gadget glut

my intense anticipation for the new batman flick made me think how we're all becoming a little like batman. in what way, you ask? well, batman is known for his arsenal of crime fighting gadgets he totes around on his bat belt.



we too are becoming batman, only our growing array of gadgets are productivity, entertainment and communication ones. will the bat belt soon become a fashion necessity? the look has already started with the blackberry holsters so prevalent.

first off we have the gadgets themselves.

we have the phone, digital camera, ipod, earphones, video camera, usb key and sd memory card.

add to this the standard accouterments carried by all.

wallet, keys, change, sunglasses amongst other sundries.

all said, that's a lot of crap. for the most part this isn't a problem for women because they have their purses. and the purses in style these days being of luggage proportions can accommodate any number of devices and accessories without issue. but what options are available to us guys? short of a bat belt, how will all this be carried? fanny packs, man purse, cargo pants/shorts, shoulder bag, attache?

not all those options are either professional or very manly and some aren't practical. technology is supposed to make our lives easier, not more cumbersome.

as much as we've pushed technology forward to give us an all-in-one device (ie. smartphone) we still prefer the devices that service their niche area. not only that, smartphones are not within everyone's grasp. the camera on a smartphone doesn't offer us the same features and quality a regular digital camera does. while a smartphone can play music, our mp3 player gives us a better experience in sound, navigation and playability. smartphones are good, but not as good as we're accustomed to so they haven't fully replaced anything yet.

how do you carry your glut of gadgets? my vote is the shoulder bag, but a size larger that it can't be construed as a man purse. my general rule is that if it can hold legal paper, it isn't a purse. but that solves the problems on weekdays when i have a reason to lug that around. i don't have a good solution on weekends when i'm just out and about. i guess i just cram my pockets, but i feel a little to clunky when i do.

flip video

today the fine folks at google sent me quite the nifty little gadget for a holiday gift. yes it's that time of year where the graft pours in, much of which is shite and useless, but there's usually a gem in there. last year it was the ipod nano, and so far this is the front runner.


the gadget in question is the flip video ultra from pure digital technologies. what we have here is an extremely easy to use video/audio capture device (full specs here) that has 30 mins of record time, that you just plug into your comp with it's usb arm or line-out to your tv. it's got a good sized lcd screen, zoom, runs on two AA's and comes with some quick and easy software to make simple edits and easily upload to youtube and can even take frame captures to make into photos.

it sure beats the hell out of the crap quality of a cell phone and is much less worrisome than carrying around your digital camera. it's really a fantastic little device. all for the very reasonable price of $150 bones. i'm ashamed to say it, but i have to side with oprah in her throwing her considerable weight behind the product (consumerly and physically speaking).

i wanted to post a video filmed with said device, but unfortunately my boring-ass life doesn't accommodate me having anything of interest to film and post here. and my rabbits are not ones for on-demand performances so their equally boring-ass lives were not adequate subject material. but now that i'll carry this on me at all times, hopefully i can capture that one moment of gold and share it here.