I heard about Microsoft’s acquisition while I was still bleary-eyed and uncaffeinated. So my brain ran down a few blind alleys trying to figure out how I could parlay that basket of old Nokia equipment up in our deprecated tech cupboard* into some serious money.

I’ll say this, though: the Nokia 5190 was genuinely life-altering. Long battery life, excellent signal quality, the game “Snake”… combined, those features freed me from my desk for the first time. I’m prepared to make the case that this is where the mobile revolution truly began.

I wouldn’t be surprised, by the way, if there is in fact a hoax circulating about Microsoft paying big bucks for old Nokia handsets. For any of a dozen possible reasons, tech hoaxes are especially virulent — from the old modem tax to the “Obamaphone” myth. Let me know if you spot one. (I’d offer a signed print to the first confirmed sighting, except… oh, just Google “perverse incentives.”)

* By which I mean “one of our many deprecated tech cupboards”.