Gadget Abuse
Luke Johnson, the guy who shamelessly gave out his cell phone number on the Internet and made international headlines doing so, has recently become an advocate against a harm that is widely ignored by today’s 21st Century tech-savvy generation: Gadget abuse. Luke appears in four public service announcements on the popular video site YouTube.com in which he pleads for people to stop recording useless crap (claims it’s bad for the camcorder), stop being overweight (bad for the digital scale), stop downloading pornography (video above) and to remove Bluetooth headphone devices from the ear when not taking a call (apparently, Motorola deserves more dignity than that). All four life-changing public service announcements are definitely worth checking out—as is the blog who sponsors them, Gizmodo.com.
If you’re someone interested in overpriced but really cool electronic crap, you’re somebody I can relate to. Gizmodo.com provides a place to oggle over things we either don’t need or can’t afford. For instance, a featured product today is the Glo Pillow, which simulates the sunrise at a predetermined time the user sets via a built-in digital clock to wake a person up. The idea is the Glo Pillow would replace the need for noisy alarm clocks by “gently” waking a person up. However, when you stop to realise that a regular digital LED alarm clock costs about $12 at Target, compared to $1000 per Glo Pillow, you’re probably more inclined to go with the noiser, more cost-effect solution.
Occasionally, though, you’ll run across something on Gizmodo.com that you might actually both afford and use daily. For instance, have you ever found yourself wanting to take your Sony CD player to the beach, only to find that you have a junk drawer full of AA-sized batteries, but not the needed C-sized batteries? Gizmodo.com discovered a battery adaptor, manufactured by Camelion, that’ll let you turn all of your AA-sized batteries into C-batteries at a very affordable price (Geek Alert: AAA, AA, C and D-sized batteries all emit 1.5 volts of electronic juice, and both AA and C batteries are approximately the same length, so it’s perfectly safe to use this adaptor—you won’t blow your electronic junk up).
Gizmodo.com is now going in the blogroll, since I’ve been fascinated by their articles over the past few days. Check them out on a regular basis, even if it’s just to fantasize about products you’re never likely to see.
I'm a 21-year-old technology, music and local media blogger from Sacramento, California.
April 26th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I hate it when people wear their blue tooth when they’re not on the phone. Makes me think they’re recording our conversation some how for later use.
April 26th, 2007 at 11:52 am
Heather: I agree, people who wear their Bluetooth headsets when they’re not on a call are annoying. First, people who are on a call using their Bluetooth headset, nine times out of ten, have their hands available for use. These people should use their telephone, not their headset. Second, people who use their headset (regardless of whether their hands are free or not) tend to talk really loudly.
A few months ago, I was in line at the bank, and this guy behind me had a Bluetooth headset on. His hands were completely free—not like he was holding anything in the—and he was talking so loudly that it startled me.
April 27th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
I’m not really into Gizmo’s let alone giving out my phone number.
April 27th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
LOL, it’s not for everyone. I’d thought about doing it, just to see what kind of response I’d get, but I doubt anyone would call me.