Technology shouldn't be gimmicks

Even though our society is becoming more connected, more technologically advanced, there are still gonna be some companies that are going to be modern day snake oil sellers. These salesman have not died, but have thrived at the rise of the technological age.

Example of a tech gimmick: Curved Edges! Virtually useless though

 I have had my fair share of little gimmicks when it came to education and technology. When I was still in school, we would sometimes, emphasis on sometimes, use these chunky remote controller looking things that we would connect to the teacher's computer, and then we would answer multiple choice questions or give short sentences. I would say it was an incredible waste of resources, especially since they did so little. I'm sure they could have used those funds towards more laptops, pushing towards 1-1, but decided to just settle on these quirky little pieces of plastic. 

But it is not all bad! One technological addition that my high school did do was buy some very advanced calculators that were great! They were simple calculators, graphing calculators, and many other additions. This was a great addition because while it was simple at the bottom level, it could do a lot more specific and complicated tasks, and it was used almost all the time. All in all, I think the difference between gimmicks and actual good ideas is that gimmicks only have one goal, do it kind of badly, and then just stop at doing anything else. 

Image Source: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/gimmicks-will-not-bring-samsung-back-to-powerhouse-status/