Desire for the Zire 71

I once covered the IT beat for maybe forty-five seconds, and have arrived at this conclusion: Technology, as time plods on by, is becoming a really strange animal to write about, especially for someone who owns a computer which was seemingly designed by Murphy himself. I am amazed by my computer’s ability to screw itself up. There’s always something bugging that hell-spawn PC – whether it’s a malfunctioning modem or digitally transmitted disease. (By the way, that machine met a quiet death days ago because of a weak processor, among other complications.)

Yes, there are many factors that can turn one into a technophobe. I once subscribed to Satan’s Internet Service Provider. The server was down most of the time and the company it seemed had a bunch of ghosts manning customer service. No one answered the hotlines, so you’re left with either incessant ringing or a Kenny G. song licking your ears lasciviously. I also got charged a stratospheric fee because pirates of the digital seas hacked into the company’s system. But did I notify the ISP? No, I chose to shell out the dough than listen to a few seconds more of Silhouette. It made me a bit paranoid: What if I were just calling a white room with a thousand answering machines wired to a boom box churning out sappy, saxophone-y tunes?

I also attended a lot of press cons and got an earful of bull about "the best end-to-end solutions" in the planet – whatever that means. I also received loads of unintelligible brochures, pens, caps, and shirts that would nicely fit King Kong…and did I mention pens? Technology drags itself ever onward – along with this pathetic bag of flesh, bones and bad teeth. This may be the digital age but some of us still lead frustrating analog lives.

But the technophobe in me went on vacation (boarded the ferry to Mindoro or something) when I was lent Palm’s newest handheld, the Palm Zire 71. (Palm recently launched the Zire 71 together with the more high-end Tungsten C.)

Commuting these days is a bitch – what with an expanding travel time because of worsening traffic and the early advent of floods. But with a handheld as a trusty companion, one could keep away the grimy claws of boredom. (Although I got to palm the funkiest Palm of ‘em all only for nine days. Dang!)

The keyword for the Zire 71 is "multi-media." These days, cell phones are not just simply cell phones (which come in colors from vomit-green to gall bladder brown) used for communicating with other people, and laptops far from being glorified typewriters – things are not what they used to be. Thus, Palm saw to it that the new versions of those popular handhelds also offer a caboodle of functions and extra features – like games (Bejeweled, Text Twist, Solitaire and Pocket Aquarium, among others) for instance.

Aside from note pad, memo pad, date book, address book, world clock, calculator and other Palm essentials, the Zire 71 features a built-in digital camera for photos-on-the-fly. The gadget has a slider that reveals the lens and activates the camera, and it’s idiot-proof. All one needs to do is press the shutter button to capture those all-too fleeting moments: the baby’s first walk, the old man’s winning basket, the sweetheart’s toothpaste advert smile, the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse riding down from the sky.

There is a Palm Photos application so users can organize and manage digital images – create kitschy photo albums, beam images to friends, transfer files to desktop computers, or e-mail them.

One can also listen to music and watch videos via the Zire 71. Included with the device is a CD with programs such as RealOne Mobile Player as well as Kinoma Player and Producer.

Man, when one is riding a taxicab and the blasted driver wants to share his views on politics, religion, showbiz, and the unexpurgated history of mankind, one can easily shut him away by listening to MP3s with the versatile Zire 71. Hey, Yes’ "Tales From Topographic Oceans" or Genesis’ "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" seems less ponderous and more entertaining than some of the existential musings of cabbies. (And hey, I’d rather watch the Matrix Reloaded teaser 10,000 times than to irritatingly watch the evil driver’s meter tick-ticking as fast as Yngwie Malmsteen’s metronome.)

Another great thing about the new Palm is the Palm Reader for eBooks. The program allows you read the works of masters such as Edgar Allan Poe, Henri Bergson, William Shakespeare, Dante, Plato, etc. (Audio Player for audio books are available for those who don’t want to strain their eyes with minuscule text and would rather listen to the dark and lovely hum of language.) Imagine, sitting in the waiting room for an audience with the CEO from H.E.L.L. who seemingly stepped out of the Dilbert cartoon strip. Rather than bore oneself to death with antiquated magazines, one can whip out the Zire 71 and get an appointment with Shakespeare and his ilk.

I tell you, the only caveat I experienced with this product is becoming enslaved to the Zire 71, not wanting to return it to Palm’s PR firm that lent it, and forgetting that technology – if mishandled and made more monstrous – can be the death to all things real.

But that’s just the technophobe in me talking.

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Anne Poblador of Warner Music Philippines sent two sampler CDs that got me salivating: Pat Metheny’s "One Quiet Night" and Led Zeppelin’s "How The West Was Won."

Pat Metheny, like all great artists, is like a chameleon. In one album, he’s playing folksy, atmospheric guitar with bassist Jaco Pastorius and drummer Bob Moses ("Bright Size Life"); in another he’s playing cacophonous, discordant, "out" guitar passages with free jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman ("Song X"). The man has created such a diverse discography; he has played with eclectic cats like Derek Bailey, Charlie Haden (I love "Beyond the Missouri Sky"), Gary Burton, Sonny Rollins and even Pat Metheny – via overdubs, that is.

"One Quiet Night" finds Metheny going contemplative once more. Four tracks are included in the sampler – One Quiet Night, Don’t Know Why, Ferry Cross the Mersey, and Last Train Home. Yes, Norah Jones’ Don’t Know Why. Yuppies will wet themselves when they hear Metheny’s reading of that crossover hit.

In "One Quiet Night," Pat used a special Nashville tuning and a specially built baritone guitar recorded by mic. This is the guitarist at his simplest and most eloquent. Especially in the Norah Jones cover; so many things are happening sonically that it’s hard to picture Metheny making all that with just a single guitar. But Pat’s Pat.

As for Led Zeppelin… My friend Twinky Lagdameo mentioned the new Led Zep releases while we were listening to Wally Gonzales play Whole Lotta Love at Kid Creole. The first package, the Led Zeppelin two-DVD set, features legendary, never-before-seen performances of the Quartet of Doom. Those who get a kick out of watching the trippy, hallucinogenic The Song Remains the Same will enjoy Led Zeppelin DVD as well.

The second package, "How The West Was Won" is a three-CD set recorded at two of Led Zep’s most explosive performances – at the Los Angeles Forum and Long Beach Arena on June ’72, during the band’s prime. The sampler contains Black Dog (with the band playing Out on the Tiles as prelude), Immigrant Song, Over the Hills and Far Away, The Ocean and Heartbreaker (brilliant Jimmy Page solo – he even throws in a couple of bars from a classical piece).

Some say "How The West Was Won" will finally silence critics who crow that the only thing missing in the majestic Led Zeppelin canon is a majestic live album. Well, this is it.

Both Metheny’s and Led Zeppelin’s samplers leave this writer dreaming of the entire aural buffet.

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For comments, suggestions, curses and invocations, e-mail iganja@hotmail.com.