Well, its Thanksgiving time here in the U.S. and while I often use the show to give hell to
technologies that don't cut it, this is not one of these times. These are my Top 5 technologies
we should be thankful for, that make your life and mine better every day.
#5 USB drives. Yep, the lowly thumb drive. It holds so much, costs so little and unlike portable
hard drives mounts on Macs and PC's without hassle. Even in this day of pervasive connectivity
it's still often the easiest way to move a file, especially a big one.
#4 Cheap computers. Remember when a PC was a big spend? And a laptop an exclusive luxury?
Now a computer is almost a impulse buy. For most people any of the $400 boxes are more than
they'll need for years of use. And specs, who cares -- they're all perfectly good unless you're
doing something intensive.
#3 Geo everything. We take it for granted. PND's are dirt cheap, smartphones have turn by
turn nav, Google, Mapquest, Bing put us all in front of a cartography workstation that only the
Feds had a decade ago ... and don't forget the photo imagery from satellite to birds eye to
street view. It's a good time to be lost.
#2 Camera phones. They have changed the nature of photography. Capturing anything
anywhere, still or video, is second nature and sharing it with one or the world is just about as
easy, all from your phone. This has had huge benefits in terms of citizen journalism, social
networking and restaurant reviews!
Before we get to the #1 tech I'm thankful for, here's the #1 I wish we had: An actual mute
SWITCH on every phone. I can't tell you how many people I see o you see fumbling around a
menu for the silent mode while they're phone interrupts at a movie, restaurant or meeting.
#1 Wireless. Between Wi-Fi and 3G, we are fast approaching the always on lifestyle. It makes
just about everything else on this list better. And while 3G can be unconscionably pricey, Wi-Fi
is often free. And think of the number of cool home electronics you simply would not take
advantage of if you had to run an Ethernet cable to it.
For more Top 5s like this, head on over to top5.cnet.com. I�m Brian Cooley, thanks for watching.
