I've always been one for hi-tech gadgets, going way back to my HP-41C in middle school... now the gadgets have improved, as has my ability to collect them. I find Julie Strietelmeier particularly inspirational in this regard, so I've started keeping my own list, with comments if not full scale reviews. In part, this is also to keep discussions of some of this fun technology from cluttering online social groups with lengthy descriptions.
I've started noting drool-worthy gadgets in a blog of their own, even if I don't actually get them.
Tiny (7" screen) laptop, for the throw-in-shoulder-bag and go environment. Solidly built, I think it'll do well as my captioning machine, even if the keyboard is terribly small...
A 2Gig SD card, with a processor and wifi "behind" it... so
when it sees jpg files appear, it squirts them out via
the wireless, to your desktop or (through their proxy) to a
your choice of popular web gallery. So tiny! (Note that as of
2007-11-18 it isn't actually uploading to my old mac yet...)
Long narrow gutter-cleaning robot. Not actually a robot - "R/C tool" is probably more accurate. It doesn't entirely eliminate getting up on a ladder, but it cuts way down on what you have to do when you're up there.
This is "interesting" enough, especially compared to up-to-date gadgets, that it gets a special writeup.
18x zoom, with image stabilization - drool drool drool :-) This has gotten me up around 100 pictures a day, with gusts over 500...
Really, everything that I review or plan to, or at least have opinions on.
Strictly speaking, "cameras have lenses, phones don't" but it is better than the first three toy-cams on the above list...
the only swivel on the market, to replace the SL-300RT after cracking the viewscreen. Nice lens, too.
Mac Attack! Much of this is targeted at constructing a portable, personal, end-to-end video studio, but some of it is work-related, and some of it is just toys... Other information is mirrored here from my Rendezvous-exposed web pages.
Many of these already have photogalleries under "toys"...
No visible antenna, but neither do the GPS or the 6630. Operates on bluetooth and wifi.
Tiny GPS with long battery life, swappable batteries, external antenna option, bluetooth-serial data link; works with the Nokia 6630 and the 12" PowerBook doing straight NMEA, and fits in a pocket with other stuff.
All that and it runs python too! Eventually it will probably switch over to linux, but not until I've done some app development as-is.
(see below) this has a builtin 802.11 prism/pci card, as well as 10/100 ethernet.
As toys integrate with themselves, I've reduced what I wear significantly. Until cameraphones with decent zoom lenses and python support become available, the next shrinkage will probably be either finally building the Swiss Army Keychain or integrating all of the LED lights into a multi-mode emitter...
1 megapixel Camera Phone, 3G, Bluetooth, GPRS, Symbian Series 60, with the "amaretto" Python interpreter installed! I've written a number of small apps for it, and it caused me to stop carrying the iPaq 4155 (though I do still carry the Kyocera camera for "real" pictures.)
Internal and external pictures
Internal and external pictures
The Martian NetDrive is a cute little ITX box, shipping as a just-add-power fileserver. I've already deployed it as an OpenAFS fileserver, and have written detailed instructions on how you can do the same.
Note that the camera bracket was for the Canon cameras; it mounts directly on the SL300-RT, which is part of the reason I bouth that...
Sandisk first, but also an "OCZ" cheaper 2G stick; since they move from the camera straight to the Thinkpad (or Oqo) with no cables, they win on reducing the carried load.
I sold the Olds to someone in Concord who has the time, motivation, and skill to treat it properly (read: replace a lot of the drive train. The body is still solid, though.) I've been promised a photo-op and a "cruise night" trip once it is properly restored...
2003-11 through 2004-09 I drove one of these - made it one tankful shy of 200,000 miles (of course, it had over 190,000 when I bought it.) Very comfy ride, beautiful interior, powerful v12 - excessively complex braking and transmission which ultimately did it in. Also served to convince me that my next car should have a sunroof, and that commuting in the hummer was a gratuitous source of stress - fun on occasion, awesome in snow or blinding rain, but for day-to-day "boring" driving, I need a comfortable (or at least differently-interesting) alternative. update: the Mini Cooper is this alternative