Your digital consultant

My current daily kit consists of…

• MacBook
• 8Gb USB memory stick
• Palm Treo 680
• iPod with Belkin TuneCast and Kensington FM transmitter for the car
• Panasonic HDC-SD5

I don’t include the SMARTy because it sort of doesn’t meet the “digital” requirements. But it gets an honourable mention.

MacBook

Running 10.5 now and it’s not too shabby. I haven’t installed MS Office because we haven’t upgraded to 2008 yet and 2004 runs like a dog on Intel machines. The only app that I have really missed is Excel. Numbers just doesn’t have that hardcore stats and linear regression stuff going on.

Treo 680

Got it to replace my T3 which was showing it’s age. I wasn’t sure I would like the QWERTY keyboard but it grew on me. I was also a bit loath to give up my Sony-Ericsson k700i which I quite like but I don’t really miss it anymore. The lure of the 2 in 1 device is strong and there is some great functionality in the Treo. I read and hear a lot of people complaining that their Treo doesn’t do this or that but I have had very few problems indeed. It even synchronises well with iCal etc with Missing Sync. Most issues are usually my doing (altering a repeating event in the past on both devices then trying to sync or something like that).
I have found the camera extremely useful. Before I got the SD5 I used it a lot to capture photos and videos of my son. Even though they’re low quality it’s better than nothing and you don’t miss stuff. I have also used it in the classroom along with the voice recorder to capture cool things that students are doing and gather evidence for assessment. I am not aware of another device I would replace it with. People ask me about the iPhone but I’m not that excited. It doesn’t have a basketball stats application for a start.

Panasonic HDC-SD5

I am really loving this camera. You might say that I ought to for the price (if you have to ask, you can’t afford it!) but it was still cheaper than the one it replaced when I got it 7 years ago. So what do I love?

1. It’s light and very compact
2. The battery lasts for ages (and is small)
3. When importing you can easily select the clips you want and import just them
4. You don’t have to switch camera modes to go from shooting video to still photos
5. Dead easy to back up memory cards (with bonus DVD burner)
6. Did I mention it records in HD?

Most of the above benefits are a result of using SD-HC cards as the storage media instead of tapes. Super cool. Initially I was worried about the cost but they continue to go down (like all solid state media apart from Sony Memory Stick.) Panasonic were quite smart by going with SD. It’s non-proprietary and seems to be the most widely used solid state memory card which drives down prices. Do a bit of reading though because not all SD cards are created the same. This document explains things well I think. I have a 4Gb Class 4 and an 8Gb Class 6 card. My inclination would be to stick with Class 6 for video.
The next thing on my list is an SD-HC card reader so I don’t have to use the camera to import clips. At least that’s the hope.

iPod

Nothing fancy. Standard iPod video with 30Gb drive.

Belkin TuneCast

Has proven to be very very useful at work. I record all sorts of things like student feedback, planning meetings with staff and presentations that I make. I intend to start using it for my classes and try to post some audio for students to review at their leisure. I will have to cut down what I say or the editing will kill me!

Kensington FM transmitter

I use this everyday in the car. I get a lot of useful listening done on my work commute. I am very happy with the Kensington. It has RDS which flashes up the title of the podcast onto the radio console and 3 tuner presets so if I start getting crosstalk I can switch frequencies very easily. I love the fact that it charges the iPod at the same time. I don’t have to stress about it running out during the day and as iPod batteries prefer to stay charged it will have a longer life. Only complaint I have is the contact on the end of the plug isn’t long enough for the 9V “cigarette lighter” socket in the SMART. I stuff a small piece of aluminium foil on the end to pad it out but if I change cars (along with the transmitter) it drops out (obviously!) I have a little stash of foil in the glovebox for such occaisions.