The Gadgets We Buy, But Never Use
from the oh-so-true dept
I come by my gadget obsession honestly. When I was a kid, I remember my father bringing home from work one day an "automated envelope opener" that a friend of his had sold him. It was a little box with a small slot, wide enough for a typical envelope. You slide the envelope through the slot, and a little motor kicks in, grabbing the envelope and zipping it through, while popping out a spinning blade to slice off just the tiniest bit of the top of the envelope. We both thought this gadget was amazing, and would change our lives. It was so fun to open up envelopes this way. Of course, after the first day of use, the device ended up in a drawer, and no one ever bothered to pull it out and actually use it ever again. We're not alone. Plenty of "early adopter" types have this problem, I'm sure. You go out and buy the latest cool technology that you absolutely must have and rave about how it's going to change your life, and then put it in a drawer and never use it again. Either they're more complicated than we expected or they're less useful - or both. The reactions in the article from folks who have this "problem" are quite interesting, as they're very introspective about their gadget buying ways. Some people blame advertisers, though, that seems like a bit of a cop out.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Pass 'em on
Sure, I never get back what I put into the gadget(s), but I let someone else get a good deal on an item that I've already had my use of.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Pass 'em on
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
My favorite gadget from the mid 20th century...
- The Precision Blogger
precision-blogging.blogspot.com
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Computers
msykes
PS: Anybody who's not using their digital camera please send it to me. Thanks
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Useless Gadgets ...
... laughing all the way to a wealthy retirement ...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Useless Gadgets ...
I cut my coffee bill in half by using mine to roast coffee, in fact,I bought it specifically for that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I hate to buy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]