Entertainment For Lively Minds
Which is your favourite gadget?
As I sit at my desk and contemplate - from r to l - my iPod Classic (music), my iPod Touch (PDA & games), my Kindle (books), my iPad (media & internet) and my iMac, I am beginning to wonder if I am over-gadgeted!
Then I began to reflect on all the gadgets I have had over the years and wonder which was my favourite. On balance it has to be this:
The Psion Series 5; a way-before-it's-time PDA which allowed text origination and editing, database management, email, diary, contacts, etc. All controlled via a very usable keyboard and a touch sensitive screen. The clamshell design closed with a satisfying certainty and they looked so cool. I loved mine - all three of them - and was heartbroken when they became obsolete. Still miss them to this day!
Other nominations?
(Apologies if we have done this before)
- More from Gavin Adam.
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Palm V
I had the first Psion. Bit of a brick. Then a Palm 3. Better. Then a V - perfect. Synchronised in seconds, the script entry worked a dream. Dead fast. Reliable, till the screen needed re calibrating. I loved it.
The bed...
...or the toilet, I reckon.
Not forgetting the bath.
I was happy enough with my Psion3a
But my favourite gadget probably doesn't count because it still works and still gets used sometimes - the iRiver iHP-120 mp3 player
20GB of storage, plays WAV/MP3/WMA/OGG, optical line in and out, can record and encode mp3 on the fly, radio, remote...
Only got superseded when I moved to a solid state one after some cycling-related hard drive lockups.
The Mag-Lite comes a close second though.
I had one too
(It was never the same after I dropped it at New Cross station.)
Feature-wise it was way ahead of the iPod, but it was an ugly thing and the user controls were horrible. But I was fond of mine too; it was really good at recording interviews.
I'm the least gadgety person I know
But I do love my iPhone and iPod classic .
...
Portable mini-disc player.
I loved mine but the Sony software was a pain in the ass!
I still use it sometimes. Usually when I open a drawer, find it and say; "Jesus, I used to love this!"
The door gave a satisfying "spriiing" when opened.
I'm a newbie, go easy on me...
same for me
MDs had amazing digital recording capabilities and manipulation possibilities.
Far ahead of CD burning.
I've still got my Psion
It doesn't work properly, but it's so solid and chunky, I can't throw it out. My favourite gadget is usually the one I've just bought, which is currently my iPhone.
My Nokia 8310
My favourite ever phone. Had an FM radio, infra-red and the battery used to last for days on end. And it was tiny.
The walkman
Obviously somewhat outdated, but I'm not sure that any gizmo has even given me so much pleasure. Replaced by discmans and iPods in the usual way of things, but I still have the last one I bought, and a few tapes for playing. And the original reason for making mixtapes.
iPhone.
By a mile. Before I had one - 2008 was my first - my phone was a phone. I used it to make calls and send texts.
It's no exaggeration to say that my iPhone changed my life and that I struggle to imagine daily life without it. It's an amazing thing. We're so blasé about this technology now that we forget that in 2007-8, no-one else was doing anything close to half as good. I think the mark of the iPhone's genius is that when I bought one for the resolutely un-gadgety Mrs B, it changed her life too. She still says its the best present she's ever had, ever. Like me, she can hardly remember life before it!
It's not perfect, but it is amazing. And it blows my mind that so many of us walk around with devices of such wonder in our pockets. We live in the future!
I was reminded of this forcibly...
...yesterday. On Monday afternoon some scrote on a bike tried to rob my phone outside the Tube station. He didn't get it. Anyway, there were two PCSOs nearby who took my details and yesterday I went to the police station to give my statement.
When Mr Scrote tried to rob my phone, I was writing an email. In the very brief struggle, the email got sent by accident, which allowed me to give a precise time for the incident. And while describing what happened to the very nice young PC, I was able to bring up Google Streetview and show her precisely where I was and how it all played out.
Anyway. I love my iPhone.
Not quite as dramatic, however
We had one of those phone calls you dread this morning. Father in law calls "don't panic but...". Turns out he is in hospital with a fractured skull, this is not what you want to hear from an elderly man. He lives in London we are in Derby. My beloved phone found the hospital address, arranged child care, sorted out the stuff that was on eBay (perfect timing as always) and then sat naved us into central London and back again. How the hell something this small is able to do that? Fortunately father in law is on the mend. It's been a long day.
We've got a Magic Wicker Basket in the bathroom.
I drop my dirty clothes in it and, a few days later, they re-appear in the wardrobe - washed, aired and ironed, all neatly laid out. I've no idea where Mrs. F got it from but it's marvellous!
Old technology.
I had one of them when I lived at home with my parents. It was brilliant.
It stopped working when I lived on my own.
Now I'm married, it seems to be working again.
Odd.
The Ronco
Buttoneer
Crazy name crazy gadget
Anyone remember...
...the smokeless ashtray (think it was Ronco)? It came in a tasteful brown-and-grey colour combo, it made a terrible noise and was made of plastic so the fag-end used to leave melt marks. But it DID get rid of the smoke. Can't seem to get them any more.
Rings a bell
I think an uncle had one, along with one of those ashtrays where a button pressed on the top was supposed to suck the ash into the tray, but in reality distributed evenly across every surface in a 3 metre radius.
If you Google smokeless ashtray there seem to be plenty still available.
Don't think mine...
...had a bell on it. ;}
The fanny magnet...
...or possibly my moral compass.
That type of magnet...
...works best when used with beer goggles.
for sheer "it just works" my Blackberry
in the home, the washing machine. My mother had a twin tub which smelled and waltzed around the kitchen when in use and although it was a step up from a dolly tub and mangle was still a major chore to use.
At work, Yamaha LS9 digital sound desk, replaces large heavy analogue mixing desk, 4 x graphic EQs, delay unit, CD player, flash card recorder, compressors with one compact flight case. This can also be controlled wirelessly with an ipad. How brilliant is that?
The Speedo Aquabeat MP3 Player
http://www.techfresh.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/speedo-iriver-mp3-pl...
Ipad
I don't have an iphone but do have a ipad. I have never been so in love with a gadget. It is a thing of wonder and great beauty. I may well go and caress it after I have finished posting this.
I had a similar crush on my Hitachi Ghetto blaster circa 1980. I remember walking along the promenade in Eastbourne with it. Carrying it was a sign of manliness because weaker people needed a trolley. They were that heavy. They needed about 300 large batteries, and these ran out after about 5 minutes. Unfortunately my right shoulder seems to be permanently disabled as a result.
I didn't really know what a ghetto was. I don't think we had them in Eastbourne.
The giant Hitachi ghetto blaster bestowed instant credibility upon its owner - or so I thought. I was ice cool; if the women weren't so intimidated by my coolness they would have been trailing me like I was the Pied Pier (the Pied Piper of women obviously, not the Pied Piper of rats, like the real one). "Look", they would say; "So handsome! Such good taste in music. He is even wearing a Remain in Light t-shirt. And look at that amazing ghetto blaster! If only he would notice me".
What a total plonker I was, and must have looked.
I had one as well. A TRK 8200E
I only filled it up with batteries once. It took me ages to save up enough to afford them and bloody hell it weighed a ton but using it to blast Rush at high volume around my school one afternoon was brilliant.
Ulp!
You are me. Or you were anyway. Strewth those monsters did eat batteries like the Cookie Monster devouring Ginger Nuts...