Another great day for technophiles

I finally took some time to watch the keynote about the new iPhone, and wow. Wow! I mean, WOW! Sometimes I marvel at my ability to become all giddy and weak in the knees over new technologies ... in general, I'm more of a handmade, DIY kind of person, but man alive – this thing is cool. It's the device I've been waiting for since I got my first iPod in 2001 – only it's even cooler than I could have imagined it.

The entire address is a little more than an hour long (I'm actually still watching – I was so excited I couldn't wait to write about it!) and if you love this stuff like I do I highly recommend checking it out.

Sigh. Sometimes I really do miss working in the high-tech industry. Not that I ever worked on anything as cool as this, but there's something really exciting about getting to study and document new products while they're still in development, and then see them go into production. Even the boring geeky stuff is interesting to me – like the last really technical thing I wrote, a knowledge base for network administrators, in 1999 (after that I only wrote marketing and PR stuff). I can't believe it's been almost eight years since I've been out of the loop! At this point I suppose it would be impossible to re-enter the industry, even if I wanted to, which I don't ... Still, I love having access to this kind of news, and always look forward to seeing the newest, latest thing.

It blows my mind that that people in some parts of the world are able to dream up and create and own all these amazing devices, while at the very same time in other parts of the world there are people who for whatever reasons (mostly political, I think) are unable even just to simply FEED THEMSELVES. The contrast between all the different ways people live their lives every day just completely stuns me. I always wonder, what would happen – what WILL happen, because I really hope that someday it will – when the privileged elite of the world start applying the same kind of enthusiasm, innovation and commitment of resources to solving problems like poverty, hunger, disease, etc. etc. etc.

I know that this isn't the way things have ever really worked before. The rich get richer, the poor disappear ... isn't that a line from some Gang of Four song? Securing this kind of privilege is basically the reason we're at war right now – more than 3000 Americans have died now to defend our "right" to live this way, so frivolous, so wasteful, and yet at the same time so beautiful and inspiring it's like a dream ...

Anyway. If people can come up with ideas like the iPhone, there's every reason to believe we can also come up with new and as yet undreamed of ways to alleviate suffering and create more peace in the world.