My toys - 2009
Tuesday, December 29, 2009 at 11:19AM The difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.
All in all, this was a pretty light year quantitatively for new tech toys, but the ones I did get made up for quantity with quality and usefulness. (I am a real piker compared to Kathy Schrock who inspired this post!)
MacBook Air laptop computer. I spent enough on this one "toy" to make up for a lot of little gizmos. But happily, I remain deeply in love with this light-weight but powerful computer - in fact I can't imagine going back to another model. My concerns about the lack of ports have proven to be unfounded (a powered USB hub at my desk works great). I check sometimes to make sure I've remembered to put the Air in my bag.
Roku. This small $89 black box uses my home wireless network to stream Netflix movies to my television set. Took 5 minutes to set up, works flawlessly, and the picture quality is about a good as a standard DVD (get my home Internet via cable). While not good for movie lovers who demand recent releases (unless you rent from Amazon for a high price), there are tons of classics that are instantly available - and at no additional cost beyond the Netflix subscription rate. Don't bother ordering the extra cables, and if you are in the market for a new DVD player, some now come with this streaming capability built-in.
Apple Magic Mouse. Heavier and less "magic" than I had anticipated, but still a good Bluetooth mouse. I especially like the auto-off feature that saves on batteries.
New home wireless router (Linksys G). I couldn't believe the increase in Internet speed after doing an upgrade from my 5+ year old home wireless router. Again, very simple set up and this model has a handy reset button so unplugging isn't needed anymore.
Mozy back-up service. OK, this not technically a doo-dad, but I like knowing my work is all backed-up out on the cloud. Helps us belts and suspenders people sleep better at night.
Reading glasses with built in lights. Not only functional, but stylish as well! Everyone to whom I've shown them is extremely jealous.
Hope Santa was good to you this year.
Reader Comments (1)
I just picked up the ipad not even a week ago..had it for about 5 days and returned it. my fault though as I got it to do work and not play on (should have done my reserach!)..cool ittle gizmo, worthless for getting anything of real value done.