but she's a girl...

Gadget overdose

There's an interesting article in the Guardian about pointless technology (or rather, pointless gadgets). Despite being rather a techno-head and somewhat gadget-obsessed myself, I do agree with the majority of the points. Before I get too over excited about some new piece of hardware, I do try to sit the excitable geek in me down and have a long, serious chat about whether this particular gadget is really necessary. However, I am aware that my definition of "necessary" might not be the same as other people's (see my excitement over viewing my uptime on my T68i). The author, Stuart Jeffries, cites the slow uptake of 3G mobile phones as one example of technology that attempts to create a need rather than satisfy one.

I did have to take issue with the article on one point though. In a section deriding various useless bits of kit (TV glasses, anyone?) he includes the Dualit 4 slice toaster"

It costs £175 and combines a silvery retro-toaster look with four slots that can produce 130 slices an hour in your home. Ask yourself this, though: if you and your family need 130 slices of toast an hour, perhaps you should spend £175 on consulting a dietician instead. There's a six-slice version, but that's beyond a joke.

I have a Dualit toaster, a 2 slice model, which was a wedding present. Yes, they are expensive, but they are the very antithesis of a useless gadget; they do one thing—toast bread—and they do it extremely well, reliably and without pointless gimmicks. The toasters may have recently become fasionable (all that stainless steel, I expect), but Dualit has been making them for over 50 years, so they are hardly new gadgets. The "retro-toaster look" is genuine; it really is a retro toaster.

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