Gear

Newitz On Tech: "Consumerist crap for the holidays"

Annalee Newitz knows that almost all gadgets are trash, assigned prices far in excess of their value. But, by Kenneth Eng, God, she still wants a Wii. "I want toxic Chinese toys covered with paint that will make me hallucinate. I want a sparkly-crap mobile phone that will break within a week and turn into […]

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Annalee Newitz knows that almost all gadgets are trash, assigned prices far in excess of their value. But, by Kenneth Eng, God, she still wants a Wii.

"I want toxic Chinese toys covered with paint that will make me hallucinate. I want a sparkly-crap mobile phone that will break within a week and turn into circuit-board garbage that cannot be recycled and will therefore be shipped to developing countries where it will be hacked and resold. I want a media device that's wrapped in so many layers of plastic and nonrecyclable material that the very act of opening it is like smashing my carbon footprint onto the face of Mother
Earth. I want a useless gizmo mass-produced by machines that stole jobs from nonunionized workers who stole jobs from the natives.

In short, I want a Nintendo Wii."

So do we! So does everyone...

Consumerist crap for the holidays [SFBG. Photo Credit: Wikimedia]