The (revolutionary?) iPhone

This will anger many who may read this post, but it is the best place to start.
The “Jesus Phone”, as many describe it, is over-hyped, over-exposed, over-priced and many many other “over-”s, but one cannot deny that it is revolutionary (if not technologically, certainly culturally and socially). The design is sleek and simple and offers the user a simple Mac OS interface. Most importantly it does what it says it does: nothing more and nothing less. This must be the reason it is loathed and loved at the same time. Even when Steve Jobs announced that it was coming, he never overstated what you could do with the product. People like the hype and got carried away in it without looking at the obvious pros and cons of the product, but that seems to happen often with Apple and is probably one of the secrets to its current success. The interesting question is: Can we consider the iPhone as revolutionary as the fountain pen?

A much needed explanation...

The title is a twist on the Latin adage verba volant scripta manent (spoken words fly away, written words remain). What if indeed the opposite were true? Many historians, in fact, argue that in ancient Rome the expression was used in a period when widespread analphabetism meant that stories passed-on by word of mouth were more likely to stay the test of time as opposed to written text which tended to collect dust in libraries (indeed oratory skills were considered a virtue).

Whichever version you might prefer, it seems that the expression is relevant today more than ever. We communicate both on paper and by word of mouth, but the “paper” is often virtual. So is the pen the “manent” and the qwerty board the “volant” or vice-versa? Does verbal communication have more staying power today than written communications?

These pages are not meant to be nearly as philosophical as the last paragraphs imply; rather, they are intended to discuss some of the preferred tools used in communicating over time as well as tools meant to keep time itself: fountain pens, phones, stationery and watches. Admittedly it is a stretch to combine these objects, but why not? Without too many details there will be basic reviews and musings on these and other objects related to communicating.

Let’s hope that these posts can be useful to those who happen upon them.