Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with gadgets

Help me force my mom into 2003!

Madamina — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:51:20 -0800

Giftfilter: My contrarian technophobe mother has indicated that she "might like to experiment with an iPod." Which one should we get her, and how can we make this as easy as possible? My mom is a terrible, terrible technophobe, though I am convinced that half of it is simply her need to be a special snowflake. Refuses to get a microwave (even though she subsists almost entirely on leftovers and tea), refuses to get a cell phone (but will gladly commandeer that of a complete stranger if she feels like it). My patience with her techno-whining ran out around the time my 94-year-old great-aunt got on Facebook.

However, she is intrigued by the ability to take an iPod from room to room and dock it in speakers. She's also been downloading podcasts individually. She is very close to her next-door neighbors, who are more or less my age, and likes how they've used theirs this way. So between them, me and my dad with our iPhones, she could have someone show her how to do things.

I have a 30 GB iPod Classic that is about six years old. I don't use it myself, and she's welcome to it. However, I think that an iPod Touch might be a little easier for her to figure out. Also, a new one would have the most current warranty/help specs available.

We plan to open it before Christmas and prefill it with all of her music. (She has a PC that is entirely her own, so we plan to sneak in there and put the stuff on her iTunes before giving it to her.) I realize she can go in there and switch stuff in and out, but she is so hand-flaily that I'd prefer to do that as little as possible, so we'll probably try to get a 16 or 32 GB model. The Gmail solution, if you will: just have enough space on there that you never have to deal with it.

An iPhone would, of course, be most appropriate, but she would be frightened by it (seriously, she would put on a big show) and she would absolutely refuse to pay 70 bucks a month. Which is unfortunate, because she would LOVE the ability to take pictures of random stuff with the camera.

So I have two related questions:

1. People keep telling me that the iPod Touch would be way more scary to a technophobe than an iPod Classic, and I remain unconvinced (mainly because of the source). To me, it seems like the visual interface would be easier, especially if she's seen me and my dad use our iPhones. When she was telling me how she wanted to do this, she seemed like she was confused by the whole finger-twirly scroll action on an old iPod. Which would be better?

2. Are the second generation ones just as good as the third generation ones? It looks like the big thing she'd miss out on if she got a second-gen one would be voice controls/voice memos, and I highly doubt she'd use those. Apps wouldn't interest her, although she might use maps and the notepad... that sort of thing.

Anyone else with advice for introducing their parents to iPods, or similar, be my guest. Thanks!

Heads Up for both Mac and Windows?

rokusan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:11:08 -0800

Is there a way to make one universal desktop/dashboard for both Mac and Windows? Is there a way to package and deliver desktop gadgets or widgets for Windows and OS X all in the same bundle, or some other combination that can provide for a single universal download?

I've already made a few for myself, but only for OSX, and that's the end of my experience with them. But now I'd like to wrap a few up, polish them a bit, and let clients use them to monitor things too, because I find that a meaningful amount of my time is spent just checking one of them and reporting back to a client question with the result. So I would like to give them a freebie timesaver that will allow them to monitor the info themselves via a desktop doodad.

If they were all OSX users I'd be done now, but these clients aren't all very tech savvy, and they use a mixture of Macs and PCs. I don't want a support nightmare, and I'd prefer not maintaining two different thingies.

The complexity of the gizmos I am interested in would be pretty low: just HTML/Javascript doodads that display info easily sucked from web servers that I can control. (That is, HTTP requests are made for info from mydomain.com, not from Yahoo's stock quotes or anything foreign, so the HTML or RSS or whatever that is served back will always be trusted, reliable and constant.)

The UI needed is nothing fancier than what one gets from Safari's existing "Web Clipping", in fact (just an up to date or 'live' view of some info), but it needs to work as Vista/Win7 desktop gadgets too, and Safari's clips don't do that in Windows.

I know that most such gadgety things are just HTML and JS, so there's no Windows or Mac native code there, so is there any way to avoid making and maintaining two different packages, here?

Also, are there third options that need addressing? Does Konfabulator/or Yahoo Widgets have much of a user base, or can that be ignored in favor of the built-in widgets in recent Windows?

First Pandora, now what?

NotMyselfRightNow — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 10:21:16 -0800

What technology (websites, webservices, or handheld devices) would you recommend to a non-techy person? My boss asked me this the other day and I totally drew a blank. He's a mid-30s guy, married with three young kids. Very demanding day job, and a fairly senior position as a military reservist. He's great with technology, but he's not a gadget guy and isn't typically on the cutting edge of new technology. Not a television watcher. Carries a BlackBerry for work, and won't be getting an iPhone. Was recently turned on to Pandora and Jott and loves both of them (which is how this conversation started).

Recommendations that he would probably look into would be either passive (like Pandora, running in the background) or active but would improve performance or productivity or something like that. I think he's more likely to engage with online services or sites than with a handheld device, but that's just my guess.

What would you suggest someone in that position look at?

What should I import to New Zealand for resale?

redzarf — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 01:26:42 -0800

What should I import to New Zealand for resale? I'm looking for ideas of products that I could buy in bulk, ship to NZ, and resell for a modest profit. http://www.kk.org/cooltools/ is great, but a little frustrating because I'll often see products there or elsewhere that I'd love to buy, but can't because only shipping one is too expensive or they don't ship overseas (Amazon only send things like books and dvds overseas.)

At the same time I'd like to try making a little extra money on the side by finding a few products that aren't available in NZ, and resell them with a 10-20% profit I'll be happy. Manufacturers/sellers are (hopefully) more likely to ship overseas for a bulk order.

NZ is a long way from anywhere, so shipping costs a lot, so I'm particularly looking for products that are small and light. My preferred price-range would be about US$40-100, though outside of that would be interesting to know about too. Theres lots of cool unique products from the US, but from anywhere else is also of interest.

If you don't have any specific products in mind, are there any other lists/blogs/stores/etc like Cool Tools that I should look at for ideas?

RFIND

mthomps00 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:22:29 -0800

I'm looking for recommendations for some sort of gadget that'll help prevent my boyfriend from losing stuff. Every system or mindhack we've devised for helping my boyfriend keep track of his stuff has failed. Now I want microchips to help. Here's my vision... Usually, he only misplaces his keys OR his phone OR his wallet, not all at once. Ideally, he could have a small receiver/monitor that he could keep in his pocket or affix to one of these devices. We'd attach small electronic tags to the other devices. If the monitor were separated from one of the devices by ten or twenty feet, it would alarm.

This product claims to meet the requirements, but I'm skeptical without seeing any reviews or manufacturer info.

This is a common enough problem that there has to be a well-regarded technological answer to it, right? Right?

Neat I-phone Apps?

Ponderance — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 05:06:28 -0800

I've ordered my first I-phone. What are the must have apps? So I've ordered my I-Phone, I am largely interested in it as neat-o computing gadget. What applications will rock my world? I view the I-phone as Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide made real, and want to load it up with neat info.

Mitigating gadget theft at work.

tehgeekmeister — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 13:57:49 -0800

I already bring my kindle and iphone to work. I'm considering bringing an iliad as well, and I'm worried about theft... What can I do? I already bring my kindle and iphone to work and leave them in my lunch box. I'm not really worried too much about them being stolen because only my co workers see that I bring them at all (I work at mills/other large industrial sites, so there are always lots of people who could be around anywhere). I'm about to buy an irex iliad, so that I have a device for reading math, physics, and whatnot, since my books on those are in pdf and would be mangled to death on my kindle. But, while I wasn't worried when it was just my kindle/iphone, I realize that as I add more gadgets, it's more likely people will notice and talk about it, and also a much higher cost if someone does walk off with my lunchbox. I'm just curious what everyone thinks about how likely this is, or rather how much more likely it is if I add an iliad in, and also what I might do to prevent it? Aside from just not bringing them: they are my means to study/read on breaks, and maintain my sanity. That's a must.

Tactile reminder device

jinatrix — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:41:45 -0800

What sorts of vibrating reminder devices are out there? The goal: I am looking for a small (pager-sized or smaller) wearable vibrating device that can be programmed to vibrate at certain intervals to serve as a tactile reminder system.

The requirements are: 1. it must be wearable, preferably on the ankle (out of sight), 2. it must be able to reliably go off at any programmed interval for a set number of recurrences or until manually stopped, 3. it should be relatively inaudible and not sound like a chainsaw.

Even better if it has some or all of these features: variable vibration strength, multiple vibration patterns (e.g. pulse length, number of pulses), countdown timer, daily alarm.

I am aware of a few products such as the epill reminder and invisible clock but am looking for alternate options to see what's out there. Also, I am open to suggestions involving a DIY approach, if anyone knows how to cobble something like this together using easily obtained components.

How to keep Google Desktop gadgets without the search?

inbetweener — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 15:54:42 -0800

Is there a way to keep Google Desktop without it hijacking Vista's search? I installed Google Desktop on my Vista Home Ultimate PC. I want to keep it installed because I like the gadgets.

However, I really don't like the way it hijacks the windows search (which I much prefer to the Google Desktop Search).

Could anyone suggest a way to keep the gadgets but ditch the Google desktop search - Google helpfully doesn't provide an option...

Annoying alarm clocks -- just how annoying?

malapropist — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:44:18 -0800

So how well do those weird or annoying alarm clocks actually work? I'm thinking about getting the one that makes you complete a jigsaw puzzle to turn it off, but I'm not sure... Does anyone have any of the alarm clocks in the article? The jigsaw one looks interesting, so does the egg-laying one, and maybe the one which makes you shoot a target with a laser. I'm just not sure if any of these actually does what it says, namely making you work your brain a tiny bit so as to actually wake you up and get you out of bed.

Epson Artisan 800 All-in-One Printer bought in USA? How to use in U.K?

omaralarifi — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:03:48 -0800

Just returned from fabulous 2 week holiday in New York. I Brought back Epson Artisan 800 All-in-One Printer from Staples costing $230. Unfortunately, I cannot use it in U.K., unless I plug voltage converter/transformer products. Has anyone else bought this set over there with more success? Any advice \ information appreciated. Please specify me What exact voltage converter product to buy & where to buy it from USA online store. Thanks. I checked again the Epson Artisan 800 All-in-One Printer power information:
Power Requirements

Rated voltage: 120 VAC
Rated frequency: 50 – 60 Hz
Rated current: 0.8 Amp

Power Consumption

Approx. 26 W ISO 10561
Approx. 5.5 W (Sleep Mode)
Approx. 0.3 W (Power Off Mode)
ENERGY STAR® compliant

This is why I cannot understand it blowing.

I'm a Comcast customer is looking to expand my TV horizons.

bamassippi — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 10:27:25 -0800

I'm a Comcast customer is looking to expand my TV horizons. The wife and I are looking into DVR options. We currently use Comcast (Seattle, WA) w/HD channels and, due to our apartment complex, do not have the option of Dish/DirecTV.

I would prefer a TiVo HD recorder due to TiVo's position in the market ad an industry leader. What successes/failures/thoughts do you have on TiVos current DVR technology

Is Comcast's DVR technology worth it? Obviously, the month-to-month payment is more wallet-friendly than the investment of a TiVo, though I didn't know if the end result was any better.

Thoughts?

Suggestions for some puzzling kitchen gadgets?

The corpse in the library — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:02:53 -0800

What are some puzzling kitchen gadgets to mystify my mother-in-law with? My mother-in-law likes to give (and get) stocking stuffers of obscure kitchen items, which the recipient then needs to identify. Past items include those square hard-boiled egg thingies, pineapple corers, garlic-peeling tubes, finger protectors to wear while slicing tomatoes... you get the idea.

She's hard to stump. Any suggestions for what I could get her this year? I'm in the US, and prefer to shop on-line. I'm hoping to not spend more than $10.

What are your ideas for the ultimate internet-enabled home?

scrm — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:19:24 -0800

I'm putting together a tech wishlist to build the ultimate internet-enabled home (or at least to drool over building it). I'd like your recommendations on the best consumer electronics devices to carry out home-bound computer-related tasks outside the computer (in the same way the Philips VOIP841 phone makes Skype calling simple without a computer). Suggested areas: internet radios, real live news tickers, world thermometers, internet TV boxes, but I'm also interested in whatever other fields you can suggest. Your ideas/experiences welcome, wireless or wired.

Which backpack fits my needs?

nitsuj — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:54:03 -0800

I'm looking for a travel backpack with removal daypack that is gadget friendly. I currently have an Eagle Creek Voyage 65L, which is just a tad too big for the regular 2-3 day trips I've been taking recently. Further, its removable daypack is slightly too small -- it fits my laptop, but has no other features to keep my gadgets (phones, chargers, cameras, iPods, etc) properly organized.

So... I'm looking for something new. It needs to be gadget friendly so I can remove the daypack with my laptop and other gear in it without having to lug my clothes everywhere.

Something smaller than 65L would be preferred: I need to be able to carry about 2-3 days worth of clothes in it at a time.

Are there any scriptable digital picture frames?

jacobm — Fri, 23 May 2008 22:02:40 -0800

Hey Metafilter electronic hardware folks: I want to set up a digital picture frame that I can control via software on a Linux desktop to toggle between two different images on command. What should I buy? Everything other than the basic idea is flexible: I want to hang a digital picture frame on my wall, and I want to control it via software so that I can run a program on my computer that will switch it from displaying one image to displaying another. I will know the images I want to switch between beforehand, so I just need to be able to send the frame a switch instruction (though I could certainly transmit the entire picture every time I switch if that makes things easier). I can connect the frame to the computer via USB or a network connection. There will be reliable access to wireless networking if that helps. I could probably even get the frame its own static IP address if that turned out to be what I needed.

My problem is that I know nothing about digital picture frames, so I don't really know what's out there that might do what I want, and product sheets for frames aren't much help for figuring out whether they'll work for my purposes. So, Mefi, what's out there that will do what I want? I'd prefer not to spend more than about $100, and I don't care about how much storage space the frame has (realistically I won't ever be storing more than a few pictures on it). Any ideas?

Gadget components

erd0c — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 17:16:44 -0800

Does anyone know a website that takes apart new gadgets to see the components? In an effort to invest in component makers, I'm curious to see what components certain companies are using. For example, who is Apple buying their flash memory to supply iPhone etc. Some people enjoy tearing these gadgets apart only to display their insides. However, I can't find a website that does it consistently for a slew of gadgets.
Thanks

Charging while cycling

sien — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:07:52 -0800

I'm going on a 10+ day bike ride and want to be able to use my fantastic Nokia 6110 (with built in GPS) and my ipod Nano as long as possible. I bought a cheap solar panel charger on ebay and have found that it's useless. What are the best solutions? So far under consideration are better solar, a spare battery for the phone and emergency chargers that can be recharged when I can get to mains power. The 'name brand' solar chargers around, the solio and the freeloader also have negative reviews. The Freeplay 12V looks cool, but has also got some pretty poor reviews (but at least it looks like it works). What would you recommend?

What's the real cost for iTouch?

sandra194 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:12:07 -0800

Teen daughter wants the iTouch for Christmas. Other than the purchase price, what other fees apply? Is this thing gonna cost me a monthly fee to access the Internet--which is what she really wants to do.

Belt for GPS tracking and my tiny laptop

phrontist — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 17:23:04 -0800

I'm currently waiting for my Eee PC and Mologogo phone (a motorola i415) to arrive. These are items I'd like to carry with me very frequently (essentially always), and I call upon the hivemind to help me figure out the best way to do so. The Eee is too big to fit in my pockets comfortably, and for maximum comfort I'd rather not have the phone in my pants all the time either. I have a Timbuk2 bag, but it's too large for when I just want to carry the phone and laptop. The best idea I've come up so far is some sort of... utility belt. I'm envisioning the Eee hanging off my hip and the phone in some sort of holster. I have a hunch military surplus may be a fruitful avenue of inquiry, but I'm not having much luck googling.

Can anyone reccomend such a belt and holsters (bags) that would work with these items? Preferably something modular, in case I have to add some other device down the line.

I'm open to non-belt suggestions as well, but my priorities are fast access and secure stowage (I'm a college student that rides a bike very often). It shouldn't be a vest - this needs to be a general solution that will work in the summer as well.

What's next, no potty breaks?

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 08:06:08 -0800

My company just instituted a “no headphones” policy…how can I deal? Here’s the story: one of the guys on the trading floor was wearing headphones, and didn’t answer his telephone. So they banned headphone use company-wide.

I am not on the trading floor. I manage the recruiting database. I don’t get work-related calls…ever. Everything I do is by email, IM or fax. When I do get calls (primarily from the wife), my headphones (which are actually ear buds, and no, those aren’t allowed either) aren’t noise-canceling, so I can hear the phone ring. Also, my phone is DIRECTLY in front of me, smack in the center of my eye line, under my monitor. When it rings, it also flashes and displays the caller ID.

Like many people who perform mostly data entry, my iPod is what keeps me sane and productive. Without it, I’m at sea, I can’t focus, and time…drags…on…so…slowly.

Other than quitting (hate job hunting, don’t want to look until I finish my current degree), what are my options? Do non ear-based listening devices exist, maybe that transmit sound through your body? And no, I don’t think this (link possibly NSFW) is a viable alternative…heh. Help? Thanks!

Does my iPhone hate my Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones?

kathryn — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 08:45:13 -0800

My iPhone and my Sennheiser noise cancelling headphones are not playing nicely. Periodically, I get an annoying buzzing/interference noise when I'm listening to music on my iPhone and have noise cancellation switched on. My equipment:

Brand new iPhone
Older Sennheiser noise reducing headphones, PXC 250 model
Belkin iPhone adapter

I live in NYC. I sometimes get this interference while at my desk at work. I also consistently get this noise when waiting for the train, on the subway platform. It happens 100% of the time when an oncoming subway train is approaching. If an express train passes my station, I hear a horrible, loud buzzing sound for several seconds until the train passes.

My gut reaction is that it has to do with the iPhone searching for a cellular signal. Can I make the buzzing stop?

What gives with the strap on the foot?

snsranch — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 19:18:26 -0800

I was hanging out with a U.S. Navy officer. I noticed that he had something unknown to me on his feet... The strap was about 1/2 inch wide in a figure 8 shape. The first loop went around his foot, under the arch and over the top. The second loop, connected to the first was around the ankle. The top of that was up under the pant leg so it wasn't obvious what is was for.

He was wearing standard Navy Khakis. So it wasn't one of things for the blousing effect. Also the strap looked like elastic material like the stuff on underwear bands, but black.

Mormon underwear? Strap down for a side-arm? He's a bad-ass so ya never know. This is a silly question, but I just couldn't ask him about it.

Calling all Q's

ewkpates — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 09:00:01 -0800

Recommendations (and links) for awesome winter clothing and gadgets, especially for living somewhere very cold most of the time? Pretend you are Q, and I am Bond, ewkpates Bond.

Need a UK gadget fix..

ascullion — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 06:58:16 -0800

Does anyone know a UK supplier for one of these little gadgets?