Gizmos and Gadgets...

[Music-dad]

I love 'em.....I'm such a sucker for them, I simply can't get enough of 'em.

For example on my Keychain, I have a Digital Photo Viewer, a Weather Station/Forecaster, the Remote for my car stereo, and my Remote Starter/Keyless Entry.

Today I bought a indoor/outdoor thermometer for my studio with clock and highs/lows memory...it was on sale for $4.99 (I couldn't resist).

Now I see all the Tools with lasers built in, computer memory devices, digital tire gauges with built in flashlights....gawd I love it!!!

Anyone into Gizmos and Gadgets like me?....I totally want to hear about them.

 

[16th ave.]

not so much with electronics, but with dishes and helpful items in the kitchen, crafts--i gotta try it... from woodburning to cross stitch to sewing...and christmas decorations---anything that's christmas, especially if its on clearance! lol

 

[Music-dad]

not so much with electronics, but with dishes and helpful items in the kitchen, crafts--i gotta try it... from woodburning to cross stitch to sewing...and christmas decorations---anything that's christmas, especially if its on clearance! lol

Oh yes, I love that stuff too...I forgot to mention Kitchen gadgets, I love those too, from blenders to this really cool shredder I have.

I swear I'm the king of the "as advertised on TV" stuff.

And don't get me started on Xmas stuff, I have the Homer that turns an wiggles his bum, Santa that boogies, Snoring Santa, and matching Snoring Mrs. Clause...a Light up group of Mouse Carolers, those spinning tree decorations, and a ton of Xmas "village" items, some plug in, some can take a tealight candles etc..

 

[zeitgeist]

Yes. Gadget-a-holic.

I've been collecting this stuff for well over a decade now, and, well, it's become quite an impressive collection. Some guys sink their money into old cars and restore them, some go for sports memorabilia and season tickets. I go for computers and gadgets. If I can link my gadgets to my computers, all the better.

I'm partial to Apple stuff (iPhone, iPod, computers, routers), but regardless of the operating system I'm the family's tech support. Living room has a stereo which wirelessly connects to the desktop computer to play music across the home network. The Wii also connects to the wirless network, and when my wife doesn't want to hear it I have wireless headphones.

For a while, I had my bedroom light rigged into a remote control with a dimmer - that was a nifty, useful thing. It eventually burned out and I replaced it with a standard wall socket.

Most recently I've started on the baby room. It's not just cute decorations: I've got a stereo with an older iPod attached to it in the nursery. It's filled with relaxing classical music and ambient noise (rain, frogs, heartbeat, stuff like that). I've also got a mobile in there with a remote. And a baby monitor with two parent units. My wife restrained me - barely - from buying the baby wipe warmer. There WILL be a good smoke/carbon monoxide detector in there.

I think I'll stop there, or I'll begin to evaluate how much I've spent on electronics and gadgets over the years. I might even think about the garage. Then I'll probably have a coronary when I think about how hard it's going to be to baby-proof this place with all the wires I've managed to hide but are still there for groping little hands to find.

 

[Music-dad]

Fan-freakin'-tastic Zeit......you and I are 2 of the same....if I had known a baby wipe warmer was available, I would totally own one now - hahahaha.

Only differece is, I'll never stop buying gadgets, never, ever, ever, ever!








ever, ever, ever......(you get the drift)

 

[jayman]

gadets - oh boy, I swear no matter how often I say I'll stay away, I don't.

I lost count of how many MP3 players I've had (RCA, Sony, Panasonic, 3 iPods). Wife has the iPhone, I have the iPod Touch which is essentially my TV on the subway. There's the PS3 (which I haven't touched in months), the Wii (which rocks), the kick-butt surround sound system got the boot after DS kept stuffing legos into it and started summitting attempts. The rise of MP3's made my Denon AV receiver pretty annoying - ugh, should have waited a year to buy that thing.

We have five laptops (3 windows, 2 mac) and four people in the house (mind you, one is an 19 month old). I haven't counted the "toy" laptops - three of those.

The serious gadget craze these days is LEAPFROG - and I can't stand some of their products! I buy it and wonder what the heck I was thinking. We have the drum, the soft-touch caterpillar, the magnetic alphabet thingy, the wordwhammer, the farm match thingy, two "tad" dolls, the tag reader, the leapester, the leapster thing that makes it work on the tv (was a gift), the spell the words on the tv thing, clickstart, littletouch, my first leap pad.... and of course the games. Ugh.

The tag reader is neat though, and I found an online coupon to get the books for about half price. At first I thought DS might end up depending on the thing too much - but then I saw him reading a book without it. I also got the progress email, which I thought was pretty neat.

The latest grown up gadget - a WiFi printer.

 

[Music-dad]

Great...now I have to get myself a WiFi printer...here I am like a chump, bringing my laptop to the studio or bedroom to print....I totally want one now....sweet!

I almost bought another MP3 player today, but it didn't have a display, so I hesitently walked away, but I still bought a USB storage device, I don't really need...(c'mon it was $15 and 2 gig) - hahaha

 

[zeitgeist]

Only differece is, I'll never stop buying gadgets, never, ever, ever, ever!

Stop buying gadgets? I just meant stop listing them. Stop buying them? I'm not sure it's possible.

And regarding the wi-fi printer: you may not need to. I've got a regular HP inkjet that I plug straight into my router, the router offers it to anyone on the network.

Actually, no, that's not entirely true anymore. I've got it plugged into a hub that's plugged into the router. The other thing that's plugged in on that hub now is a hard drive; the laptop is set to automatically do incremental backups of itself onto that hard drive every time it connects to my home network.

 

[Music-dad]

I've got a hub....A Bell highspeed wireless modem/hub...

Is there a way I can share the printers?....I have 2 PC's hard wired and the laptop is wireless....I have a printer in my bedroom, and another in my studio...both are Lexmark, the one in the bedroom is basic Z517, the one in the studio is the scanner/copier one X1250....can I get them both going?...

I have 2 spare Network connectors in the back of the Bell moden/Router.

Please let me know if I can make this work...

(PC's: 1 desktop in the studio, 1 desktop in my bedroom, and 1 laptop)

 

[zeitgeist]

It really depends on your wireless router. If it's got that feature built in, then it can. If not, well... a router with that capability might cost less than a new printer with the capability built-in.

 

[Music-dad]

ok....not sure but my router/wireless combination unit is Bell 2701HG-G (Bell Canada, but probably not made by them, that's our phone company that probably slapped their logo on it) if that helps....it's the best one Bell Canada has to offer, I'm hopin' it will do this....they also have awesome online live help, so I will ask them when I get a chance.....if I can print something from my laptop from anywhere within range, I will be a really happy camper!!!! bigtime !

 

[Dadu2004]

I'm a big gizmo guy too, but mainly in the computer and gaming stuff. I have a decently powered computer, a digital photo frame, digital camera, wireless network, Tivo (best invention ever!), Xbox 360, home theater system. I love electronics!

 

[zeitgeist]

<r><QUOTE author="Music-dad;78363"><s>

</s>ok....not sure but my router/wireless combination unit is Bell 2701HG-G (Bell Canada, but probably not made by them, that's our phone company that probably slapped their logo on it) if that helps....it's the best one Bell Canada has to offer, I'm hopin' it will do this....they also have awesome online live help, so I will ask them when I get a chance.....if I can print something from my laptop from anywhere within range, I will be a really happy camper!!!! bigtime !<e>

</e></QUOTE>

<br/>
A quick search around the internet shows that that's a DSL Modem/Wireless Router. It doesn't have built-in support for USB printers.<br/>
<br/>
You may be able to configure it to share a printer that has an ethernet port, but I'd want to see the manual before saying "it is so." <br/>
<br/>
I have a forgettable cable modem (I've forgotten the model number, in other words) and an <URL url="</s>Apple Airport Extreme<e></e></URL>.<br/>

<QUOTE><s>

</s>What if you’d like to exchange files over your wireless network and still have access to a wireless printer? Easy. Just connect a USB hub to AirPort Extreme and attach your devices to the hub. Share both a printer and a hard drive, multiple printers, multiple hard drives, or a combination.<e>

</e></QUOTE>
I've found it to be just that easy. That's why I'm something of an Apple fanboi.<br/>
<br/>
The wireless connection from the computer to the stereo I achieved using an older Airport Express. It was still broadcasting and receiving signals well enough, but seemed to be losing the ability to connect to the modem reliably. That's when I bought the Extreme. With fingers crossed I plugged the old Express into the stereo (there's a sound-out port on the express) and it worked.<br/>
<br/>
So now I use it to stream music and expand the range of my wireless network. <E></E></r>

 

[zeitgeist]

There have to be more of us gadget people around here...

 

[bssage]

I have a drawer in the kicten and its probably got several grand worth of my old gadgets. Palm Pilot, Casiopia calc watches. Handheld games, and digital camera's. I have several cabnets full of comp stuff. Moniters, computers,printers, cables, ect

My current watch tell temp/dir/ ect. My phone is a water proof Gzone and it does ring while resting in the bottom of a pitcher of beer. My best gadget is my PSP which I watch movies listen to music and play games on (it also surfs the net but slooowely) I have a Zebra headlight 100+ lumns and an Auroa P7 Emitter handheld 900+lumns (average light are 30 to 60 Lumns. I have hedghog cordless chainsaw, tree pruner, hedge trimmer, and weed wacker. I have Canon IS (image stabalization) binoculars. I also have one of the new waterheaters that supplies unlimited hot water I love long showers and can do that while the washer is running ect. I will never own a house without one again.

Of course no gadget guy is complete without several Swiss Army Knifes, and the ultimate gadget Duct tape. I would go on but my thread would be to long to read.

When this thread was OP I was on the road and did not reply because its hard to type a lot on my Asus EEE pc. I also have a new Lenovo think pad, a dell inspiron and a dell desktop with a 24 in flat moniter. But heres the catch. I live on the outskirts of town and can only get dial up speeds (crying bawling ect)

A couple of other things on my mind are: I am so happy with my EEE pc I am thinking about getting my next desktop with Linux OS. And I have gotta, gotta get one of those wireless printers.

My dad and brother are both gadget guys so its always a compitition when they are here. They have more money but I do more research.