The Gadgets Page

We’ve just come back from a wonderful trip to San Diego. While we’re there, we always visit the IKEA store. I cannot describe the wonderfulness that is IKEA, and apparently, their web designers can’t either.

• IKEA | home | IKEA, furniture, kitchens, beds, chairs, sofas, decorations

We saw an excellent kitchen table that can easily seat six people when opened and folds into a small, two-person table. It is the perfect table for a small apartment where you might want to the flexibility of entertaining, but most of the time, you just need to eat breakfast.

Unfortunately, I can’t find this table on their website. They have many “folding” tables, but the descriptions are minimalist and the pictures make all the tables look the same.

Sadly, I’ll have to wait until IKEA opens a store in SLC (Spring 2007) or until we visit San Diego again and are willing to haul it back home across three states.

For people with limited space, this bed changes your bedroom into an office. It’s a full bed with a simplistic mattress, so if you have trouble sleeping, this might not be for you. If you can sleep anywhere, however, this desk is perfect for small living areas. Euro Flying Beds has a whole selection of hidden beds at their website.

• Euro FlyingBeds – Euro Desk Bed

I am always looking for ways to maximize the utilization of our space. I find it hard to justify an entire room when I’m mostly unconscious in it. The price is over three thousand dollars for this bed, so you’re paying for design more than materials. If you’re handy, however, they have conveniently included the specifications. You would probably receive it in a box and have to put it together yourself anyway, so you might as well use this as a blue-print to hack your own Euro Desk Bed.

Via: The Computer Bed @ Alice Hill’s Real Tech News – Independent Tech

When Mike and I participated in our church’s Clean Up day, we were shocked to find that the dry erase boards were damaged and unusable and had been for years.

We were able to get them clean, but they are so scratched that they will stain again when written on. Here is an option that we can use to fix them.

• DIYDryEraseBoard – ElephantStaircase

Our church put a low priority on the dry erase boards, but they have haunted me since the church clean up day. I’m glad to know that we could fix them up for only a few dollars in white paint and acrylic plastic.

Treonauts has a funny conversation about his friend and the small problem of forgetting that you’re using a Bluetooth headset.

• Treonauts | Silent Conversations With A Blueetooth Headset

After not being able to get a hold of his friend, he finally sent him an instant message. The explanation was funny.

“Like most Treonauts he was using a Bluetooth headset but had answered the call on his Treo forgetting that his calls were being automatically routed to the BT headset instead of the smartphone… Thus no matter how loudly he would speak he couldn’t hear a word of what I was saying as my entire conversation was coming through loud and clear but to the headset on his desk instead…”

Although you can route the call back to the phone by selecting the option on the screen, you may lose your caller before you notice. It’s an interesting problem that doesn’t have a solution yet.

I have yet to jump on the BT headset bandwagon. When I was a real estate agent and on the phone constantly, I used a wired headset. It worked well for me and I used it constantly until it broke a few years later. Now, however, the only calls I receive are rare, so a headset is useless for me.

I’m actually very grateful that I’m not tied to my telephone anymore. It got to the point that the sound of the ring was an irritation to me. Now, my phone ring means something fun is going to happen. The life of a writer is far quieter than the life of a real estate agent, but it doesn’t pay as well. Of course, I don’t have to spend all that extra money I was earning on lock boxes, signs, advertising or BT headsets…

I’ve heard people talking about the new Mac commercials where they compare themselves to PC computers. I just finished watching them all and they’re funny.

• Apple – Get a Mac – Watch The TV Ads

My only problem with these commercials is that I end up feeling sorry for the PC. The Mac guy is like one of those “Too Cool For You” guys, but the PC is all dressed up in a suit and tie. It seems like Apple is trying to convey that their computers are cool, stable and easy to use, but in the end, I just feel sorry for the PC guy and want to kick the Mac guy in the nads for being so smarmy.

The final kicker is the WSJ ad, in which the Mac guy is excited because the Wall Street Journal said that he’s the best computer ever. What does the Wall Street Journal know about computers? Who gets their computer recommendations from the Wall Street Journal? I just felt like throwing that newspaper back in that smug Mac guy’s face.

Sometimes I wish the PC manufacturers would strike back at Apple and make commercials that tell the real story.

• Sure there are lots of viruses out there for PCs. That’s because there are tons more PCs out there than Macs. It’s the same reason there are lots more Shareware and Freeware programs out there for PCs.

• For the record, we’ve had to reboot our iBook just as often as we have to reboot our PCs. Ever since Windows XP came out, PCs have been just as stable as Macs. It was the software, not the hardware that was causing that problem.

• My PC came bundled with a bunch of software that’s about as useful as the iLife programs that came with our iBook. Windows MovieMaker sucks just as much as iMovie. Trust me, I’ve tried to use both of them. Mac’s iLife programs aren’t “better,” they’re bare minimum just like the Windows software. Plus, this is another software issue instead of a hardware issue.

The real truth is that now that Apple is using the Intel Core Duo chips in their computers, they are THE SAME as PCs. The only thing that sets them apart now is that they are “cool.” I’m not willing to pay a premium price for “cool.” I’ll just stick with my nerdy PC with his Bill Gates glasses and suit. Nerdy is more my style.

This guy may appear to be a little portly, but in actuality, he’s just sneaking twelve dollars worth of soda into the movie with the aid of The Beer Belly.

• The Beerbelly

This gadget seems completely useless to me. If you really want to sneak beer or soda into a movie or football game, there are the CamelBak products that do the same thing without making you look like you’ve “let yourself go.” It’s much easier to sneak in under a jacket and it’s half the price.

Via: PixMedial — Design & Geek » Porta Cerveza

Earbuds usually don’t work in my ears. A few years ago when the white iPod earbuds were so cool to be wearing, I had to go with different headphones with my really cool iPod because the stupid things kept falling out of my ears.

The Shure earbuds that I tried out at CES were the first to ever fit in my ear AND stay in my ear despite running and bouncing around the Shure booth like a crazy girl. The only problem is that they are 200 bucks. I’m not shelling out that kind of green for listening pleasure.

These Sony Fontopia Earbuds are the perfect compromise between something that works and something that costs a lot of money. At $40, they are a steal compared to the price tag of the Shure earbuds and they are just as stable in my ear. I have walked and ran and sat at my computer with them. I’ve even pulled them out of my ears by just yanking on the cord and the little plastic bits didn’t stay in my ears (unlike the Akai earbuds I got for twelve bucks at the music store).

I can’t wear them for longer than a couple of hours because they eventually make my ears itch, but that time limit works for me. I have my huge headphones that I use for marathon music sessions.

As far as sound quality, they sound great. I can’t tell the difference between them and the Shure earbuds that I tested at CES, but I’m not one of those audiophile people who can taste the earthy undertones of music. I’m sure that there are people who could tell the difference blindfolded, but I’m not one of them.

All I want is to be able to hear my music, block out a little ambient noise, stay in my ears and come out when I yank on the cord without leaving any parts behind. The Sony Fontopia earbuds are able to fill all of those requirements AND they aren’t in poser white.