4 Iconic Tech Toys that deserve to be owned and loved

I've had a fascination with techie toys for most of my adult life. My name is Warren and I like gadgets. However, meagre wages dictate that certain things are not to be owned from new. As such, they go on my wishlist.

Sometimes, the items I want go out of production before my wishlist and $bankaccount have agreed on favourable terms. What follows is my list of items that are still on my wishlist, but probably wont be mine, ever. If they do, they will make it into my little computer museum. I will get a boner.

1) Empeg - I cant really say it any better than wiki, this item really was so hot you just had to own one, but the price tag was stratospheric. Some died and as spares arent available it means most units that come up for sale are snapped up by empeg owners, and used as spare parts. Even with the state of current car-pc systems, something that just slots into a single din unt is very desirable. The active developer community behind this item gives it longevity.

2) Apple emate 300 - once again there is a lot of info on wiki about this very popular item. What use does it have in this day and age? Well, something that takes very little energy, is still handy for quick notes etc and is available cheaply always scores highly in my books. This little cutey is right up there with the best..

3) I-Opener - this internet appliance was a little Jeckyll and Hyde when it came out. Marketed as a dumb internet appliance it could be easily hacked to run windows 98, with networking, sound and usb. What better way to quickly set up a second pc in the kids bedroom for web surfing duties?? The price was attractive too, but was only available on contract in the USA. The UK was left behind. Donations accepted :-)


4) Abacus PDA watch (by Fossil) - ok, this here little watch is actually an (almost) fully functioning palm computer. Where this concept shines is in the developer community. Third party applications extend this watch to a point where you seldom need anything else on you. Plus, you can change the watch faces with a lovely utility, giving you almost endless watch displays. I would love to see this watch integrated with the time telling systems over at TokyoFlash , hehehe

There we have it, a few lovely little items which will surely brighten up my birthdays:-). The astute reader will notice a common trend in these devices (besides the fact that they all use electricity)...each one of these is easily hackable to perform functions never intended by the original manufacturer. And on that note I would like to end this post...A certain exec once said "Developers, Developers, Developers" and then threw a chair (unconfirmed rumour). I would like to add, when designing a product, think of its expected lifetime, then once that lifetime is up, open up the sdk, grab the developer community and let them extend your product, and then take that feedback and learn from it.