The smaller, the better, as far as technology is concerned, and this season’s ubercool pocket-sized gadgets prove it. Big companies are developing tiny products – Nintendo released its Game Boy Micro and Apple released its iPod Nano in September.
“iPod brings people the best-looking portable music, Game Boy Micro is the smallest, slickest, most portable gaming system ever,” said Perrin Kaplan, vice president of marketing and corporate affairs for Nintendo of America.
The iPod Nano is thinner than a pencil, weighs 1.5 oz., with one version that holds 1,000 songs and another version that holds 500 songs. The Game Boy Micro is 4 inches wide, 2 inches long, .7 inches thin and 2.8 oz.
“The Game Boy Micro allows players to game on-the-go with the coolest, smallest, slickest gaming system available,” Kaplan said. “It’s a sweet piece of technology.”
Kaplan said the smaller gaming devices are appealing to trendsetters because they are stylish and technologically advanced.
“It allows players to reflect their own personality, tastes and style,” Kaplan said. “The size of this new unit slips into your tight jeans pocket, your purse, your backpack and just about anywhere else.”
Both the Game Boy Micro and the iPod Nano are obviously similar because of their convenient size and trendy appearance, Kaplan said.
“It’s a trend in technology everywhere,” said Stephen Beck, director of the Laboratory for Creative Arts & Technologies at the University. “People want to have access to the technology anywhere they go.”
Stacey Simmons, assistant director for strategic advancement at the LSU Center for Computation and Technology, said the new portable technologies make it easy for people to avoid new ways of thinking and to stay in their own world.
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Simmons said. “It’s just different.”
People use music and video games to deal with their lives and separate themselves from the world around them, Beck said.
Beck said he thinks the new technologies will become popular at the University.
“People immerse themselves in the game to hide themselves from the world,” Beck said. “Now people can be in their own world anywhere they want to be.”
Contact Julie Chance at [email protected]