Ooh, flashy lights!

Somebody once posed the question, "why do evil robots in movies have red eyes?" We finally concluded that the answer was because red LEDs were cheaper.

I got a phone from the company. It's a Nokia 1100. Nothing to write home about. Except that it has a "flashlight" feature.

Now, by flashlight, Nokia means a little tiny white LED mounted on the top of the phone, which turns on when you press the "C" button on the phone. It illuminates to a distance of about 10cm in pitch black. You could probably pick up a similar LED for about 70c from your local electronics store.

I know, I know, I will probably end up using this feature all the time. But that doesn't mean I can't poke fun at it for a little while.

The IBM Thinkpads I have at work and home (before they got bought up by the Chinese Levono company) all have a little light at the top of the screen so you can "see" your keyboard in the dark. (Never mind that the LCD screen gives off much more light than that little thing.)

The IBM laptop I bought a year ago had a white LED. The IBM laptops bought earlier this year have red LEDs. Talk about downmarket.

(I just demonstrated this "feature" of the laptops to the people on site yesterday. They were suitably amused. "Now I can work all night!")

Somebody once said that all computer programs continue to evolve until it is able to send email. I used to think that electronic gadgets were the same except that their target was the ability to take photographs. Maybe it was an LED flashlight instead.