Do You Need a Better Mousetrap?

In the 1970s, hi-fi stereo wasn't enough, so you went quadraphonic.

In the early 1980s, a simple VCR wasn't enough. You wanted portable and you wanted stereo, so you went and spent a thousand bucks.

In the early 1990s, you dropped $500 on a brick-sized cell phone. In the late '90s, you dropped another $800 on a first-generation PDA. Now you want to drop $500 on a new Apple iPhone.

I'm not going to say whether that's a good idea or not. That's for you to decide. But I do think -- and this one's from experience -- that you should call time out, take a deep breath, and think clearly about such technology acquisitions before you make them. ...