Seventy percent of the students at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale have pagers. And Bay Area teenagers fear technological obsolescence because their younger brothers and sisters know more about computers than they do. While most anthropologists study the past, these researchers are catching a glimpse of the future. Yet Popular Science reported recently that Thomson Consumer Electronics has developed and may manufacture an electronic organizer for kids called E-Buzzz that looks like a big bug. The device may include wireless Internet access and a built-in pager.
Children are among the most active users of handheld computers in Japan.
Analysts predict the teen and child organizer market will take off here in North America and in Europe over the next few years. But the wireless connectivity costs an arm and a leg. 3Com sold the new Palms at the event, and you could see Palm enthusiasts scampering off to quite corners and fondling their new devices with Trekkie-like devotion. It's the easiest, most elegant wireless handheld solution available anywhere. But it's not the fastest, and certainly not the cheapest.