TINY TECHNOLOGY: THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING GADGET

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons." -- Popular Mechanics, 1949

"This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication." -- Western Union, 1876

"640K ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

Apparently size does matter. And smaller is better.

At least that's the thinking about the trend toward smaller, more complicated electronic gadgets and office doodads.

"As a society, we've always liked things smaller and faster," said David Dickey, operations manager at Staples office supply store.

Telephones, computers, calculators, cameras and word processors are all shrinking.

"Heck, we're just waiting for the implants," Dickey joked.

The smaller technology is more convenient for a society as on the move as we are in the United States, Dickey said. "It suits us."

Don Hinkebein, manager at JCS/TELLINK, cellular telephone supplier, had a similar point of view. "I've never had a customer come in my office and ask for a bigger phone," he said.

Calculators the size of credit cards, hand-held computers, telephones smaller than a man's wallet. All designed to be carried wherever you go.

"I can remember driving down the road and seeing someone in his car on the telephone and think, Who the world thinks they're that important that they have to talk on the phone in the car?'"

Now, a few years later, Hinkebein carries a mobile telephone which weighs about 4 ounces and vibrates when a call comes through. The phone clips to his belt, and Hinkebein is able to carry on a conversation via a thin black cord equipped by a small earpiece and microphone each smaller than a quarter.

He also carries a pager with which he can check e-mail, the Nasdaq market, sports scores, current headlines and, if he wished, his horoscope.

These "smart" cellular phones and pagers, Internet-enabled products, are competing with pocket computers.

Sound quality may be compromised somewhat if the user is too far from a tower and because the smaller, lighter phones have lower wattage, but Hinkebein said it's just a matter of time until enough towers are built to provide clear signals anywhere.

Unlike telephones, smaller computers often work better than their larger, desktop counterparts, Dickey said.

"Usually what happens is the quality is better as the size goes down," Dickey said. Since more people buy desktop computers, they're mass-produced.

A fan cools the inner workings of the desktop computer which makes it larger and noisier.

Laptop and hand held computers have to work well without the benefit of the fan and its trappings. The work that goes into stabilizing an system that is expected to run hot is fairly sophisticated.

Of course, that kind of technology is often pricey.

"It's more expensive now, but if it can carve a niche in the market, the price will go down," Dickey said.

The hand held computers seem to be carving away, appearing with capabilities that go far beyond their original task of organizing personal information.

Dickey used the example of a man going on vacation with a 35mm camera that fits in a breast pocket, rather than carrying a larger, clunkier camera.

And if that camera is digital operating without needing film, storing pictures on an electronic memory card even better. And if that camera plugs into a hand-held computer that can also operate as a global positioning device, the guy has it made. He can take pictures, transfer them home with the added bonus of never having to stop and ask directions.

Of course he can also check stock quotes, keep a daily planner, check sports scores and send e-mails instead of post cards.

The trend toward small, unobtrusive products leave the consumer with the ability to conduct business, yet free to change physical location at any time.

So does this new, hands-free technology actually free the consumer up or tie people more tightly to the office?

"I get asked that a lot," Hinkebein said. "I'm not really chained to the office.

"With this little bit of technology, I can be in Vail and still conduct business."

"It is as much a part of my life as driving my car," Hinklebein said.

"You never have any concept of how useful this tool can be until you have one," he said.