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These products take home the statue
I know I've been really negative lately, killing off entire products and product categories left and right. I don't know what's wrong with me. Must be a token-blonde-female-editor thing. So enough with the funerals. I was looking over Mobile PC's truly awesome Top 100 Gadgets of All Time list (No. 29: the Clapper) and thinking of the Academy Awards, and I decided that, indeed, it's awards season. In that spirit of positive appreciation, I thought I'd declare some winners of my own--the products, software, and services I couldn't live without. It's proof that I don't hate everything, and it's also a good way to take inventory. For example, I now see the inescapable truth about my technology life. I need a new TV.
Best overall: iPod Mini (pink)
I actually just upgraded my iPod--or downgraded, in the storage sense. I ditched the 30GB, third-generation iPod for the 4GB iPod Mini (luckily, I did so exactly 13 days before the new Mini was announced, so CompUSA niftily refunded me $75 when it dropped the price to $179). It turns out that maximum gigabytes aren't the most important part of owning a hard drive-based MP3 player--at least not for me. I listen to only a portion of my music collection anyway, in the form of frequently updated, running-specific playlists, mood music for commuting, and audio books. The Mini is surprisingly gym-friendly, despite reports that the iPod skips while you're running. I've avoided that problem by using the optional armband accessory, which gives me an opening to say: Dear Apple, please bundle at least a few accessories with your products, would you? That thing shouldn't cost $20. Oh, and while I'm at it, I don't appreciate paying $19.99 for a dock-to-USB 2.0 cable for my old iPod, only to find out now that you're hanging your hat on USB. Oops, off-topic...
Best life director: Treo 600
I agree, it's easy for me to say handhelds are on the way out, because I use the alternative every day. My Treo makes calls, takes pictures, syncs with both my corporate and personal e-mail and calendar, lets me browse the Web, and can play back MP3s if I choose--and the onboard storage is expandable via SD card. Plus, my $15-per-month data plan from Sprint includes a big bucket of SMS messages, so I'm never the annoying person on the bus calling my spouse about dinner. I'm the one silently texting about dinner. As for the Treo 650, I'm in no hurry to upgrade. That thing seems too bulky for me, even though it's only a tiny bit bigger than the Treo 600. It sounds like Cingular's EDGE service is spotty, too, and the review unit I played with was a little on the buggy side.
Best life-changing gadget: TiVo
Yes, I'm one of them: a TiVo evangelist. I actually just upgraded to a Series2 TiVo after switching from the execrable Comcast to DirecTV. That was rough--we'd really made some, er, improvements (wireless networking, about 160GB of space, and so on) to our original TiVo, and had the foresight to buy lifetime service back in 2000. Nevertheless, while I thought the original TiVo changed my television life, I was completely unprepared for the miracle that is two tuners. Watching one show while another is paused, or recording two shows while watching yet a third show that's already recorded? It boggles the mind, really. One caveat: I do think that TiVo has actually increased the amount of television I want. It's almost too easy. Plus, I feel intense pressure to watch the shows I have recorded--it's like TiVo peer pressure. Still, you won't see me going back to the dark ages and suffering through commercials. Not a chance.
Best picture: Nikon D70
It's not often that you buy a gadget that lands you in school, but after my husband and I bought the Nikon D70, we swallowed our pride and went to an hour-long class on the camera. Good thing, too, or it would have taken us weeks to figure out how to turn off the flash. I exaggerate a bit, but this camera is a big step up from the point-and-shoot digital camera we were previously using (see next item), and the image quality is shockingly good. I anticipate future classes on how to avoid wasting its capabilities on pictures of cats and sunsets as seen from the back deck. But if you're shooting action, the D70 is a great choice because you can shoot multiple consecutive shots very, very quickly. I got some great photos of shooting off rockets with some friends and their kids, for example.
Best picture, round 2: Konica Minolta Dimage Xg
Speaking of overkill, you just don't want to lug an expensive, fragile, and heavy dSLR around to parties, hikes, or restaurants. Plus, I don't want to be that annoying person at the barbecue with the biggest camera and longest lens shoved in the face of some poor crying child. That's just rude. So we kept our trusty Dimage Xg, primarily because it's tiny and easy to carry, and its image quality is really quite good. As with most point-and-shoot cameras, though, the primary problem with the Dimage Xg is its slow shooting time--by the time you've taken the photo, the bird, baseball, or slow-moving blimp is out of the frame.
Best newcomer: Halo 2
I actually had an Xbox on my wedding registry, along with Halo 2. We got Halo 2, but we didn't get the Xbox. What were we supposed to do, return the game? Heck no. And boy, was that the right decision. Even though I'm a bit late to the Halo 2 party, it's the best possible way to blow off steam after a long day of reading angry TalkBacks. If only I had a wide-screen HDTV to really complete the experience. Maybe next year.
Best motion-sickness aid: Audible
I get a little queasy if I try to read a book on the bus, but even if I didn't, I'd still use Audible. In fact, when I used to commute almost three hours a day by car (the joys of urban living), I would have stopped a lot sooner without audio books, my iPod, and a tape adapter to keep me sane. I buy a yearlong bucket of books and just download a new one whenever I need it. The longer the better. One note: I find it's easier to listen to books that don't require a lot of thought, so I just read tougher tomes the old-fashioned way so that I can reread parts or absorb more. For some stellar listening, I recommend The Company: A Novel of the CIA (unabridged, of course, at just over 40 hours), by Robert Littell.
By Molly Wood, senior editor, CNET.com
Friday, February 25, 2005
I know I've been really negative lately, killing off entire products and product categories left and right. I don't know what's wrong with me. Must be a token-blonde-female-editor thing. So enough with the funerals. I was looking over Mobile PC's truly awesome Top 100 Gadgets of All Time list (No. 29: the Clapper) and thinking of the Academy Awards, and I decided that, indeed, it's awards season. In that spirit of positive appreciation, I thought I'd declare some winners of my own--the products, software, and services I couldn't live without. It's proof that I don't hate everything, and it's also a good way to take inventory. For example, I now see the inescapable truth about my technology life. I need a new TV.Best overall: iPod Mini (pink)
Any of these gadgets bring a familiar fondness to your heart? What can't you live without? Let me know!
Post your comment hereBest life director: Treo 600
I agree, it's easy for me to say handhelds are on the way out, because I use the alternative every day. My Treo makes calls, takes pictures, syncs with both my corporate and personal e-mail and calendar, lets me browse the Web, and can play back MP3s if I choose--and the onboard storage is expandable via SD card. Plus, my $15-per-month data plan from Sprint includes a big bucket of SMS messages, so I'm never the annoying person on the bus calling my spouse about dinner. I'm the one silently texting about dinner. As for the Treo 650, I'm in no hurry to upgrade. That thing seems too bulky for me, even though it's only a tiny bit bigger than the Treo 600. It sounds like Cingular's EDGE service is spotty, too, and the review unit I played with was a little on the buggy side.
Best life-changing gadget: TiVo
Yes, I'm one of them: a TiVo evangelist. I actually just upgraded to a Series2 TiVo after switching from the execrable Comcast to DirecTV. That was rough--we'd really made some, er, improvements (wireless networking, about 160GB of space, and so on) to our original TiVo, and had the foresight to buy lifetime service back in 2000. Nevertheless, while I thought the original TiVo changed my television life, I was completely unprepared for the miracle that is two tuners. Watching one show while another is paused, or recording two shows while watching yet a third show that's already recorded? It boggles the mind, really. One caveat: I do think that TiVo has actually increased the amount of television I want. It's almost too easy. Plus, I feel intense pressure to watch the shows I have recorded--it's like TiVo peer pressure. Still, you won't see me going back to the dark ages and suffering through commercials. Not a chance.
Best picture: Nikon D70
It's not often that you buy a gadget that lands you in school, but after my husband and I bought the Nikon D70, we swallowed our pride and went to an hour-long class on the camera. Good thing, too, or it would have taken us weeks to figure out how to turn off the flash. I exaggerate a bit, but this camera is a big step up from the point-and-shoot digital camera we were previously using (see next item), and the image quality is shockingly good. I anticipate future classes on how to avoid wasting its capabilities on pictures of cats and sunsets as seen from the back deck. But if you're shooting action, the D70 is a great choice because you can shoot multiple consecutive shots very, very quickly. I got some great photos of shooting off rockets with some friends and their kids, for example.
Best picture, round 2: Konica Minolta Dimage Xg
Speaking of overkill, you just don't want to lug an expensive, fragile, and heavy dSLR around to parties, hikes, or restaurants. Plus, I don't want to be that annoying person at the barbecue with the biggest camera and longest lens shoved in the face of some poor crying child. That's just rude. So we kept our trusty Dimage Xg, primarily because it's tiny and easy to carry, and its image quality is really quite good. As with most point-and-shoot cameras, though, the primary problem with the Dimage Xg is its slow shooting time--by the time you've taken the photo, the bird, baseball, or slow-moving blimp is out of the frame.
Best newcomer: Halo 2
I actually had an Xbox on my wedding registry, along with Halo 2. We got Halo 2, but we didn't get the Xbox. What were we supposed to do, return the game? Heck no. And boy, was that the right decision. Even though I'm a bit late to the Halo 2 party, it's the best possible way to blow off steam after a long day of reading angry TalkBacks. If only I had a wide-screen HDTV to really complete the experience. Maybe next year.
Best motion-sickness aid: Audible
I get a little queasy if I try to read a book on the bus, but even if I didn't, I'd still use Audible. In fact, when I used to commute almost three hours a day by car (the joys of urban living), I would have stopped a lot sooner without audio books, my iPod, and a tape adapter to keep me sane. I buy a yearlong bucket of books and just download a new one whenever I need it. The longer the better. One note: I find it's easier to listen to books that don't require a lot of thought, so I just read tougher tomes the old-fashioned way so that I can reread parts or absorb more. For some stellar listening, I recommend The Company: A Novel of the CIA (unabridged, of course, at just over 40 hours), by Robert Littell.
