Wow! How time flies when you are having fun! And sometimes even when you are not. It’s that time of year once again to make our lists and check them twice. So, in the spirit of the Season, a little Naughty is ok, and Nice is really good.
Electronic Gadgets and Other Fun Stuff
Everything iPad
OK, I admit it. I am having a ball with my new iPad 2, and finding accessories that work is part of the fun. I started by ordering the Apple Wireless Keyboard for the iPad, and while it works, it is a bit clunky. I also purchased the Apple docking/stand, which is even more clunky. As with most things Electronic Gadget-wise, there are third party substitutes out there that claim to do it better than the original, and in some cases that is actually true.
A case in point is the combination cover/stand/keyboard that is a wireless keyboard and cover rolled all into one. The one I purchased actually shipped from China direct which threw me for a bit of a loss, but it works great, and I got rid of two accessories and replaced them with one. Good deal!
My friend the visiting bookkeeper/accountrix (comes in to straighten out my books after I have made a mess of them for a month) showed me a new gadget that I just had to have. If you have the need or even think you may have the need to take credit cards, there is nothing easier than using Squareup from https://squareup.com/. The card reader and setting up the account are free (yessiree Bob, I said free!) and there is no monthly fee. There is a per-swipe fee which is comparable or even cheaper than other services I have used in the past for my businesses, and only slightly higher for keyed in transactions. The reader is about the size of a domino, plugs into the audio (headset) port on your computer, notepad (iPad or Droid) or even your smart phone. You can’t get much easier than that! The service takes MasterCard, Visa, Discover and American Express.
So, if your Rotary Club or Church is having an auction, and you want to take credit cards, this service is for you. It sets up to deposit the funds directly into the bank account of your choice and it all sets up just about as simply as anything you have ever tried. Paired with a printer, you can print receipts and track your transactions.
Stylus: If you are like me, it does not take much to lay a big old finger smear across the otherwise sparkling iPad2, or smart phone for that matter. There are several solutions available and I found one that I particularly like. The Targus Stylus for Apple iPad is the size of a small ball-point pen, has a nice soft tip, and works like a champ. My screen stays clean longer and a quick wipe of the screen with a microfiber cleaning cloth and I am good to go once again.
Droid Bionic
Cell phones for me have been a necessity for long enough that I have gone through about five iterations so far. The last but one incarnation was the original Droid. While I found it to be better for my purposes than its predecessors, there were still issues that I found irritating and in some cases downright infuriating. The Droid Bionic is a huge step forward (in my humble opinion.)
I had a choice of shifting over to the iPhone 4S or going with the Droid Bionic, both offering 4G data connections (where available), and after careful consideration, I chose the Droid Bionic.
The Droid Bionic has a larger screen and chassis than the original Droid, and a whole lot more horsepower and memory. The App store/Google Market has a ton of apps from which to choose, and as with the Droid, you can use a WiFi connection to cruise the internet and save on your data plan. There are too many features to go into here, but it is definitely worth a look if you have a cell phone on your Christmas Shopping List.
The Fun Stuff
No gunpowder needed!
For the end-of-civilization types, or maybe you have always had a deep-seated desire to build a pumpkin-chucker, check out “The Art of the Catapult: Build Greek Ballistae, Roman Onagers, English Trebuchets, and More Ancient Artillery” by William Gurstelle on Amazon.com. I like the English Trebuchet, myself. I always wanted to fling a cantaloupe at an annoying chipmunk or bland old rock that needed some color added. And if you do them up in miniature they will fling a grape right well. I dare you!
Micra Multi-tool
Sometimes packing around that Leatherman Multi-tool on the belt gets a bit cumbersome, and if you are a gadget nut like me, you can’t bear the thought of doing without. Fear not, fellow gadget goons, the Leatherman Micra Multi-tool is here to rescue you and feed the need (www.leatherman.com/product/Micra). At only two and a half inches short, it is a handy dandy little cutter, screwdriver, ruler that will take care of that hangnail or screw in that loose screw with panache.
So there you have it. Nothing particularly fancy this year, no new Metal Storm to drool over, no new kinetic weapons to set a young boy’s heart going pitta pat, but then the “old” one is so much fun it is worth another look (www.metalstorm.com).
