Do It All Devices

October 7, 2009 By Nick Mokey

Save money and space with multitasking gadgets that wear many hats.

TV chef Alton Brown has it right: Unitaskers – specialty devices that only perform one function – have no place in the kitchen. And single-purpose gadgets have no place in your pocket. The same way lemon zesters to garlic presses clutter up kitchen drawers and cabinets, electronic voice recorders and standalone CD players fill up your briefcase and entertainment center without ever justifying their existence in more than one very limited way. Though we may make exceptions for purebred machines that far outperform their all-in-one counterparts, most gadgets need to earn their keep in a multitude of ways. Here are 10 of our favorite do-it-all devices.

PlayStation 3$299

Once a down-and-out contender in the world of video games, the PlayStation 3 has shown itself to be far more popular as a home theater machine, and after the $100 price drop that came with the new slim version, you could call it a bargain, too. Besides serving up video games in the daytime hours, it doubles as Blu-ray player at night, and with an active Internet connection, you can rent and buy movies online from Sony, stream your movie collection from a networked computer, and even surf the Web with the built-in browser.

Page 1 of 10

12 3 4 5…>

Showing 13 comments

Holiday Gift Guide 2010: Ideas for Tech and Gadget Lovers | Go Lab Studios at 12:17pm 15th November 2010 [...] Do It All Devices [...]
John at 7:40am 16th October 2009 XBOX 360 is a dud. Read all about it
John at 1:36pm 15th October 2009 I think you missed a very good one here: http://temporaryland.wordpress.com/2009/10/09/nokian900-not-just-an-itoy/
1. Dan Gaul at 8:00pm 15th October 2009 I didn't really like the Noka N900 personally.
2. Ian Bell at 6:24pm 17th October 2009 Yeah, not convinced on the n900 either. There really is not a lot of info out there, and the reviews have been mixed.
Mat at 4:07am 13th October 2009 And a PC can do everything that a 360 or ps3 can and a hell of a lot more.
1. TechFreak at 10:32am 13th October 2009 I think the point is gadgets that do a lot. Not full blown systems etc.
john everett at 8:33pm 11th October 2009 Nice round-up, I would like about 75% of those items for Christmas, please.
jochi magochi at 9:20am 11th October 2009 WHAT???? How can the Xbox 360 NOT be on this list??? With Facebook, Twitter, NETFlIX, and the ability to stream ANYTHING from your computer, this thing does DO IT ALL.
1. Ian Bell at 2:32pm 11th October 2009 The Xbox 360 can't play Blu-ray movies. Plus the Netflix on-demand is pretty bad - a lot of outdated movies and shows, nothing with new releases.
Jake at 6:23am 11th October 2009 Great article, it made me think of a pretty cool device that I just discovered for my music production. The V-Studio 100 combines an audio interface, a control surface, a digital mixer, and an SD recorder. It's like 4 separate things that I need for my studio and live sets, but all in one. I'm telling my friends it's my "I-Phone" for music production because it does so many things. To give you an example I can make music on my computer, then bring it to my gigs to mix my set and play backing tracks. Or I can record my gig with it, then bring it back to my computer.
Larry at 5:50am 11th October 2009 There must be some mistake, you say these are "do it all devices" but not on a single one do I see the words "will give an awesome bj"... "do it all devices"?? Really??
Ian Bell at 11:17pm 6th October 2009 I use my PS3 quite a bit for both gaming and streaming music/movies etc.