• by Sean , February 27, 2007

Things are getting smaller. I notice evidence of this every day, almost everywhere I go.

Today, I brought my car in for service. My car itself is proof that you can fit a lot of “stuff” into a small space. I’m one of those people that pride themselves on having the latest and greatest when it comes to technology. As far as my car is concerned, I bought it new in 2006. And I made sure to get the nifty LCD satellite navigation system to go with it.

Imagine having a detailed road map for every city in the entire United States … and then imagine having it all accessible from a 6.5” widescreen LCD right in your dashboard.

Alright, enough with the sales pitch. Bottom line – that’s a LOT of information … in a very small space. My dealership could learn something from that. When I dropped my car off this afternoon, I noticed a small room next to the service officer’s office. It was jam-packed with files and folders. Me being the curious person that I am, asked why they had so many files.

Without missing a beat, Jeff – my service agent, pointed my attention to a small 3.5” LCD screen installed in the wall of the storage room. He then informed me that not only were the contents of every file in that room accessible by search through that screen, but the record from all dealers in their network were also available to them, simply by searching a database.

The coolest part? The information contained on all of those bulky file folders … took up the space of about one volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Of course, after I write this, I’ll be working on a video podcast for Ball State. On my laptop. Which is small. And I carry everywhere. Just more proof that things are getting smaller and smaller.