BigBlueHat

UPDATE: If you missed Gadgetfest ‘07, you can hear smaller presentations via a podcast created by the GSABusiness magazine.

Brad and I enjoyed Gadgetfest ‘07 a couple hours ago. This year, Gadgetfest featured some DIY gadgets, a squirting Zune, a touch screen device for gyms (I got the t-shirt for this one!), a very expensive HD camcorder, a Canon S5, and our very own Nokia N800.

While there weren’t as many “toys” this year, the practical nature of so many of the devices was actually exciting. It was good to see so many useful devices and some of them obtainably priced!

If you haven’t been to a GSATC meeting yet, you should visit. Even if your interest in technology is mild or “strictly business,” the GSATC will introduce you to new technology and new people using that technology in the Upstate of South Carolina. We’ve enjoyed attending many of the events, and plan to keep it up in 2008.

As far as gadgets go for 2007, what were some of the gadgets or software products you felt were most influential or had the highest “coolness” factor this year? I’ll start off (to avoid the obvious):

• Apple iPhone
• Nokia N800/N810
• BlueInk

Any others?

We’re in the software industry, so we always keep a keen eye out for the latest technology, such as the type explained in this treatise I found:

BOOK
by R. J. Heathorn

A new aid to rapid–almost magical–learning has made its appearance.
Indications are that if it catches on all the electronic gadgets will be
so much junk. The new device is known as Built-in Orderly Organized
Knowledge. The makers generally call it by its initials, BOOK.
Many advantages are claimed over the old-style learning and teaching
aids on which most people are brought up nowadays. It has no wires, no
electric circuit to break down. No connection is needed to an electricity
power point. It is entirely without mechanical parts to go wrong or need
replacement. Anyone can use BOOK, even children, and it fits comfortably
into the hands. It can be conveniently used sitting in an armchair by the
fire. How does this revolutionary, unbelievably easy invention work?
Basically BOOK consists only of a large number of paper sheets. These may
run to hundreds where BOOK covers a lengthy programme of information. Each
sheet bears a number in sequence so that the sheets cannot be used in the
wrong order. To make it even easier for the user to keep the sheets in the
proper order they are held firmly in place by a special locking device
called a ‘binding.’

Each sheet of paper presents the user with an information sequence in the
form of symbols, which are absorbed optically for automatic
registration on the brain. When one sheet has been assimilated a flick of
the finger turns it over and further information is found on the other side.
By using both sides of each sheet in this way a great economy is
effected, thus reducing both the size and cost of BOOK. No buttons need
to be pressed to move from one sheet to another, to open or close BOOK,
or to start it working. BOOK may be taken up at any time and used merely
by opening it. Instantly it is ready for use. Nothing has to be connected
up or switched on. The user may turn at will to any sheet, going backward
or forward easily. A sheet is provided near the beginning as a location
finder for any required information sequence.

The initial cost varies with the size and the subject matter. Already a
vast range of BOOKs is available, covering every conceivable subject and
adjusted to different levels of aptitude. One BOOK, small enough to be
held in the hands, may contain an entire learning schedule.
Once purchased, BOOK requires no further upkeep cost; no batteries or
wires are needed, since the motive power, thanks to an ingenious device
patented by the makers, is supplied by the brain of the user.
BOOKs may be stored on handy shelves and for ease of reference the
programme schedule is normally indicated on the back of the binding.
A small accessory, available at trifling extra cost, is the BOOKmark.
This enables the user to pick up his or her programme where he or she
left off on the previous learning session. BOOKmark is versatile and may
be used in any BOOK.

Altogether, the Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge seems to have
great advantages with no drawbacks. We predict a big future for it.