SkinsNumberOne Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 What is your favorite gadget? You can name old ones, and new ones, but give us an idea of how long you've had it, why you like it, and of course if you can give us a link to a picture/description that would be great too. For me, right now I find myself testing and tinkering with this: http://www.wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?driveid=572 One advantage it has over other devices that read USB hard drives is that it understands NTFS. For a higher-end option that can do "all that and more" see "Popcorn hour" brands. I just wasn't too keen on streaming content (I still am not). I actually prefer the external USB hard drive solution; I envision having a set of 100 dollar (currently) WD MyPassport hard drives that I can copy tons of movies on, and pop in to my device and enjoy whatever movie I want out of large sets per tiny hard drive. Much more efficient way to catalog your movie collection! This was kind of an idea I had maybe 3 or 4 years ago, but I was too lazy to do it so I waited for someone to do it for me. Note that while many BD players (including PS3) support external HD, it is my understanding they don't support NTFS (licensing restrictions by MS), which is a big deal for me. Anyone else want to share a favorite gadget? I'm curious. And if you have questions about what I or anyone else mention here, shoot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingGibbs Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Would Spanish Fly fall into the "gadget" category? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrapeApe Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Are you talking just electronic gadgets? Because right now my favorite gadget is my electric hedge trimmer. $20 but saved me hours this past weekend trimming up my hedges. Of course my lawn mower because I don't have goats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNumberOne Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 Would Spanish Fly fall into the "gadget" category? What are you referring to? I looked it up and found this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_fly but I'm still not certain. Are you talking just electronic gadgets? Because right now my favorite gadget is my electric hedge trimmer. $20 but saved me hours this past weekend trimming up my hedges. Of course my lawn mower because I don't have goats. That's cool. Sometimes it's when you save yourself time with a small purchase that is awesome. Where did you get it, and what brand? I don't know if you did any research or just bought one. My parents have a pretty big yard and I don't think they have that. I'll have to check, sounds like a nice gift idea. Speaking of "cheaper things that save time," I hate cleaning (I'm the typical messy guy I guess) but the freaking SonicScrubber is amazing. I think it helps just to have a gadget involved and keep me entertained, but the reality is, the thing does the job so much quicker and costs something like 10 or 20 bucks only. Huge time saver at a low cost. Love those kind of purchases. I mean, I cleaned out a bathroom that hadn't had a proper cleaning in years (but I travel a lot so it probably wasn't as bad as it could have been), and I did it in like an hour or less (and with my attention span for cleaning, that's amazing, trust me). http://sonicscrubber.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 It's common,but I think it's a cool little "gadget". My "a whole bunch in one" card reader. As many pics as I have taken over the past 4 months,it's been a definite plus to have one. I also like the "digital wallet" that my Dad and Step mom gave me for Christmas. It's like a portable digital frame,but it also will play music,video,and play digital books. Takes an SD card so you can put whatever you want on it. Small internal memory,so the hook directly to the computer feature isn't the most useful. I use it to put my pics on. Sort of a portable portfolio. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrapeApe Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 What are you referring to?I looked it up and found this: Where did you get it, and what brand? I don't know if you did any research or just bought one. It's a cheap black and decker from Home Depot or Lowes. I wasn't sure if it would work and cut through some of my tougher hedges. I think I would have spent a little more and gotten the longer one now. It would have kept me from having to get on a ladder as much to reach the top of the hedges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNumberOne Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 It's common,but I think it's a cool little "gadget". My "a whole bunch in one" card reader. As many pics as I have taken over the past 4 months,it's been a definite plus to have one. I also like the "digital wallet" that my Dad and Step mom gave me for Christmas. It's like a portable digital frame,but it also will play music,video,and play digital books. Takes an SD card so you can put whatever you want on it. Small internal memory,so the hook directly to the computer feature isn't the most useful. I use it to put my pics on. Sort of a portable portfolio. Portable digital frame? That sounds pretty cool, because I have one of the earlier ones that requires a plug; I definitely would prefer a portable one. I didn't realize they had smaller ones, I'll have to check that. That is a good tip about the card reader too; I think many people hook their cameras to their computers which tends to lock you into a proprietary cable (camera to computer) and all it does is generally give you access to data. Much, much better to use a card reader, and as you said, a multi-card reader can serve every camera on the cheap, and give you quick access to all the data. As an aside those are some nice pics you have. What camera are you using? I had a Nikon D60 get stolen from me in an airport in Australia. I didn't replace it personally, but I got my parents a D40, and used the insurance money for the D60 (+lenses that were stolen and my sunglasses) on a Sony HD camcorder. I'll post about it later when I have some more time. EDIT: Just checked portable digital frames. This one looks cool, it's definitely on my list for the future. I have plans to try to work on paying off my house, but assuming my employment continues with no unexpected hiccups I want to budget an occasional gadget every now and then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 It is a cool little sucker. Comes in a leather case and everything. Sorry to hear your camera and stuff got stolen,but glad you got it back. Thanks on the pics. I use a little Rebel XT,but spent some good money on the lenses. Great little camera actually,(despite how I fuss at it every now and then). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNumberOne Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 It's a cheap black and decker from Home Depot or Lowes. I wasn't sure if it would work and cut through some of my tougher hedges. I think I would have spent a little more and gotten the longer one now. It would have kept me from having to get on a ladder as much to reach the top of the hedges. I will have to look into that, it sounds like a really nice gift for my dad who is also a gadget guy. He may have it already though, I'm not sure. By the way I have been down to Huntsville a few time for work as we (my company) do some stuff with Intergraph. I like the little downtown area, had some fun the few times I've been there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbws Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Pioneer DVR-810H-S TiVo with built in DVD-R Never runs out of space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNumberOne Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 It is a cool little sucker. Comes in a leather case and everything. Sorry to hear your camera and stuff got stolen,but glad you got it back. Thanks on the pics. I use a little Rebel XT,but spent some good money on the lenses. Great little camera actually,(despite how I fuss at it every now and then). Yeah I don't have a specific preference on camera since it seems that they both must be pretty good choices to have such ardent support on both sides. I think a lot of the times people end up investing in lenses, and that ties them to a specific camera. I don't think there's an adapter that can go between one lens and another camera or anything like that. I never grew my lens collection that much, and since I got my parents the D40 I could hand off the few lenses I had to them. By the way, this is the camcorder that I bought with the insurance money. I really like it. It can record in HD that I can drop onto a small USB hard drive (by using a memory stick reader similar to what you describe and just copying), and then watch on my TV via the WD HD Media player from post 1. I actually think the Canon similar model (flash memory only) camcorder would be a better buy - I think it's the HF100 - but I wanted to try my first Sony since I wanted to experiment with some of the Sony only features. The IR NightMode and I think at the time I bought it they were innovating the Smile detection (which I really enjoy as well). - You can get it for MUCH cheaper than Amazon by the way, I got mine nearly a year ago, I think the same model... for 300 dollars less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skinfan133 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Tricorder. It can do anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toilets_in_Japan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsNumberOne Posted August 20, 2009 Author Share Posted August 20, 2009 Pioneer DVR-810H-S TiVo with built in DVD-R Never runs out of space Maybe I'll sound stupid, but can you use TiVo with cable service? I have 0 idea of TiVo, because I don't watch a lot of TV, but I do use the DVR and I'd like a cleaner way to archive interesting content. *If anyone else has any suggestions I'm using Cox cable in Fairfax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Actually, my question for the better informed is "are there any DVRs out there that can record content to DVD-R, that don't contain spyware, adware, and the ability of corporate to push content to me without my permission? You know, something that I own?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeysc23 Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Actually, my question for the better informed is "are there any DVRs out there that can record content to DVD-R, that don't contain spyware, adware, and the ability of corporate to push content to me without my permission? You know, something that I own?" You can always rig up a PC to dvr the content off your tv. Doubt its worth the hassle though but your ability to back up information is ideally infinite as long as you keep adding hds or archive old data. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChocolateCitySkin Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 my hoshizaki ice machine -- i'm constantly tinkering with it -- well maybe not my favorite gadget but i'm the only person that knows how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RammsteinSkins Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Nintendo 64 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.Guy. Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 my Sony PSP. Some dude was selling it on craigslist for $10 because the UMD drive didn't work. Little did he know about custom firmwares and thousands of game ISO's. So yeah I have an 8gig flash card with about 13-20 games on it (depending on which ones and size). It can get online if there is Wi-Fi available, can play music and movies and top of it all it can play live TV from my sony location free player (sony's slingbox). its a very nifty little gadget. Pretty good deal for $10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbws Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Maybe I'll sound stupid, but can you use TiVo with cable service? I have 0 idea of TiVo, because I don't watch a lot of TV, but I do use the DVR and I'd like a cleaner way to archive interesting content.*If anyone else has any suggestions I'm using Cox cable in Fairfax. TiVo has a wire with an IR signal. When the Tivo Changes its own Channel, The IR changes the cable box to the same channel. Actually, my question for the better informed is "are there any DVRs out there that can record content to DVD-R, that don't contain spyware, adware, and the ability of corporate to push content to me without my permission? You know, something that I own?" The unit I have has the ability to record from any AV source. First I copy my old VHS and 8MM home movies to the HD then I can burn multiple DVD-R copies from that. Now I only paid $500.00 from Best Buy in 2005, plus $299.00 for lifetime Ti√o service, but they don't sell it anymore. It is Listed on the Pioneer web site for $1,199.00 (Suggested Retail) not including service. http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Products/HomeEntertainment/Blu-rayDisc+DVD/PioneerDVDPlayers+Recorders/ci.DVR-810H-S.Kuro I'm sure you can just get a stand alone TiVo and separate DVD recorder for much less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt Rich Fla Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Northstar 962 GPS. It will not let you down in the ocen. If it says the water is 26 feet, look at the bottom machine! It is 26 feet. If it says the water is 6 feet deep, start puckering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chipwhich Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Built in bluetooth in the car. Hands free cell phone use but built in with speaker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy Burner Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 My Magellan GPS. Love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redskins0756 Posted August 21, 2009 Share Posted August 21, 2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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