A story on the AP wire today (I'll try to avoid linking to Salon from now on, though I am unsure of the permanency of this link) mentions how a Michigan mall will be providing pagers for parents to reduce their kids' wait on line for Santa Claus and thus enabling them to consume more.
I am a little shocked that this is a story. While the unexpressed implication of the author (and editors) may be that this is the further commercialization and homogenization of Christmas, to me it is just the natural extension of technology to benefit both the provider and the user. If this episode is so revolutionary to be put on the AP wire, some of my ideas for wireless technology should one day make the front page of the NY Times.
Posted by boo at November 18, 2003 07:40 PM | TrackBack