Slashdot Mirror
The Year's Best Gadget Ideas
valdean writes "David Pogue, the influential personal technology columnist for the New York Times, has chosen what he calls '10 of the year's best small, sweet improvements in our electronic lives.' Rather than your average pseudo-commercial list of branded devices, it's a list of improvements. As Pogue puts it at the end of his column: 'Come New Year's Eve, raise one tiny toast to the anonymous engineers whose eccentricities or idealism brought these sparkling developments to life.' They are (sans explanation): the folding memory card, the voice mail VCR, the front-side TV connector, the bigger-than-TV movie, TV à la carte, the outer-button flip phone, the free domain name, the modular DVD screen, the family-portrait burst mode, and the hybrid high-definition tape.'"
U: bimbyflam
P: bimbyflam
U: brillemann
P: brillemann
U: fuck
P: you
U: trynopasswords
P: bugmenot
From http://bugmenot.com/view.php?url=nytimes.com
USB charging ports on cell phones is my favorite "gadget" for the past year. I'm not sure if they existed in 2004, but I have 3 different phones in my household that use USB charging ports
They've existed for a few years now. Maybe in 2006 you'll discover the Wall->Usb adapter, and possibly even the CAR->USB power adapter. So you can use all those mobile gadgets when you're, you know, mobile.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Yup, the front connector was invented for use with the camcorder, circa 1980, long before the dinosaurs...
Oh well, what the hell...
At first thats what i thought too, then he mentioned the HP microdisplay's so i googled: http://news.designtechnica.com/featured_article21. html
"All models have a seemingly unique lighted front-connection panel (instead of the traditional rear jack pack), designed with a special slot under the TV so that audio and video cables can easily be connected from the front and then hidden from view. "
couldn't find a pic though
Whoops, found one:
s /en/theater/tvs/mdtv_guide.html
http://h10058.www1.hp.com/digital/entertainment/u
Scroll down a bit..... not a bad idea, it seems to work
well, what's really cool, is that a lot of gadgetry that doesn't have a USB charge jack, takes the correct voltage such that they can be charged directly via USB. Like, for example, the PSP and the iriver iHP-340 both take 5v input, and can both be charged with the same ziplinq cable. And I can use that same 5-pin ziplinq cable to get pictures from my camera.
So rather than go to best buy, and spend $25 for a mobile charger for the PSP, another $25 for one for the iRiver, $15 on a "sync cable" for a camera, and another $20 camera travel charger, you can do all that with one $3 cable from hong kong. Usually, you can get ziplinq cables for $0.99 + shipping on ebay, because ebay is flooded with them. And shipping is dirt cheap. (With all the auction fraud, that's all ebay is good for these days. items under 10 bucks)
I carry a total of three ziplinq cables in my bag(4pin USB, 5pin USB, treoUSB) and they charge/interface every piece of gadgetry I have, both at home, and in the car (with the Car-> usb adapter).
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Article via a non-stupid-NY-times-signup-site
I'm pretty sure my Motorola flip phones have had the 'ignore call' button on the side for quite some time now.
Free domain name registration isn't a new idea this year. What's that all about? Mine was free 7 years ago.
Why would you trust a testimonial when choosing hosting?
The difference is with this TV ALL the connectors are on the front. The area is lighted for ease to see, hidden behind a door with a tunnel to the back so NO cables are visible.
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns
As has been posted, the summary doesn't really make it clear.
s /en/img/theater/mdtv_guide/connect.jpg
The "innovation" is to have all the connectors on the front. Not just one of the sets of A/V inputs.
An example is at:
http://h10058.www1.hp.com/digital/entertainment/u
I'll bite.
1. Everyone thats anyone has a flash card reader
Not always true, at all. Many people use their camera's as card readers, or have a external card reader that is just as much of a choir as using a camera. Also this makes it EXTREMELY portable, as you can now carry pictures to anyone's computer, without having to download them and then upload to a different media or upload to a server.
2. Oh no, yet another "as easy as VCR" thing.
Yes many office phones have this, but no cell phone I have encountered has this, which is what this is about. I would love this on my phone, and it is a good feature giving the Treo an edge on the competition.
3. Front side TV connector?
ALL the connectors are on the front, with a nice tunnel and door so NO cables are visible, this makes hooking things up much easier, and the door/tunnel combo makes things much nicer looking.
5. Finally, something thats sort of new. Except for Tivo and personal video recording and...gasp...VCRs?
If you look at the article you see this is talking about LEGAL downloads of TV sponsored by the networks, which is something completely new. Especially since Tivo and VCR's don't apply to mobile players or computer screens
7. Free domain name - 1999 called, it wants its news back.
This mentions the new MS Office Live Beta, which is to give everyone free domains and e-mails (though laced with adds). This is something quite a bit different then the 99 version.
8. Ok, so its a portable DVD player with LCD screen and a plastic mount.
You missed entirely, it is a portable LCD. The way TFA mentions it the DVD player is not portable, but the screen is able to be moved between several devices.
9. A multi-shot mode on cameras.
Multishot with a timer. The timer being the important part. My Canon has this too (up to 10 shots) but my Canon is also fairly new (SD400, or IXUS 50 for Europeans).
10. high definition camcorders.
The fact that the camcorder uses normal DV tapes is what is remarked about, instead of using the opportunity of switching to HD to bring in a higher priced format. These camcorders use the exact same tapes as HD camcorders, and can even hold both formats without a problem.
I hope that clears things up for you. I am thinking I should have just copied and pasted the text of TFA though...
Computers allow humans to make mistakes at the fastest speeds known, with the possible exception of tequila and handguns