By Nick Summers
Personal digital assistants, or PDAs, have come a long way since Palm's Jeff Hawkins used a block of wood and imitation stylus (right) as a model during the development of the first Palm Pilot in 1996. Early competition among companies to be first with a breakthrough device has given way to spectacular advances. Today's models are also cell phones, satellite-coordinated maps, and game consoles--and can store many thousands of times the data of their predecessors, enough for whole music and movie collections. Now PDAs are so commonplace that it's not at all unusual to see someone carrying two: one for personal use, one issued by an employer.
