Tech Amazing

by Kelly Jane Torrance

Washington Times

Do you pride yourself on being an early adopter of new technology? Perhaps you were envied as the first on your block to have the stylish Apple iPhone last year - only to find that those who waited a mere two months got theirs for $200 less. Maybe you bought an HD DVD player last year, wanting to show off the high-definition picture and sound - only to find that the format war that looked to have no end in sight was soon decided in favor of Blu-ray Disc.

Or are you an early-but-not-too-early adopter? You might have waited a few months to get that lower-priced iPhone - only to discover just this month that a new iPhone will be released in July that costs another $200 less and has important new features, including a global-positioning system and access to the faster 3G data network.

You might have thought you were smart by waiting for the high-def DVD format war to end before purchasing a Blu-ray player - but you’ll see new players hitting the market this summer with new interactive BD Live technology that your player doesn’t support. Early adopters have always paid a premium for being the first to sample new technology, but that premium seems to be a lot higher these days.

“I think the new ‘norm’ for technology is change,” says Kit Eaton, a contributing editor of the gadget blog Gizmodo.com. “We’re used to technology advancing quickly, so we know that when we buy something, it’s not going to be the ‘cutting edge’ gadget it was when we bought it for very long.”