As Matt explained last year, batteries are holding up laptops, mobile phones and PMPs from lasting long enough and running fast enough to get things done properly on the go. What’s my solution? Portable battery packs.

I’ve reviewed a few iPhone battery packs and a few laptop battery packs, and the common conclusion is that these are fantastic for the person who needs to work from the field.

The current battery I’m looking at—the HyperMac External Battery—actually delivers an extra eight hours of power to the MacBook Pro. If we had a MacBook Air, it might even deliver up to their claimed 32 extra hours.

So why do I love these so much when it’s another thing to carry around? There aren’t always outlets to plug into when blogging from the field, and Apple Liveblogs are a perfect example where you have to keep going while sustaining an EVDO connection and transferring images every few sections to your laptop. That’s not a time for your equipment to die. Eight extra hours of power? Yes please.

As for phones, there’s always a need for extra power for smartphones. I welcome the extra heft if it means that many more songs, or movies, or emails or tweets. Until batteries get good enough that we can either charge them in a few seconds (capacitors), or dump a few ounces of liquid inside (fuel cells), I’m going to stock up on external battery packs.

Do we want tens of plastic guitars, skateboards, drums, balance boards and light guns cluttering up our living room space? No, of course not. But ponder these simple questions.

1) Would you rather be pushing buttons in time to music with your Xbox 360 controller, or strumming along with your fake guitar and hitting a drum pad?
2) Would you rather be pushing buttons to make your character do a 720, or actually tilt your body on a skateboard?
3) Would you rather be pushing buttons and tilting a stick to shoot something on the screen, or point a gun at the screen and physically shoot the screen?

It’s simple; most everyone would rather be simulating the act because it gets them closer to the experience of actually playing the game and mimicking what the character is doing on screen. And that’s just the way we’re headed. The first controllers had a joystick and one button, and technology’s progressed along until we’re actually getting 1:1 motion detection.

But where is this all going? The endpoint, in our minds, is something like the Holodeck from Star Trek. A room that, although finite in reality, has the mechanical and optical abilities to simulate just about anything you can program. But we’re a long way from that. What we can do is take steps toward that goal, by simulating the experience with plastic instruments. But there are many steps between here and there, and hopefully the next one won’t cause us to fall down because there’s a plastic guitar in the way.

There’s a principle in human psychology that promising something and then taking it away is a bigger disappointment than not knowing about it in the first place. Vapourware is the epitome of this for us.

This Gear Diary diary on the Keyport brought back feelings of anger and frustration. If you don’t remember, the Keyport was a device that took in six of your keys—custom made—and allowed you to individually *snickt* them out like a switchblade or Swiss Army Knife. Fantastic idea; shit execution.

The company’s been showing off their “product” since 2007, and even showed pictures and video of the manufacturing process—a process that’s so sophisticated they’re able to charge $US300 for a set. What did they do with all those $US300 pre-orders? Not delivering a product, that’s what. In fact, they refunded people’s money in 2008, but then didn’t get around to returning their keys. Why? We have no idea. After Gear Diary’s post went up, a Keyport rep got ahold of him and promised that his keys would be returned and that actual products would be shipping some time between now and the heat death of the universe. Sounds doubtful.

But that’s not the only disappointment we’ve had in the last few years. There was the Palm Foleo, which was actually an interesting idea (an Netbook-like device that connected to your Palm) that may have been slightly too early for its time. It came before the Netbook craze, and died an unseemly death from people who wanted no part of it and shamed Palm into ditching its development. But what of the people who did? The Pre doesn’t have enough drying power to soak up those tears, but might be a better choice, market-wise, in the end.

Then there are the things that have been vapourware so much that people stopped caring. Was anybody actually surprised that Duke Nukem Forever was canned because the company ran out of money before their employees were able to switch rendering engines yet another time? Saddened, yes, but surprised? And how about the Phantom game console? They finally managed to deliver the keyboard + mouse part of their product, and even that was like pushing a mattress through a moonroof.

Are we conditioned, as tech lovers, to be accustomed to being let down? Did we care that the $US10 Indian laptop turned out to be just something stupid? Or that the $US100 laptop idea brought up years ago still hasn’t materialised? Or how about a decently-powered laptop that will let you get eight hours of work done? Where’s that?

I think we’re just so used to our gadgets disappointing us that we’ll take what we can get. We don’t really care that Microsoft hasn’t gotten around to placing all those promised features of Longhorn—which was stripped down to become Vista—into Windows 7. We’re just happy they’re getting the OS delivered on time. On time! We’re grading one of the world’s largest software companies on a scale we use to grade Kindergartners.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

A few months ago, I sat in a think tank with a group of distinguished digital camera experts. We were talking about the future of cameras, what was to come.

Let me backtrack for a moment. Someone I know has a birthday coming up, and one item I’d really like to get them is an XBLA (Xbox Live) title. Since the game isn’t available in stores, that means I have two solutions. One, I can sneak onto their Xbox like a ninja, enter my credit card info and make the purchase for them (which is just sort of creepy), or two, I can give them an Xbox gift card for the sum of the game.

I’m not really happy with either option.

My sincere gesture, giving a friend a game they’d enjoy because I’ve accounted for their tastes, is diluted to an exchange of capital. It’s really just giving them cash in a nicer form. Sure, you can buy someone a gift card, but you can’t actually buy them a gift.

This is a problem.

Today, the limitation is probably only bugging me and a handful of other uber nerds. But what about in four or five years? We’re a society that’s only moving more and more digital. Soon, even giving someone a CD may very well seem like a dated gesture—one that may inconvenience the recipient since, hell, they don’t have a CD drive anymore!

I just don’t want to be condemned to a life of gift cards with a little note written in Sharpie “for the new Batman.”

Luckily, implementing gift giving on a service like Xbox Live would be incredibly easy. They already have the infrastructure to manage various payment accounts and allow users to communicate to one another and a central server. So imagining a system in which you receive a message informing you that Sk8rB0y has sent you a game is by no means a far stretch. (The feature would probably take Microsoft all of a week to complete, if they put their mind to it.)

But what about an iTunes? UPDATE: They actually offer gifting through email. That’s something I didn’t realise and I’m guessing a lot of people don’t realise. Including even custom playlists, I’ll admit, it’s a good start. My question to you is, do you consider an email link enough? Does that feel like a gift?

Maybe it’s just my perspective that will be forced to change as I bow to the next level of consumerism. But for the moment, the gift card approach feels like a one size fits some philosophy being squeezed over nearly the entire modern home entertainment industry—and I can’t imagine it’s adding a lot of humanity to the already cold digital realm.

While at the time of this writing, I am a spry (OK, a bit soft) 26-year-old man, I realise that I could, at any moment in time, die. In such an unfortunate circumstance, should the world ever recover from its loss, I’d like my most important possessions (my gadgets and digital media) to be well-tended pending their obsolescence (two or three months from now).

I will, give, and bequeath unto the persons named below, if he or she survives me, the Property described below:

My iPhone
Pending that my iPhone 3G was not crushed by whatever huge boulder must have smashed me, I would like to leave it to someone very special in my life. My wife Elizabeth, a long time iPhone hater, recently admitted that she was wrong in denouncing the phone and purchasing a Blackberry Pearl instead. I know she would really, really enjoy having my iPhone.

Too late, sweetie! Your penance were not adequate. My iPhone should go to an underprivileged child who is resourceful enough to pay a $US100/month subscription even though they haven’t shoes on their feet. Actually, publicise the donation and guilt AT&T and/or Apple into picking up the tab. It’ll help if the child can’t read.

My Flickr Account
You can’t give thousands of pretentious sepia photos to just anyone. No, these all go to the Art Institute of Chicago. May they reconsider my genius when macro photography of mundane objects constitutes an artistic revolution, or when there’s finally a wing dedicated to LOLCatz.

My Plasma TV and Home Theatre Accessories
The 46-inch Samsung plasma should be placed in my building’s workout room where, as of now, some devil has placed two crappy 13-inch LCDs under the guise that anyone can actually see those things. My TV now belongs to the condo association, pending that neither ESPN nor ESPN2 can ever be watched on it.

My Tangled Box of Cords
Everyone has an obnoxious, tangled box of various cords, and I was no exception. I hated this box, but found it a necessity in the mortal world. Now that I have transcended to a higher plain of existence (hopefully involving wireless HDMI and unlimited refills at a peach margarita machine), I leave this box to the last person who wronged me in life. Whoever that may be, I fucking hate you and my grudge will be eternal, just like that knot of cords.

My Xbox 360 and Games
OK, now this was a tough one. Who gets all the games, the controllers and the overpriced Wi-Fi dongle? Humanity, that’s who. And my gamer points go to Adam Frucci, the only guy who I know with less Live street cred than me. Well, him or my mum. Figure it out, lawyers. This point might go to trial.

My Wii
Sell it on eBay. I wouldn’t subject anyone I love to dealing with the horrors of the current Wiimote. If eBay has gone bankrupt, the lawyer has been instructed to bury the system in a time capsule until Wii MotionPlus comes out. If there’s a decent amount of game support (I’m talking games with headshots and blood, people), it should go to my two adorable nieces to aid in their development.

My PS3
Hahahahahaha. I mean, whoever will take this can have it! Hahahahahaha. Really though, in ten years, everyone will have them…pfft…hahahahhahahaha. Oh man, I’m funny even when dead.

My Low Digit ICQ Number
Mum, I know this has been hard for you, especially as you have no one to turn to regarding all things tech. No problem. You can have my five-digit ICQ number. (I realise you have no clue what that means.) It’s OK. Walk into any chatroom with that and, trust me, 87264829 isn’t giving you any shit, ever. You rule the internet now. Go forth and crush the opposition.

My MacBook Pro
Ahh, the MacBook Pro, the centre of my digital life. That’s why you’re all here, isn’t it? Well, of course my darling wife Elizabeth receives it. With some provisions:

Always wash your hands before using. Before you turn it on, say three Hail Maries with “Steve” replaced for “Mary.” No Boot Camping Vista, but Win 7 is fine. No watching YouTube clips where kids light their own farts on the screen. No chatting with other men on it. Don’t worry about webcam restrictions, I’ve taken the liberty of breaking the iSight for you.

It should be noted that there is a lot of important media saved on the hard drive that represents not only my musical preferences but snippets of our life together. You are now the owner of all MP3s, photos, animated GIFs (this is a big score, honey), and videos.

On the condition that you never delete my Springsteen collection, as low as you may be on space, it’s all yours. The computer is out in the hall. Please go claim it now. Mum? Sis? You can go with and help.

[They should leave the room.]

OK, Jason Chen. Quick. The MacBook is under your seat. I need you to delete some files. Go to my hard drive. Open “Applications.” Open “System Files” folder. Open “DO NOT OPEN OR COMPUTER WILL MELT” folder. Open “I’M NOT JOKING.” Open “SEARS CATALOG BABES WINTER 2002-2008.” Select all files. If you have time, you can copy these to the external drive you were instructed to bring with in a past email. If not, select all and delete. Then empty trash. Thanks buddy. You’re a true friend.

Oh, and to everyone. Don’t mourn my passing. Remember, I’m not dead. My crippled body is merely frozen. When I awake from my long winter slumber, I’ll be totally cured of ailments and donning a 7-foot titanium robot body complete with laser Gatlings and a turbo orgasm button. So don’t feel sorry for Mark. That guy’s doing just fine.

Well, that, or the cryogensis freezer failed, I was wrong about Christianity being fake and I’m burning through eternity in some poorly ventilated internet cafe that only has dial-up.

It’s not really about the general principles regarding spoiling kids. Buying high end gadgets for kids is not quite like buying kids a sportscar in high school. Not exactly. It’s more about denying kids the toil involved with playing with poorly designed or rough-around the edges technology, the toil that can be so educational. I don’t have kids, and I won’t presume to actually propose parenting advice to anyone, but I can draw on my own childhood, where I learned tech by suffering.

My dad wisely refused to buy me a complete toy remote controlled car, but instead had me work on a Tamiya kit car, which required me to learn how to solder at age 7. The kid across the street from me eventually had to ask me how to build his own car. He was 16. In another instance, one of many, I couldn’t get Ultima to run on my dad’s old 386 until I got the autoexec batch file set up right. It was a pain but getting that game to run right taught me a nugget of knowledge. I had plenty of experience like this, and they all added to my collective experience with machines.

One famous geek dad I put this theory to said he didn’t think high end gear in itself was the problem.

Because computers suck so much, every high-end gadget requires learning all sort of tricky OS stuff like managing several devices, understand DRM, password and username management, updating firmware, rebooting when things go wrong, etc. Compared to a games console, practically everything involving a computer is a mini lesson in IT.

I can agree with that, but I think it strengthens my point. What’s funny is that the types of devices I use manage most of these problems he mentions very elegantly. Today, most of the gear I use is from a certain manufacturer that prides itself on making things very easy to use and consumer oriented. And I appreciate it, but I can’t help but feel like I’m becoming dependent on technology so polished, its no harder to use than biting into an…Apple.

Then again, other tech parents I talked to believe what I’m saying is nothing new. One creative family in particular thought the philosophy here could be applied to all mediums. For example, Instead of having their kid listen to pop music, they give her weekly music lessons. And although their daughter has total access to all the gadgets her father and mother do, they’re using it to ramp her up to more difficult and advanced ways to interface with and control tech. That is, she’s getting programming lessons soon. Knowing the girl, I think she’ll enjoy them, even thought she’s been raised on easy to use tech. But perhaps the difference here is how that energy is diverted — instead of using a tinkering mentality to get the baseline OS working, she might use it to write programs.

Another parent says this is all theoretical. I heard on some NPR show awhile ago that there’s not much you can do to encourage or discourage the spirit of a young person. I guess what I’m saying is that giving junior geeks personal tech problems from a young age can be can be good basic training, so what benefit do we get by buying them stuff that works out of the box?

Then there’s the line, “Some argue Chrome’s languishing figures could be bolstered if it were pre-installed in computers.” Now, I don’t pretend to speak for Google at all, but considering they have 10 million active users worldwide after just 100 days, I don’t think they’d be describing Chrome as languishing. Seriously, I thought The Australian was meant to be objective.The simple fact is that browser choice varies depending on who a website’s target audience is. I can tell you that for Giz AU, 44% of you guys use Firefox, 38% use IE, 11% are on Safari and 4% are on Chrome, although I expect that figure to jump up a bit when Google release a Mac version (lots of you use Macs). So the whole premise of Google’s browser “failing to shine” is completely flawed based upon the figures Australian IT are sprouting.

The bottom line: Looking at Google’s own global figures is a much more accurate way of discerning Chrome’s success than using Fairfax and News Ltd sites, even if Google won’t share local figures. Because no matter how successful your site is, there’s still an inherent skew by the type of visitor that comes to your website.

[Australian IT]