From the Editor's Desk: What I wielded in 1997 | Android Central

My mother, as my family has known for some time, is a bit of a pack rat. Quite possibly a borderline hoarder. That fact became even more apparent after my wife and I had our first daughter a little more than seven years ago. That's when toys I played with as a young child started reappearing at their house for the new grandkid. Toys that I had outgrown long before we moved to that new house when I was 11 or 12, and where my parents have lived for the two dozen years since.

So it wasn't that much of a surprise last week when my bother appeared at my house, manila folder in hand. Its contents: The invoice from the computer they had built for me for my freshman year of college at the University of Florida. In 1997. Pack rat, indeed.

You gotta love these specs, though:

• IBM/Cyrix 200+ 6x86 CPU. That's 200 MHz.
• 16 megabytes of RAM. Megabytes, folks.
• ATI 3D Pro Turbo video card with 4MB of RAM.
• Seagate 2.5 gigabyte hard drive. (Most expensive part on the list, at $259.)
• 33.6k modem with full freaking duplex and speakerphone.
• SoundBlaster 16 3D sound card.
• 15-inch Optiquest monitor. (With VGA resolution, if I recall correctly.)
• And Windows 95.

Those were good times. How did those computers even work? (Also: Whoa, I am old.)

The price, however, is almost embarrassing, now that I think about it. $1,500, including all the unnecessary bundled software. That was the last time I had someone build me a machine, however, until I bought my first laptop in December 2009 when I started this job.

A few other thoughts on the week that was:

• It's tough to tell just how inauspicious a launch the Moto X endured. We'll find out this week just how close to Motorola's boast of "Have your custom Moto X in 4 days" phones actually start arriving. But having to hedge things so quickly isn't a good sign.
• Now that our Moto X review is finally shipped, what's next? Pebble, perhaps.
• The folks who think I (or anyone else for that matter) shouldn't like the Moto X because of its specs are funny. You like what you like. I'll like what I like. Cool?
• Speaking of the Pebble, after wearing it for two weeks, I took a couple days off. I didn't really miss the notifications being able to see what time it is by looking at my wrist) — but I did miss using it as a trusted Bluetooth device with the Moto X.
• Look for a Pebble giveaway this week, by the way.
• It's been really cool seeing the designs everyone is coming up with. Be sure to share yours.
• Metallica's "... And Justice for All" album is 25 years old. Oy. (I'd link to it, but guess whose music isn't available in Google Play.)
• We got version 1.4 of the Android Central App out the door last week. (And a couple bugfixes have followed it.) Still plenty of work to be done, but we're making great progress.
• Good to see Google update its developer policies and give apps with spammy notifications the boot for good. But, frankly, we as users should have already done that by now, too. 
• If you haven't guessed where CyanogenMod is heading with all this strategic positioning ... well, it's gonna be cool to see. (And it's gonna be fun to watch the freak-out.) Change is good. Growth is good. 
• A week before we head off to Germany for IFA. Clock's ticking.

So let's get back to work.

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