Seeking the All-in-One Solution
An all-in-one gadget is a dangerous thing to have, isn’t it? If just one part of the gadget fails to work, does the entire gadget fail? Yet, carrying two, three, or even more gadgets that all do one indiividual thing perfectly seems like such a hassle. One of the reasons I don’t have a top digital camera is because I don’t think I’d carry it around or give it any use. I bought a used digital camera, and I don’t carry it around, though it’s one of the smallest cameras on the market, even at 4 years old. So it may come as a surprise that I carry one of the top mobile phones on the market and a 40 gig iPod (from before the video and color iPods came out). The gadget I want is a top notch cell phone, digital camera, television, DVR, pocket PC, and more. Does it exist? I believe so, I just don’t know how to find it, or if I did, if it would be even remotely affordable.
What is the point I’m getting at here? At the very least, I’m surprised that there isn’t more cooperation, and that there aren’t more mergers and acquisitions.
And this whole Web 2.0 “thing” is generating some very interesting web services. But where one does something perfectly for me, it falls short in another way. I hope that 2006 will bring some people, maybe entire businesses, to swallow their pride and consolidate their work into another’s web service. Oh, and if you can make something that works with a service I already use and doesn’t require a new signup/login process, that’s even better!
Examples:
I really like MeetWithApproval.com. It makes it simple to invite people to a meeting at a convenient time. But it’s missing the ability to suggest locations to meet, like MeetUp.com.
Sleek online calendarHipCal offers all of the calendar functions I need. But I can’t import/export or show my events with WordPress.
I have been using a customized start page with Netvibes, but when I add an RSS feed or bookmark, it doesn’t get added to Firefox.
And so much more…
Am I completely off-base to be complaining and wanting more out of Web 2.0 and my personal gadgets?
