What's in Your Gadget Bag, Cory?

Cory Doctorow has taken a two-second break from his road warrior ways to pen this description of the crud he lugs around. Read it and weep, wanna-bes.

Comments

CmdrTaco

[prostoalex]

They also asked CmdrTaco the same question recently.

Newton revisited

[BWJones]

It seems to me that a number of these functions could be easily combined into one useful "sub-tablet" much like the Newton used to be. For instance:

1) I could not make phone calls on the Newton, but it seems to me that combining a WAP with code like iChat could easily be patched into a cellular network via a server which negotiates the call at perhaps a reduced price. VOIP, right? This way you don't have to worry about "locked" phones when you travel from one country to another or good around with those SIM cards. (where did I put that SIM card anyway? *as he digs furiously through his travel bag*)

2) I am not sure why folks like using their phones as cameras, but Sony has been integrating cameras into their Clie's for some time now and could easily be done. Although, again.....I am not sure why people want this. The CCDs would have to get LOTS better and you still have to deal with tiny lenses with lots of aberration in them. I much prefer my Canon Elph.

3) iPod. Well, yeah....music and why not movies too? This functionality could easily be emulated on any OS and as I recall, there are many folks that even play .mp3's off their old Newtons.

4) Well, the Newton was not a replacement for a full featured laptop, so if you want to do Photoshoppin or something like that, a sub-notebook will not cut it for screen real estate alone.

5) Cables? What cables? Use 802.11x and Bluetooth. Done.

6) Time? Apple for some time has had servers that are linked to atomic clocks so that you can set the time on your computer to an absolute time.

7) PDA? This would be an uber PDA. We don't need no stinkin Palm.

Shoot, there were people that were even using their Newtons as wireless web servers, so the functionality was there.

So, there. Seven devices that folks are totin around that could be all one device. I hate to say it but why does not Apple get back into this market? They could do it right.

Re:Newton revisited

[The Bungi]

I for one wish they'd bring back the HPC format (NEC Mobilon/HP Jornada 6/700 series). They stopped making them in 2000. With today's tech you could have:

• 640x320 65K color screen
• An iPod-style Toshiba microdrive. 4GB oughta do it.
• 256MB RAM plus whatever ROM you need for the OS and apps. MAKE IT FLASHABLE LIKE THE iPAQ FOR GOD'S SAKE
• 75% size laptop-like keyboard with tactile feedback. Really, without a goddamn keyboard PDAs are just expensive toys. I chuckle whenever I see some dude trying to take notes in one of those during a meeting.
• Built-in wireless. The higher end HP iPAQs already have this.
• Sync to PC/Linux/OS X. I mean, c'mon. It's not rocket science.
• Mofo battery life (8 hours or so assuming the HDD doesn't spin that much and the screen backlight is used carefully).
• Handwriting recognition would be nice regardless of the keyboard - the HWR of the Palm Tungstens coupled with the WinCE interface would be good.
• CF, SmartMedia and low-power 16-bit PCMCIA slots. No SD or MemoryStick please.
• Decent media player. Goes without saying
• Some sort of built-in scroller wheel like the ones on the Blackberry. I'd kill for that.
• GSM or some sort phone add-on card... use with headset? Dunno. I wouldn't mind lugging a cellphone still.

All this in a .7lb or so package. 1 inch thick and 8 inches wide. Now that would be shweet. I'd get rid of my laptop in a second.

The Newton was very cool and ahead of its time, but you need a friggin' Mac to use it effectively and that pretty much eliminates 90% of the computer user population.

My gadget bag contents.

[jafo]

I'm also a fair bit of a Road Warrior, but with a slightly different feel. I work at home, and most of my time spent away from the office is to local coffee shops or geek gatherings around town, with occasional trips to the next town or out of town. I make these trips probably an average of once a day, though, and carry my laptop with me everywhere.

So, here's some information about what I carry in my "kits":

In my pockets:

• An LG-5350 cell phone. I like that it's a flip-phone, which reduces the opportunity for breaking the display as I did with my previous Nokia phone. I bought it largely because it has a charging cradle that can be used with the USB cable to provide long-term net access if necessary.
• Casio Exilim EX-Z4 4 megapixel camera. I carry this literally everywhere with me. It's an amazingly capable camera that is no bother to carry everywhere. I selected it over the Optio S because of the much larger display.
• Photon Micro Light 2. I prefer this over the 3 because I've experienced much longer battery life and I think the user interface is better on the 2.

In my computer bag, which I carry 90% of the time I go anywhere. My computer bag is an Eagle Creek small shoulder bag with upgraded padded shoulder strap that includes a sticky ruberized side to reduce sliping off your shoulder.

• IBM ThinkPad X30. This is my primary computer, and I think it's a great mix of portable and useable. It's small, less than 4 pounds, but has a totally functional keyboard. People are amazed that I can carry a full computer in such a small bag. In fact, my bag's main compartment can carry two of these.
• Sennheiser PX-100 headphones. These aren't the smallest headphones, but they're very comfortable, sound fantastic for a $35 pair of headphones, and fold up into a small "eye glasses" carry case. These replaced some in-the-ear Sony headphones that were much smaller, but less comfortable and sounded dramatically worse.
• Knoppix. Fantastic for checking out hardware or "fixing" the public terminal at the coffee shop when it gets too infected with Windows viruses. Or when someone asks "What is Linux like?"
• Merlin C-201 CDMA card. This gives me net access in places where there's no net access.
• Prism-based Mini-PCI card in my laptop. I love this card because I can easily set it up to run in Access Point mode, and so for free I carry an Access Point with me everywhere. Great for allowing my SO to get net access via my laptop and the CDMA card. I have the laptop configured so when I insert the CDMA card it sets up as an AP and does NAT, with a DHCP server running on the WiFi network.
• USB cable for connecting my cell phone to my laptop. I almost never use this, unless the CDMA card is acting up.
• Slim AC power adapter. Even with my second battery, eventually I'll often need to charge up. Also useful since my SO carries so many books with her, that she's stopped carrying her own power.
• A Sharpie pen. Writes on nearly anything.
• A backup Sharpie pen. Yes, dual redundant Sharpies.
• Screen Wipes for when my display or glasses get too dirty. I currently use Techspray "zero charge screen and keyboard cleaners", which come individually packaged, but tend to leave an annoying residue behind unless you use some other dry wipe immediately (or sooner) after cleaning. Not entirely happy with the residue, but the packaging is great.
• Individually package hand wipes. Handy to have around.

Finally, I periodically have another larger bag which I carry in my car for our weekly Hacking Society or other geek meetings. It has a pile of stuff in it:

• HP 8-port switch (donated to Hacking Society by HP). Auto-MDIX so we don't have to worry about cross over cables.
• 25 foot extension cable.
• 6 different power strips. Handy for LUG meetings and at hotels where they often don't have enough power

I carry wallet and keys. That's it.

[Lebofsky]

Not that this makes me feel special, and I certainly don't mean to sound righteous, but when I am done sitting in front of a computer all day I am done with technology. Obviously I understand the fun part of being wired, but it's just not for me.

I never owned a laptop, or a palm pilot. I certainly will never own a cell phone. I'd like a digital camera but never got around to researching which one to buy. Anyway, film works just fine for me still. Basically all I got is occasional use of my wife's iPod.

Does this make me less of a person in the eyes of /.?

-Lebofsky