In today’s world of hot gadgets and breaking software, it can be confusing as to what is practical to have and what is a lot of flash with little real functionality. In order to try to separate the brands from the functions, we are trying a different approach here.
Instead of listing 10 great gadgets to have… we are describing our 10 favorite TYPES of gadgets. We try to make a case for why they are handy, and what kind of gadget you can find, since often you will find these things in different physical forms. With that said, on with the list.
Laptop or desktop computer
In today’s increasingly technological supported world, not being online tends to be the exception. From banking to shopping, online provides a way to do tasks from home that before required a trip out. Now you can get a lot accomplished without getting dressed or being out the gas money.
But that is not the only reason to have a computer. When it comes to research on all types of important and mundane issues, it is hard to beat an online computer. In fact, there is so much information available online on practically any topic that filtering skills are soon developed. Even small things, like TV show schedules and telephone numbers, are easy with a laptop.
Communications on a computer have moved from email to live voice to live video. With a small laptop incorporating a built in mic and camera you can stay in touch with business partners or loved ones. It is now simple to have a face to face conversation with that second party without having to travel to make it happen.
Then we can talk about the media available with a laptop. The typical online laptop can get on demand movies and TV shows that dwarfs cable systems of the past. Add to that an absolutely huge number of online radio stations and it is easy to see exactly why an online laptop is a very nice to have gadget.
Laptops do not come in a one size fits all size. If you travel or move around the house a lot, then a cost effective netbook might be a great choice. For the writer, a full size laptop with a generous full action keyboard might be the perfect ticket. And for the media lover, a large screen model with designer speakers could make for a dream system.
Portable Media Player
Practically everyone likes to listen to one form of music or another, and a portable media player makes it possible to take the tunes with you. With a player and a comfortable set of headphones you can transform the world into your private symphony. But Portable Media Players are good for much more than just that.
Portable players now also provide video for your enjoyment. Missed the latest episode of “Lost” or want to rent a new movie? It’s now possible with such portable media players as the iPhone or iPod Touch attached to a laptop running iTunes. Even your favorite videos and family home movies can be put on your portable player to enjoy privately or share with others.
Portable players open up a world of audio books that allow you to enjoy the latest works and favorite titles as you go about your activities. In fact, some titles can even be educational and you may even learn something along the way.
Speaking of learning something, iTunes University now offers an exhaustive array of audio and video titles for your continuing education. From actual college classes to more esoteric topics, it is now very possible to get a lot of knowledge from a Portable Media Player.
Portable Media Recorder
How can you put a price on memories? Well, there are times you can, but for family and private memories it’s nice to have those moments to look back on. This is when it’s nice to have a modern digital media recorder handy. Whether it is a straight digital camera or a digital video recorder, having a small but capable recorder makes it easy to capture those fleeting moments.
They also make taking notes a snap, and many forms of desktop software (Microsoft OneNote, others) will even translate your spoken words to text. As for taking notes from a white board or an expressive presenter, a video recording lets you capture the whole picture. Even a simple picture can be worth, well, a thousand words when it comes to flow diagrams.
Today we have portable media recorders in many different forms. Many smartphones, such as the iPhone and the Android family of phones, offer different means of recording audio and video. Even multi use players such as the iPod Nano now records audio and video, making it great for note taking.
Stand alone dedicated units offer good performance with extreme ease of use. Point and shoot video recorders such as the offerings from Kodak and Flip give a solid picture with a relatively modest price tag… great for uploading your videos to YouTube.
Smart Phone
If I had to pick one gadget I’d hate to lose… I’d choose a SmartPhone hands down. Not only can they do practically everything on this list, but new software (which is appearing daily on the iTunes AppStore and its competitors) can take the unit in a bold new direction, providing functions that to this point required a dedicated device.
Now, a converged device is definitely not for everyone. And you could argue that a dedicated device will more than likely do a better job since it was designed for that specific task. But in some applications the smartphone can now do a great job, and it allows you to carry only one device to do many jobs.
Smartphones also become a portable research device perfect for any number of applications. From party trivia to replacement part research on the job, an online smartphone with a browser opens up a world of information.
I have taken it even one step further, and kept a recent copy of Wikipedia on the device itself for offline access on a Windows Mobile device. Since then the connections have gotten better to the point where offline access is not such a concern – but I do have a copy just in case. The implementation is not as robust as the TR3 reader version was, but it beats nothing on a camping trip.
A few of our favorite smart phones over the years have included Pocket PCs (now monikered, poorly in my opinion, Windows Mobile), Blackberry devices, various Java based units, and more. But currently we like the app rich iPhone and the new but exciting Google Nexus One (and all Android based smart phones, for that matter).
I can’t wait to see what Windows Mobile 7 is bringing to the table, but for now I can only imagine as Apple and Google grab my attention, along with millions of others.
One thing is certain, regardless of the brand – a modern smartphone is a very powerful device, bringing a lot of growing functionality in a small, mostly easy to use package. In a way, they’re a veritable magic wand of technological capabilities, and something very nice (and handy) to have.
Universal Remote
This one is more for the guys… but I think more and more women have taken over the remotes in their homes. In the average living room you can probably find many devices that ship with a remote control. From TVs and cable boxes to Blu-ray players and integrated amplifiers (no one says “stereos” anymore, do they?), each separate box can be made to do your bidding from the comfort of the couch or big comfy chair. But with all those remotes, how do you manage them all?
Well, outside of duct tape or various clever uses of velcro, a universal remote might be the best friend your media setup has. Instead of five or so remotes to juggle, a universal remote can herd the components into an orderly symphony of control.
The amount of control a universal remote offers appears to be directly related to its price tag. From universal remotes that now ship with cable boxes (such as the Comcast remote, which can control your TV and otherwise along with the cable box), to an Advanced Harmony Remote Control that not only controls many units, it can do so with a single press of a button. This kind of control and simplicity is definitely nice to have at your disposal.
GPS
I have been fascinated by GPS devices for quite a while now. I’ve seen them progress from the dashboard and into your pocket. Today’s GPS units can not only take you across country or to grandma’s house… it can also show you all the cookie and fuel spots along the way. And if you get tangled up with the Big Bad Wolf on the journey, most will dynamically re-route you over the river and through the woods.
You can find a GPS in a stand-alone package, such as the Tom Tom or Garmin Nuvi units, and they offer door to door guidance. You can also find smartphones, such as the iPhone and the Android phones, which incorporate a GPS into their design. With the embedded GPS, the smartphones can offer varying GPS device capabilities. The iPhone, for example, will automatically geotag each picture it takes, which then can be viewed on a map when uploaded to iPhoto. The Google Nexus One offers strong default mapping that will show you locations of various traveling resources.
Augmented Reality applications are an extension of GPS technology which overlays a live picture with various location data, and it is quite slick to use. Currently Augmented Reality is stronger on the smartphone devices, but Tom Tom and others are rumored to have dedicated AR units in development.
eReaders
The printed word is as strong as it ever was, but a lot of times it isn’t printed anymore. Instead, many books are now completely digital in nature, and they offer many advantages over their physical counterparts. For example, you can fit literally thousands of ebooks in a space smaller than that of a single paperback. You can also do content searches on ebooks that would be next to impossible with the printed form. And instead of driving to the bookstore to pick up the newest best seller you can just download it in the comfort of your own home (or wherever you may be).
Of course, these advantages are offset by a requirement, and that is a simple one – you must have something to read them on. Until the cortex data ports are installed in most humans, a good ebook reader can be the best friend an avid reader can have.
The ebook reader can, as with everything else on this list, come in a number of different forms. The most obvious is a dedicated ebook reader, and here you will find the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes and Noble Nook, The Sony Readers, and more. These types of readers favor easy on the eyes electronic ink over color splash. And the displays allow you to take them practically anywhere with a very low power requirement. A lot of ereaders even have their own connection to a store front, allowing you to download directly to the device and avoiding the computer middleman.
eReaders can also be software in nature, made to run on both personal computers and mobile devices. For example, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble offer free ereader software versions that run on laptops and iPhones. With the Amazon Kindle version of the software you can even split your time between computer, smartphone, and standalone reader without even losing your place – the software syncs automatically.
Outside of the convenience of having many, many ebooks at your disposal in a comfortable reader, there is another advantage – book price. New titles often sell for $9.99, quite a bit cheaper than the hardcover version of the same book. Cheaper books prices and ease of portability and storage makes eReaders a very nice gadget to own in whatever form you prefer.
Portable TV or Streaming media player
Broadcast TV is by no means dead, but it is not the heavyweight it once was. However, there is still a lot of great content out there to make it worthwhile to carry a portable TV. The digital upgrade to our television services has given to new life, with many stations having multiple channels that supplement the main channel. This additional content often takes the form of dedicated weather and news channels, keeping you more informed than ever. The great digital picture is not harmed by the fact that it is usually free.
One step beyond that is streaming digital TV services, which offer more selection than typically found in a given broadcast area. You can even find on demand choices, giving you control of your viewing choices even as you are out and about. For example, FLO TV (http://www.flotv.com) is such a service that, for a monthly fee, gives you access to many channels of media. And, as it seems to be the theme here, you can experience FloTV with either a dedicated personal device or on a smartphone. Wireless carriers also offer similar services for many of their smart phones, and I really expect the channels available with digital streaming services to expand as time goes on.
Even streaming your own TV from home is a great option, thanks to devices such as the slingbox. On a lot of mobile devices (such as Windows Mobile), you can be out and about and yet stay connected to your home based TV channels. The hardware connects to software on the device and streams all of your content directly to your pocket live. Unfortunately on the iPhone the software is not allowed to stream over the 3G signal, something that we hope changes soon as AT&T build up their infrastructure.
Whatever your form of TV/streaming media on the go is, it offers a very convenient way of staying informed and up to date with your favorites without the need of scheduling life around a living room near you. That sounds like a handy gadget for anyone that likes TV.
Portable gaming device
By looking at the number of consoles and game titles out there, it appears that a LOT of people like gaming. But gaming is not something tied to a home console any more. Instead, a lot of gamers are finding a pocket device to be perfect for their entertainment needs. Dedicated game devices, such as the uber popular Nintendo DSi and Sony PSP, offer a quality gaming experience in a portable form.
But it doesn’t require dedicated hardware to provide a good gaming platform. Convergence devices, such as the iPod Touch and iPhone, provide stable and capable gaming muscle that have fast growing libraries that cover any number of gaming types. While these types of devices may not have the same quality of input control as the dedicated units, they offer the advantage that they will probably be in your pocket at your convenience.
As more research on mental acuity is done, it shows that playing a challenging game on occasion may be just the ticket to keep your mind sharp. With that taken into consideration, a portable gaming device might be a very nice gadget to have handy when you find yourself waiting for someone.
Calculator or (even better) a Portable Spreadsheet
I am probably going old school a bit with this suggestion, but it is hard to beat a handy portable calculator when you need to do some numbers. From a small calculator you can find in a checkbook to a scientific version as a standalone device or on a smartphone, it is hard to beat a calculator when dealing with the real world.
Beyond a calculator, a spreadsheet that you can carry in your pocket is my own personal favorite. With just such a device I can stay on top of many things, from financial to physics (and physical) applications, and run what-ifs until I am content with the outcome. Being able to do that makes a simple calculator or pocket spreadsheet a very nice kind of gadget to have. Although, to this day, I cannot understand why no one has brought out the dedicated stand alone spreadsheet device.
Despite the brand names and even implementation approaches, here we have 10 types of gadgets that we believe are a great thing to have at your disposal. Some are tools, and some are just fun, but in the end they all can work together or separate to make us more capable, informed, and better at what we do in our lives. Are they must-have gadgets? No. But they ARE nice to have gadgets.
In today’s world of hot gadgets and breaking software, it can be confusing as to what is practical to have and what is a lot of flash with little real functionality. In order to try to separate the brands from the functions, we are trying a different approach here.
Instead of listing 10 great gadgets to have… we are describing our 10 favorite TYPES of gadgets. We try to make a case for why they are handy, and what kind of gadget you can find, since often you will find these things in different physical forms. With that said, on with the list.
Laptop or desktop computer
In today’s increasingly technological supported world, not being online tends to be the exception. From banking to shopping, online provides a way to do tasks from home that before required a trip out. Now you can get a lot accomplished without getting dressed or being out the gas money.
But that is not the only reason to have a computer. When it comes to research on all types of important and mundane issues, it is hard to beat an online computer. In fact, there is so much information available online on practically any topic that filtering skills are soon developed. Even small things, like TV show schedules and telephone numbers, are easy with a laptop.
Communications on a computer have moved from email to live voice to live video. With a small laptop incorporating a built in mic and camera you can stay in touch with business partners or loved ones. It is now simple to have a face to face conversation with that second party without having to travel to make it happen.
Then we can talk about the media available with a laptop. The typical online laptop can get on demand movies and TV shows that dwarfs cable systems of the past. Add to that an absolutely huge number of online radio stations and it is easy to see exactly why an online laptop is a very nice to have gadget.
Laptops do not come in a one size fits all size. If you travel or move around the house a lot, then a cost effective netbook might be a great choice. For the writer, a full size laptop with a generous full action keyboard might be the perfect ticket. And for the media lover, a large screen model with designer speakers could make for a dream system.
Portable Media Player
Practically everyone likes to listen to one form of music or another, and a portable media player makes it possible to take the tunes with you. With a player and a comfortable set of headphones you can transform the world into your private symphony. But Portable Media Players are good for much more than just that.
Portable players now also provide video for your enjoyment. Missed the latest episode of “Lost” or want to rent a new movie? It’s now possible with such portable media players as the iPhone or iPod Touch attached to a laptop running iTunes. Even your favorite videos and family home movies can be put on your portable player to enjoy privately or share with others.
Portable players open up a world of audio books that allow you to enjoy the latest works and favorite titles as you go about your activities. In fact, some titles can even be educational and you may even learn something along the way.
Speaking of learning something, iTunes University now offers an exhaustive array of audio and video titles for your continuing education. From actual college classes to more esoteric topics, it is now very possible to get a lot of knowledge from a Portable Media Player.
Portable Media Recorder
How can you put a price on memories? Well, there are times you can, but for family and private memories it’s nice to have those moments to look back on. This is when it’s nice to have a modern digital media recorder handy. Whether it is a straight digital camera or a digital video recorder, having a small but capable recorder makes it easy to capture those fleeting moments.
They also make taking notes a snap, and many forms of desktop software (Microsoft OneNote, others) will even translate your spoken words to text. As for taking notes from a white board or an expressive presenter, a video recording lets you capture the whole picture. Even a simple picture can be worth, well, a thousand words when it comes to flow diagrams.
Today we have portable media recorders in many different forms. Many smartphones, such as the iPhone and the Android family of phones, offer different means of recording audio and video. Even multi use players such as the iPod Nano now records audio and video, making it great for note taking.
Stand alone dedicated units offer good performance with extreme ease of use. Point and shoot video recorders such as the offerings from Kodak and Flip give a solid picture with a relatively modest price tag… great for uploading your videos to YouTube.
Smart Phone
If I had to pick one gadget I’d hate to lose… I’d choose a SmartPhone hands down. Not only can they do practically everything on this list, but new software (which is appearing daily on the iTunes AppStore and its competitors) can take the unit in a bold new direction, providing functions that to this point required a dedicated device.
Now, a converged device is definitely not for everyone. And you could argue that a dedicated device will more than likely do a better job since it was designed for that specific task. But in some applications the smartphone can now do a great job, and it allows you to carry only one device to do many jobs.
Smartphones also become a portable research device perfect for any number of applications. From party trivia to replacement part research on the job, an online smartphone with a browser opens up a world of information.
I have taken it even one step further, and kept a recent copy of Wikipedia on the device itself for offline access on a Windows Mobile device. Since then the connections have gotten better to the point where offline access is not such a concern – but I do have a copy just in case. The implementation is not as robust as the TR3 reader version was, but it beats nothing on a camping trip.
A few of our favorite smart phones over the years have included Pocket PCs (now monikered, poorly in my opinion, Windows Mobile), Blackberry devices, various Java based units, and more. But currently we like the app rich iPhone and the new but exciting Google Nexus One (and all Android based smart phones, for that matter).
I can’t wait to see what Windows Mobile 7 is bringing to the table, but for now I can only imagine as Apple and Google grab my attention, along with millions of others.
One thing is certain, regardless of the brand – a modern smartphone is a very powerful device, bringing a lot of growing functionality in a small, mostly easy to use package. In a way, they’re a veritable magic wand of technological capabilities, and something very nice (and handy) to have.
Universal Remote
This one is more for the guys… but I think more and more women have taken over the remotes in their homes. In the average living room you can probably find many devices that ship with a remote control. From TVs and cable boxes to Blu-ray players and integrated amplifiers (no one says “stereos” anymore, do they?), each separate box can be made to do your bidding from the comfort of the couch or big comfy chair. But with all those remotes, how do you manage them all?
Well, outside of duct tape or various clever uses of velcro, a universal remote might be the best friend your media setup has. Instead of five or so remotes to juggle, a universal remote can herd the components into an orderly symphony of control.
The amount of control a universal remote offers appears to be directly related to its price tag. From universal remotes that now ship with cable boxes (such as the Comcast remote, which can control your TV and otherwise along with the cable box), to an Advanced Harmony Remote Control that not only controls many units, it can do so with a single press of a button. This kind of control and simplicity is definitely nice to have at your disposal.
GPS
I have been fascinated by GPS devices for quite a while now. I’ve seen them progress from the dashboard and into your pocket. Today’s GPS units can not only take you across country or to grandma’s house… it can also show you all the cookie and fuel spots along the way. And if you get tangled up with the Big Bad Wolf on the journey, most will dynamically re-route you over the river and through the woods.
You can find a GPS in a stand-alone package, such as the Tom Tom or Garmin Nuvi units, and they offer door to door guidance. You can also find smartphones, such as the iPhone and the Android phones, which incorporate a GPS into their design. With the embedded GPS, the smartphones can offer varying GPS device capabilities. The iPhone, for example, will automatically geotag each picture it takes, which then can be viewed on a map when uploaded to iPhoto. The Google Nexus One offers strong default mapping that will show you locations of various traveling resources.
Augmented Reality applications are an extension of GPS technology which overlays a live picture with various location data, and it is quite slick to use. Currently Augmented Reality is stronger on the smartphone devices, but Tom Tom and others are rumored to have dedicated AR units in development.
eReaders
The printed word is as strong as it ever was, but a lot of times it isn’t printed anymore. Instead, many books are now completely digital in nature, and they offer many advantages over their physical counterparts. For example, you can fit literally thousands of ebooks in a space smaller than that of a single paperback. You can also do content searches on ebooks that would be next to impossible with the printed form. And instead of driving to the bookstore to pick up the newest best seller you can just download it in the comfort of your own home (or wherever you may be).
Of course, these advantages are offset by a requirement, and that is a simple one – you must have something to read them on. Until the cortex data ports are installed in most humans, a good ebook reader can be the best friend an avid reader can have.
The ebook reader can, as with everything else on this list, come in a number of different forms. The most obvious is a dedicated ebook reader, and here you will find the Amazon Kindle, the Barnes and Noble Nook, The Sony Readers, and more. These types of readers favor easy on the eyes electronic ink over color splash. And the displays allow you to take them practically anywhere with a very low power requirement. A lot of ereaders even have their own connection to a store front, allowing you to download directly to the device and avoiding the computer middleman.
eReaders can also be software in nature, made to run on both personal computers and mobile devices. For example, both Amazon and Barnes and Noble offer free ereader software versions that run on laptops and iPhones. With the Amazon Kindle version of the software you can even split your time between computer, smartphone, and standalone reader without even losing your place – the software syncs automatically.
Outside of the convenience of having many, many ebooks at your disposal in a comfortable reader, there is another advantage – book price. New titles often sell for $9.99, quite a bit cheaper than the hardcover version of the same book. Cheaper books prices and ease of portability and storage makes eReaders a very nice gadget to own in whatever form you prefer.
Portable TV or Streaming media player
Broadcast TV is by no means dead, but it is not the heavyweight it once was. However, there is still a lot of great content out there to make it worthwhile to carry a portable TV. The digital upgrade to our television services has given to new life, with many stations having multiple channels that supplement the main channel. This additional content often takes the form of dedicated weather and news channels, keeping you more informed than ever. The great digital picture is not harmed by the fact that it is usually free.
One step beyond that is streaming digital TV services, which offer more selection than typically found in a given broadcast area. You can even find on demand choices, giving you control of your viewing choices even as you are out and about. For example, FLO TV (http://www.flotv.com) is such a service that, for a monthly fee, gives you access to many channels of media. And, as it seems to be the theme here, you can experience FloTV with either a dedicated personal device or on a smartphone. Wireless carriers also offer similar services for many of their smart phones, and I really expect the channels available with digital streaming services to expand as time goes on.
Even streaming your own TV from home is a great option, thanks to devices such as the slingbox. On a lot of mobile devices (such as Windows Mobile), you can be out and about and yet stay connected to your home based TV channels. The hardware connects to software on the device and streams all of your content directly to your pocket live. Unfortunately on the iPhone the software is not allowed to stream over the 3G signal, something that we hope changes soon as AT&T build up their infrastructure.
Whatever your form of TV/streaming media on the go is, it offers a very convenient way of staying informed and up to date with your favorites without the need of scheduling life around a living room near you. That sounds like a handy gadget for anyone that likes TV.
Portable gaming device
By looking at the number of consoles and game titles out there, it appears that a LOT of people like gaming. But gaming is not something tied to a home console any more. Instead, a lot of gamers are finding a pocket device to be perfect for their entertainment needs. Dedicated game devices, such as the uber popular Nintendo DSi and Sony PSP, offer a quality gaming experience in a portable form.
But it doesn’t require dedicated hardware to provide a good gaming platform. Convergence devices, such as the iPod Touch and iPhone, provide stable and capable gaming muscle that have fast growing libraries that cover any number of gaming types. While these types of devices may not have the same quality of input control as the dedicated units, they offer the advantage that they will probably be in your pocket at your convenience.
As more research on mental acuity is done, it shows that playing a challenging game on occasion may be just the ticket to keep your mind sharp. With that taken into consideration, a portable gaming device might be a very nice gadget to have handy when you find yourself waiting for someone.
Calculator or (even better) a Portable Spreadsheet
I am probably going old school a bit with this suggestion, but it is hard to beat a handy portable calculator when you need to do some numbers. From a small calculator you can find in a checkbook to a scientific version as a standalone device or on a smartphone, it is hard to beat a calculator when dealing with the real world.
Beyond a calculator, a spreadsheet that you can carry in your pocket is my own personal favorite. With just such a device I can stay on top of many things, from financial to physics (and physical) applications, and run what-ifs until I am content with the outcome. Being able to do that makes a simple calculator or pocket spreadsheet a very nice kind of gadget to have. Although, to this day, I cannot understand why no one has brought out the dedicated stand alone spreadsheet device.
Despite the brand names and even implementation approaches, here we have 10 types of gadgets that we believe are a great thing to have at your disposal. Some are tools, and some are just fun, but in the end they all can work together or separate to make us more capable, informed, and better at what we do in our lives. Are they must-have gadgets? No. But they ARE nice to have gadgets.
Related posts:
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- News and Links for February 1st 2010
- News for 1-7-10- CES 2010 Edition
- News and Links for Tuesday March 9th 2010
- News and Links for February 12th 2010
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