{"id":1267,"date":"2008-12-04T01:28:34","date_gmt":"2008-12-04T05:28:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/?p=1267"},"modified":"2008-12-04T10:58:27","modified_gmt":"2008-12-04T14:58:27","slug":"the-gadget-gene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/archives\/1267","title":{"rendered":"The Gadget Gene"},"content":{"rendered":"

I suffer from the male genetic malady of the Gadget Gene. If it blinks, lights up, requires batteries, has a button, buzzes, lights up, vibrates, connects to something else via wireless or a cord, and has a computer chip, I\u2019m for it. I\u2019m too much of a generalist to qualify for the lofty status of membership into geekdom, but I can understand the tribal dialect and can hold my own more often than not. I find some comfort in that I know I\u2019m not alone in my malady (see Geekdad<\/a>). <\/p>\n

We\u2019re beginning to go through our annual round of the pre-Christmas question, \u201cSo, what do you want for Christmas?\u201d Which only serves to exacerbate the Gadget Gene condition. What new gadget to get? So many choices! <\/p>\n

Lately the Gadget Gene itch has gotten me hunting for the perfect portable computer. It\u2019s not like I need <\/em> another one (there are five working laptops in the house). I\u2019m just caught in the grips of a geeky quest. My son, who probably carries several thousand dollars worth of hi-tech equipment on his person on the job, but, who does not own a PDA, preferring instead to write notes on a paper pocket flip notebook (like Columbo), says my condition isn\u2019t genetic, it\u2019s just a form of insanity. Perhaps. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the current history of the gadget quest (click on the pictures to enlarge).<\/p>\n

It started several years ago, innocently enough, with the Palm Pilot. I turned in my paper organizer for it. I gave that up when the battery became unreliable. I went back to a notebook organizer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Later I got the Jornada. Nice, but its battery started to get funky too. I gave that to my other son, the engineer. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My current PDA is the Dell Axim. Not something I would have picked out but I got it free. It\u2019s a really nice unit and I very much enjoy using the handwriting notation feature. It\u2019s amazingly accurate in reading even my hurried scrawl. Best of all it automatically and quickly translates my handwriting to text in Word. I\u2019ve got about 20 e-books in this one, also. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As for the mini computers (\u201cmini\u201d or UMPC), here\u2019s the damage:<\/p>\n

Early on I bought the NEC 9000. This is a fun computer with limited versatility, but it does all the basics needed for working (EXCEL, Word, etc.). Great for the writer who needs something handy. It\u2019s \u201cinstant on\u201d so no waiting for the computer to start up when you have an inspired thought you want to write down. Memory card slots means you can smoothly move your work to your main computer to put on the finishing touches. While small at nine and a half inches across, its keyboard is 92% of full size so you can touch type on it, plus it has a touchscreen. This is a keeper. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Fujitsu Stylistic c-500. I use this pretty much for reading e-books and e-documents. The battery pack is heavy and it has an old DOS system not worth upgrading at this point. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, I got the Sony Vaio. A very cool computer (it\u2019s a full-blown PC) with a high resolution five and a half in screen. But, the keyboard is impossible to even thumb-type on, and, it\u2019s got Vista (don\u2019t get me started). I gave that to my engineer son.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next, I bought the Fujitsu Lifebook U810. Very, very cool tablet PC, six and a half inches across with a fantastic five and half inch screen. Fully loaded and highly functional but for the Windows Vista (don\u2019t\u2019 get me started). This one\u2019s on hold till I swap out to Windows XP install disk and get rid of Vista (what were they thinking?!). <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I really enjoy the Fujitsu P1120. Great travel computer with a battery that lasts hours. It has wireless and a touch screen. Great for hand annotations on documents you\u2019re editing as it translates your handwriting to text. A very readable eight and a half in screen. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The latest one is the HP 2133. Eight and a half inch screen with full widescreen resolution. Wireless, memory slots, long battery life, super lightweight. The best thing about this one is its almost full-sized keyboard. Typing is a breeze. I\u2019m really enjoying this one. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finally, for reading e-books I have the Sony e-book Reader. Well over 30 e-books in this one with room for more. The battery on this thing lasts forever. I don\u2019t even take the charger with me on long trips. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So, what do I want for Christmas . . . .? Maybe I’ll just get a book. <\/p>\n

galindoconsultants.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I suffer from the male genetic malady of the Gadget Gene. If it blinks, lights up, requires batteries, has a button, buzzes, lights up, vibrates, connects to something else via wireless or a cord, and has a computer chip, I\u2019m … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,26,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews-recommendations","category-humor","category-technology-and-education"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1267"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1285,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1267\/revisions\/1285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grace-ed.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}