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My Top Tech Toys Of 2011

// January 30th, 2012 // 3 Comments » // technology, toys

I firmly believe that technology should enrich and enable our lives, so it’s no surprise that I use a lot of technology in my life. Some of these gadgets are for personal use. Some are for work, and others are just for fun, but here’s a list of the top tech toys that I discovered or started using in 2011.

1. T-Mobile G2 – I got this phone in November of 2010, and it’s been an awesome device. After I rooted it, overclocked it, and put HTC’s Sense user interface on it, it’s been a killer phone. The slide-out keyboard is really what makes it for me, plus having a real camera button.

2. Apple iPad 2 – I tried desperately to use a few different Android-powered tablets, but I just couldn’t. Honeycomb might’ve been built for tablets, but it sucks to use full time. The iPad can’t do half the things I did with my Android tablets, but what it does do is miles better.

3. Apple iPod Classic – I tried for literally years to duplicate two simple functions with various software solutions on various smartphones, and I just couldn’t. Given the size of my music library, I needed a portable solution that can sync playcounts/times and star ratings from desktop to mobile and back again. I finally broke down and bought an iPod Classic and couldn’t love it more. It doesn’t have apps or all that nonsense, but it does precisely what I need it to, and it does that well.

4. Xbox 360 w/ Kinect – after a few years of not even having a TV in the house (no kidding), I finally got one, along with an Xbox 360 w/ Kinect. The media experience with this thing is awesome, especially with the dashboard update that came late in 2011 and brought speech recognition throughout most of the software. I can literally tell my TV that I want to watch Modern Family without ever touching a remote control. Awesome.

5. Nokia BH-905i – these headphones are just plain awesome. Most of the time I use them wired to my iPod or iPad, but they also have stereo Bluetooth, which connects easily to my laptop. They also have active noise-cancellation technology, so I can watch a movie while Reese screams her brains out (or plays noisily with her toys….) and not miss a thing. Even when the house is empty, I’ll put these bad boys on and just disappear into the music.

6. Bose In-Ear Headphones – I got my first pair of these at the Nokia: Go Play event and bought a replacement pair two years later. These are my everyday earbuds, and I love them because I can have my music as loud as I want and no one around me can hear it. They’re brilliant for listening to music in public, as well as at my desk at work. They’re pricey, but I haven’t found any other headphones that fit as good.

7. Angelcare monitor – I lost a cousin to SIDS when I was a kid, so having a good nighttime monitor with the heartbeat pad is priceless. This unit also has video, which is cool. I have a full review coming soon.

8. Enercell Portable Power – this is similar to the Proporta units that I’ve loved for years, but it’s available at any RadioShack, and it’s a bit smaller. Other than that, it’s the same – huge battery cased in plastic with USB-out. I don’t travel with less than two in my bag.

9. Chumby One – I don’t remember how long I’ve had this, but I know I got it off Woot. I didn’t really use it until I talked with the Chumby guy at the NY Maker Faire, who told me I could get it to automatically change ‘channels’ if I used alarms. So brilliant, it now automatically loads Pandora in the morning and Groove Salad when I get home from work. Excellent.

That’s it – I originally started this with the idea to do ten, but I could only come up with nine, so it’s your turn. Let me know your top tech toy in the comments below.

What Are The Best $100 Earphones?

// August 2nd, 2009 // 4 Comments » // toys

A few years ago, at the Nokia Go Play event in London, I received a pair of the Bose In-Ear earphones in my ‘goody bag’. These were the first pair of earphones I had ever owned that were worth more than ~$20, and I’ve been incredibly impressed with them. Unfortunately, they’ve gone out, and so I need to purchase a new pair. These are the three important things that I liked about the Bose:

1. They keep sound in. I can have the heaviest techno ever pulsating into my brain, and be sitting right next to my wife, and she can’t hear a thing. This is crucial for using them on airplanes and such, and ranks high in importance for my next pair of earphones.

2. They keep other sounds out. They’re not complete sound barriers, but with the music loud enough, I can have these in and not hear a dang thing. Again, excellent for use on airplanes and long flights, but also good for other situations, like when I really just need to get some work done.

3. They’re not completely in-ear. This is tough to explain. I also have a pair of Creative something-or-others that came with my Dell XPS M1330. While they possess the previous two features, they’re extremely uncomfortable to wear. To put them on right, you’re supposed to reach around with the opposite hand and gently pull the top of your ear up, to open the ear canal. Doing so, however, creates an odd experience that I find really uncomfortable, specifically with heavy bass. A good example is, when wearing these and walking normally, my footsteps pound in my head, as if I was a freakin T-rex. I want to avoid this type of experience as much as possible. The Bose In-Ear set fits into my ear, but not uncomfortably so, and do not produce the experience described above.

I’m not interested in any suggestions for full headphones, regardless of the price/quality. These need to be able to easily fit in *any* of the small pockets on my gadget bag or other bags, which the Bose set does nicely. My budget for headphones is $100 – the price of the Bose. I’m really tempted to just go with those, but I figured, since they were my first pair, that some of you might have better suggestions. Please make them, and I’ll try to go check them all out. Thanks.

Stuff I Choose Not To Live Without

// January 6th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // technology

Zach @ The Outsidr posted his list of products that he simply can’t live without earlier, and as any blogger with nothing to talk about is prone to do, I’m going to carry on his ‘meme’ with my own list. Yes, of course we *could* live without these things, if absolutely necessary, so I’ve renamed my list, ‘Stuff I Choose Not To Live Without.’

First up, frankly, is my phone. Specifically, the Nokia N95-3. Sure, I’ve also got the E71-2, N79 NAM, 5800 XpressMusic, N82, and LG KT610 on my desk right now, but none can really truly replace my tried-and-true pocket companion. The Nokia N95-3 gives me a great camera (both photos and videos), full email access, internet, Jaiku, and of course, phone calls/SMS. It’s like having my laptop in my pocket, and I *could* post to my various blogs from it. I refuse to go anywhere without it.

Next up, obviously, is my Dell XPS M1330. I’m an online journalist/blogger, so obviously my laptop is vital to my livlihood. The XPS M1330 is by no means a top-of-the-line machine, but it’s small(ish), light, and packs plenty of kick to write posts, edit photos and videos, and anything else I need to do.

Last.FM is the first service on this list. While I maintain a rather large collection of MP3s, Last.FM gives me a fresh set of tunes, instantly tailored specifically to ME. I can type in ‘Productivity’ and get great working music, or ‘Relaxing’ and get music to calm me down. I use Mobbler on my N95-3, too, so I can enjoy Last.FM on the go.

Partially to appease James Whatley, I have to add Spinvox to this list. Spinvox takes the voicemails that my family and others leave me, converts them to text, and delivers it as an SMS. I’m bad about screening phone calls, so this lets me instantly and visually determine if I need to call you back today or next week. It’s completely brilliant, and something that gets used nearly every day.

Firefox is another non-hardware item that I simply could not live without. 95% of my workload is done in Firefox, and the other 5% could be, probably, if I wanted. It’s my window to the world, and like my Dell XPS M1330, it’s crucial to my livlihood.

I’ve talked about them before, but my Bose earphones are another thing that I would go nuts without. Oftentimes, I have trouble concentrating on the task at hand, but if I toss these in with Last.FM set to ‘techno’, I can push the rest of the world out of my view and simply focus on writing. They’re wonderful.

That’s it. 6 things that I absolutely choose not to live without. Of course, I have a ton of other fun toys that I would *prefer* not to live without, such as my external monitor, Fujitsu P1610, Nokia N800, and others, but the fact is that they are not absolutely vital in my day-to-date live. What about you?

Keep Your Noise To Yourself

// November 11th, 2008 // 2 Comments » // cool

I caught this post over at DigitalNomads.com earlier this week, and decided to cross-post my comment here. The post is about the best (and cheapest) noise-cancelling headphones, and encourages you to do-it-yourself using an old pair of headphones and some construction headphones. While that likely works fine, I much prefer to have something smaller for traveling.

One of my favorite tools – traveling or not – is the Bose TriPort In-Ear earphones I got at the Nokia: Go Play event in London. They’re pricey, coming in at $100 on Amazon, but they’re totally worth it, and I’m not one to pay for earphones, normally. I love these earphones so much for a few reasons:

1. They come with a really classy, but easy to use leather-wrapped spindle case. This keeps them from getting tangled, yet it’s really small, and looks nice.

2. They’re insanely comfortable. I don’t really care for the earphones that stick completely into your ear, as I find that sometimes those get uncomfortable after a while. These Bose things rest inside your ear, but don’t really go as deep as other in-ear earphones I’ve tried.

3. They’re nearly soundproof. This is the kicker. In both directions, these babies are nearly completely soundproof. When I’m wearing them, I don’t really hear much of anything going on around me, no matter what environment I’m in. On the other side, I can have my music up as loud as I want, and even someone sitting right next to me can’t hear a thing. It’s awesome when I’m working from bed and the Mrs. has already gone to sleep, or when I’m on a plane headed somewhere.

You’ll seldom find me without these earphones nearby, whether I’m working at home or out and about. They’re simply great.