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Me and my gadget [Waikato Times (New Zealand)](Waikato Times (New Zealand) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jonathan Scott, foundation professor of electrical engineering at Waikato University, tells Chris Gardner his personal digital assistant can do just about anything, including fly a helicopter. What is your favourite gadget? No doubt, it is my PDA. PDA stands for "Personal Digital Assistant" or something like that, but confusingly these have more recently been called "smartphones". The king of this business used to be the Palm Pilot, and I lived by that thing back in the 1990s. The Apple iPhone has been the Rolls-Royce version for the last few years. These days the Android machines, mostly Samsung ones, seem to be the way to go. The iPad is the same family, but these do not rest in your pocket and I am not geeky enough to strap one to my thigh. What do you mainly use it to do? The thing I seem to use the least is the phone part. I use mine most often to remind me about appointments and to get to lectures on time. I can also browse the web, do scientific calculations, take pictures, especially of a whiteboard full of equations, find satellites and planets when stargazing, play music, have Skype video conferences, send and receive texts and emails, check my car speedometer, find my way to unfamiliar places, check sound levels or exchange rates, fly a helicopter, and even make a phone call. Perhaps flying the quadricopter - another gadget! - is the most unexpected thing. How would you change it to make it better? Easy, make it speak with me. Companies have been working on improving the pocket electronics offerings for 20 years, but the little gadgets are still limited by their size, by what my old eyes see on such a little screen, and by how slowly I can type on them. Back in the 1970s, Bill Hewlett imagined his PDA, named "Beep", talking him through arrival at a strange airport. I need a guy like that in my pocket. When they get there I will accept that the job has been done to Bill's, and my, satisfaction. (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |