What is your favourite Gadget and why?

[Serunson]

Well post your favourite gadget and why your life would not be complete without it!

Mine would have to be my Nintendo DS, i couldn't live without the portability of that fabulous gaming console.

Also i guess JBennets will be his PDA :P

[Chaky]

I must say Commodore 64.. Without it, most of my childhood would be different.

[Arcnazgul]

what is classified as a gadget..? my PC is my favorite gadget.
But i think my grandfathers life would be different without hist pacemaker :P

[TheNNS]

I'd have to say my iPod, if it worked. Stupid Apple, they make iPods that lasts two years, then they break, then they either make you buy a new or they fix your old one and charge you a ton of money.

[Chaky]

he, he.. welcome to the 1-year-warranty world.

[TheNNS]

Apple sucks for that.

[Chaky]

That is a modern technology today. One would think that the gadgets would improve over time. The goal of tech. advancements is to make everything last warranty + 1 day.

[Serunson]

lol , have you seen that car manufacturer that ofers a 5 Year Warrenty! I mean 3 years was good, so is this tactic of Hyundai going to back fire, or are their cars really that effecient?

[jbennet]

My PocketPC (Toshiba e750)

http://www.mobiletechreview.com/toshiba_e750.htm

also Serunson, WTF werent you in college today. You owe me £4!

[Serunson]

lol, i was gunna txt you but thought it would be pointless, i was at a Uni Open Day that i totaly forgot about :P
So yeah cash tommoz....

[Chaky]

I can imagine what would you have to pay for to keep that warranty valid. Regular services, regular oil exchages, regular tire changes, possible suspention refurnishing, engine parts replacements... not much left to be covered with warranty.

[TheNNS]

some car companies in the use, Jeep, Chrysler, etc, are offering lifetime warranties, I mean, how crappy are their cars?

[jbennet]

are cars cheap in the us? (you are near japan?)

[Chaky]

some car companies in the use, Jeep, Chrysler, etc, are offering lifetime warranties, I mean, how crappy are their cars?

..and, yet, they all played dumb when ppl started to get killed in rolling SUVs.

[TheNNS]

are cars cheap in the us? (you are near japan?)

Depends on what you call cheap. Hondas usually start at somewhere around $16,000 or more, but if you're talking about american car companies, they can go for about the same price. I don't know what's expensive for you. How are cars in the UK? isn't true not a lot of people drive in europe because it's expensive? and you have to be 18 to get a license?
You can get a license when you're 16 here, and in some states, like Idaho, when you're 14. But almost every one drives here.

[jbennet]

different countries have different rules

you can drive a moped or small bike at 16 and start getting proper car lessons when you are 17 but even if you pass, most people wait until 18 to get on the road or else insurance is really expensive

we have very stringent safety regulations here so its expensive for MOT (road safety certificate) and road tax etc.... Petrol (gas) is also taxed heavialy.

In terms of price a Peaugeout 107 (good small starter car) is about £6000 (about $12,200)

heres a pic of the 107

http://www.goedopweg.com/images/peugeot_107_rood_back.jpg

[TheNNS]

that's a pretty cool car. I bet most european cars are small like that because there isn't much room on the roads. But here, every body likes big giant SVU's and trucks, I don't know why, then they try to park in a reall small tight parking place and it takes them for ever to get in or out. do you drive jbennet?

this is really off topic.

[jbennet]

No but Serunson is having lessons.

And yeah, most of our cars are traditionally small but nowadays people are buying more 4x4s (SUV's) and things called "people carrriers" (MPVs?) which meant fot=r families (they have 6 seats)

Smaller cars are cheaper though in terms of tax as they generally produces less Carbon dioxide and have a better MPG (that affects how much you pay)

[Serunson]

Yeah, leesons, i doing quite well if i do say so myself. Passed Theory and Hazard Perception tests as well :)
Bennet hasn't even got a provisional :P
Cars are on topic as far as i am concerned, they are a gadget in a way, seeing as they use electrics and most people have one, and use it often.

[TheNNS]

that kind of sucks you have to pay so much to drive there. I got my license when i was 17, and i got a free car(my neighbor was going to get rid of it and gave it to me). I only really have to pay for insurance, which isn't too expensive, but it goes than after you turn 25.

[jbennet]

the insurance gets cheaper when you are over 21 here (lol as teenagers like to pimp up there rides and crash them)

insurance is always moe for boys than girls as we dend stereotypically to be "boy racers" (you now what i mean by that phrase?)

[TheNNS]

same here. insurance for girls is cheaper. But that's dumb though, because girls are the ones that can't drive.

[Serunson]

lol
In my opinion isn't the insurance industry being sexist? Seeing as they are offering female drivers better offers than us chaps? Yes some men do 'pimp' there rides but most do it for a hobby and they do a nice job of it, while others use Dr. Pepper cans as the exhaust vent and have a 5 foot high spoiler. Those kinds of people should pay more because they are idiots.

[darsh999]

For me my dearest one is my iPod ... i just love its sleek design and the sound clarity.

[jbennet]

the aple sound formats used by the ipod are actually of inferior quality to WMA but are far smaller

[Serunson]

My Zen Rules the MP3 world! :D
Go Creative!

[darsh999]

the aple sound formats used by the ipod are actually of inferior quality to WMA but are far smaller

I just want to ask if mp3 is better than wma ...!!!

[jbennet]

no

apple and microsofts formats are both superior to mp3 for quality

in terms of quality though, nothing beats .wav but the problem is that the files are huge. Mp3, wma etc... work by reducing the size by removing the frequencies humans cannot usually hear. They just use differeing algorithms to do thid.

google/wiki for losless and lossy audio compression and youll see what i mean

[TheNNS]

the only reason mp3 would be better than wma is because it's more widely supported. but jbennet's right, it's inferior in quality.

[jbennet]

and nobody had better say that mp3 is a free format and wma isnt because thats not true. Mp3 is licened from Thompson, which is why many OSS apps and linux distros dont include it out of the box