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What's in Your Gadget Bag, Cory?

Posted by michael on from the looks-like-someone-just-had-a-fax dept.

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.

2 of 400 comments (clear)

  1. Newton revisited by BWJones · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
  2. I carry wallet and keys. That's it. by Lebofsky · · Score: 5, Interesting
    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