Last night, I renewed my love of electronic gadgets when I got my old Palm IIIc that I never use to function as an LCD readout for my computer, like a Matrix Orbital. It is set to display four RSS feeds (BBC World, Slashdot, Wired, and New York Times Health) for 30 seconds, then switch to display what’s playing in winamp, then switch to system stats (CPU load, memory usage, etc…)
I’m actually pleasantly pleased, as now even if I’m playing a full screen game, I can see the latest news, or know how much the game taxes my resources. hen I was done, I felt a need to be more gadgety, and I felt getting a new PDA would be good. I didn’t use that one anymore because the battery stopped working (now it’s always in the charging cradle.)
Well, after seeing a coworkers PDA that can play MP3 and videos, I wanted one like that, cause let’s face it, who doesn’t feel the need to watch a Simpsons episode anyitme they want? When I went looking around, I found that they were pricey. Over $200 at least for a decent one w/ color screen, and running PocketPC (the PalmOS is crap…give me a dumbed down version of windows any day.) Them I came across this.
Less than $150?! And it’s a cell phone too? Well, I read some reviews, and decided it would work for me. Prety much the downsides were short battery life for cellphone (I rarely use mine, so this is no concern,) always on speakerphone unless you use ear buds (well, I guess I’ll use ear buds, then! I don’t mind) and too expensive for for what it does. Well, considering it originally retiaeld for over $800, I can see their point, but seeing as this is an open-box item, I gots it for cheap! Real cheap! Hell, I might not even make use of the damn cell phone function (considering all the work I’d have to do to get my plan switched over, especially since I’m under my parent’s plan (although they just told me it got restructured so now it’s all technically under my plan…but they still pay. I think their plans expired and so just renewed under an existing plan to get a good deal.))
Now I can’t wait for it to arrive so I can play with it. I also got a 1 gig SD card to hold lots of media (well, ok, not really lots, but enough for me. I have less than 2 gigs of MP3’s, so this will hold over half of mine.)
What neat gadgets can you not go anywhere without?
I do have my annoying-but-trusty MP3 player, though, and I’m happy enough.