The Miracle of Miniaturization

smoke.me.a.kipper

Jake is struggling through a bus station with two huge and obviously
heavy suitcases when a stranger walks up to him and asks "Have you got
the time?"

Jake sighs, puts down the suitcases and glances at his wrist. "It's a
quarter to six," he says.

"Hey, that's a pretty fancy watch!" exclaims the stranger. Jake
brightens a little. "Yeah, it's not bad. Check this out" - and he
shows him a time zone display not just for every time zone in the
world, but for the 86 largest cities in the world. He hits a few
buttons and from somewhere on the watch a voice says "The time is
eleven 'til sixteen" in a very West Texas accent. A few more buttons
and the same voice says something in Japanese.

Jake continues "I've put in regional accents for each city". The
display is unbelievably high quality and the voice is simply
astounding. The stranger is struck dumb with admiration. "That's not
all", says Jake. He pushes a few more buttons and a tiny but very
high-resolution map of New York City appears on the display. "The
flashing dot shows our location by satellite positioning," explains
Jake. "View recede ten", Jake says, and the display changes to show
eastern New York state.

"I want to buy this watch!" says the stranger. "Oh, no, it's not ready
for sale yet; I'm still working out the bugs", says the inventor.
"But look at this", and he proceeds to demonstrate that the
watch is also a very creditable little FM radio receiver with a
digital tuner, a sonar device that can measure distances up to 125
meters, a pager with thermal paper printout and, most impressive of
all, the capacity for voice recordings of up to 300 standard-size
books, "though I only have 32 of my favorites in there so far" says
Jake.

"I've got to have this watch!", says the stranger.
"No, you don't understand; it's not ready -"

"I'll give you $1,000 for it!"
"Oh, no, I've already spent more than -"

"I'll give you $5,000 for it!"
"But it's just not -"

"I'll give you $15,000 for it!" And the stranger pulls out a
checkbook. Jake stops to think. He's only put about $8,500 into
materials and development, and with $15,000 he can make another one
and have it ready for merchandising in only six months.

The stranger frantically finishes writing the check and waves it in
front of him. "Here it is, ready to hand to you right here and now.
$15,000. Take it or leave it."

Jake abruptly makes his decision. "OK", he says, and peels off the
watch. They make the exchange and the stranger starts happily away.
"Hey, wait a minute", calls Jake after the stranger, who turns around
warily. Jake points to the two suitcases he'd been trying to wrestle
through the bus station. "Don't forget your batteries."