Before the cell phone merged with the PDA and the “mobile web” meant much of anything, there was Modo: the first wireless lifestyle device. Released in September 2000 by a SF-based startup called Scout Electromedia, Modo was the anti-Palm Pilot: a clever, irreverent city guide aimed at the 18-34 year old set. Each night, as if by magic, it would download a new batch of content through Motorola’s pager network.

Unlike Vindigo, which was designed to help you find specific information about stuff you knew existed, Modo delivered timely, insider tips on the things you wished you knew about, like restaurant and gallery openings, indie concerts and hipster loft parties. What’s more, Modo was actually an entertaining, unpretentious read. Each “post” was by-lined by a real person with a distinct angle. And though the technology limited their work to a few paragraphs each day, it also kept it tight and relevant—leaving you hungry for the next installment. Kind of like the way a blog should be.

But it was Modo’s design that really set it apart. Though the iPhone is sleek, elegant and precise, Modo was in some ways more revolutionary: Shaped like an upside-down teardrop and coated in soft, colorful rubber, holding it felt truly organic, which is not a word I’m accustomed to using to describe technology.

Sold mostly in clothing stores and boutiques, Modo cost $95 dollars and there was no service fee. A casualty of the dot-com bust, Scout barely extended the service to SF and LA before their financial backers pulled the rug out from under them. I owned a Modo for approximately a month before it became an incredibly attractive paperweight, and luckily, I still have it today.

For more on this topic, check out the Modo tribute page.