In praise of last year's model

Anil Dash of Six Apart has a funny new site with a semi-serious purpose: Last Year's Model.

Dash says with all the coverage of what's new, soon to be in released and cutting edge, existing technologies that are less expensive and work get marginalized. I guess that's an attention problem for gadget guys and gals.

"Even alpha geeks often don't run out and buy the newest gadgets and electronics the minute they come out," he writes on his personal blog.

So he created a movement "to save the planet through sheer laziness."

The constant hyping of what's new creates the impression that you have to geek-up to keep up.

It ain't necessarily so. I bounced this idea off of a few tech experts I know, and they all agreed that the constant pursuit of novelty over actual value takes a lot of the joy out of loving great technology. So, to help promote the idea of being thoughtful about what we buy, and how long we hold on to it, I created Last Year's Model, with a design from my friend Mike Monteiro of Mule Design.

To join the "Last Year's Model" army, all you have to do is:

1. Choose to hang on to a gadget or technology product that you own, instead of just buying a new one.
2. Join our Facebook Cause, or tell people on Twitter, your blog or Flickr why you're participating.
3. Optionally put the Last Year's Model badge on your site or tag your story with #lastyears.