug in a USB flash memory device from time to time.
My first car was a Chevy Vega, another very generous gift from my father when he decided to upgrade the family car. The Vega got me back and forth to school (local community college) and work (YMCA, where I taught swimming classes and worked as a lifeguard for near minimum wage). During Summer months, I worked as Waterfront Director / Lifeguard at a local summer camp, best job on the planet!
Now I drive a Toyota Prius -- and LOVE IT! I average 48 MPG on my daily commute to and from work, and with gas prices crazy fluxuation from $3-$5 a gallon, I appreciate that hybrid all the more. The Prius probably isn't the best vehicle for New England weather, but I wouldn't trade it in for anything.
My first mobile phone was a Motorola bag phone -- which also wasn't all that mobile. It was about the same size as the first fishing tackle box I'd owned as a kid, and three times as heavy. I lugged it around in the car, to sporting events, and to work -- but never into restaurants, that was big taboo. I also remember not using it a whole lot, because the cell phone bill was outrageous, upwards of $1.25 a minute.
Now I use a Blackberry for all my mobile phone, email, and IM messaging. I can download maps, twitter, put events on my Outlook calendar and tasks lists -- all for a flat monthly fee. I even bring it into restaurants, although I try very hard to not twiddle with it while in the company of others or in a public place.
My favorite computer games as a kid were first-person shooter games, starting with Doom. I remember playing it in my apartment, with the lights turned low and the headphones turned high ... and being simply terrified at all the creature noises that jumped out at me. My Dad still plays Doom, if you can believe it. He refuses to play anything else until he can finish off the boss demon-thingy in the last encounter. Let it go, Dad, let it go.
I don't play computer games much any more, but most recently I dabbled around in MMORPG games, like Everquest, Star Wars Galaxies, World of Warcraft (WoW), Eve-Online and Everquest II. I really enjoyed the social aspects of MMO gaming, and have some fond memories of Everquest in particular. I still keep in touch with a few folks I met through these games -- most by mail, and still hope to meet up with a few of them (well, one in particular) in person.What are some of your notable gadgets over the years, and what have they changed to today?
No comments:
Post a Comment