My trusty HeadMaster, the device I use to type these blog posts, check e-mail, play Scrabulous, and generally get my geek on, is no longer being manufactured. I learned this fact a few months ago and ever since then I’ve had a low-level anxiety that my existing HeadMaster would fail. Fortunately, they’re designed to last. The one sitting above my monitor has been in use since circa 1996 and I don’t think it has ever failed to do its duty. And I do have a spare sitting in a desk drawer, which provides some additional insurance. By the time I need to think about a replacement technology, perhaps I’ll be able to get one of those oft-predicted neural interfaces implanted inside my melon.
The odd bits of tech that we gimps use can sometimes assume talismanic qualities. We know and trust them. They’re predictable. They may have their quirks and eccentricities, but we can navigate those without much conscious thought; what matters is that they do not fail us. And when market forces make our devices obsolescent or unavailable, we are forced to put our trust into the unfamiliar and (frequently) the untested.
Seriously, who cares about email, nothing had better get between us and our scrabulous game!
no kidding. Mike’s preferred mode of breathing is a bipap model they don;t make anymore, either. I say you get on Ebay and buy up some extra HeadMasters while you can…