Technobafflement

I've just been watching Hackers, the one and only cult movie for inspiring young technogeeks to hack bank mainframes in the mid 1990s (yeah, I said mainframe). Watching this movie just tickles me these days, although I thought it was SO COOL when I was in grade five.
It's a far cry from what we're capable of 14 years later. Have a look at Microsoft's Surface computer. It's just like using your computer, only it's touchscreen. And a coffee table. And a painting easel. And I thought Eee Pcs were cool.

I'm still scared of downloading torrents, my gran won't click on links or open email attachments. She's terrified of untraceable Internet companies charging her for opening email files. I'm scared of iinet charging me for episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

How are we supposed to keep up with the technology that's thrown at us? Every day I find out about some new gadget and think I'm on top of things - no wait, that's been out for three years already. I've been trying to find somewhere I can go to read the biz on what's happening out there. The best sites I can find are Wired, TechRepublic and Technology Review.

There sheer amount of information on the Internet makes me dizzy. I'm wondering if I can split my brain so one half can spend all its time looking at blogs and reading the news and the other half can do uni assignments and work. If anyone knows about a gadget that can do this already...