What is the big deal about sliced bread?

The best thing since sliced bread. Yes sliced bread is a good thing. Is it critical when you make a sandwich? Not really. Just grab a bread knife and make two cuts. I understand making sandwiches for six kids all at once is a lot easier with pre-slide bread. And we wouldn't be eating that super-soft, air-filled, mass-produced bread we all eat if it wasn't sliced at the bakery. You couldn't get a knife through it without ripping it to shreds. But I would give it up for some other inventions.

My two favorites at the moment? The first is my new wireless 3G card for my laptop. I have Internet access anywhere I have a cell phone signal. It feels as fast as a typical WiFi signal most of the time, but the speed is secondary to the benefit of almost universal accessibility. I have never been so productive.

The second is 100 percent cotton washable "non-iron" dress shirts from Brooks Borthers. My monthly dry-cleaning bills have plummeted, along with my day-to-day stress level. If I need a clean shirt for the next day I throw it in the laundry the night before. And I am a bit of a shirt snob. Most of my closet contains Thomas Pink shirts, which are remarkably well made and durable, but require frequent dry-cleaning. But my inventory is changing over as I continue to swing by the Brooks Bros. when I am in the airport and pick up new shirts at half the cost. Keep your sliced bread, I want my 3G card and my dress shirts.

Comments

[Josh Brown]

Interesting comments. We're seeing a proliferation of the wireless cellular cards in the workplace. What's a bit scary from a security perspective is that people assume they are secure. However, due to licensing restrictions on the cellular spectrum, it is illegal to "sniff" or observe that traffic (presumably for anyone to do so except for the government), and this has prevented private enterprise from developing firewalls or other security tools to protect cellular cards the same way we can protect standard 802.11 wireless cards.

There is a great deal of trust involved with connecting this way when you understand the implications. It is not unlike connecting your laptop directly to the internet--you are just getting to the internet via celluar (and your cellular provider) rather than via usual means--which theoretically places your system at risk.

The convenience factor is very high, but that would likely be undercut if sensitive data were to be compromised while online in this way.