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Shiny things

This page has some information about the gadgets that keep me occupied and entertained. I'm such a sucker for gadgets and shiny technology.

MY POTENTIAL NEXT PURCHASE(S)

• Not strictly a gadget, but never mind: Ducti wallets look fun, in a stupid sort of way. They're basically wallets made out of duct tape (gaffa tape to some people). The main problem with most of them is they tend not to have coin pockets. I have now discovered that they do one with space for coins, so it may well be mine sooner or later.

• As well as wallets, they do all sorts of bags, and a couple of watches too. I rather like the bag with "High Voltage" tape on it.

• I have recently bought a dock for my iPod. It's black to match, and seems to do the job as well as I need it to. I looked at all sorts of docks & speaker things, and eventually bought a Logic3 MIP116K. It was a bargain, and means my iPod stays charged, synced, and connected to my hifi, all at the same time. And it has a remote control so I don't have to get up to play stuff!

• I currently own a Palm Tungsten T5. This is the fourth Palm handheld I've owned. Not because they broke, but because they keep introducing better models, so I keep upgrading! I started off with a Palm Pilot Professional. Next, I bought a Palm Pilot IIIx. I couldn't resist the Palm Tungsten T when they came out. And then they invented the Palm Tungsten T5. I love it - address book, diary, games, ebooks, all sorts of things!

• I've lost track of the PCs I've owned over the last 8 years or so. The last but one was an HP Pavilion. My current desktop is a custom built PC based on the Shuttle xPC form factor. It seemed a good thing when I got it a couple of years ago, as it's only the size of a shoebox, but it seems to overheat. It's recently developed a couple of other problems, so I don't use it so much now.
• Last year, I decided to get myself a laptop. I browsed around, and bought myself an Acer Aspire 3502WLMi. Really good for what I want to use it for, with no problems with the built-in wireless networking. The hard drive is a bit small, but I've put an old drive in an enclosure, and use that as an external drive if I need to.

• I recently got hacked off with my Lexmark X74, and decided to buy a printer that would come up with decent photos. In the end, I chose a Canon Pixma 5200. Really good prints, individual colour cartridges (hooray!!), and it looks good too.
• I also managed to end up with a free HP Photosmart 325, with bluetooth adaptor, when I got my new phone last year (see below). I would never have gone out and bought one, but it's been quite useful really.

• Like my PDA, I change my phone quite quickly. Back in 1997, I got a Motorola Memphis. Not bad for the time, but almost clockwork by today's standards! I've been through various Nokias (including the 3330, and the 3650), and had a Siemens M35 at one point too. I now have a Sony Ericsson K750i, which is a great phone.

• For years when I was a kid, I had an Agfa camera, that I think took the old 126 films. I've had a few different compact cameras since then, including a Kodak APS one. Several years ago, I was given a Pentax MZ-50 SLR camera, which was really good. But I never seemed to take enough photos to use up a film in a reasonable amount of time. I've still got it, in case I get a bit more interested in photography.
• Several years ago, I decided that digital photography was the way to go, and so I bought myself a Pentax Optio 230. It was ok, but ate batteries really quickly, and was really quite noisy. Early last year, I thought it was time to upgrade, and eventually got myself a Canon Powershot G6. It may be a bit big, but I think it's a really good camera. Had no problems with it at all, and have been  merrily snapping photos of all sorts of things with it.

• When I first bought a MP3 player, I opted for a 60GB Creative Zen Xtra. This was all fine and dandy, until the end of last year. I tried to update it, but the software released by Creative completely killed the player. I don't know what the problem was, but I'm not the only person to have been affected. Anyway, it hacked me off, and put me off having another Creative MP3 player.
• So I ended up getting a 60GB 5th generation Apple iPod. The one that plays video. I haven't worked out how to do everything, but so far, so good. Although I wouldn't have upgraded my original player if it hadn't broken, the iPod isn't such a bad replacement. There's just a couple of niggly differences.

• I like going out in my car. Unfortunately, I don't always know where I'm going, or how to get there. So I got a GPS unit - a Garmin eMap. It's fairly old now, but it works fine for what I want. So now, not only do I know where I want to get to, I also know where I am to start with.

• I happened to be looking at a few sites that I have bought gadgets from in the past, and found something that made me giggle. What is it? It's a bunny! But no ordinary carrot-crunching rodent is this - it's called Nabaztag, and it's talks to the internet to do all kinds of clever things. It's a talking alarm clock, it can tell you the news, air quality, weather forecast, traffic, and gives email alerts. It has moods, and talks, plays sounds, lights up, and moves it's ears. And it looks so damned adorable! Have a look: http://www.nabaztag.com

• Possibly the most gadgety gadget (Nabaztag aside) I own is a Nokia SU-1B Digital Pen. I got it when I was Secretary of a local group, to save writing and rewriting the minutes. With some extra software, it synchronises with my PC or laptop, and then converts my illegible scrawls into text and puts it into Microsoft Word for me to edit. Marvellous!