Christmas Gadget Wishlist
Christmas around the corner so may be this is the right time to put together a personal gadget wish list? This time I will try to think of what can be improved with the current state of the art. So no new technologies, just what we have available, but put together as better, smarter designs. Here we go:
- Notebook power supply with several (2-4) USB power sockets. Hey, I take my notebook computer with me on almost all my trips. I bring several other gadgets as well. All of them are charged over the Universal Supply Bus. But at the moment I have to either bring an extra charger or leave my notebook running overnight to charge them. Targus, Kensington, APC, do you hear me?
- Bluetooth A2DP portable speakers. I love taking my music with me. I have a pair of Altec Lansing inMotion portable iPod speakers. They produce very good sound, but there are several drawbacks: (i) they do not charge over USB, (ii) most of the time I do not bring an iPod anymore - on a train or plane I listen to the songs on my smartphone, and there is always entire collection on my notebook. It would be nice to have the speakers connected over the air (A2DP) to the notebook or the smartphone and being able to charge them over USB. Altec Lansing, are you there?
- Windows Mobile as a thumb drive. My Windows - based phone synchronizes over the air with the corporate Exchange server. When connected over USB to the notebook computer it should present itself as a flash memory instead of trying to run Activesync (who uses activesync anymore?).
- Synaptics touch sensitive scroll strip on the MoGo mouse. MoGo mouse is an ingenious design. But I miss the scroll wheel.
- A2DP Bluetooth enabled iPod. On those trips where I take the iPod with me, I would love to have it connected to the Bluetooth speakers (above) or my Bluetooth headphones without extra external interfaces like the BlueTrip.
- Bose noise canceling headphones with built in A2DP. Yeah, I know you may be already bored with my A2DP, but I really really love this Bluetooth almost as much as I hate various cables...
- Portable bus-powered WiFi Access point. On various trips I bring with me the Apple AirPort Express, a very compact WiFi router / access point. Wonder if it would be possible to remove the power supply part, making it even smaller and lighter, just pluggable to the wall RJ-45 Ethernet socket for in-room WiFi freedom. Apple?
- Standard mini-USB socket on the iPod. This would reduce yet another [dedicated] cable to carry.
- Windows operating system that lets me assign different audio devices to different applications. I use Bluetooth headphones for music and VoIP calls, but at the same time the system sounds are coming to the headphones. It would be great to have the warnings, question beeps and such come through the standard PC speakers, while having music and VoIP easy configurable. I have heard Vista can do that, but have not tried yet.
- Simultaneous multiple Google profiles within one browser. I would love to be able to work on more than one profile at the same time. Like having two Google Talk "balloons" (one business, one private) and being able to set different statuses to them. Very often when I am "private available" this means "business busy" and vice versa.... these presence things are really complicated...
- USB powered, A2DP enabled, portable Christmas tree (OK, this is a joke...)
Windows Mobile as a thumb drive - you've got that on Vista.
ReplyDeleteStandard mini-USB socket on the iPod. - buy a Griffin iTrip (the new one). The mini USB can be used for syncing, too. It is a great gadget!
ReplyDelete"You've got that on Vista" unfortunately does not work in practice... How many computers you share USB sticks with are running Vista?
ReplyDeleteAs for the new iTrip - thanks for the tip - I wasn't aware the new one has mini USB. Very smart move, sometimes I wonder if the Griffin guys have some pact with Apple. They run hell of a business just on what Apple missed...
Shouldn't iPod have a built-in FM transmitter (not to mention A2DP as in the BlueTrip) and mini USB? And BTW - iTrip and BlueTrip should merge into one device...