What shocks me about the falling prices of tech

Technology gets better and cheaper over time. The advances in computer speed, memory size, hard drive size, networking speed are revolutionary but to some degree expected. While it is still a bit hard to stomach, 32 core machines and 5TB hard drives will arrive.

But the cutting edge stuff like a mobile phone that can surf the web and run for 3+ hours still costs decent money.

What shocks me is you can get a low-end CPU and low-end M/B (motherboard) for $29 ($39 with $10 rebate at Fry's). These days, a low end M/B come standard with audio, networking and video. It supports SATA and USB. The CPU and the integrated video is better, especially cooler, than the best you could buy in 2002 for any amount of money. It's akin to saying wait 8 years and the phone they give away for $5 will be better and smaller than the top end iPhone or Android phone.

The kicker is the price. At $29 this means the M/B and the CPU collectively cost less than this. I can imagine the CPU costs say $8, after all it is just a piece of silicon and some packaging (yes, I'm greatly oversimplifying). But a M/B is a big (from a tech standpoint) item of lots of items. There are at least 100 parts that need to be assembled. The chipset alone is as complicated as the CPU. At this price level there are no margins. Which means this level of technology is so well understood anybody can do it for peanuts.

Amazing.

The passing of the torch from laptops to cellphones

For over a decade, people have been predicting the coming big thing would be a mobile computer you have with you all the time. It is obvious, the smartphone is this device. The Apple iPhone was the breakthrough device.

What became obvious to me a year ago (shame on me for not blogging about it then), was that this shift has already happened. Yep it will be a completely done deal in another year.

The existing competition for a mobile computer is well a mobile "computer", aka the laptop. And while laptops still outsell smart phones, the epiphany was realizing that a high-end smart phones cost more than the median laptop. And people are lining up in droves to buy them.

The indicators are various.

1. Price is the ultimate indicator of worth. Including the cost of a data plan, a smart phone is much more expensive than a laptop over 3 years.
2. The developer mindset has changed. The coolest apps to write are for mobile devices. Traditional desktop devices are passe.
3. My own behaviour. I check my email as much on my high-end Android phone as much as on my computer. It is so easy.
   

The end of public boredom as we know it

We've all passed the time in a line for the DMV, waiting for a bus/train, or even sitting solo at lunch. But this semi-lonely, sem-bored, semi-waste of times has ended. Thanks to the smartphone.

Now you can look busy, intently surfing the web, checking your idle calendar and continually verifying you still don't have any new email.