11.   A town obsessed with the Rolodex latches on to a new gadget.

12.   About once a month, my wife and I go browsing among the racks at our local computer superstore, looking for some new gadget or software.

13.   Adding devices like CD-ROM drives and scanners to Windows machines frequently sparks bedeviling conflicts and misfunctions, while connecting new gadgets to an Apple rarely does.

14.   But if you have a new gadget and a relatively old copy of Windows, a less-than-perfect driver may have been installed in your computer.

15.   But now, he added, computer sales are being sapped by the slowing economy and rise of intriguing new gadgets like hand-held organizers and digital cameras.

16.   But when all those toys are broken and the hottest new gadgets have become obsolete, what our children will remember is the happy times we spend together.

17.   Egyptian cinema stars now pose for photos with their heads cemented to the new gadget.

18.   Even when new gadgets work perfectly, they often raise concerns about invasion of privacy and erosion of civil liberties.

19.   Every new gadget seems to generate a sort of hobbyist underground, a collection of people who want to disassemble its hardware and decode its software.

20.   Finally, one of the best ways to avoid problems is to recognize that most trouble happens after you install a new gadget or software.