repurposing your gadgets

One of the things I'm looking forward to with the iPhone is a real contender in the "one tools does most" category. I've tried a lot of doodads, most Palm-based, to get a full solution in portable form. I have a 3Com branded Palm that still works, loved Handspring with their funky little port, and still have a WristPDA I should figure out how to hack...

Anyway, I remember my first watch, it had a kooky little back-and-forth stopwatch that blipped much like KITT's "eye" on the front of the car. I created about a dozen "games" for the watch as a result. Now I'm toying with my new Casio, and I've discovered some handy uses.

There's a calendar, a document scanner, a voice recorder (no image required), and web scanner. That last little trick comes from setting the cam to "Best Shot" mode for recording Text. It disables the flash, cranks up the fine res, and turns on macro. I used it to take some pics of my Mac screen before a trip to NYC. I did a few basic Google searches, found some maps, etc. and voila-- a handy little series of web pages in my pocket (no wireless needed).

I'm doing a similar thing with the cam in my phone, grabbing URL's off posters because children prevent me from using pen and paper. Of course, the phone has a voice memo, and video playback, and audio playback, AND a web browser, IM, etc. (and yet it's primitive by gadget standards).

Now to turn the Mac hocky puck mouse into a lariat...