Gallery of giving thanks: the tech I'm most thankful for in 2012
Summary: Every year, that certain November day comes along where we pause to reflect upon the things we're grateful for. Accordingly, here is a list of the tech I'm thankful for that made my life all the more enjoyable in 2012!
Image 9 of 10
Wideband Internet
Last year, Time Warner Cable introduced their "Wideband Internet" service to residential customers, and in true techie fashion, I was on it faster than a hobo on a ham sandwich! It's the fastest service available to residential customers in my area, so even though there are much faster speeds elsewhere, 50 Mb/s down keeps me ridiculously satisified. This is, legitimately, the first time I've not wanted a faster download rate. Thank you, technology and Internet!
Related Articles and Galleries:
[Gallery: 20 of the coolest gadgets and must-haves for your office! (Part 1)]
[Gallery: 20 of the coolest gadgets and must-haves for your office! (Part 2)]
[Article: Thank you, Microsoft, Apple, and Google]
[Gallery: 10 stress-relieving gadgets everyone needs]
Kick off your day with ZDNet's daily email newsletter. It's the freshest tech news and opinion, served hot. Get it.
Talkback
All I can say is wow! I agree with you on the ipad, as I just
But I have to admit I'm very jealous over your internet, as I can only get Sat. Internet, with a max download of 450mb/ day! Do you realize how quickly you can eat that up?
Crazy. And of course I'm very thankful for my family! A loving wife for 32 years and counting, and two great kids!
Great list Stephen, and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
TW
Thanks, T-Wrench!
Are you kidding?
This *is* a tech website...
Prepare yourself...
People can be thankful for "tech toys..." AND THE FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THEIR LIVES *AT THE SAME TIME*! :O
BOOM! Mind blown, NoAxToGrind? It should be! Because, apparently, that was a concept you had no mental means with which to grasp prior to me exposing its truth to you. Now, go forth and be fruitful with your thanks! Be thankful for not only *who* you have, but *what* you have -- ESPECIALLY if they're "toys," seeing it as plenty of people would love to be in such a position to be thankful for in the first place.
That is all.
Someone...
Yeah... The fan.
my list
here's mine:
1. Samsung Galaxy Note. best mobile device ever made (until the SGN2). Everytime I leave home, I check for Note, wallet, keys (in that order). I can probably go without keys (bike/public transport), maybe even no wallet, but MUST have the Note!
'
2. Toshiba X200 laptop. must be getting on 5 years now and it's still a beast! not really a laptop more like a desktop replacement. recently bought an LCD panel from a Dell XPS 1730 and transplanted it into the X200 for 1920x1200 goodness.
3. Toshiba AT100 tablet. removable battery, fullsize HDMI, fullsize SDXC, fullsize USB. A 10" tablet built like a laptop. easiest tablet to mod or fix EVER. I upgraded internal flash module to 32gb (it's not surface mounted!) and replaced the wireless module (internal PCI-E slot). All in a tablet that weighs 750g. CM10 Jellybean has been fixed up for this tablet and it's my go-to tablet at home.
4. Viliv S5 umpc. 5" screen, less than half a kg, 3G connectivity, Atom cpu. windows machine in a pocket. battery goes 5-6 hours and is removeable (take a spare and you are good for a whole day). I made an external charger for the spare battery so this thing never needs to be plugged in to charge EVER! I still find this old umpc useful in 2012. still love it! I also have a Viliv X70 which is bigger and heavier but not quite as portable.
5. eMachines em355 netbook. bought 2nd hand for $135. upgraded it to 500gb hd, 2gb RAM, bluetooth module, stereo speakers (factory only put in left speaker to save weight/cost) and 1280x720 LCD panel. at 1kg, it's lighter than a macbook air, and smaller in every dimension except thickness. my go-to laptop where processing grunt is not required. I have 2 spare batteries and can go 15 hours solid without a power point. bought an busted up Acer d255 (uses same battery) for $30 to use as an external battery charger so I can use this netbook without plugging in indefinitely.
6. Beyonwiz PVR. from SD slot straight into my phone/tablet/laptop. or sd cards into my wallet for viewing on long trips.
7. Sony PS3. I repair these things so I'm thankful Sony made them with flaws.
8. iPhone 4/4S. I swap screens on these so I'm thankful Apple made them fragile.
9. HP laptops with nvidia GPUs. Toshiba A200/A300 series laptops. I thank HP/Toshiba for making them with flaws so I profit from repairing them.
10. Canon i9950 A3 inkjet printer. prints on printable discs so I can make copies of recovery discs for repaired laptops. prints awesome photos and one of the best A3 printers without a chip in the ink cartridges so refill is cheap and easy. I have 3 of them.
Good list!
gr8 2012 list; here is mine
2.)iphone 4s; cant live without this phone
3.)fender strar
4.)line 6 spider II amp
5.)cuisin art coffee machine with built in grinder efficient
6.)bodom coffee press
7.)beautiful acura classic
8.)all else god has given me
Very nice!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Talkin 'bout stupid
Wow, so reward them for dropping the ball. And what makes you think they won't drop the ball on this new device?
Android fanboy. Willing to overlook things from the manufacturers you like but criticize mercilessly those you don't.
Try to be objective, it's good for your soul - and reputation.
What on earth are you talking about?
And never mind the article I linked to on the right and the bottom of my article titled, "Thank you, Microsoft, Apple, and Google." Looks like you could have done just a liiiiiittle bit more research on me before telling me to try to be objective because it's good for my reputation.
Sorry, Susan Antony, but you're going to have to take out your frustrations on someone else who they might actually apply to. Oh, and happy Thanksgiving. :)
Wow... good. stuff, but....
As for the Schecter... looks cool, but you don't reveal specific tech appeal. For tech in guitars, I have my brand new Epiphone Les Paul Ultra 3. Tech appeal is a built-in Nanomag pickup in addition to the dual humbuckers, with an optional dual output. And a USB output, for quiet late night recording or pitch to MIDI. My other electric is an older Line 6... guitar modeling that really works.
Moving on, I'm really happy with my Asus Transformer Infinity... not quite as "Retina" as the iPad, but better than my laptop. With 64GB inside, 64GB in the microSD, and the keyboard, this makes a pretty effective laptop replacement, but with 10-15 hours battery life. One thing I needed in the field I couldn't get from earlier tablets was the ability to copy from a full SD card to a USB HDD, but this one does that easily. The IPS+ display also makes it pretty usable in daylight, better than the iPad or other tablets/phones I've used. My phone is a Galaxy Nexus, and it's not too shabby having the same apps on both tab and phone. The GN isn't the hottest thing anymore, and Verizon is kind of boat anchor on it, but I'm not tempted yet by the newer models, which is nice in this era of a hot new phone coming out every month (we need a better name than "phone" for these increasingly powerful pocket computers).
I'm on-board with the PS3; got mine years back, when it had memory-card slots and four USB ports, and was actually a great buy in the early days of Blu-ray, even as just player. Since then, I have a copy of my music library on it, photo sets, and even a game or two (Rocksmith is a pretty cool thing for a guitar player, particularly, as in my case, if you're mainly an acoustic player trying to learn more electric moves). No interest in a dedicated portable game, though, given the smartphone. This is also why Apple's the leading portable gaming platform (and of course, why iOS devices may not be leading on CPU speed or features anymore, but they always kick butt on 3D for gaming).
My EOS 60D is my second Canon DSLR... the T3i and T4i have the same sensor. These are great cameras for the money, though I think I hear the new 6D calling me. I bought this for photos, right before a trip to Alaska, and was not disappointed. But it's at least as good for video, particularly in low light, it's put a couple of my twice-as-pricey camcorders to shame. Unfortunate that they punish the whole world on recording time just because of some taxes in the EU.
I'm completely jealous of your broadband... I'm in rural South Jersey, not exactly Kansas, and yet, no one will run any sort of broadband wire to my house, not even DSL. So I'm on a very pricey satellite system, with 1.5Mb/s peaks and a 550MB/day cap before it drops to essentially useless speeds (sub-POTS). There are upgraded satellites now, with 12-15Mb/s speeds, at least a match for my phone on a moderate 4G connection (no, no 4G here yet either, but in Philly, it's great). Unfortunately, data caps are even more restrictive on these newer services, and the price may be even more. Still, one of these is likely to wind up under the tree, if not here today to be thankful about.
Giving Thanks!
Just made me realize...