There's a lot of gadgets in the world these days - but whilst some are undoubtedly amazing and useful pieces of technology, a lot of them seem to me to be a complete waste of money (take WAP phones, for example).

My favourite gadgets would have to be my TiVo - it really has changed the way I watch TV - and my Philips Pronto remote control. Ironically, both of these were suggested by my better half; she managed to pick them out from the sea of useless technology and somehow convince me to actually buy them

Apart from obvious things like televisions, PCs and so on (which I don't class as gadgets - they're too common), what's your favourite gadget and why?

A.

 

Remote Control

Imagine with Sky digital ~ 200 channels having to flick through them manually!

 

I saw in T3 magazine a... flying car

Don't know the details but it was I want one

 

Digital cameras (but only really useful when used in conjunction with the internet).

 

Cordless electric screwdriver - what a gadget!

I also like my keyring tyre pressure thingy bob.

I'm also easy amused

 

Suunto Altimeter watch - literally saved my life!

 

I'm sure we did this recently, turned into TiVo vs Sky+ discussion!

Anyway, my vote is for TiVo too, alongside my Pronto remote of course, they are a great pair

 

My new iBook and 20gb iPod are flavours of the month right now.

 

My fav has to be the bright button in the car

 

Philips Pronto programmable Remote Control

Apparently some people manage to use sky who don't have little picture icons to tap to select the channel. I certainly couldn't be arsed to learn 200 different channel codes

Deano

 

I'll go for this replica ligh saber:

http://www.masterreplicas.com/starwa...saberflash.asp

Simon.

 

My DMK MP3 player:



Lives in my coat, gets used everywhere. I wouldn't have seen that much use from a Discman or Walkman.

 

Another vote for the Tivo closely folllowed by my Psion DAB tuner.
Funny thing to note is that neither are still sold....

 

the g/f's rampant rabbit

 

lol. Im hoping u dont mean u borrow it for personal use?

 

iPod defiantely.

Get one now! I've only got a 5Gb one (bought early last year) but it is the most useful and wonderful device I have ever used to play music. Bit scratched now, and battery only works for 3 hours before death (normal time is 10hrs) gives you an idea of how badly its been caned.

Without my iPod I get bored quickly on a journey! I need music almost 24/7 now!

mmmmm AlBook. 17" monitor mmmmmmm

 

nah it's my stand in for when there's a good game on or a big fight on TV - at the end of the day she can go off upstairs and leave me to more important matters

 

My Palm Pilot and no, it's isn't a w4nking machine.

 

any gadget that keeps the missus on the straight and narrow has to be a good thing

 

Damian: funny you should say that, an Archos Jukebox FM Recorder (20GB) arrived on my desk just this morning - several GB of heavy metal and industrial music are downloading to it right now

 

ACME Corner Finder.

 

Chris,

Just done a search for that MP3 player... where did you get it and how much? (didn't search that hard)

It's just what I'm looking for. My mini disc player is too bulky especially for summer use when I haven't a coat on. Plus I tend to listen to an album at a time for 3 or 4 days then switch...

Also can you run it off a Pc rather than a Mac. All the info seemed to relate to mac's.

Dave

 

Sold by 12Lee's company

http://shop.scoobynet.co.uk/Product.asp?ProductID=55
or
http://www.ihavetohave.it

 

The winner for me every time is Stereo controls on my car's steering wheel, absolutely invaluable............

 

Another vote for TiVo - with 240Gb

Thanks

Gavin

 

"Also can you run it off a Pc rather than a Mac. All the info seemed to relate to mac's."

iPod's now work with PC's as well as Macs. For more info, go to http://www.apple.com/uk/ipod/ (sorry don't know how to make clicky!)

 

Dave - Go for an iPod, you won't regret it!

The smaller mp3 players are good, but you'll get bored with it quite quickly having to change the songs on there all the time etc.

With the iPod you can basically stick your whole music collection on there...

 

Andy,

What would you say was the benefit of the iPod over, say, the Archos Studio 20 (£210) or Creative Nomad Zen (£300), both of which do the same job for less?

Personally I went for the Archos FM Recorder (£250) because it combines the speed of USB 2.0 and the flexibility of appearing simply as a hard disc, rather than needing any special software. It also has a few hardware improvements over the Studio 20 - better sound quality being the most important to me. It's about the same size as a personal cassette player (remember those?), so it fits in a pocket nicely.

A.

 

having spent The last 6 months diy'ing and decorating every weekend it would have to be my De Walt 18 volt cordless drill I have yet to find a wall it cant drill through.
Not bad for £70 from a second hand shop as they are about £250 brand new.

 

To be honest Andy, I don?t know - I haven?t really looked into the two produscts you mentioned.

I bought the iPod for a couple of reasons:

I?ve just bought an iBook which has a firewire port. As far as I?m aware, the iPod is the only mp3 player to offer firewire (although I may be wrong?). Firewire is much faster that USB 2.0 and so transferring your music collection of approx 9gb should take as long.
I also use it as a secondary hard drive - this is where the speed of firewire comes into its own...

The iTunes software on my computer is excellent and is designed to be used in conjunction with an iPod. For this reason alone it seemed the natural choice.

I also like the simplicity of the design. Even the 20gb iPod (the physically largest model) is hardly any bigger than a pack of cards and IMO looks fabulous.

In the end, as with everything, it?s down to personal preference - you pays your money...