Our editors’ favorite electronic devices

Our editors’ favorite electronic devices

This month’s Multimedia/Entertainment Special focuses on articles related to components and products used in the design of consumer entertainment electronics, ranging from gaming and home theater systems to the latest handheld players. So for this issue’s cover we decided to include our own editors favorite electronic entertainment devices. For many of us, playing electronic games during our spare time is a form of relaxation. So when, this past summer —during my visit/vacation to my sisters house — I got exposed for the first time to the Wii games and I have to say it was love at first use. My favorite feature is its remote control with its impressive sensing capability. By using cutting edge technology — an accelerometer and optical sensors, I felt just like I was actually playing tennis at a court or bowling in a bowling alley. It is such an easy system which also connects to the Internet if you want, plus you can design your own Wii characters. Fun, fun, fun.

Other editors of Electronic Products Magazine talk about their favorite electronic gadgets:

Bryan DeLuca: Why is a laptop my favorite device? Well, you’re probably sick of me telling you since I did some time ago a column (http://tiny.cc/z36x1). The simple reason is productivity. While many strides are being made to increase productivity of other portable devices, including better touchscreen UIs and accessories, there is nothing that can currently keep up with the typing speed of the standard-size keyboard on a laptop.

Christina D’Airo: My family and friends know that I am semi-permanently attached to my laptop. I always seem to be logged on, whether I’m writing, drawing, surfing the Web, or downloading music. So, when my trusty old laptop finally bit its last byte in the summer of ‘08, I knew that I needed something that was quick, reliable, and easy to use. After some extensive research, I opted to buy a MacBook. I hadn’t owned a Mac prior to then, but the affordable price and host of neat built-in software applications (like iTunes, iMovie, and Photobooth) made it well worth the switch for me. Now two years old, my MacBook has maintained the speed and battery life to keep up with all of my projects, meaning it holds the title for my favorite device.

Paul O’Shea: Every parent of a newborn makes sure to have the best videography equipment they can afford to capture all the cute and amazing moments in the child’s life. Twenty-plus years ago I started with a video camera that was attached via cable to a VHS VCR and had a NiCd battery that was the width of the VHS tape. It was state-of-the-art, cost about $1,100, and weighed a svelte 8 pounds! Fast forward to today and my newest camcorder that has 16 Gbytes of flash memory (no more VCR), 400X digital zoom, 1,920 x 1,080 high-definition resolution, YouTube on-camera conversion, and image stabilization, and you could understand why I chose one of these ultra-light-weight, fits-in-your-palm, high-definition camcorders that also takes 8-Mpixel stills. I know I could have used a smart phone to perform some of these functions, but smart phones don’t have the optics, or aperture settings, that allow them to work in less than ideal settings such as low light. And, oh yes, my camcorder costs about $250 and weighs about 8 ounces.

Jim Harrison: I chose the cirago Hard Drive Docking Station CDD2000 for my favorite gadget. I covered this device on the website in July. With it, you can easily use any 2.5- or 3.5-inch SATA HDD for external storage of all those pictures you take with your fancy camera and get them off your main drive. Or use it to backup work at the close of every day. I like it because it is simple and it works and it cost me just $46. I had one setup problem, so I sent an e-mail to support and got a good answer in a couple of hours. It also features SuperSpeed USB 3.0. I’m changing my home machine’s motherboard to one with 3.0 and will do a column next month on just how fast this baby is.

Richard Comerford: I have to admit that I’ve had a Jones on for personal handheld electronics since I got my first transistor radio back in the 1950s. So to me, the Apple iPhone 4 is must-have, because it’s pushed the idea of personal electronics to a new level. First, it brings me all the media I want: it’s a stereo, a radio, a tv, a movie theatre, a bookstore, a newsstand, and more. On the creative, flip side, it’s a still camera, a video cam, an audio recorder, a note pad, an e-mail writer, a film editor, and so on. When I’m on the move it’s my navigator, my compass, my weather station, my restaurant critic, my boarding pass … actually, I can’t possibly describe in this space all the things it is to me. You can say there are other devices like Blackberrys and Android smart phones with similar capabilities, but to me they’re imitators. The iPhone led the way in creating a new class of device it’s the original that everyone’s trying to copy. And for an aging hipsters like myself, it’s cool.

Let me know what your favorite device is. Make your comments at www.eebeat.com/?p=2583

Christina Nickolas