My top three favourite (new) gadgets

I like gadgets – always have, always will – and 2009 has been a bumper year for gadgetry in my house.

Here’s my top 3 list of gadgets (so far):

1. iPhone. I can’t believe that I put up with Windows Mobile for as long as I did.  My new iPhone 3GS is one of my favourite gadgets of all time.  Not only can I look at websites in all their glory, I have dozens of little apps that do everything from keeping me up to date with facebook, linkedin and twitter to providing mobile wikipedia access.  It also allows me to make phone calls, but it is more of a pocket computer than a phone to me.  If you do not already have one, get one.. and forget about all the wannabe’s – there really is no rival to this device in my opinion.

2. Sonos Digital Music System. I had been using an old Netgear music streamer for the past five or more years but recently replaced that with the Sonos system.  It does what you would expect in terms of streaming music from your PC – but… it allows you to play the same music in different rooms, it has built in access for Last.fm (a great service by the way) and other online services.  It also allows you to connect to radio stations all over the world.  The controller is graphical and wireless and a bit similar to an iPod.  The ultimate capability was the iPhone app.. so I can now control music throughout my house with my iPhone – a device, unlike the standard controller, that I usually have on me.  Excellent product – I just wished that they could integrate Spotify somehow.

3. Samsung LED TV.    This is the thinnest TV that I have ever seen and so it is a true flat screen.  It also has a great mounting bracket that hangs like a painting.. which emphasizes its “flatness”.   The LED pitcture is also sharp – far less blurring on fast action compared with my plasma.

Now a TV is not normally a gadget for me.. even one as cool as this one.  But the TV has some nice gadget features:

• Wi-Fi network access.  The TV can connect to the computer in my office and stream music, photos and video.
• Yahoo TV Widgets.  This is pretty neat.  You can have weather forecasts, news, and even watch YouTube directly on the television if you want.
• USB drive access.  Plays photos, music and videos from an external hard drive.  Just plug in the USB device (stick or drive) and play the last episode of Heroes you recently downloaded.

Can’t wait to see what arrives next…