Rather than talking about shareware, new sites or apps, I’d like to tell you about the technology in my home. Everything we own, we own because we love it. Not a little, but a lot. When I’ve made purchasing mistakes, I’ve returned the item. So here’s the hardware that lives in my home.
Cameras
Kodak Zi6: Pretty in pink this has full HD capability and it’s what we all use for Momversation. We do not use it at 1080 because not all internet connections support that much content
Kodak Z18: Just about the same, but smaller and a little more ergonomic, it has a microphone jack, and you can get much better sound. It’s really cool. All speakers at the 140 Conference were given these.
Leica DLux: This is my personal camera. I am the snapshot queen. It takes great pictures, and the shutter speeds are great for sports too.
Canon 7d: this takes my breath away. My husband takes amazing pictures with it. I have been allowed to handle it once, but that’s about it. The lens he uses is this.
Kodak Easy Share: This is my daughter’s camera, it’s perfect for kids.
Printers
HP Office Jet G85: It’s a dinosaur, but it’s not broken and I see no good reason to replace it. I’m pretty sure my mom bought it for me about 7 years ago.
HP Deskjet F4280: My brother bought this for Jane’s 10th birthday, she loves it. I love that she has her own, my brother gets brownie points.
MP3 Players
There are four nanos and two iTouches in the house. They’re all just fine, but totally overpriced.
Cellular Phones
iPhone 3G: This is mine, it used to work, now it sucks.
iPhone 3GS: This belongs to my husband, I want to make it mine, only it’s not working well for me.
LG Neon: This is my daughter Jane’s phone. She got it for her 11th birthday, she loves everything about it. My 24 year old relative has the same one, so it’s not just for kids. The slide out QWERTY keyboard is very cool.
Computers
HP TouchSmart IQ846 Desktop: Now that I’ve had this a while, I should re-review it. I’ve added netflix and I’ve called for tech support on a few occasions. It is,without question, the best computer I’ve ever owned. When my husband edits photos on here, I want to pinch myself. – disclosure this was given to me to review from HP
HP Pavillion dv3 notebook: This was also given to me by HP for review. It is stunning and lightweight, the sound and picture quality is amazing, and there’s no reason that this couldn’t be the only computer in the house. It’s a workhorse that’s pretty.
iMac: Oh yeah, sometimes I do make mistakes. I still don’t know why I bought that, no one ever uses it.
Macbook Pro: Each of the kids has one of these in the 13 inch version. Combined with the Leopard operating system, this is the computer that you want for your younger child (I include my 11 year old as younger) the parental controls are spectacular with Leopard, and frankly, the computer came with it.
Macbook Pro 17 inch: My husband uses this as his traveling work computer. He likes it. It’s nice to watch movies on when you travel.
Television
Direct TV HD+: Can you just trust me on this one? Get it.You can put football on the computer.
Roku HD: This was given to everyone at a recent television taping. I really like it a lot. If you are into movies and on a budget, you could forego cable in favor of the Roku and the $8.99 a month netflix subscription. I wouldn’t, because I really like a lot of cable shows, but someone could.
You’re lucky that HP let you keep the review units. I always had to send mine back — even when I worked on staff at PC Magazine. I was with you until you got to the DirectTV box. I’ve had an HD TiVo forever (not being paid to say this — purchased on my own), and I absolutely love it. Now you can rent movies with the Amazon On Demand and NetFlix. You can search and view YouTube clips. It’s just so intuitive and sweet. I use it with Verizon’s Fios, which I also love. (We never lost HGTV like Cablevision subscribers did.)
Thanks for sharing!
Three things
1. I will send them back… someday… I’m just moving v e r y slowly :)
2. I miss my tivo and I would love it, but the picture from Directv v any cable provider is far superior and if you’re a football fan (I married one) Directv is the only option.
3. The roku gives me all the netflix, you tube and blip a girl could want, but really, I have a giant screen on my pc so I don’t need to stream that into my living room.
No Dells? ;)
No worries… And no comment…
We have cable because we refuse to outlay $600+ for the DirectTV or Dish equipment we would need to support our TVs and sadly, AT&T has not yet made Uverse available in my neighborhood.
Every TV in the house (with the exception of a 2004 Sony Wega rear projection LCD, a Cars TV/DVD combo my parents gave my son, and a Dell 50″ plasma my husband won years ago, back when Dell made TVs) is a Samsung.
We have three Samsung digital cameras and one Sony. All are great and all are currently in use.
We have a Samsung laser printer and a Canon all-in-one. The Canon is a piece of crap, but it does print photos.
My work computer is a Dell, my husband’s is a Samsung. Our family systems include an ancient Dell laptop, an XPS, and a Samsung netbook.
There are also currently sitting unused and dead in my house, two Dell desktops and six or seven Dell laptops.
It’s obscene.
Should we all do the computer graveyard next week? My son just pulled apart my husband’s old Blackberry. It was really cool
Hey Jessica,
Nice list. Not sure about the iMac. I’ve never owned a Mac, but I will admit that they are powerful computers. I would never buy one, though – too pricey and pretentious for me. Besides, I like being able to customize my machine at my own free will.
As for the other stuff: I want a new camera. I have an pseudo-DSLR from Fujifilm which is cool, but it just tries to hard to be a DSLR when it’s really just a fancy point-and-shoot. Sigh…
ROKU: Let me just say that the initial investment on the box (80 – 100 bucks) is well worth it. I had the option to pay for cable here in Oakland for about $50 a month. I opted out of that and instead bought their fastest internet connection for $30/mo. for a year and put down the $100 for the Roku and $9 thereafter for Netflix service. Let me tell you: BEST PURCHASE EVAAAAAAAAAARRRRR!!! I pay $9 a month and get all the best stuff directly on my HUGE 40″ HDTV that I spent $500 on (at Best Buy – Killer sale that day) and I’m a super happy camper. I think where the value truly comes through is in the fact that I get to take advantage of the HD capabilities on my TV and get great programming instantly. And the stuff that isn’t instant I can get in the mail within 1 business day. Add to that the fact that new TVs come with digital tuners and a $15 rabbit ears antenna will give you crisp – read: AMAZING – quality network TV (plus like three PBS channel, for a total of about 60 channels) for absolutely free, which means you get all your favorite network TV shows for FREE and in HD!
My mom taught me well. :)
By the way: Let it be mentioned that Roku also lets you watch movies on your computer simultaneously, so one $9 account could very well entertainment provide for an entire home. PLUS You get access to other services, like Amazon, Bliptv, and Pandora Radio – just to name a few.
ROKU, ROKU, ROKU!
I have been thinking about the Roku, but may opt for a new DVD with Blue Ray as I understand that you can stream shows with it too. I love gadgets, but I need to cut down on clutter and that would really help.