What 8 Years (or so) of Technology Looks Like

Years ago, I had the brilliant notion that it was essential to save the box that went with the technology purchase I had just made. I'm not quite sure what was going through my head on this - perhaps I was thinking it would make it easier to resell the gear on eBay or something? All I know is, for quite some time, I dutifully stored boxes from cameras, laptops, GPSs and more.

Months ago I realized that I had not once, in the last 8 years, trudged up to the attic to pull down some box that belonged to a gadget of mine. Earlier this week, when I was searching for something in the attic I decided it was time to purge said boxes. And so the to recycling bin (where possible) they went.

But, before they were banished from my home, I decided I should take one last photo of the heap. The result is a sort of geologic record of technology I've owned.

A few things I noted as I prepared these boxes for recycling:

• In general, the packaging for items has shrunk. The laptop boxes, for example, get skinnier and skinnier. And why the Garmin IQue (the size of a Smart Phone) warranted a massive box is beyond me.
• The older the boxes, the more manuals and paper they contained. Some of the older boxes, like say the Canon Powershot, was so heavy, it felt like there was an actual camera in there. Instead, there was handful of manuals in multiple languages. My new Asus Laptop came with little more than the laptop, power plug, battery and 6 page pamphlet telling you how to turn the sucker on.
• I love that I have boxes for both a 250MB backup drive, and 1TB backup drive. And by now, even the 1TB is probably considered small.
• I sure did love my Sidekicks - and how sweet was that packaging?
• Ahhh those old school T-mobile phones, those guys were fun. Like the Samsung T809 and Ericsson T610 - these were incredibly fancy (and price) phones in their day, but for the life of me, I can't imagine what made them so special. Could the form factor have been worth that much back then?

Luckily, I'm just discarding the boxes...a number of these items still get quite a bit of us.

Ahhhh, tech memory lane. What fond memories do you have in the technology surrounding you?