2009 in Review: Part 4 (Batteries, Bits and Bytes)

Facebook status updates in 2009 on batteries, bits and bytes. We are doing well!

• has a piece of equipment on her mind – the Canon G10.
• *hearts” her plastic purple toy camera, but how to load the bloody film in?
• Just like different pairs of shoes are worn for different occasions, different cameras are used for different purposes. Rationalized justification for having a compact, a toy holga and a G10 at the same time.
• pleased with the photography course! She may not be technically savvy, but definitely able to go beyond the “auto” and the “scn” mode now. Speaking the language of shutter speed, ISO, and apeture now. 🙂
• Damn, the newly launched Kindle International edition, with wireless 3G delivery will be available for 100+ countries, but not available for Singapore. 😦
• I never thought I will say this to a piece of plastic that runs on batteries, but you complete me. So begins my codependency on the iPhone. It can pinpoint my exact location and I can now facebook stalk anytime. A great start to the relationship.
• The st(r)ains in the relationship are showing. I hate the way my oily face is imprinted on your screen.
• Sorry iPhone, there’s a contender for my affections. Something which re-*kindles* my passion. 🙂

2009: Acquired far too many things that run on batteries. Let’s count – A Holga toy camera, a Canon G10, an iPhone 3GS, an Amazon kindle.

Trigger-happy, app shopping-happy, e-book shopping-happy.

Irritated the hell out of Mr. Cinical coz gadgets are snazzier than those he (a true geek) has. Not bad for someone whose first camera was purchased in 2008, Still do not know how to operate the DVD player at home. 🙂

Did i mention that I like reading the BITS Technology blog on NY Times? It’s on my google reader, along with NYT’s Fashion & Style. 

Plans for 2010: No more gadgets for next 6 months. Cut up credit card. Take more photos! Read more (electronically)! Resolve not to be person who play/punch incessantly with/at battery-operated devices when someone is talking to me.

Picture credits: Etsy

My Own Library

Everett Rogers wrote in the Diffusion of Innovations (1962) that innovations will spread through a market in a S-manner, with the early adopters using the technology, followed by the majority, before that particular technology reaches a mature stage. This idea applies to not only technology, but also applies to many facets of life, including a social trend (e.g. facebook), consumer goods (e.g. fashion trend) etc. 

In the area of electronic gadgets, I have never considered myself to be an early adopter. I probably would not even qualify as the “majority”, but rather more like the laggard. 

My first handphone was at 21 years old and my first camera was a year ago when I was 29. I bought my laptop because it was pink in color and I have never actually own a MP3 player, the current Ipod (2nd generation) was a hand-me-down. And oh, please never ever ask me how to operate the DVD player.

So I was pretty surprised to find myself “lusting” over some pieces of electronic gadgets recently, namely the Prada LG phone and the potential of a Nintendo DS Lite to be converted into a mini-netbook. 

My new lust item – The Amazon Kindle 2

The electronic book reader that’s light as a feather (10.2 ounce) and holds 1500 books that you can bring along everywhere. I am hooked. I can now build a personal library, without the need for a physical space and I can bring them along wherever I go. 🙂

I think I have figured out why I like these items. Rather than adding some complication into my life, these new technology/gadgets fill a want and/or need that I have, making the daily grind of life easier to go by.  

 

 

 

 

 

Need for portable connectivity

The age of portable connectivity is upon us.

On the trains, in cafes, everyone around seems to be engrossed with their Iphone or their 3G/wifi enabled phone, checking their mail, facebooking*, Youtubing* or just mindless internet surfing. But frankly, isn’t the screen really too small for “satisfying” surfing. I mean, isn’t it a drag when you have to zoom into a particular area to view a picture or you have to type your status updates with the little little buttons. Frankly, with my impatient nature and uncooperative fingers, surfing can be a drag on these gadgets!

Of course the alternative will be to get a Netbook. Yeap, those laptops that can slip into your pockets or a very large handbag and on average weigh less than 1 kg. But really who wants to carry a 1kg  laptop around when all I want is just to do a little bit of surfing while standing up squashed between people on the train. 

If I have my way, all portable gadgets for net surfing will look like this:

 

 

The Nintendo DS Lite. The size is perfect! It can go into the tinest handbag. Just widen the screen and introduce a pinchy Ipod touch interface, together with a perfect keyboard. It’s like a mini-netbook.

Oh, do build in a mobile broadband application as well. I mean, if mobile broadband applications are now sizes of thumb-drives, there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be smaller, isn’t it? Heck, keep the stylus as well. 

Wondering why designers of gadgets feel the need to innovate all the time (i.e. load up the tech part), instead of starting the design from a ease-of-use and aesthetic perspective? 

*Facebooking and Youtubing – Yes, indeed, like “googling”, facebooking and Youtubing have become regular lexicons in our urban speak.