Following Paul’s excellent lead, I did some thinking of geek things I really enjoy. While I wouldn’t classify these as brilliant pieces of coding per Paul’s definition, they are high on my ‘pry it from my cold dead fingers’ list.

XP Remote Desktop
This is by far my favorite feature of XP. I have tried quite possibly every windows remote control product that has come along since windows 3.0 in my holy quest to be able to work efficiently from home. Here are just a few I can remember off the top of my head: Remotely Possible, PC Anywhere, LapLink, Radmin, Netmeeting, numerous flavors of VNC. Nothing can compare to having highly tuned code right in the OS. Now granted bandwidth has radically improved since my first attempts caused me to upgrade my modems to 14.4k, but all things being equal this code blew away the competition. It has allowed me to put in numerous dog years of extra work (including the session I just finished) in without having to hang out at the office all night. My wife appreciates this.

Audible.com
The client code that backs up this service is far from elegant, but this is something I cannot live without. I travel on average between 1.5 and 2 hours a day in the car. Listening to audio books during this time has been a godsend. Now instead of nodding off a the wheel (which was a regular occurrence on the way home late at night during the ‘startup’ years), or fighting back road rage, I put my body into autopilot while I enjoy learning something new or a bit of fiction. It feels like I’ve reclaimed a ‘lost’ part of my day. I know that many balk at the subscription fee, but I feel I’m getting every dollars worth. In fact at close to two hours a day, I’m currently spending more time listening to audio books than watching TV. And by choosing long books I’m getting more hours of entertainment for my dollar than I am with Netflix. Of course my driving situation is not the norm for everyone, and I am locked in for two books a month at a lower rate than new subscribers can get, but I’d give up most of my other ‘frill’ services excluding power and internet access before I’ll let this one slip.

PocketPcs
I’m a big fan here, no surprise. I’ve managed to integrate my PocketPC into most aspects of my life. I’m always on the prowl for new add-ons (hardware and software) to get more use out of it. I’m currently in the market for my next pocketPc which will be my 3rd (or fourth if you count that I have two original Ipaqs.) I’ve got some big plans and some new potential use cases in mind. But that is a topic for another day.

Wifi
Not much to say here. Going wireless is true freedom and now that I've tasted it I won't be satisfied until I have wireless broadband access where every I am.

Oh and of course Xbox Live. I didn't really convert fully to consoles until this came out. :)

What geek items (hardware or software) really float your boat?

Here's a few I'll toss in:

SageTv - I won't claim it's better or cheaper than Tivo but it's certainly more flexible and has a certain geek appeal. SageTv supports multiple turners, multiple clients that can share recordings from a central server and even provides a decent interface for playing music or DVDs. Orignally my intent was to attempt to build a linux pvr but I first installed SageTv (back at version 1.4)and haven't looked back.

Caligrapher/PenComander- Transcriber for the pocketpc is very functional but Caligrapher adds a slightly better UI (but only when needed, it can be hidden), nice pop up keyboards, popup correction window, spell checking and includes PenCommander. Pencommander is a hidden gem that essentially binds macros to text input (you "circle the text" after writing to invoke the macro). I've used this on every IPAQ I 've owned.

Linux - Not as an end user desktop OS but as an open technology that is enables some really cool things. I have three Linksys wrt54g wireless ap/routers flashed with 3rd party firmware (sveasoft satori v4.0 ) that greatly enhances the capabilities of the routers (local dns and bridging mode are the killer features for me). I also have a Hauppauge MediaMVP networked media player which is linux device at heart. Again, it's functionality has been extended by someone so that functions as a fully functionaly SageTV client.

SideTrack powerbook trackpad driver - We all mock Apple's allegiance to the one button mouse but I was really more envious of the cool functionality that the trackpad most pc laptops provide (like scrolling zones, hot corners, additional mouse button support). Sidetrack provides all the functionality I could ever wish for.

Good call on the Wi-Fi thing. I would have included it in my list except that I wanted to stay close to specific software. I feel a rant coming on about wires in general.

Audible sounds cool. My commute is almost 2 hours per day as well, hence the iPod. You could ditch the client software if you put the books on the iPod since it does have the capacity.

Ah yes wires. I have gone wireless keyboard and mouse at work and at home. The cost of batteries every 9 months or so is worth it. My next target is wireless headphones. I'm really looking at the bluetooth headphones from HP. They currently only work with bluetooth Ipaqs, but wouldn't you know it, I'm looking for a new PocketPC anyway.
To be honest this should be top priority for Apple. A blue tooth Ipod with matching wireless headset would be HUGE.

Actually, the whole "white headphone wires" thing is a marketing strategy for apple. When you see someone wearing white headphones, you know they have an iPod. Even the black U2 iPod comes with white headphones. It's like being in a gang when you see people you don't know wearing the same colours... it's an intangible attraction that entrenches the iPod's sense of cool. Wireless headphones, while more convenient, wouldn't be the same.

Well I hope Apple does keep the wires then. If their only reason is to keep the iPod 'cult' together, then it will serve them right when Creative or one of their other competitors do wireless and overtake them. I'm a bit too old and un-hip to make a technical choice based only on what is trendy. Besides if they went wireless, they could make the headphones white or some crazy IMac florescent color with pulsating neon apple logos on the side. Now that would get your branding across.

I don't think it's a cult, it is simply a great product that consumers are choosing. The regular PC makers might be able to get a cheaper device or better specs, but this isn't a PC that you can hide under your desk, or that IT managers order by the thousands. This is the consumer electronics industry and the way a device looks matters. But, I've looked at the Creative device, it is truly horrible to use. I didn't try the software, but I can't image some random PC company making something more usable than iTunes... MusicMatch / RealAudio anyone?

The iPod hit the sweet spot: a super usable device, the cool factor, and a price people are willing to pay.

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