I spend a lot of time looking at technology. A lot of time for educational uses, a lot of the time because I think it’s important to keep up to date, and some of the time, just sometimes mind, because I get some smug satisfaction from seeing other people come out with products that I had ideas about many years ago. Although this is also extremely annoying sometimes. Especially when I moan, “I thought of that”. Then I chastise myself, “Yes, but you didn’t do anything about it!”.

So with my continual efforts to be “fresh with tech” I’ll run through some of the things that have caught my eye recently.

1) The Stowaway Sierra Bluetooth Keyboard

via www.gadgetgrid.com

Now this would have been useful when I was using a Samsung Q1 here. Rather then carry around a 30cm x 20cm bundle of kit with the Q1, I could have used this keyboard which folds down to 1/3 of the size. Very useful. And also good for phones & PDA’s apparently.

2) Navisis LaptopTablet

via Crave

Now you might know by now, I like tablet PC’s/Laptops. So the opportunities for  turning any old lappy into a tabby, is a great idea to me! But it is one I had years ago when schools first started getting interactive whiteboards (IWB’s) in the UK. I will say now I am not a fan of IWB’s. I feel they are restrictive in their uses, and further keep the teacher as a person attached to a board by an (invisible) string.

When IWB’s first started to get popular I looked at (and bought some) Mimio’s - a way to turn any board into a IWB. They were not fantastic, a little hit and miss on the actual capture, but this was early days of IWB’s, about 3/4 years ago.

As I got a tablet laptop and realised the massive opportunities they offer over static IWB’s, I thought “Wouldn’t it be great if the Mimio technology could be used for normal laptops?”. And that is exactly what Navisis have done. So much for my idea , 3 years ago!

3) Ricavision Vista SideShow Collection

Via Engadget

I’m still on XP Tablet edition on my laptop. I did run a Beta of Vista, on a VMWare virtual machine but it made my laptop very unhappy, and basically died a death. I’m not a early adopter of Microsoft products, I prefer to wait for some the problems to be solved before I change over to something new. If school’s wanted it easy they would run Windows 2000 - The most stable version of Windows I have ever used. I ran it for 4 years with no rebuild, on my personal & work computers. A true miracle! I also supported 300+ desktops with Win2000 and a stable & safe hardware setup for 2 or 3 years with no major incidents. I can’t comment too much on the support needed for XP or Vista, but I doubt it is as smooth sailing as 2000’s ability to do 2 things. 1) Work or 2) Not Work. If 2) the computers always worked after a rebuild. None of the bizarre behaviour I seem to hear about from XP or Vista.

Getting back to the Gadget, I see the SlideShow extension of Vista being really useful, especially if you, like me, keep a lot of info on your lappy, and need access to it quick and easy. Some of the Ricavision tools wouldn’t be very useful (a fridge magnet?) but the e-book reader and e-Chatter (email, IM tool) would be good. Especially when you have your laptop bagged up on train journeys/meetings/break duty!

4) Flexi PDA

via Engadget

Being a laptop user, and to be honest, not seeing the point of all this PDA/UMPC malarkey I have never wanted a PDA. Until now. This looks decidedly cool, and is tough. Something that is small and digital always need to be. Flexible screen, and opens like a book? Marvelous. Use it as a phone, PMP (Personal Media Player) and has a QWERTY keyboard? I’m in! Will it work after I have washed it in my trouser pocket? Erm, who knows?

Slight drawback - it’s only a concept. Still It’s a concept that I want to see in reality. Then I may be convinced a PDA is a real persons tool.

and finally…

There are many more gadgets/gizmo’s that are about, these are only a selection that appealed my particular tastes and ideas at this current time.

Do you have any good finds or idea’s that you would like to see created? Feel free to share!!!

Tags: gadgets, gizmos, idea’s, education, teaching, technology

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