The Geek Forum
Main Forums => Hardware, Software, and Other Imperialist Crap => Topic started by: Demosthenes on August 15, 2014, 08:47:02 AM
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We're all technology junkies around here. These are the devices I use daily (not counting my work-related ones):
- Samsung Galaxy S3 Phone: Running Cyanogenmod on it. I'm pretty much tied to this, it's my main gadget I can't live without. Email, text, music, phone calls, web. It's normally in my pants pocket. It connects automatically via Bluetooth in my car for music. The one complaint I have about this phone is that they designed it with a battery that I consider to be undercapacity. It was barely adequate when new, and now that I've had it for a year and a half or so, with normal battery degredation, it's becoming a problem, so I'll likely need to buy a new battery for it soon.
- Nexus 7 Tablet: A really wonderful device, I mostly use it at home, and I always bring it with me to tabletop gaming sessions. I stream music with it, use it for showing players pieces of maps, illustrations, etc. It's also what I normally surf the web with in the morning before I leave for work. Generally speaking, if you see me make a post before 7:30 AM here, it was from my Nexus 7 tablet. I have one of these (http://www.minisuit.com/p-1290-bluetooth-keyboard-stand-case-for-google-nexus-7-1st-gen-2012-rubberized-back.aspx) that is really handy to use with this tablet. With that little keyboard, my Nexus 7 is what I would consider to be about a 50%-60% laptop replacement. Very light and convenient, but a bit awkward if I try to push the limits.
- Toshiba Chromebook: I have been reluctant to replace my stable of aging laptops at home due to the expense of doing so. I bought this Chromebook (http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-PLM01U-002005-CB35-A3120-13-3-Inch-Chromebook/dp/B00HRO3IBA) a couple of months ago, intending it as an 80% replacement for the functionality of my standard laptops. As it turns out, I'm using it more like a 90%+ replacement. Extremely fast, 10 hour battery life, very well made/constructed, the only time I boot up one of my regular laptops at home now is when I need to do something very specific with them, like rip a CD or something.
- Amazon Kindle 3: I use this e-reader (http://www.amazon.com/Kindle-Wireless-Reader-Wifi-Graphite/dp/B002Y27P3M) every day. I'm a pretty voracious reader (as anyone perusing the Book Thread might know), and this device is never far away from me. I love the e-ink display -- I can't read entire books on an LCD -- and up until recently, this gadget could go about 3 weeks between chargings (now it's more like a week). I'm not overly impressed with the newer versions of this device, so I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do once I finally need to replace it.
So what are your essential devices and why?
EDIT: W.T.F., sweet lovin'?
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Oooh. Yes, I'm keen to hear about other people's favourite Things.
Me, I'm, ah ... well ... kind of a luddite.
- Macbook Pro: I forget what model number, but it came with, uh, mountain lion? I guess it's a year or two old now. It's the first thing I turn on when I get up in the morning. Plus it's, you know, Unix, so I can write (non-gui) programs with ease. I've actually written some portable code on there too that runs on Linux hosts as well. Within this I really need:
- VNC client: Apple's Screen Sharing is teh bomb.
- X11R6 - ported to OSX by John Carmack. Nuf ced. Need this to run Matlab on the clusters at wrok.
- Gerber E-Z Out Rescue (http://www.gerbergear.com/Outdoor/Knives/E-Z-Out-Rescue_46971): It is my very favourite knife. I call it "Vera." Anyway, it's pretty great and I use it for everything you can think of. Not every day. Don't think of that. Not that either. I KNOW WHAT YOU'RE THINKING. Only complaint is the clip is on the wrong side (I am left handed) and can't be removed. Also blunt tip means it's not very stabby. That is actually ok, except on those rare occasions when I need to stab. I'll get over it.
- Trek 9000 Aluminum: Hardtail mountain bike, 21 years old. I am, every day, amazed by the engineering of this thing. The frame is so freaking made-in-the-USA awesome I usually feel like I'm pedaling down the road waving a 10 foot wide Stars and Stripes with a bald eagle riding on the handlebars. Some of the components (crank, headset, pedals) are original. This is how I get to work and to the grocery store and to the mountains on the weekend.
- Cygolite Metro 300 headlight - charges using USB. Smaller than my knife. Brighter than a neutron bomb
- Cygolite HotShot taillight - six different red flashy patterns, including at least one guaranteed to induce seizures!
- Klipsch Image One Headphones: For the last ten-12 years where I work has been under continuous construction so there isn't a moment where I can't hear some fucking truck backing up. And for the past three years the floor has been partially inhabited by people from another department who are all VERY LOUD and like to have meetings in the hallway and talk on the phone with their doors open. The headphones, when properly primed with heavy metal instrumentals (Deathmøle is my favourite work music), reduces my urge to be stabby (necessary because my knife is not so stabby, see above).
- For the sake of completeness I will say that I have a dumbphone. It's a Samsung. I think. It does voice (badly) and text (the O key doesn't work most of the time). I forgot it at home today. So ... this is not essential tech for me.
I am also laughing at the sweet lovin'. Canadian?
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I'll play along...
- Electronics
- Samsung Galaxy S5: This phone is the cat's meow, the bee's knees. I use it almost constantly.
- Galaxy Note 10.1: Mostly used for taking notes in meetings and for watching Netflix just before bed. It goes most places with me, still.
- Garmin Edge 500: Used on bike rides and on kiteboarding sessions to track my HR, calories and miles/time.
- RioRand 1200 lumen headlamp (http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QQX3C4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1): Same one used for tail but with a red filter
- Canon EOS Rebel T3 (http://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/cameras/refurbished-eos-digital-slr-cameras/eos-rebel-t3-black-ef-s-18-55mm-is-ii-lens-kit-refurbished): Though, I'm looking for something better/faster for sports/action photography. I am quite pleased with the results this camera generates
- Software
- PC Based
- Evernote: it is my brain. I use it so many times per day and for so many different things, I don't know how I survived without it
- Chrome: exclusively
- Windows 7 64 bit: I'm too lazy to learn Linux and W7 is almost as good as Windows 2000
- Cribbage App: it is the only game on any of my devices
- Adobe Illustrator: For my second job - President/CEO/Graphical Designer/Janitor @ www.cogmonstergear.com - it is the only vector graphics program worth paying for
- Mobile
- TuneIn Radio: I listen to a morning show out of Grand Rapids MI that I can't get any other way
- IHeartRadio: For when I'm on bike rides - I can listen to local radio
- SailFlow: For wind
- Both
- Evernote: While I use it mostly on PC, it's worth nothing that it's available on every major platform
- TeamViewer: This is how I surf the web at work so my employer can't see what I'm looking at
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Well I am an essential tech device...
I have an iPhone 5c which I use for voice, text, gps, yelp, 7 little words, podcasts, music (tiny data plan so I don't do much with apps other than those mentioned)
Soul by Ludicris noise cancelling headphones to tune people out at work.
I have an iMac at home that houses the iTunes, quicken, turbotax, photos, and video. Don't do too much with this other than those
I have the work issued Lenovo T430 laptop which I use at work, home, places with wifi, parents' home, etc. This is pretty much the devices that I spend most of my time with.
'97 Acura Integra (manual transmission) gets me from point A to point B
I'm pretty old school when it comes to nosehair clippers.
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Hmm.... I seem to have fallen behind on my tech these days when compared to the rest of you.
I have a Motorola Droid 4 with a slide out QWERTY keyboard. Sadly, I think this is the last slide out keyboard I will be able to find because most manufacturers no longer want to produce them because the masses want a touch keyboard. Though, I had a touch keyboard with my old Droid Incredible and it wasn't all that bad after a few days of getting used to it.
My primary computer is still my desktop computer running Windows 7. I put this build together about three years and it's still going strong. 6-core AMD Phenom II with 4 gigs of RAM. It's plenty for what I do on a day-to-day basis.
I have an Asus Transformer tablet that I use a couple of times a month. I'll admit, I thought when I bought it I was going to get more use out of it than I am currently, but I've since realized that they are more for consuming information that editing information on the web. I'll still use the Kindle app on it to read whenever I get the chance.
A lot of my time as of late has been involved in tinkering with automotive stuff. I've accumulated quite the collection or cars: A BMW M6, an Audi A6, and a Land Rover. I've come to be pretty familiar with all three makes, and I have pretty much any tool you would need to work on any of those cars. I've also had exposure to other makes and models from friends and family members wanting me to help them / do work on their cars.
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I've joined the cult of Apple: iPhone 5s (my third iPhone), MacBook Pro (bought by work), iPad 2 (won at SXSW a few years ago) and iMac (bought this past winter to replace my Fuck-You-Windows 7 desktop). Before that, I was using some flavor of Linux Mint on my workstation at my previous job: the bonus of which is that I was entirely inaccessible to the IT guy's managed access, and I could install whatever I wanted.
I'm about to get some kind of Android tablet delivered to me for a project I'll be managing while the primary PM is on vacation. I don't expect to enjoy this.
We drive a Prius, which we paid off in two years. Call me a hippie, but I can do a round trip to Chicago (~270mi) in half a tank of gas AND still pass fuckers.
I have too much geeky software to enumerate. I did just install Chrome Canary (unstable), which is very lovely. Otherwise, I live in Sublime Text 2/3 and bash (CLI git or GTFO).
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I'll bite.
Galaxy Note 3. Yeah, it's a Hugh Jass phone. I like the bigger screen I can actually see. I like that I can use it as an ersatz tablet when necessary. I *really* like that I can use the S-pen when I want to jot something down or sketch something out rather than trying to fake it with the keyboard. And I like that these sketches interface nicely with Evernote.
4th Generation iPad w/ Retina Display. I use it quite a lot for a variety of purposes. It's my go-to for taking notes at meetings, doodling at meetings, looking at meeting agendas at meetings, that sort of thing. It's also useful for quick updates and email checks or showing someone a website real quick when I don't have a computer handy or it's not turned on or Windows is updating or such.
Canon EOS Rebel T2i. Why am I mentioning that here? Because it's my go-to camera. Yeah, the above devices have cameras. And megapixels. Allegedly lots of them. And the Rebel is big, kinda unwieldy and the opposite of easily portable. It also takes vastly superior photos, because, physics. It also gives me much broader control in terms of optical zoom, depth of field, light metering and a bunch of other stuff that makes a big difference in photography.
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Sure why not..
My PC - Let's see.. Windows 8.1 64-bit; i7-3820 3.6GHz quad-core (dual-threaded); ATI Radeon 7590 that the software suite recognizes as a "200 series", so has the wrong drivers but works fine (maybe its grey market); Some motherboard that does all the things; Samsung 850 Pro SSD
iPhone 5 - It does the phone thing but it also does the music thing. Oh, and I can get Uber rides which has recently become a thing where I live.
Err.. yep. I got a new Lenovo for work but that doesn't count.
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So does anybody out there have a smartwatch of any kind? I'm heavily skeptical of the concept, being unimpressed with the functionality of all of them that I've looked at thus far, but a coworker of mine has one (and I confess I don't know the make/model) that is making me wonder.
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I have a computer.
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I have a Fitbit.
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(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1ppisfLFp1qk13l8o8_250.gif)