Hi All,

Rikki, you say you have always been an electronic gadget nutter. You have lots of company in every country around the world. Electronics is constantly evolving not only in terms of hardware (smaller, faster etc.) but also in terms of application. New ways of applying electronics to make our lives more comfortable or enjoyable are being pursued daily by the research and development departments of small and large corporations. So you will have lots of gadgets to choose from - all designed to make your pocketbook a little lighter!

There are many fields of electronics, each with its own unique application of the technology. I had a career in aviation electronics, Bill Norrie had a career in the design and engineering of instruments (industrial electronics) if I am correct, and Alec Pagida is involved in consumer electronics. All three of us (and maybe more of our forum members who have had careers in electronics) have seen a quantum leap in the minitiarization and sophistication of components/circuits over the past 30 - 40 years. Our keyboards are outstanding examples of the advances in consumer electronics. And Alec is working with new technologies that will likely revolutionize our lives still further. Yes Rikki, more gadgets are on the way!

Heather, you mentioned the TRS-80 Model 1 desktop. It was my first exposure to desktop computers, too. I cut my Basic language programming teeth on that machine. It did the work I asked of it and did it well. Now look what we have in front of us today compared to that early desktop. No comparison. Yet another example of the evolution of electronics.

I was reading the news yesterday and saw an announcement released in Japan saying that two electronic engineers have designed a one square inch hard drive! It will store 2 GB's of information. They want to make it a little smaller so it will fit inside a watch! Where will it end?

Someone on our forum said (I believe) that he/she hoped someone would buy the Technics technology and incorporate it in future keyboards. I share that hope. It has been done before.

Just felt like talking tonight for some reason. Hope I didn't bore anyone. Thanks for listening. All of you take care.

Chuck