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AS A technology journalist I have a few gadgets I rely on and carry everywhere with me, whether my wife likes it or not.
Of highest importance are my Nikon D90 camera, 13" Macbook laptop and iPhone. With these three devices I am constantly connected, have access to my email and other online services from just about anywhere and can record anything from text with linked audio to photos and high-definition video.
A BlackBerry Bold will regularly replace the iPhone, or I'll switch from my Macbook to a Windows laptop I'm reviewing for as long as I can bear to. There's no compromising when it comes to Nikon, however.
But in the last week I've added two pieces of gadgetry to my must-have tech arsenal. And I suspect I'll soon be as reliant on them as I am on having a chair at my desk.
The pen reinvented
One of these devices is the Pulse Smartpen from Livescribe. To call this a pen would be like calling the space shuttle Atlantis a glider. Yes, it is a pen - but it's wholly unlike any other you've seen before.
The Smartpen has a camera mounted right behind its point. This is used to read micro-dots printed on paper in special notebooks, or on note paper you can print for it. The pen is aware of anything happening on the paper and makes use of special areas of its notebooks to function as anything from a calculator to a piano.
The piano function is perhaps the most fun and impressive way of showing the Smartpen off. Draw a piano in the notebook and start playing it; the pen will play the corresponding notes through its built-in speaker. Touch numbers and symbols on the printed calculator and it will display the results on its tiny screen.
The possibilities for the Smartpen are endless - especially considering that it has an open API, allowing for third-party developers to create applications for the pen, bringing new functionality to it.
The pen will also record audio while you write or draw, and touching a part of the paper will play back the audio recorded while the corresponding area was scribbled on. Perfect for a journalist taking notes. Or a lawyer, student, and just about anyone else.
The pen can also be synched with a PC running Windows or a Mac, and will transfer all notes to its Livescribe software. These can then be accessed on your computer, along with audio, and converted into text using handwriting recognition software.
These are just some of the features of the Smartpen, which hasn't taken long to become an important part of my daily activities.
All a-Kindle
Another device I find surprisingly useful is the Amazon Kindle, which is now available in South Africa. You'd be mistaken to think this is just for reading books, as I've learnt.
For one, the Kindle can also be used to subscribe to newspapers, and Amazon says some SA publications are on the way. The thought of being able to subscribe to Business Day and have it delivered wirelessly to me every morning for easy reading over a cup of coffee is an appealing one. But even more appealing is being able to subscribe to daily international papers that cannot be physically delivered to South Africa.
You can also email your Kindle with any PDF or Word document as an attachment for reading on the device. Proposals, notes, meeting agendas and other documents can all be transferred to this device, instead of travelling around with a pile of paper or having to flip open your laptop. You can also use it to make notes for a book or document.
The Kindle uses a technology that imprints the screen with an image and then powers off the device while you read it, meaning its battery will last for weeks without needing a recharge. Even the longest of international flights is no issue - plus you can read on take-off and landing as it's technically turned off until you push any of the buttons.
The Kindle might be a nice-to-have with features that are available on other devices, including your cellphone - but actually using it soon makes it indispensable. It's just a better way of reading and getting books delivered to you.
Toby Shapshak said it best when I discussed the Smartpen and Kindle with him: "These are game-changers." I couldn't agree more. And with all this new gadgetry rocking up and becoming integral to my daily operations, the only real problem I have is finding a bag to carry it all in.
- Fin24.com
