[NT] NTs and gadgets

[funkadelik]

Do you find yourself getting all excited over new gadgets and well-engineered inventions? What are some one's you've come across lately that you've been interested in? Or some ones that really stick in your mind as being particularly awesome?

I find new gadgets and toys so great! I get such a kick out of them. Or even as a kid making one of those potato lamps for the first time was such a joy! Makes me feel like a giggly little girl.

Today I learned about the Big Green Egg. It's ancient technology, which kind of makes it even cooler and I won't go on and on about it here, but needless to say, I'd love to have one to play around with. Even if I never own one, I still love to read about the ins and outs of how it functions. And it's not just things like Home & Garden stuff or handheld devices, but things like this I find really interesting, too.

Anyway, anyone share my enthusiasm? Or even share some vague inclination of "like"? Got some cool inventions/technology to share?

 

[guesswho]

A potato lamp as in Dexter's laboratory ?

I never thought it would work

 

[guesswho]

I don't know much about gadgets, but I've noticed they're getting smaller, and their screens are getting bigger. And everyone's wowwwwwwww look at that.

Even though the new "gadget" exactly what the previous gadget did, actually what the previous 1000 gadgets did.

They're just making them flashier.

I saw this video on youtube, an entire apartment was full of screens, they had screens in the table, on the oven, in the mirrors, everywhere!

And it was called future tech. Even though there was nothing futuristic about it, just bigger screens. :laugh

 

[93JC]

I'm sort of ambivalent about gadgets. For instance I have no desire to own a 'smartphone', I bought an iPod for the first time only a year ago (and it took me a while to figure out how to use), and my computer is comparatively ancient (almost 10 years old). I do appreciate many feats of design, just not necessarily the flashy newfangled stuff.

For instance, I think this is brilliant:

It probably seems quite boring to most people, but I appreciate that that thing will probably last a century or more, whereas this:

will be lucky if it makes it more than three years before it ends up in a landfill.

I'll expound on my thoughts more later, if I remember to.

 

[strawberries]

poorly designed objects make me grumpy.

 

[guesswho]

Do you want them pink?

 

[strawberries]

sometimes. mostly i just want them to be functional and reliable.

do you want them to be pink?

 

[funkadelik]

Even though the new "gadget" exactly what the previous gadget did, actually what the previous 1000 gadgets did.

They're just making them flashier.

I've always wondered why people need to put TVs everywhere. Like on MTV Cribs all these guys have TVs in their kitchens, their bathrooms, their showers, their doorknobs, inside their washing machines. It's ridiculous.

And smartphones tend to have the same philosophy: the more of anything and everything we have, the better our product will be. Which is a stupid approach. You can Febreez dog poo as much as you want but it'll still stink and it'll still be dog poo. And it's aggravating to us consumers who don't want all the bullshit and just want something functional and well made.

I do appreciate many feats of design, just not necessarily the flashy newfangled stuff.

For instance, I think this is brilliant:

Agreed. But I guess the major attraction to (good) gadgets for me is how they work. And how well-designed, useful and simple they can be. It's like scientific theories. The most elegant and awe-inspiring are often the simplest. And the telephone is a remarkable invention. And so is the cellular phone. But now it's gotten to the point where it's an old horse that just needs to be retired. Let's move on to something more useful. More interesting. More "indicative of the future we're moving in to". It's like what guesswho said, we can call it future technology to give it allure, but is it really? Not really...

poorly designed objects make me grumpy.

Yes. Same here.

 

[ThatGirl]

I always wanted a car with OnStar for some reason.

 

[freeeekyyy]

If something has some sort of practical use, I'm interested...I think NTPs are more likely than NTJs to be interested in gadgets for their own sake.

 

[INTP]

i dont really care about getting the newest gadgets, but i do keep up whats new with dslr cameras. to be honest i dont even want some computer phone with touch screen like iphone

 

[Tamske]

I'm quite enthousiastic about my drawing tablet. Though there is one drawback: the pen isn't attached and I always forget to take it, so I have to go back upstairs to get the pen. I'm happy that I didn't get the expensive well-known brand. I chanced on the unknown one which just happened to work well together with the free drawing program.
Two new gadgets: a CD player (the 10 year old one was broken), quite standard thing. Looks almost the same as the broken one (a bit more round). New features I don't really care about: you can attach ipod and usb stick - we don't have those. We've got a stack of CDs and cassettes so the fact that it can play these is the most important.
And I'm actually quite miffed about this one: an extra bowl for my food processor. The processor costed a lot, the extra bowl half as much. Why, tell me, why don't they sell food processors with two bowls any more? I don't need that blender and all those other stuff attached to the thing. I want to make cake and chocolate mousse with it and you always need two bowls, one for beating the yolks, butter and sugar, and another one for beating the egg whites. For chocolate mousse you've got to beat egg white and cream. I bought that stupid extra bowl because whenever I use the processor, I'll use two bowls...

 

[lunalum]

I find new gadgets and toys so great! I get such a kick out of them. Makes me feel like a giggly little girl.

There are lots to share, but I thought of this one, soon to be released, in particular.

http://www.nintendo.com/3ds/hardware

3D gaming and picture taking without glasses. The possibilities....

 

[GetOffMyBiscuits]

I love new gadgets like the flesh light.

I had one hand crafted out of Conrad Hubert's vintage flashlight. Cost me a fortune.

 

[copperfish17]

I'm a sucker for cell phones... and I've always loved looking up concept phones.

http://www.cellphonebeat.com/entry/top-10-concept-phones/

http://www.cameraphonesplaza.com/10-coolest-concept-phones-out-there/

 

[Eric B]

Gadgets I waited around for, and got were recordable optical disc technology (first CD-RW and then DVD+RW). Did a lot of recording, but the machines or programs were often clunky. Then, as soon as this came out, solid-state streaming pretty much replaced most of it.

The other big thing of the new millennium is LED technology. Began getting LED Christmas lights, first static, and then color changing eventually came out. This past winter I finally got the holy grail; a completely controllable color changing LED string. In recent weeks, got my first LED bulbs for the house, and an LED desk lamp.

Next thing is a device with an OLED screen. TV's are probably still too early in development, but phones are out, though adopting the technology slowly. My G2 seems to still has a lot of life left in it, so I figure next year I'll look for something similar with an OLED. For now, T-Mobile only offers the Galaxy, but I cannot use something with only a screen keyboard. Other companies have other Samsung products with the sliding keyboard, though. The colors on those things are like nothing else.

A potato lamp as in Dexter's laboratory ?

I never thought it would work

I wondered why those Amish took such offense. Wouldn't that in principle be more like a candle?

 

[Such Irony]

I am intrigued by the technology and design of some gadgets but I don't care to own most of the latest things. The gadget may be cool but if it doesn't serve a useful purpose in my life or costs too much, I'm not going to bother with it unless I'm shown how the gadget could make my life easier or if I wait long enough, it will get cheaper. I'm not an early adopter on most things but I try to keep up on the new developments so I'm not totally out of the loop.

I have a bare-bones cell phone and MP3 player that work just fine for me. I don't need to own an iPhone or any other smartphone. If I made a shitload of money though, I'd probably get one. I'm fine with DVDs and don't see why I need to convert to BluRay. I still don't have a flat screen TV with stereo surround sound. I do have an e-reader though, but a cheaper model that suits my needs just fine.

 

[PH.]

As an Interactive Media student I quite love gadgets. It's a shame that those apple things are just way too expensive. To be honest, the time we are in the gadgets aren't really functional yet. They're just fun and cool to have. I could say we're in an early state of gadgets still.

Imagine how in the future those gadgets could really be usefull. What about a refridgerator which knows how much milk you use in one week, and calculates when he needs to order you some new milk so you'd never run out of it. Or an alarm clock which knows the temperature outside and wakes you five minutes earlier because you need to scrape your car windows. That would be awesome, wouldn't it?

Two weeks ago it was an assignment to take apart a computer mouse and put it to a use other than.. a computer mouse. We would solder.. a thingy to it so we could make contact (or "click" the button) from a distance. It had to be usb mouses so we could program stuff to the clicking of the button. You could make a square appear on your screen or stuff like that. I can say it was truly awesome and it was one of my most favourite lessons I had this year

Just talking about this stuff makes me want to take more mouses and keyboards apart to make other usefull gadgets of them xD
Like switching out the lights or registering someone at your door.

(No, I don't own a smartphone )

 

[entropie]

I had tons of gadgets and toys as a kid. There was a magazine when I was young, called Yps, who weekly had a new gadget or toy when it came out. After that I developed more structure and bought a whole collection of dinosaur magazines in which you collected a tyranosaurus rex. After that it was a medicine book in which you collected all parts to build a male and female human model. My mom being ISFJ had a firm knack for such endeavours and was good at reminding me to buy the newest magazine.

So if you look at my childhood you'll find shitloads of junk and toys. I had all sorts of gadgets from gun belts with versatile options for storing things to pratical overalls used by craftsmen.

Nowadays I basically collect technical ideas and build them. I have a growing machine shop in my basement and a huge collection of electrical components. I've build several things, I never really use, but who knows they may come in handy once. Here's some pictures:

This a webserver to host a small site written in binary. Would need a SD - card to have more storage:

That's an RF radiocommunication, receiving and transmitting end:

That's asuro, shall clean the house autonomous one day:

LED cube, currently building one with 3x3x3 LED's

And that is my current and biggest project, building a cnc control, to connect the cnc mechanics of the computer and control it:

The last project is in a casing by now and it is my first AC project, kinda scary, since I build the casing from wood aswell and it has around 225 Watts . Well you gotta try

All things I do have in common that I want to build them myself completly from scratch. When my cnc machine is finished, I'll be even able to mill electrical raw boards and then only need to buy the components and solder them. It's my dream to be independant like that one day, I'ld even like to build my own house completly independant and on my own, it makes me not only feel great that I have accomplished something but also gives me some sort of comfort and security.

There are still many cool projects out there on the webs, so I'll basically stick to rebuilding already existing electrical layouts or mechanical layouts provided by people doing it as a hobby. As long as there are so many cool things, I am not trieing to invent something new just for the sake of inventing. I think that eventually I'll come up with something useful and having build all sorts of stuff gives you a wider repertoire of knowing whats possible.

What I really dislike are people buying for example the newest iphone and spending tons of money for it just to have it. And then even brag with it because they have it. I like gadgets like that too, but I'll probably never really if I havent build it myself.

Only downside of building stuff yourself is that you want to do everything and when my girl wants new furniture, I am already planning to saw them in our kitchen (cause we lack space to work on them). That sometimes is no good thing, thank god my girlfriend has the rationality and practicality to stop me in times like that.

Biggest problem of mine too is having two left hands. God gave me the ability to understand complex math, but gave me the ability aswell to break every thumb while trieing to hit a nail. The lack of practicality in me is definitly coded in my DNA, cause I grew up with my Dad being a plumber and helped him out in that time almost weekly. So I should be better just because I had some experience. Fact is I am not too bad and I am not afraid of doing anything or handling big machines. It just looks always kinda uncool when I am doing it and there's a lot of mess produced in the process . I tho plan on getting better with age

 

[PH.]

You remind me of an ENTP friend, entropie xD

Since he was a kid he build flamethrowers from super soakers and when he got older he made crossbows, and stuff like that. He's not that interested in computer mechanics, more of a wood, iron and stuff alike craftsman. I really wish I could get myself to build the things I think of, but mostly the ideas just stay inside my head