Everyone has different needs
Articles such as this one in the NY Times kind of annoy me. (Also, apologies to anyone reading this after March 28, when the Times goes to a subscription model.)
The article is a listing of gadgets or tools that, in the opinion of the writer, most people do or do not need. I disagreed with him on enough items that I have to post this rebuttal.
1. Desktop computer. Are you kidding me? The entire publishing industry would be screwed without desktop computers. We could do as he suggests and use laptops hooked up to large screens, but for processing power, memory storage, and interface (really, you want the shitty keyboard?), a desktop is the way to go. Sure, you can trick out the laptop with a real keyboard and a mouse or real touchpad, etc, but at that point I call the laptop a kludge. As for cloud computing taking the place of a dedicated hard drive, I laugh. Transfer rates are not good enough for large graphics files of the sort I work with, and I can only imagine it's even worse for video editing.
I understand the value of a laptop, but it's not the best graphic designer's tool.
2-5: I more or less agree with these things.
6. USB thumb drive. Maybe, maybe not. Just two weeks ago I had to send a thumb drive to one freelancer and an actual hard drive to another, because the files were so big. I'll grant that this inspired me to crack into my departmental budget and sign up for an iDisk so I don't have this problem again. But I also keep several computers not attached to the internet (on purpose), and I still have to move files around between them.
7. Somewhat agree. I'm looking into a new phone, and I don't think I want my phone to be both a phone and a primary entertainment device. I need to figure out how much battery life newer phones have, because when I need a phone I need a gorram phone, and if playing games and listening to music compromises the battery too easily, I don't want to use the phone for those things.
8. Alarm clock. Really? A one-day glitch in one model of phone makes you run in terror back to those horrible torture devices known as alarm clocks? My phone is broken and doesn't have an external speaker anymore and I still use it as my alarm clock. It's less than a foot away from my head, and I can hear the muted chimes just fine even over the noise of the air conditioner. If I'm really, really concerned on a particular day that I just HAVE to get up on time, then I use my kitchen timer.
9. GPS unit. I agree you should lose it, but not because one is available in a smart phone, but rather because unless you are among the population of people who are dysgraphic and can't read maps, you should use a real map. My brain and a map--shit, my brain without a map--is still better than any GPS unit out there.
(Which is not to say I don't love Google Maps and all the information it offers. But I use Google Maps as a map. I only use their driving directions after I have thoroughly screwed around with them on the map, setting my preferred route rather than theirs (and I'm still going to print out maps of each turn, because they're much easier to follow--and deviate from in emergencies--than written directions).)
10. Books. Well of course I agree with this. But I somewhat disagree with his "cookbooks are useful as ebooks" claim. First, why buy an e-cookbook when there are a million recipes available for free on the internet? If I'm using more or less the same interface, then what's the difference?
Second, when people design cookbooks, there are two major principles that are difficult to make electronic equivalents for:
a. Layflat paper. A cookbook that doesn't lay flat on the counter is wrong. The publisher didn't think through the way a cookbook is used. It's more expensive to produce a book this way, but you do it because of the purpose of the book. Granted, a tablet or laptop would work well enough in this manner, except for...
b. You want the whole recipe visible at once, if possible. Most cookbooks are oversized. Part of that is to show off the photo, but a nontrivial concern is that all or most of the recipe can fit on one page. We don't want people putting beef in their trifle* because they had an error with turning the page.
c. And as a third point, I'm not sanguine about having sensitive electronic equipment in a place where flour and grease and liquids are flying about. Most cookbooks I've seen are either little-used, or have stains and grit in the pages.
*That is my favorite episode of Friends ever.