Each week Joshua Fruhlinger contributes This is the Modem World, a column dedicated to exploring the culture of consumer technology. There are two gadget scents: one triggers happiness and anticipation, the other conjures up sadness and fear. The first arrives like an emotional bullet as we open the box. That plasticky odor wafts in with promised adventures, teases an initial power-up and floods us with curiosity and excitement. The second shows its ugly head when electronics give up the ghost. That smell -- you know that smell -- of melting c
