My New Favorite Gadget

I've been a fan of Star Trek for a while as you may have guessed by other posts. I can't help but compare so many ordinary things today to what seemed so whizz-bang just a few years ago. Think about it: cell phone "communicator" (I love it when William Shatner opens his cell phone on Boston Legal - it makes the communicator sound), doors that open when you walk up to them and voice activated cars - it's all coming so quickly.

Now the PADD has come to life. This is the coolest the coolest gadgetto date, IMHO. It is the iPhone's cousin the iPod Touch. It's about 8mm thick and fits nicely in the palm of your hand. I fell in love with it when I got it just before Christmas. It's got WiFi capability, an Internet browser that lets you zoom in on Web sites so they can easily be read on it's crystal-clear 3.5" screen. It's got a calendar and address book that you can sync with your PC or Mac. Not only that, it plays music and videos! With the WiFi feature you can even buy tunes straight from your iPod!

But wiat! There's more! Just this month Apple "unlocked" the iPod so you can now add email, real-time stock quotes, Google maps, weather and more. It is now truly as cool as it gets. I can do pretty much anything I would normally do on a laptop without ahaving to worry about where I can plug it in or waiting for it to boot. It fits in my shirt pocket (I got it a rubber case so it doesn't slip out of said pocket), it has all my favorite music and videos on it as well as a hundred or so photos. Way cool.

I've been a PDA user since the first Palm Pilot came out, and I've jumped to the next coolest as fast as it came out. Well, that and the amount of money in my wallet. I've had Palm-powered devices and Windows Mobile devices, but this really takes the prize. It's sleek, it's pretty, it is easy to use. I encourage you to check it out.

People are asking why I didn't just get an iPhone. Well, I've heard the battery life isn't too hot for one thing. My iPod will play music all day and still let me surf the Web. I also happen to like my current wireless carrier (and I've still got a contract). But it does make my once-cool cell phone look a litte clunky.

What's your favorite gadget?