Comments on: What’s The Coolest Gadget You’ve Ever Bought (Is It Useful Too?)

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 03:31:31 +0000

Spectrum 48K in 1983. It was my first computer and I learned to program it and the rest is history :-)

By: Juuso

Juuso — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:54:51 +0000

So… is Tobias and me the only boring guys here? O:)

@Integer Man – how’s the Kindle screen for reading. I mean… can you read it if the room is dark. Or alternatively – can you read if the sun is shining. Is it as fast & usable to read from Kindle screen compared to reading from paper book. (I’ve always hated reading stuff from my computer screen, much much prefer paper versions of books)

By: Integer Man

Integer Man — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:10:54 +0000

Gotta be the second generation Kindle. It:
- Lets me instantly browse, search, and download books
- Lets me carry all my books around
- Acts as a 2 GB flash drive
- Has e-ink for the cool factor
- Is incredibly thin and portable
- Has outstanding battery life
- Remembers where I left off in any book
- Allows me to highlight and annotate
- No paper cuts!

And on top of that, I can use a Kindle client for PC to read and search. Great for those technical books.

Kindle definitely changed how I read and improved my reading speed since I don’t have to remember where I left off and page turning is less distracting than physical page turning (after practice – definitely not at first).

By: Eckyman

Eckyman — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:49:47 +0000

I guess my netbook. More useful than cool really but I still think it’s cool :)

Other than that, my Fang gamepad was a nice purchase for PC gaming.

By: Russell

Russell — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 13:24:43 +0000

By leaps and bounds the most useful and fun gadget has been the iPhone. Second would be the Spaceball from 3dConnexion, a desktop controller for navigating in 3D apps like Max and Maya (I’ve owned two… they finally stopped updating the driver so I’ve recently replaced it with a SpaceExplorer by the same company). Third would be my Gerber, a multitool like the Leatherman, but you can extract the pliers with only one hand, very useful because you frequently have one hand on something that needs tightening, and the other can remove the tool from your belt, extract the pliers, and start tightening… all in a quick gesture. I’ve be using the same one since my previous life as an assistant photographer on photo sets.

By: Cam

Cam — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 08:48:15 +0000

The coolest gadget I own (and use) is called an Octopus – a kind of swiss-army-knife form factor but with only Allen keys and screwdrivers.

By: Pathogen David

Pathogen David — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:47:16 +0000

My bluetooth mouse was one of the simplest, yet most useful gadgets I ever got. Plus it was a gift which is double-plus good!

By: Fili

Fili — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:46:55 +0000

Does a CNC router count as a gadget? Or a high-power laser (one with water cooling and insane current requests)? If not, then my iPhone. If you hate iPhones, then my coolest gadget is my Canon 500D camera :)

By: jtrencsenyi

jtrencsenyi — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 07:20:13 +0000

Tobias: ahammm! :)

By: Tobias Scheuer

Tobias Scheuer — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 06:07:37 +0000

No gadgets here, just useful stuff.