104 JANUARY2021|COMPUTER SHOPPER|ISSUE 395
2003 2004 2005 2006
➡HP’sIPAQPocketPCis the
ultimateexecutivetoyat£649.
Butit’sagenuinemilestone in
portablecomputing,witha
400MHzprocessorand
thebest-yetbright
andclearTFTscreen.
ItpacksinBluetooth,
infrared and Wi-Fi, as well
as SD and CF card slots
to augmentthe 64MB of
onboard RAM. 128-bit
security and fingerprint
recognition feed the current
atmosphere of paranoia, but the simplest delight and best feature
of allisthe user-replaceable battery.
⬅Social-networking websites allow
anyone to upload mass drivel and
download more of the same.The
global leader is MySpace,boasting
over 300 million members and
accounting foraround 10% of
global web time.Obviously,itis
bought by Rupert Murdoch.
Thetruepurposeofcomputing is revealed at last, as
uncountable millions playCallofDuty,ajolly game where
players defeat Hitler.
➡TheastonishingSonyVaioTX
redefinesthe laptop.Built from
carbon fibre,itcontains the
most advanced technology ever
to feature in afeatherweight
portable.The XBritedisplayis
stunning, and the machine packs
wireless WANconnectivity
alongside afull entertainment suite
intoits slim profile.It’s priced at
£1,498, and foroncethe ransom demand
seems worth every penny.
YouTubesetsupoverapizzeriainSanMateo,andavideo
called ‘Me at the zoo’isthe first to be uploaded. Ayear later,
Google will buy the concept formorethan abillion pounds,
launching Google Maps at the same time.
ThecompactMotorolaRazrV3istheposer’sphone.
Theflip-upclamshellisshiny,thekeyboard
is flat,ithas atwin screen, stills and video
cameras, and 5MB of storage.Itcosts £50
up front then £40 amonth to keep the habit
going once the addiction kicks in. And 50 million
users get addicted worldwide.
➡The true purpose of computing is revealed atlast,as
uncountablemillionsplayGuitarHero,ajollygamein
which the utterly untalented prove theyare.
⬅AstudentatHarvard
University expands his website,
where students rateone another
as ‘hot or not’.His name is
Mark Zuckerberg, and he calls
his new enterprise The Facebook.
Anew voice-over-internet
service called Skype establishes
itself,and the word ‘blog’ enters
the dictionary.Meanwhile,for
£199,the Adidas 1Sneaker running shoe has microprocessors
embedded in the heels that can adjust performance depending
on the surface of the ground.
The everydayuse of computersinthe home and the
workplace becomes acontinual battle against malicious viruses,
spam, Trojans, scams, spyware and identity theft. The Santy
worm exploits search queries to infiltrate40,000 websites and
turn them intosources of infection. MyDoom sets the record
forthe fastest spreading mass-mailer worm, and it causes over
£20bn of damage in 215 countries. Oh brave new world.
➡Twittermakes its debut as atext-message
service.Its character limit is restricted by
Friedhelm Hillebrand. He types random sentences
and questions, counting every letter,number,and
space.Almost every time,the message amounts to no
more than 140 characters.
Blu-rayisanoptical disc that can store up to 50GB of data
and is the same size as astandard CD.The format is adopted
by most of the major consumer electronics companies.
The United Nations Development
Programme announces aproject to
deliver technology and resources to
schools in the least developed
countries. The scheme is the One
Laptop PerChild consortium,
founded by Nicholas Negroponte.
➡Meanwhile,millions of people
paygood moneytostand on one
leg and playwith their own Wii.
