The Gear Diary Team is as opinionated and diverse as any I have worked with over the years, both in real life and on the Internet. So we had to have a discussion on what we each thought were the best gadgets of 2008…
Joel McLaughlin
1. Neuros Link – Soon to be the mother of all set top boxes. With all the support it’s adding, it’s a matter of time where you can get rid of
your cable box.
2. T-Mobile G1 – The birth of a new phone platform. So far, it holds a lot of promise and is starting to deliver on those too.
3. Netflix Player by Roku – Now you can do the one DVD at a time plan and watch all the back catalog with this cheap little box.
Honorable Mentions:
Xbox 360 Netflix Streaming – first Netflix streamer to go HD.
iPhone 3g – Still on AT&T. Still not interested but it does deserve a mention.
Netbooks – All of them. Too many to mention and they all have a place. That’s my feeling anyway.
Clinton Fitch
1. The convergence of technologies – Netflix streaming, video streaming on mobile devices… many media on single devices.
2. TouchFLO 3D – love it or hate it, it changed the game in the Windows Mobile market and was a good (not great) response to Apple.
3. My Battlestar Galactica Cylon Action Figure.
Wayne Schulz
1. iPhone 3G: Love it or hate it there’s no denying that this thing raised the bar for all smartphones. In my area of the world 3G speeds are fast. The availability of the app store is amazing (despite the random 800 programs for .99 that do pretty much nothing). The iPhone 3G is the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I look at before bed. I’m one of the oddballs who loves the iTunes integration partly because I’m a Mac user at home and the way these devices all tie together still amazes me.
2. Passport 9500ix: This is the year that I went back to using a radar detector full time. Escort Radar finally figured out how to marry up a GPS with these detectors to (nearly) eliminate false alarms Truth be told they’d been integrating GPS to the Escort line for some time now. This year is the first time I tried it. I must have half a dozen old detectors in my basement that I took out of the car because the false alarms drove me crazy. Not so for this. It’s a little pricey but worth it.
3. Evolve RoadRunner Shower Head: I reviewed this back in April. This shower head does only one thing but the simplicity and design of it is so cool. Evolve automatically shuts the water off in your shower when it reaches a certain temperature. This means I can be roaming around the house getting the kids ready in the morning and not worry that I’ve started the shower and left it running. The shower head also has a water flow limiter that I hardly notice but makes me feel good because I figure I am saving water.
4. Skooba Shuttle Laptop Bag: I bought this laptop bag just before the summer. I used it all summer long whenever I rode my bike and wanted to take my laptop with me. The shoulder padding is the most comfortable I’ve ever used. It’s a medium sized bag with plenty of extra room for gear. Cost is a little more than what you’ll spot for a no-name on the shelf at the local warehouse club – but I’m really happy I bought it.
5. BlackBerry Bold: This ones a bit embarrassing because after ditching BlackBerry in early 2008, here I am back again. There’s no disputing that BlackBerry is the king of all email – and that’s my main use for the phone. I do think that BlackBerry is flying under the radar with their ability to use one inbox to capture text, MMS, email, and instant messages. With a very small adjustment I could see the BlackBerry adapted for the Social Media lovers out there who want a universal inbox to also pull in Twitter, Facebook and Friendfeed messages.
6. Twitter: I really didn’t get this micro-messaging service at first. Now 3,000 messages later I’m addicted. Sorta. I use it to update my Facebook pages which in turn keep my Mom and Sister always up to date with my schedule. Twitter is a lot like NASCAR. You either get it or spend a lot of time scratching your head wondering why people are interested in it.
Doug Goldring
Wow, this is a really tough one. There has been so much.
1. The MacBook Air – I don’t care what the naysayers say about it not being fast enough, powerful enough, or whatever enough – I just know that the first generation model was an almost perfect computer for me, and the second generation model has completely replaced my MacBook Pro; it is faster, stronger and smarter…and now my easy to tote main computer.
2. The HTC S740 – I honestly didn’t expect to care one way or another for this device, but it has managed to completely reignite my interest in Windows Mobile, it’s replaced my iPhone, and I’ve found it to be a nearly perfect mobile phone. Go figure!
3. The Litter Robot! Without a doubt…
4. The Guardian Maximus – Ever since our server crash back in March, I have become a fanatic about backing everything up. This RAID system makes backing up my important data easy!
1. Nokia E71 – Finally Nokia managed to combine an awesome keyboard, outstanding battery life, excellent signal sensitivity and rock solid
stability into a simply gorgeous, sleek device. Definitely my favourite Nokia ever, and definitely ranks up the top of my favourite phones list along with….
2. Samsung Omnia – The first Windows Mobile device I have wanted to use beyond the review period. For so long WinMob devices have been
simply too sluggish, had poor battery life and terrible radio sensitivity that I always fell back to another phone (Nokia, for the last 18mths). The Omnia changed that, and is just fantastic in all these areas. Not to mention it looks good, is really light and slim, and has an awesome 5MP shooter bolted to the back of it!
3. MacBook Air – If money wasn’t the problem, one of these would be sitting on my desk. Like Judie, I don’t care what other people think.
Some say it is way over priced, or underpowered, or leaves too much behind to maintain that thin profile. But I don’t care, it has an eye-poppingly good display, solid full-size keyboard that is a joy to type on, and feels so nice and strong in the hand that when the review
period was over I didn’t want to let go.
2. MacBook Pro 2008 – These things are sweet! Wish I could afford one!
1. MSI Wind – Versatile, EXCEPTIONALLY hackable netbook with the ability to run both XP & Leopard. (I wonder if it will run Boot Camp..??) Can you say $350 Mac laptop! Way cool! As of 12/29/08, Best Buy is out of stock on these COUNTRY wide. I wonder if a new version is coming out, or it they are discontinuing it?
Tied with:
1. Samsung Epix – the BB of the WM world (due to the optical mouse), this thing is as one handed as I’ve ever seen a WM device get; and the touch screen really isn’t needed, though is a nice plus.
(2) Apple iMac 20” desktop – When I first walked into an Apple store in 2006, I was stunned by the design and functionality of the 20″ iMac. Frustrated by the blue screen of death daily drama of owning a PC, it was time to return full force to the Apple side of computing. I opted for the 20″ model over the 17″ configured with 1.5 GB memory and 500 GB hard drive. It has been a faithful workhorse ever since, proving to be utterly reliable. Since that fateful day, I also use a MacBook and now a MacBook Air along with my corporate laptop, a Dell outfitted with a air card. Imagine me, carrying two laptops on the road, with my Apple iPhone and iPod in tow.
(3) DirecTV HD with Vizio 32″ LCD TV – I recently received a 10 year anniversary thank you card from DirecTV. I remember when I first saw a DirecTV in action at my brother-in-law’s house in Dallas when they were first introduced. All of the available channels beamed from the sky on a small dish compared to the large one in my backyard (which has since been converted to an upscale doghouse) was a compelling consideration over my rabbit ears and diminishing lack of programming on the large dish. I was never willing to pony up $600 for a dish until I saw a deal on the Home Shopping network for a three room setup with free installation at some low price that made me pick up the phone. Last year, I took the HDTV plunge with DVR bliss. Now I enjoy having access to 200 plus channels of crappy programming with the few gems available such as the The Office, NFL Channel, HGTV, Discovery Channel, time shifting and local programming. After my HD ready Panasonic TV croaked, I ended up at Walmart and scored a nice deal on a Vizio 32″ LCD TV . Football and movies have never looked better since.
Overall favorite technology is a tie – SIRIUS Travel Link (including the weather radar) and OnStar SVS (stolen vehicle slowdown). Chevy Volt
might win if it ever becomes reality.
