What Gadgets Did You Get over the Holidays?

By Jake • January 6th, 2009 • 14 Comments

Did anyone else love Inspector Gadget?I’ve noticed a trend lately in my posts. I’m asking more questions. This wasn’t intentional before, but from here on out, it will be.

Aside from creating more content and engaging you all as much as possible, I’m hoping to get real information, similar to the way I frequently use Twitter, i.e. I poll for answers to questions, to get recommendations, to vet opinions, and to share experiences.

It’s sometimes a bit tough to do this (and answer) in 140 characters though. Anyway, in case you missed them, here are a few of the polls I’ve run in the past, if you care to add your two (or more) cents:

So, the question I have today is what gadget/s did you get over the holidays? Or maybe even, what gadget/s did you hope to, but did not, get? As with last year, I’ve noticed a surge in iPhone related chatter on the various channels, signaling that it was a common holiday gift.

The gadget I found to be common this holiday was the LCD picture frame. My wife actually got two, one from me and one from her mother.  I’m sure they’ve been around for a while, but I had never actually noticed these before I went shopping this December. Anyway, I bought this one from Philips, and it’s pretty slick, although I’m wishing now I had done a bit more research and bought a wireless capable one.

Seems like a no-brainer gadget, since pretty much everyone has scads of digital images. No one wants to print out all the good ones on photo paper and buy frames for all of them. Still, it is a bit of work moving pictures from the computer to the photo frame. The interface on the photo frame isn’t great; there are way too many nested menus.

After using it for a few minutes, I hope they go to a touchscreen interface soon. It would allow for much more intuitive usability, and you can always wipe off fingerprint smudges.

So, now it’s your turn. What sexy gadget did you get? Did it deliver the gadgety goodness you expected?

Find the comments.


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  • noelportugal

    I finally bit the bullet on got a DSLR. I am a photo aficionado and enjoy the old school B&W photography, but I claim I don't have enough time for it…so for the past few years I've been upgrading several digital point and shoot cameras. So I finally did it! I stayed with Nikon since that's what I know and like ..Anyways that was my x-mas present and I'm loving it!

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    I'm amazed at how many photo junkies there are out there. Rich and Paul are both into cameras too; check the AppsLab Reader feed, and you'll find all kinds of camera gadgetry.

    I suppose digital cameras opened a window for photography as a popular artform, and the 'tubes has helped by creating art galleries for everyone to show in, e.g. Flickr, Picasa.

    I know nothing about cameras, but it sounds sweet.

  • http://ORCLville.blogspot.com Floyd

    I'm a member of the photo junkie club myself…a Canon guy. Picked up a few lens filters, a boom arm for one of my light stands, and a new 3-in-one reflector over the holidays.

    I also got all three levels of Rosetta Stone Spanish (Latin America) in my latest attempt to pick up the language.

  • http://theappslab.com manalang

    I love my Nikon D70 (circa 2004). Before this I used a combo of a Canon point and shoot (A70) and a Nikon N80 (film). I had a Nikon film scanner that did the job. I love Nikons, but frankly, it's all about the lens. Don't bother spending all your cash on a body… spend it on your lenses. And here's a tip, don't get zoom lenses… they suck. If you want the sharpest most amazing quality, go with a fixed-focus lens.

  • http://theappslab.com manalang

    I (we) got a Tivo HD. After we moved to the new pad, we got a 46″ Samsung LCD HD and so we wanted to get an HD DVR. We decided to use the Comcast DVR, but was sorely missing our Tivo. The Tivo HD hooks right up to our Netflix acct… loving it. You can get 720p from Netflix streaming… for free.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    I bought Rosetta Stone Spanish (LA, heh) a while back, but I can't ever seem to make time for it. It looks great, if only I had more time . . .

    You photo geeks should start a photo club or something over on Flickr for all your photography.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    That's the one thing that may tip the scales in favor of an HD TiVo for me. As said before on this blog, I wish I had taken advantage of the lifetime swap from my Series 2 to the HD version when they first were introduced.

    Now that I'm an HD snob, I'm totally wishing I had the HD TiVo.

  • megbear

    I have two pending gadgets. 1) the wireless thingy for the Tivo — this I have but haven't hooked up yet. It's going to allow us to use the Netflix feature 2) the Kindle book. This I have ordered but it's still backordered but I'm looking forward to it. So this is 2 gadgets from a girl who doesn't like gadgets… hmm…

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Wireless thingy for the TiVo is dead simple. The hardest part is typing the WAP password using the remote; worse if you're using WEP. When the first came out with that thingy, it only supported WEP, which is both a) really insecure and b) a really long string of digits. WAP support was a double-win.

    I'm jealous of the Netflix feature. Pondering a Series 3/HD upgrade.

    Kindle! Wow, review that when you get it. I'm curious about it.

  • AmiD

    Late post, since I am behind on my Appslab reading…

    I received a Harmony One remote (Logitech) from my gadget loving boyfriend. A great gift since I managed to break the other universal we have and was having to wrangle 3 remotes just to watch TV.

    Two thumbs way up for the Harmony One. You can control up to 15 devices and it has a cool touch screen and nifty backlighting.
    Now I need to get more devices..

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Hmm, that sounds like something my wife would like. She (thankfully) puts up with the myriad of remotes we use.

    When I used to have kickass audio, I had to draw a diagram with instructions on how to play a CD, watch TV, etc. She's long-suffering.

  • AmiD

    You must get her the Harmony One but be ready to say ” hear me out..” when she opens the box and sees yet another gadget. I mean, I loved it now, but it's not your typical gift. My boyfriend also included a promise to program the remote as well as to add any new devices we pick up in the future- a pretty sweet deal!

    The beauty of the Harmony is you can set up Activites, like watch TV, watch DVD, etc that turns on all the components you need.
    Watch DVD can turn on your tv, DVD, and audio system all with one press of the touch screen.
    You can even go all James Bond and program it to turn on your fireplace or open the blinds as long as they have remote control access.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Wow, impressive. I'll check that out the next time I get an ear-full about turning on the TV. Thanks for the tip

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