The OBD II Pocket Scanner. Whenever your ‘Check Engine’ light comes on your dashboard, this device can be plugged in underneath the dash to quickly assess the nature and urgency of the problem. It could be something as simple as you forgot to put your gas cap on, or a faulty spark-plug wire. Another gadget I have is the Olympus Digital Voice Recorder (WS-110). It’s the size of a lighter, but does everything my 5-pound Marantz portable cassette recorder did in the 1980’s. My background is in radio news, and I used to lug this heavy tape recorder around to news conferences or interviews. If I had to send audio back to studio from the street, I would screw the mouthpiece off a phone, attach the wire from the Marantz to the metal prongs inside the mouthpiece with alligator clips and then hit play. For the voicework, I had the same set-up, and would simply speak into a microphone. You could activate the amp in order to use the mike by pushing the play button down, and then the pause button (so the tape audio wouldn’t play while you were speaking). Because large tape recorders would take up too much space on a lecturn or table at a news conference, and the source didn’t want a zillion microphones on the podium, there would be just one microphone attached to a mult-box out of view of the TV cameras. Radio reporters like myself would unsnap the microphone, so that the three prongs would be visible, and then insert that into the XLR jacks in the mult-box. You could have 30 or more reporters’ microphones receiving audio this way, yet only one microphone would be visible on stage. Nowadays, the digital recorders are so tiny, it’s largely a non-issue for reporters to place them on a lecturn or table in front of the speaker. And because the recorder and microphone are all in one unit, there is no need for the reporter to have a long cord attached to the microphone and ride gain or continually hit pause/play.

It’s really been interesting to read about all the gadgets you have out there. I only recently purchased a computer but already I am addicted. It’s my window to the world as I am a caregiver to my handicapped husband. We do not even have a cell phone, which distresses our children to no end - they cannot believe we can survive without one. I have not been impressed with them because they often do not work, they are too costly, but the deal breaker on cells is the way you are forced to overhear unwanted conversations. i.e., recently I was in the waiting room at ER and the young lady next to me called her boyfriend several times wanting to come up to his room. She couldn’t - his wife was there. She was entertaining several in a captive audience.

I think I would die without my DVR remote…watching TV in real time is such a pain. I find my DVR remote helps me feel like I watch TV more productively. :)

Personally, I am pretty old school, but when it comes to traveling with a child, I have to love portable dvd players, game boy, and Sirrus sattelite radio for we parents.

Like many of you, I’ve had my computer & cell phone less than 10 years & couldn’t think of living without them. But since I have to pick something less than 10 years old, I’ll pick my MP3 player. I have the music I want whenever I want, & I never have to miss a favorite NPR show because I’m going from place to place at work during a 12 hour shift. I like ear buds best but usually waer headphones on the bus. If weirdos & drunks see that you can’t hear them, they leave you alone. I’ll keep my little Zen V Plus, thanks.

Without a doubt my DVR. It has changed my life. Sad huh?

Reading this post makes me feel like I’m a squillion years old. I have a cell phone, but I turn it off unless I’m making a call. Blackberrys and iPhones feel like leashes to me. I like to disconnect. I’m very, very old.

I’ve had my computers more than 10 years….. Cell phone, I only use it in an emergency, never answer it if I’m driving……I’ve only given my number to 4 people. I don’t want to be tied to a phone. I think I use about 20 min a month……my server loves me. I think the thing I would miss the most is my TEVO….I have one on all my TV’s. I love that I can watch on my own schedule.

Not a gadget: wikipedia for the instant research knowledge.

I like those tiny clip-on ipod shuffles. The quality is excellent and it can be carried easily without worries of someone stealing it on the train. I recently found my first Walkman (which I thought was revolutionary at the time) and it must weigh three pounds! Music portability has come a long way.