What Tech Gadget Would you Buy?

[Finridge]

I see tech items as tools for either having fun or getting things done. I assume this is fun--so what do you like to do for fun? Figure this out, and then figure out what tech gadget is the best fit... Otherwise, if you are buying something for the sake of buying something, just got down to Best Buy and throw darts. Buy the first thing you hit within that is within your budget.

[madbrain]

I feel like buying some type of tech gadget. But, can't think of what. I have a laptop that functions well, I have a flat screen TV (it's 7 years old, but still running strong). I also already have a tablet (iPad). I don't need a new phone, and I already have a great DSLR camera (Yes, I use the DSLR, I enjoy photography).

What's on your radar as the next neat tech gadget you're interested in buying?

Ah, first world problems ! I can relate.

My next tech gadget will probably be a 10 Gbps ethernet switch with more ports, once I get all 17 rooms wired for CAT-7 . I am waiting for those switches to go down in price. At the moment, I have a Netgear GS110MX switch which has two 10 Gbps ports and eight 1 gbps ports. I started migrating to 10 Gbps in december. If you have less than 7 computers and 60 networked devices in your home, 10 Gbps ethernet may not interest you as much I wanted the high bandwidth mostly so that large full backups (5+ TBs) to my 50TB NAS don't take all night, but rather just a few hours.

I also enjoy photography. A year ago, I upgraded some of my displays. I have a pair of LG 32" 32UD59-B 4K monitors. They were relatively inexpensive (<$400). One failed within 2 months, but was replaced under warranty. They are a good step up from my 10 year old HP LP3065 2560x1600 30" S-IPS monitors. Those consumed 175W each, which was far too much. I use them on a PC with a GTX 960 GPU. These monitors are still available and have 3 ports : two HDMI 2.0 and one DisplayPort . All 3 are capable of 4K at 60 Hz. I have 3 different computers hooked up to the two 4K monitors through the monitor's 3 inputs. Wish I could switch all the inputs at once easily.

I upgraded my display calibrator to a Spyder5 Pro, also. Had the Spyder 3 previously , but the old software some issues under Windows 10. If you don't have a display calibrator one, I highly recommend one.

Again, in the photography realm, a few years ago, I bought a medium format Canon Pro-100 photo printer. It can usually be had for about $120 after rebates from B&H or Adorama. It can print up to 13x19 borderless. Or 13x26 with borders. I use 3rd party ink from Precision Colors, not the overly expensive Canon ink. A word of warning, though : this printer is massive.

I'm going to guess your 7-year old TV isn't 4K. I upgraded my 10 year old HD projector to a an Optoma UHD65 4K projector about 18 months ago. That necessitated a new audio receiver also due to new HDMI 2.0 spec to handle 4K. I chose a Marantz SR-7011 at the time. I also added more speakers to my home theater. now I have an 11.1 channel system which includes 4 subwoofers for the LFE channel. On my 16 year old 106" Da-lite High power screen, the picture is stunning. The sound in Dolby Atmos with all discrete speakers is really something. I would say the movie experience is now overall much better than in a public cinema. The 4K blu-ray discs on average cost about the same as 2 movie tickets in the theater. There are just not quite enough of them yet. Many movies still don't come in 4K UHD discs, or even HD discs. I don't stream, despite having a Gigabit internet connection. I keep getting disappointed by the picture, but also especially sound quality when I stream, and so I don't subscribe to any streaming service as a result.

[sambb]

iphone + apps + home stuff that they can control
iphone can control so much, it is incredible

[Pill]

Sonos...

[nexesn]

Check out The Wirecutter - Electronics Reviews for ideas. The Wirecutter reviews products and I like to check out what they have to say about items I'm thinking of buying. Just page down their review of electronics and click on any that catch your eye. If nothing else, it's an interesting education about what's out there.

Neat site! Thanks for the link. I now have a new site to regularly check out .

[VictoriaF]

I'd like to have two types of gadgets or apps:
1. Voice-to-text function that would accurately transcribe my accent.
2. Handwriting recognition: not writing with a stylus on a tablet but feeding my handwritten notes and getting back typed text.

Victoria

Yes, well .. can you say what you want transcribed in Russian? Google Translate is becoming quite good at understanding my accent when I speak in English - not so good with Spanish. You could speak into the side of Google Translate in Russian and then it will translate into English. You could correct any mistakes it makes on the English side.

I work in English and have hand-written notes in English that I want to convert into an electronic version.

Victoria

[VictoriaF]

maybe buy a book on the dangers of tech gadgets. here are two well-reviewed ones:
iGen: Why Today's Super-Connected Kids Are Growing Up Less Rebellious, More Tolerant, Less Happy--and Completely Unprepared for Adulthood--and What That Means for the Rest of Us
https://www.amazon.com/iGen-Super-Conne ... rebellious

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0735222843/re ... 99168&sr=3

Cal Newport has just published a book "Digital Minimalism." He is a professor of computer science at Georgetown, and is 30 something. You can't stereotype his opinions by his gender, age, or occupation.

Victoria

[Lynette]

These devices are getting better in understanding my rather clipped accent. I just used Google Translate and was amazed that it understood my accent and then I tried an "American accent". It accepted both. So maybe one day after we teach can teach the devices ..... Alexa understands me perfectly.

[Invest4lt]

I'm considering buying some smart speakers. I was at my brother's house at New Year's and they have several Sonos speakers which attach to their network via wi-fi. You can have the speakers all playing your music in several rooms at once - handy if you're doing chores in several rooms.

Agree with the Sonos speakers and a music streaming service.
If you like to read, a Kindle Paperwhite is entertaining.

[Medea]

We love our Roomba. Clean floors every day.

[VictoriaF]

These devices are getting better in understanding my rather clipped accent. I just used Google Translate and was amazed that it understood my accent and then I tried an "American accent". It accepted both. So maybe one day after we teach can teach the devices ..... Alexa understands me perfectly.

Can we swap accents?

Victoria

[jharkin]

If you cant think of anything you need/want.... dont buy anything.

Be glad you dont fall prey to marketing and consumer culture that tries to trick us in wasting money on junk we dont need.

[Youngblood]

TV is too old. It's not a smart TV. But, I did buy a streaming service for it. We actually have pulled the Cable Cord and only watch stuff streaming now. But, a good suggestion!

I also don't think you should buy gadgets "just because." But if you care about picture quality, an OLED is a huge upgrade from any seven-year-old TV. A 55-inch is now around $1200-1600, sometimes even cheaper if you keep an eye out for deals at slickdeals.net.

Exactly what I did and wow, what an upgrade in TV picture!

[marcwd]

Well, I'm an exercise physiologist who (not so humble brag) can deadlift extremely close to 3x his bodyweight and still run a sub 20min 5k.

That's something! What is your age, may I ask?

[Jimmie]

You can get a quadcopter drone with a camera in it for under $100. Fun to play around with and can even be flown indoors if you want.

At that price point, you will have money left to buy new lamps and vases.

[stoptothink]

Well, I'm an exercise physiologist who (not so humble brag) can deadlift extremely close to 3x his bodyweight and still run a sub 20min 5k.

That's something! What is your age, may I ask?

37

[marcwd]

Well, I'm an exercise physiologist who (not so humble brag) can deadlift extremely close to 3x his bodyweight and still run a sub 20min 5k.

That's something! What is your age, may I ask?

37

OK, well then I don't feel so bad. I could run a sub 20-min 5k at that age too.

[nexesn]

You can get a quadcopter drone with a camera in it for under $100. Fun to play around with and can even be flown indoors if you want.

At that price point, you will have money left to buy new lamps and vases.

Haha

[bertilak]

A DVD rewinder.

I've found that doing it by hand gives one a satisfying sense of self reliance.

[Valjean]

Apple Watch - coolest device I’ve never needed

Bose noise-cancelling ear buds. Mine are wired. Great for talking on the phone, especially if your hearing is getting a little weak. Also great for airplanes and for listening to music or podcasts in noisy environments, like when vacuuming or snowblowing.

[Tdubs]

Transporter beam.

[psy1]

Given that you are undecided, buy Apple shares and some QQQ's.

[Momus]

Can't live without...
- A decent laptop with powerful graphics card for occasional gaming, hooked up via hdmi to TV to stream Netflix/Prime
- A Snapdragon 800+ phone + fast charger
- A soundbar, bought Vizio SB3621 $99 that sounds pretty amazing
- At least 50-75 inch TV
- A noise cancelling wireless headphone

Just 5 items can entertain me for hours on end.

[hogfanboy]

3D Printer

Yes a few years back they tried to be the next big tech thing and failed.

Today there are many very cheap China 3D printers (like from Creality), that work much better than the $1k ones from a few years back.
The sources to get things to print has greatly increased (thingiverse.com). Or you can go full geek out and design you own project with sites like tinkercad.

Bottom line it is a tech gadget but it is also a hobby.

[wxl31]

A recent addition and already quite possibly my favorite tech gadget in the entire house has been a Raspberry Pi Zero W running Pi-hole. Network wide ad blocking makes surfing on the internet infinitely more appealing. Hardware is $25 on Amazon, Pi-hole is free. Takes a bit of technical knowledge/experience but only took about 1 hour to set up.

[lexie2000]

None. We have a smart tv, but didn't buy it because it was "smart". We both have hp laptops. We don't even have smarty pants phones.

[quantAndHold]

A recent addition and already quite possibly my favorite tech gadget in the entire house has been a Raspberry Pi Zero W running Pi-hole. Network wide ad blocking makes surfing on the internet infinitely more appealing. Hardware is $25 on Amazon, Pi-hole is free. Takes a bit of technical knowledge/experience but only took about 1 hour to set up.

So much this. A Raspberry Pi Zero W will run Pi-hole just fine.

If you’re a tinkerer, you could do much worse than a stack of raspberry pis and Arduinos.

[telemark]

This thing. It will make you happy.

Buying This Thing Will Make Me Happy

[KyleAAA]

A Hololens. They are incredibly cool.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens

[Thegame14]

I feel like buying some type of tech gadget. But, can't think of what. I have a laptop that functions well, I have a flat screen TV (it's 7 years old, but still running strong). I also already have a tablet (iPad). I don't need a new phone, and I already have a great DSLR camera (Yes, I use the DSLR, I enjoy photography).

What's on your radar as the next neat tech gadget you're interested in buying?

4K TV you can get a really good one for like $1,200-$1,500.

[BarbBrooklyn]

LG cordless vacuum cleaner via Costco. Never knew I wanted one until I signed up here.

https://www.costco.com/LG-CordZero-Char ... 32890.html

[TSR]

Do you cook? A Thermapen Mk4 is a must.

[Casper]

Someone mentioned a PS4 above--let me also suggest a Nintendo Switch. We got one for my 7 year old for Christmas, and I play it just as much as him (at 40 years old). Can be both a portable system or displayed on your TV. I take it on business trips, along with my Kindle, and am all set for a long flight. Lots of fun to play with other people (kids or grown-ups), and you can play stuff like Fortnite (which is a ton of fun) and other popular games.

[BarbaricYawp]

One of these: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/14/every ... ric-bikes/

[nexesn]

Someone mentioned a PS4 above--let me also suggest a Nintendo Switch. We got one for my 7 year old for Christmas, and I play it just as much as him (at 40 years old). Can be both a portable system or displayed on your TV. I take it on business trips, along with my Kindle, and am all set for a long flight. Lots of fun to play with other people (kids or grown-ups), and you can play stuff like Fortnite (which is a ton of fun) and other popular games.

One of these: https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/14/every ... ric-bikes/

A friend of mine was telling me how impressive the switch is... I was so tempted to purchase for Zelda....

That bike is pretty cool!

Sadly, I still haven't bought anything . I can't get my inner-self to justify the purchase just yet. Maybe I'll purchase that new foldable phone from Samsung for $2000... kidding. I'll be avoiding that

Actually, one thing I am thinking about is some type of audio mixing software- I have an Apple. And, start making slideshows of photography with fun sounds, or maybe even do some random Podcast, that I'm sure no one would ever listen to .

Who knows, spring is soon approaching with new tech goodies.

[mhalley]

Believe it or not, they are actually working on the tricorder.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles ... re-shelves