Sometimes I try to take a more clear-eyed and/or cynical view of new gadgetry. Because as neat as something is, as advanced as its technology may be, as much fun as you might have with it, it’s still a company trying to separate you from your dollars.

The latest dollar crowbar is the Cr-48 (catchy name, Google!) from Google. It’s a tablet computer coming out, they say, around the middle of next year. It comes with cellular data capability and Verizon will offer 100mb of data free per month for the first two years. If you want to use more than that – and oh, you will – they’ll have tiered or metered pricing. Also, it will run on the new Chrome OS and not Android. Should be cool to see what that’s all about.