Aisa Valenzuela

If you or someone you know has ever gone to San Francisco, chances are you’ve taken a photo with the giant marble columns of the Palace of Fine Arts as backdrop. A bus stop away from the famed Golden Gate Bridge, the Palace of Fine Arts is eminently Instagram-worthy. What’s less known is that it was built in 1915 to be the site of the World’s Fair—a collection of exhibitions that brought in millions of visitors to the city and which showcased the best of technology at the time, including electricity and long-distance telephony. So when I heard that the same site would host Real Future Fair, a modern-day equivalent with robots, drones, and virtual reality goggles, I wondered if the choice of venue had been deliberate.

In just a few short years, MP3 players have evolved into multimedia powerhouses, capable of storing not just music, but photos, videos, and anything else they can cram into those compact little bodies. And in that short span of time, they’ve gotten irrevocably integrated into popular culture as well - what model you’re carrying on your daily commute says as much about your personality as the clothes you wear or the shoes on your feet. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at some of the hottest multimedia players now rolling off the market:

Think back all the way to 2004, a mere five years ago. Most of us already had MP3 files on our computers, but portable MP3 players had yet to explode in the market. Then Apple's iPod came along, and now it's almost impossible to imagine not being able to carry around your entire music collection in your pocket--not to mention all your photo and video files.

Laptops have gotten smaller and smaller, and we’ve seen them undergo the evolution of the netbook. But for the longest time, the desktop remained pretty much the same – monitor, CPU tower, keyboard, mouse, AVR/UPS. That is, until Apple came out with the first iMac in 1998. But when they did, the number of all-in-one desktops rose.

TV is dead. That is the premise behind Flippish (http://www.flippish.com), the first online video channel in the Philippines. No, this isn't just the Philippine equivalent of YouTube; Flippish has more in common with our local TV networks, since it produces original video content. The only differences, of course, are that their platform of choice is the Internet and not broadcast TV.

Greener gadgets? No, that's not an oxymoron. The technology industry isn't exactly known for its environmental friendliness. While some tech companies make it to the Guide of Greener Electronics list for their eco-responsibility, some still rank low in the charts. Plus, with our fast, consumerist lifestyle, constant upgrades in products and features are made every few months.