What is the tech thing you bought that stands out? Something you look at even today and it brings a little smile or happy memories to you.
For me it is Microsoft Wedge Keyboard. The plastic cover surround the battery chamber is gone. I bought it like 13 years ago (I think) but if I know I am getting into a longer typing session it comes out of the backpack. I have a foldable keyboard that takes less space, has larger keys with a nicer spread, but if I know I am about to wrtie for a few hours it comes out. It is the angle created by the battery case, the tactile feel of the keys, the fact that it has a Swedish layout just makes it a smoother experience. Sure, the metal frame is a little rusty, the Z, X (and for some strange reason) J key doesn’t always take unless I hit the upper half of the key, so it actually slows me down.
Which I actually kind of like because it makes me check the text (have I missed something else?) and I recollect my thoughts (sometimes I have a tendency to think out a sentence and believe I’ve put it down on the screen when it is still just existing in my whithered brain). I actually wish MS would come out with an updated version that lets you connect to multiple devices and maybe have a battery you can charge,
As I've noted previously, the high-water mark of my computer experience was pairing a NeXT Cube w/ a Wacom ArtZ and Microtek ScanMaker 600zs w/ an NCR-3125 running Go Corp.'s PenPoint (which I would reboot into Windows for Pen Computing to run Futurewaven's SmartSketch).
I'd give a lot for Apple to make a setup of a MacBook and iPad which would suit me so well.
Great question! Tough to pick a favorite, but.. being able to tell my Roomba to go vacuum the kitchen and then getting a message when it’s done still feels very Jetsons. And I’m also still loving the Surface Duo for reading. It’s just so wonderfully impossibly thin. Still use it daily.
Hmmm, great question.
My Kinesis split keyboard is definitely up there. I think it helped my wrist and elbow pain quite a bit, and it's such a great keyboard to type on. I used to just type on whatever and didn't really get why people got into keyboards so much. Now I get it. There are definitely differences between nice keyboards and basic keyboards. It's not that old, not quite 4 years, but I do love it.
I also really loved my Huawei Mate 20X. The software has some issues, and of course due to government bans was stuck with Android 9, but the hardware was some of the best of any phone ever. I loved the 7.3" screen that was wide enough to type very comfortably with my large hands and wasn't so ultra widescreen that I couldn't take advantage of the big screen for videos. It had a phenomenal camera that still takes better pictures than my newer Pixels. All day battery life was fantastic to have. I used the pen quite a bit, and again, because of the aspect ratio not being quite as thin as modern phones, I felt I had plenty of screen real estate for it, and it was pretty accurate too, much better than the MPP pen I had on my Windows slate when I had both devices. It makes me really sad that Huawei got banned, even though it's possible it was deserved, I just really wish I could have updated that phone and kept using it. I still have it, and keep it charged just to fiddle with sometimes. Unfortunately with the lack of updates, some of my apps I use don't work well or at all on it so it can't be a daily driver. I am tempted every once in awhile to try again anyway though.
Lastly I'll say the most recent is my 11" iPad Pro. When I bought the 12.9" in 2020 I thought I needed the screen real estate for art, but the smaller form factor of the 11" makes me so much happier anytime I pick it up. It just feels like the perfect size for everything I want it to be.
Man I have had so many of these, honestly. I remember getting my Palm Treo (I think 650?). I could use that bad boy to remote into my Solaris UNIX servers at work using SSH. I felt like such a badass. Haha. My Koala pad and Commodore 64 which, as a kid, started me on this stupid tablet PC dream path. More recently, I would have to say regular Apple Airpods, which work perfectly for me. I can't seal one of my ears for long periods of time--or bad things happen (many ear surgeries), so these work great! Finally, in the spirit of @Kumabjorn's selection, I love Microsoft's Sculpt Keyboard. I have no more spares so I am hoping I can hold on until Incase supposedly gets them out on the market again.
A few years before smartphones were everywhere, I had an HP hx4700 Pocket PC that I could pair with my Nokia phone to have a pocket sized internet device. Even better, I could pair the hx4700 with a bluetooth GPS sensor and add it to map software to get real-time driving directions.
To this day, I'm still trying to figure out a good way to have an effective travel/pocketable Windows experience...