Read about Featured Gadgeteer – Drew Golden

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Name: Drew Golden
Location: Plano, Texas

gotm sep 04

Where did it all begin?

Well, I was a freshmen in High
School when I was first introduced to the TRS-80 Mod III.Β  I was intrigued, and
signed up for a summer course in Basic.Β  I remember the class and yellow book
entitled Basic Basic – and the follow up class and orange book Advanced Basic.Β 
I was hooked.Β  Basic took off and I had to play at home; my first computer was
the Sinclair ZX-81.Β  $99 for the kit, and I botched the kit and paid the
additional $49 for the botched-kit here’s-a-properly made special.Β  I worked
with that painful computer for 6 months before I sold it and upgraded to the
TRS-80 Mod III with a whopping 64k memory and *dual* floppy drives.Β  Life was
good.Β 

College came and I was
absolutely convinced that Computers were fun, but there was no money to be made
in it.Β  (At the time, Unix and Mainframes ruled the world, and the best a
College Grad could expect was a tape jockey position.)Β  So I suffered through
Economics and Business classes and filled my spare time with Computer classes.

Then I hit the world, as the
world hit the computer age.Β  As a poor graduate, I purchased a Magnavox 286-20
PC.Β  Wow, what a screamer that was!Β  Color Magnavox monitor and a cool 9600 baud
modem.Β  I discovered the cool dial-up world of BBS, and used off line news
readers (remember SLMR – silly little message reader.)Β  Then the world changed
again.Β  A company called ID Software released a game that would change the world
as we know it, and make the PC that you presently have a weak chimp – the
released the Shareware version of Doom!

I spend *hours* downloading it
as soon as I caught the buzz surrounding the game.Β  It was 1.30am when the
download finished and I started the install.Β  Life would not be the same.Β  The
screen came up,Β  I was alone in a dark room, and the breathing and music and
*fright* from the game were amazing!Β Β  Copies appeared at work and we played
network games (over IPX – ARGH!) and the world was forever changed!Β  A computer
game where multiple players manipulated 3D representations!Β  Wow!

Now where am I?

Plugged in.Β  I am a gadget
addict – and I freely admit it.Β  My wife allows me to spend what I can recoup on
eBay.Β  So I churn gadgets and hang on to good technology.

What have I churned?

*Β  First PDA was a Palm III.Β 
Was a gift, did not get it until I had one, but am still convinced paper is
better in face-to-face meetings.

*Β  Went to the sexy Palm Vx
and subscribed to Omnisky!Β  Wow, 9,600 baud wireless access – a new Palm
Interface, email, and it was all slow as molasis.Β  Sold on eBay.

*Β  Rim Wireless 850.Β  This is
wireless email done right.Β  Delivered to my hip – instant access, black and
white, thumb keyboard.Β  Perfect.Β  Sold as well to move up to Danger.

*Β  Danger Hiptop:Β  Of all the
Silicon Valley Tech Startups, this is one I would not have bet money on.Β  I
peered at their web site and the promised device – and I could not believe that
they made it to market.Β  I am stillΒ  shocked.Β  The day T-Mobile started selling
the device, I was in the store buying one.Β  It was the Rim on crack.Β  beautiful
B&W screen, wireless web, always on always connected, Instant Messaging, I was
connected.Β  Best Wireless Web Experience to date.

*Β  Color Sidekick:Β  Was in the
store the day it came out.Β  Dumped the B&W sidekick on eBay for what I paid for
it (wow!)Β  The Color sidekick is almost too connected.Β  The web browsing
experience could *not* be beat.Β  The instant access email, view word attachments
and pdfs.Β  It is not to be believed.Β  But I was too connected.Β  People began to
expect instant IM or email response.Β  Tech world had reached it’s summit, time
to back off and be a little less connected.Β  Did I mention that the sidekick is
also a phone?

Failed technology!

*Β  iPaqs.Β  Lose their brains
when they device loses power.Β  Constantly have to set up new profiles to get it
working. Β Bad versions of Word and Excel.Β  Mail and Web experience is just plain
bad.Β  I have no idea why anyone likes these piles of junk.

*Β  Microsoft Phones:Β  I
carried the T-Mobile Pocket PC Phone for a year.Β  What a pile of garbage!Β  Bad
phone, bad PDA, just plain bad all around.Β  Stick to one thing and do it well,
please.

*Β  Windows XP:Β  Fine after
installation.Β  Need to re-install after 18 months of use.Β  Prone to every email
virus known to man.

*Β  Linux:Β  Hobby OS Only.Β 
Sorry, no support number, no one to sue, no corporate acceptance.Β  As much as I
hate it, windows is slowly taking over the world.Β  And trust me on this, I was
with Linux when Slackware was king.Β  I downloaded the floppy disk sets and
installed the hard way.Β  I was in love with Linux at the time, and I learned a
great deal as we grew together.Β  But Mac OS X is just such a finished product it
makes Linux look like the hobby toy that it is.

Just plain works:

* Mac OS X.Β  I am a switcher.Β 
My main PC is a iMac 700 with 17 inches of widescreen viewing pleasure.Β  I have
no idea why anyone would every want to use a PC after falling in love with
this.Β  It’s like Linux and Windows married (all of the good things from each.)Β 
Expensive but real good.

*Β  Flat Panel LCDs.Β  Wow –
less electricity and all of that desk real estate regained!

*Β  Nortel Venture MLT Phone
System:Β  Available now on eBay only.Β  Allows up to three outside phone lines.Β 
Transfer calls between phones, intercom, speakerphone, and shared phonebook.Β 
This is how a home phone system should be.

*Β  Sony Clie TH55.Β  Wireless
802.11b.Β  Can use my GSM phone to connect to the internet.Β  It’s my slightly
less connected fix.Β  And I have not churned this one yet.

*Β  Palm OS:Β  After all these
years, still good!

*Β  eBay:Β  Turns junk into gold
and funds my expensive gadget habit.

*Β  Google:Β  My portable, never
fails, encyclopedia galactica, it’s truly the only book you’ll every need to
find the answers to life, the universe, and everything.Β  Arthur Dent should have
been so lucky.

*Β  Copy of Dune.Β  Sorry, it’s
always worth a re-read.

*Β  DirecTV:Β  Dish Network just
did not cut it.Β  I love the High Definition channels and I watch Sopranos every
Sunday in High Def.Β  (Plus I catch the Stars when I can.)

Other assorted gadgets I love
or carry around:

*Β  Dazzle Hollywood DV Bridge
– captures all those old home movies

*Β  Apex AD-600A with the
β€˜good’ ROM.Β  So good, you can’t sell it on eBay!

*Β  Sony Ericsson T616 and the
HBH-60 earpiece:Β  Blue tooth enabled for the Star Trek head set, and wireless
internet access for my Palm device.Β  What is not to love?

*Β  Fender Fat Strat with the
Boss DS-1;Β  nice humbucker on the bottom, foot on the DS-1 for heavy jamming!

*Β  Moleskine pocket notebook
and a Rotring 600 series trio pen:Β  Pocket notebook is my faux PDA, takes
brilliant notes faster than my PDA – but it’s so cool it needs to be considered
a gadget.Β  And the Rotring Trio Pen is a must have!

*Β  Fisher Silver Bullet Space
Pen:Β  Always found in my pocket.Β  Writes underwater and in extreme
temperatures.Β  Not that I will need to take notes underwater on Mars; but there
is something Chic about whipping out your own pen to sign a bill.Β  And for under
$30 it’s a really nice guilty pleasure.

*Β  OVO Decision Maker from
TokyoFlash.com:Β  All watches should be this much fun!Β  Grab one before they sell
out again.

*Β  LogiTech Pocket Digital
130:Β  Takes 1.3mp pictures, enough built in memory for about 40 snaps, has a
flash, size of a fat credit card.Β  Pocket cameras this small get carried around
and used.Β  When I travel, I carry this in my bag and lob it into my pocket when
I wander.Β  Great snaps!

So, as you can see, I am a
gadget nut.Β  When I am away from the office, you’ll find me VNCing in to my work
PC from my wireless PDA in a local Starbucks.Β  I’ve had a server running linux,
up and running since 1996.Β  I can remember when slackware was downloaded one
floppy at a time, and rawrite was used to make your floppy disks.Β  In my spare
time, I play with Content Management Systems like PostNuke and Zope.Β  And for
Christmas, I purchased a Nintendo GameCube for my children (3 and 5 years of
age.)

What’s in Drew’s bag:

*Β  Moleskine pocket notebook
*Β  Sony Clie TH55
*Β  Sony Ericsson T616 and HBH-60 headset
*Β  GameBoy Advance
*Β  10gb iPod (2nd generation)
*Β  HP 12c RPN Financial Calculator
*Β  Rotring Trio 600 Multipen
*Β  Revo Polarized 1130s
*Β  LogiTech Pocket Digital 130Β 

1 thought on “Read about Featured Gadgeteer – Drew Golden”




  1. Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
  2. Golden, Derek E.

    How do you rember all of the little details … wow .. any who amazing .. i rember Doom …. and i do rember your dule floppy …
    Derek

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