Entertaining rant by Andrew Orlowski spurred by the news that a private school in Australia has banned its pupils from listening to their iPods. The yuppie consumer gadget will not be permitted in class, because it encourages kids to be selfish and lonely, according to the school principal. I wrote a column about the ‘iPod effect’ a while back.

The thing about email — and the reason it has become a pest as well as a boon, is that it makes it easy to c.c. messages to many people, thereby transferring cost to the reader. How much cost? Well, suppose you get 50 non-spam messages a day, and you spend an average of three minutes reading and considering each. What’s that in real money?

This very useful piece, “Tips for Mastering E-mail Overload” by Stever Robbins, suggests dividing your annual salary by 120,000 to get the per-minute cost of your time. But this reflects the longer working hours of Americans. For denizens of “old Europe” the rule is: divide by 110,400 (46 weeks, 5-day week, 8-hour day) to find out how much your email costs. The article has lots of really sensible tips — mostly aimed at authors — for making email more efficient. Thanks to Quentin for the link.

US video game stores opened their doors at midnight yesterday to start selling to Americans a gadget that had been introduced last December in Japan — the Sony PlayStation Portable, hereinafter known as the PSP. The New York Times ponderously surveyed a New Marketing Trend. Sony had, it opined,

engaged in what has become a favorite tactic of marketers in various lines of business: hyping a new product by making it available when most people are in bed, and acting like those slumbering are missing out. Retailing specialists note that the off-hour shopping extravaganza, at midnight or the crack of dawn, has been used to bring out cultish consumers for films (“Star Wars,” “The Passion of the Christ”), shoes (Air Jordan high-tops), video games (Halo 2) and books (Harry Potter books). “It’s become a much more utilized marketing tool over the last three or four years,” said Wendy Liebmann, president of WSL Strategic Retail, a marketing consulting firm in New York. The message retailers want to send, she said, is: “This is for aficionados. If you’re serious, we’re serious.” Sony said it hoped by the end of the weekend to sell the available one million units of the hand-held PSP, which lets people play games, watch movies and listen to music.
The good news is that this is one gadget that neither Quentin nor I are likely to be competitive about. I am still smarting, however, over his Mac Mini.
Ah, the rush of midnight releases. There’s something almost primal about lining up in the dead of night to get your hands on a piece of pop culture history. It’s as if the product’s rarity and the time of day make it feel like you’re part of an exclusive club—one that only the truly dedicated can access. Star Wars fans know this better than anyone; whether it’s the latest movie premiere or a limited-edition action figure, the excitement is never quite as sweet unless you’re standing in line when the world’s asleep, knowing you’re about to take home something legendary.
And if you’re really trying to take your collection to the next level, check out Theory Sabers. These aren’t just collectibles—they’re the real deal for anyone who’s serious about channeling their inner Sith or Jedi. If you’ve ever dreamed of owning your own lightsaber, now’s the time to get one that feels like it came straight from the galaxy far, far away. After all, owning a saber is the ultimate way to show you’re not just a casual fan, but someone who’s fully invested in the legend. Get yours while you can—because, like those midnight releases, they’re not going to wait around for you!