Connoisseur’s Choice

My favourite gadget:

Though some gadgets I use on a daily basis won’t affect my life adversely should they suddenly disappear, a good number of them do improve my quality of life, both in and out of the office. One such gadget that I never needed but now I can’t live without (because of its obvious bearing and value addition to the quality of my life) is the iPad2. It’s a supremely convenient device that helps me check my emails, surf the Web, read books or get any work done via the Internet, adding productivity, portability and convenience to the way I live or conduct business.

If I could invent:

I am pretty satisfied with the features invented by Mr Jobs for the iPad2. But I would certainly like to incorporate a few more that would make its normal functioning even faster and even more convenient. Features like a RAM upgrade, near-field communications (NFS) support for using the iPad as a digital wallet and an SD card slot/USB port for padding up storage.

Having said that, I still feel that the iPad2 shall remain unchallenged for a while as the best tablet computing device.

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My favourite gadget:

I just love my HTC One X. It is by far the most stunning smartphone in the market today. A gorgeous display along with a fantastic camera, the One X has really astounded me. Playing games and watching videos over a mobile phone have never been such fun. Powered by the Tegra 3 quad-core mobile processor, I’m assured of maximum performance with a battery that lasts really long—a perfect combination for my roundthe- clock mobile needs.

If I could invent:

Two of my biggest passions in life are wearing exclusive watches and playing golf. However, my schedule leaves me with little time to visit a golf course to have a complete day for golf, but it does make me look at my watch every now and then. If I could, I’d devise a watch that would take care of my urge of playing golf.

Say I’m waiting for a meeting to begin or travelling outstation, I can just touch a button on my watch, and a virtual golf course would appear, where swinging my arms and rotating my wrist would let me virtually practise and perfect my straight drive. That would be a remarkable invention!

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My favourite gadget:

It has to be the iPad because it’s the ideal combination of a business and personal gadget. I can use it in meetings for presentations, I can answer my emails from anywhere, and with its 10-hour battery life, I can watch movies, read books or play games while I travel.

It’s just perfect.

If I could invent:

I would invent the ultimate gadget—a time machine. I could go back in time and meet the people who created history and travel into the future to see just what awaits.

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My favourite gadget:

I will have to say the third-generation iPad. It has revolutionized the way I work, and now I can carry my entire office with me wherever I go. It has a 4G card, which enables data transfer at crazy speed. Its screen is awesome and watching movies on my iPad is even better than watching them on the TV. I carry all my movies, music, books everything on the iPad. It has made travelling so easy.

If I could invent:

Remember the catchphrase “Beam me up, Scotty” from Star Trek? I would love to invent something that can enable particle transfer. Imagine how easy travelling will become.

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My favourite gadget:

I would have to say my iPod. It’s the one gadget I can’t live without—in fact, my iPod is refreshed and updated at the end of each day with my own selection of music that I love. For when I travel, when I commute, when I’m at the gym or just have some spare time, the iPod is a constant source of joy and entertainment. It gives me the chance to be nostalgic when I listen to the music I grew up with and the opportunity to be up to date with new music and artists. It is an indispensable element of my day to day life.

If I could invent:

I would love to invent a personal flying suit aka a feminine version of Iron Man. No more planes, no more rush-hour traffic jams or the horrors of commuting, and no more walking—just a suit that lets you fly anywhere.

It would truly change our daily lives and the convenience of a flying suit is staggering. Perhaps, it’s time I start inventing and develop my very own patent.

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My favourite gadget:

My laptop is my best friend and I cannot imagine my life without my MacBook Pro. Two things that I can’t do without are music and movies and that is where my MacBook Pro fits in like nothing else. Also, while travelling, apart from the movies, music, apps, etc., I use my laptop for professional purposes and to keep myself updated with daily news around the globe.

If I could invent:

A lot of my time is spent travelling from one place to another, playing various tournaments, hence a teleporting device would be that one thing I would want to invent. Nothing sounds more genius an act these days than something that saves my time of travel.

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My favourite gadget:

The watch—it is one of the most amazing inventions after the telephone and computer. No matter what one does or plans to do, he will need the reference of time. It has become all the more pertinent as we are living in a fastpaced world. As everyone is struggling with time, having a watch helps you in managing time in a better way and makes your life more organized. A chic and beautiful watch always lures others. It speaks about your taste and leaves a lasting impression on others. This can be used by anyone who seeks to lead a successful personal and professional life.

If I could invent:

I would like to invent a watch with artificial intelligence. This would basically be a watch that can read your brain waves and act upon it. It would be able to sense what you’re thinking, what you want to do and would be able to sense the waves and programmed to execute it. This watch can easily review sports, the daily news, weather forecast and stock market information just by a simple click. This watch would also support research and development. It is great to have a device on your wrist that would be able to do all the things that are there in your mind.

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My favourite gadget:

The one gadget I really feel is indispensable is my iPhone. These gadgets have become so intrinsic to life today that one wonders how we used to manage without them. The iPhone is not just a phone but so much more—it’s almost a way of life. The iPhone can be turned into many different devices thanks to its easily-downloadable apps—some useful, some entertaining, and some downright bizarre.

Apart from being a phone, an Internet-surfing pocket computer, a camera, a video camera, a recorder and a device that stores and plays songs, films and TV shows, your iPhone can also be a satellite navigation system for your car; pocket tenpin bowling alley; a Scrabble or chess opponent; and a barcode reader that tells you if you can buy an item cheaper elsewhere. No wonder the iPhone has become a cult unlike any gadget before. Indeed, many experts regard it as the greatest electronic gadget ever made. The iPhone’s sheer usefulness has made it a global sensation whose history is only in its early stages.

If I could invent:

One thing I would like to invent if I could is a time machine. A gadget to stop time so I could get things done on my own time. I would travel back in time and maybe witness all the major historical events that have helped shape the world’s history.

As I love travelling, it would also be fun to go back in time and see how the ancient civilizations lived their lives—their traditions and cultures, eating habits, the clothes they wore, what sort of transportation they used, etc.

Maybe I could carry some of today’s technology back with me. My time machine would also have the power to propel me into the future and check out how the futuristic world looks like. With technology changing so fast in today’s world, one can only but be amazed by what would happen then... Maybe I will be able to bring back some futuristic technology back to this world now.

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My favourite gadget:

My favourite gadget is my iPhone. It addresses all my digital needs and is intuitive in its interface. Technologically speaking, it’s a piece of art. My digital requirements are many and the iPhone addresses them all—emails, contacts, calendar, social networking, maps, applications. I actively use cloud computing services and all of them are possible through this device. Moreover, it allows me to monitor the key performance indicators of Rock.in in real time. I’m always amazed by its versatility.

If I could invent:

The one gadget I would like to invent is a digital wallet. Cash is old school and with digitization, this is possible. Also, with credit/debit, loyalty programme cards and more, the wallet becomes bulky. A digital wallet would be a unique ID that would adapt to the services I am using.This technology would soon be possible with a mass roll out of NFC (near-field communication). It would also be a great driver for e-commerce businesses like ours. So no more pick-pockets.

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My favourite gadget:

It would be my iPhone. Working for a highly demanding/dynamic industry such as healthcare where one is always expected to keep up with the news and information, my iPhone comes really handy and quick. Be it having 24x7 access to emails, surfing the Net, synchronizing my phone with the hospital’s gadgets/ applications/software or just being available at every beck and call—my phone has been there for all of it.

If I could invent:

It has to be a perpetual pocket power source for all gadgets, the thing I need most at this hour. Gone are the days when one was contended with a basic device that served one’s basic needs. Today, for professionals like me, who need to be on the job 24x7, in the office, on the move, where it becomes important to have access to multiple gadgets, a perpetual pocket power source will erase a problem from my list.

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My favourite gadget:

The Nokia Lumia 800 is my most loved gadget. I am addicted to its fluid metro user interface. It is not just a phone but my doorway to the world. There have been so many times that Nokia Drive and Maps have helped me reach my destination and find places. With its social media hub, I am always in touch with my friends and its great camera ensures I can share loads of photographs with them too. The best feature yet is perhaps the integrated Bing search that helps me discover the world on the move.

If I could invent:

My invention would be “Pandora meets Slingbox”—I have always wondered if there could be a device that searches across all Live TV content based on your preferences or viewing habits, stores them in the cloud and allows you to watch them anytime, anywhere.

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My favourite gadget:

I can’t live without my BlackBerry. It is my daily organizer for emails, phone calls, quick Internet searches, BBM, WhatsApp and address/contact database. I will have to say that I love my iPad as much.

It is used mostly for meetings and presentations. I think its super-slick design and interface are ideally suited for presentations and catching up on my reading backlog. I am a total addict and so are my daughters (aged nine and one-and-a-half years).

If I could invent:

I would like to design a super customized time management clock—a bit fashioned in terms of product design integrated with all the latest time management softwares and tools. I am a romantic and would love to capture time in a tactile as well as a visually appealing format. Two products that I would like to mention in that space are Hulger’s Retro Phone for the future and the new candlelight LED chandelier by Ingo Maurer.

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My favourite gadget:

My Sennhieiser wireless headphones, which allows me to watch late night television without imperiling my domestic circumstances.

If I could invent:

A dictaphone that actually works when I need it to. Last year, I interviewed Kumar Mangalam Birla, who is not the most accessible person on this planet. Soon after this long and engaging conversation, I was horrified to learn that my recording device had failed to pick up any of it.

This had happened to me in the past, which is why I always scribble lots of notes. But make no mistake: the initial shock sickened me to the guts.

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My favourite gadget:

I think my phone. Staying in touch with emails, social networking sites and the Internet while being in any part of the world is something we now take for granted, but it is quite incredible.

So yes, my phone would be that one gadget.

If I could invent:

I think we need to figure out a way to transport ourselves way quicker than possible currently. I spend a huge chunk of my life on planes. So something that would help reduce that drastically would be welcome. Maybe something like a teleporting device?

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My favourite gadget:

Being in the kitchen at all times, the Fisher and Paykel CoolDrawer is a must for me. It is so convenient, since I can control the temperature depending on what I am storing. Be it fresh organic fruit or a bottle of wine, all it takes is a touch of a button. Also, it is easy to work around.

If I could invent:

How so often we cut our fingers while chopping food in the kitchen. So my invention would be a knife that chops food but spares the fingers. There would be some gadget of some sort attached to the knife which will stop chopping if the blade is too close to the skin. That would be wonderful, no?

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My favourite gadget:

Currently I am indulging in the Asus Transformer Prime Eee Pad. I am a big fan of the tablet revolution and have tried almost all the latest models. However, I personally find the Asus Transformer Prime extremely cutting-edge. The quad-core processor and Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) provide a very vivid Internet experience. This gadget surpasses the normal tablet performance and shows the glimpse of the upcoming tablet computer generation. The ultrasensitive touch screen and the real QWERTY keyboard are phenomenally integrated and inter-changeable making the interface a lot more interesting. All the other features such as the dual camera with flash, high-quality SonicMaster audio system and the battery performance make it a gen-next tablet.

If I could invent:

I think today, we live on the edge of a futuristic world. Technology, particularly in telecommunications industry is at its peak and it amazes me to see how the wafer-thin machines hold the key to tomorrow’s information trade. This technology gives each one of us a chance to unlock immense knowledge bank. I want to thus make this technology available to the coming generation who hold the key to the future of not just our country but the mankind. I want this technology to not just be toys at the hand of rich and elite but to trickle down to the grassroots of the society.

I want to invent a devise, which would make education cheap and mobile by breaking the constraints of infrastructure and means. These devices would help open the imagination of a child’s mind. I am currently working towards making the technology user friendly and help children understand and learn with ease. Thus absorb all the knowledge around them.

pradip.s@livemint.com