Dan ’s Data is a website that does everything wrong : it ’s ugly , irregularly update , and does n’t adhere to a strict exercise set of merchandising strategy and promiscuous - to - compilation proficient overviews . And because of that , it ’s one of techdom ’s jewel — a no - nonsense dissection of the insides and workings of our favourite gearing . Dan ’s Data eponymic founder took a shift from writing and reviewing to talk to us :
recount us a nimble run down on you , your weblog , and what it was that made you require to start your own ?
Well , Dan ’s Data is n’t a blog , it ’s a limited review site . I do n’t post news .
That aside – I ’m an Australian computer diarist ( we do much the same amount of cursing and drink in as real journalists , but have good pouch knives ) who kind of fell into this job , because I can both save and words gadgets tolerably well . I started Dan ’s Data in 1998 as a sideline to working on paper publications , because Web issue is better than paper for all the usual reason , and over the years it ’s grown into a good sustenance all by itself .
What do you think it is that makes your weblog internet site support out ?
The arresting , cut sharpness design .
No , wait – the mental object . I pen disturbingly in - deepness reviews of various oddball things , and take pretty motion picture of them too .
What was the first contraption that really caught your attention ?
Uh … does Lego count ?
I ’ve liked fiddling with gizmoes since I was a kid , so I ca n’t really immobilise down Patient Zero , as it were . I did n’t have my own computer until I was 14 years old , though ; before that , I was magnetise by any 8 - bit micro I could get my hired hand on , and that had to be what correct me on this class .
What are your favorite types of gadgets ?
Well , PCs , but they transcend gadgetitude .
I own a quite magnanimous numeral of little hand tool , part because no serious mathematical product reader should be without alligator forceps , a Panavise , 100 of screwdriver bit , dental picks , pin punches , a watch case knife , et cetera , but partly because I just enjoy their troupe .
For closely connected reasons , I like , but do n’t often review , multi - tool scoop knives . There ’s enough other poppycock on my to - review tidy sum that only particularly odd example make it onto my website , but Dan ’s Present Box ( into which I turn over when becharm little without a talent for someone ) contains a trove of multi - tool beyond imagining .
Electronic gismo do n’t turn my crank as much as you might expect . My mobile telephone set is an antique Nokia , the only PDA I own is a dusty Palm IIIx ( if you do n’t matter the busted Amstrad NC100 sitting around here somewhere ) , and my car has no navigation organisation , after - grocery store ECU or MP3 player . Heck , I do n’t even own a game console .
I do dig moderate flashlights , though , as regular readers will probably have detect .
What ’s the worst convenience you ’ve ever seen ?
I do n’t know that I could ascribe a definite “ speculative ” to anything in special , because of apple - and - oranges problems ; is a central processor tank that crushes the crisp worse than a portable TV file player that ca n’t actually play any known format ?
Lousy products do n’t usually make it onto my website . If something ’s obviously really sucky , I just do n’t waste time reviewing it at all , unless it ’ll be fun ( Empower ) . For example , I got a Soundbug for review recently – one of those stick - on distributed - mode - loudspeaker thingamajig that ’s mean to make any smooth flat surface into a verbaliser . Well , it go , but you ’d do advantageously to bribe the bad exercise set of stinky niggling charge plate computer speakers you could find and throw one of them off ; the healthy quality was just abysmal . Then it break , though that was belike because I was n’t the first reviewer to have play with it . So onto the not - deserving - reviewing pile it went .
What ’s the one thing you wish you could teach the universe ’s gadget God Almighty ?
If your marketing department is in the occupation of find out what people want that you could make for them , fine .
If they ’re in the business of tricking people into buying stuff they do n’t involve , then could you please , I do n’t know , crowd them down some steps , or something ?
Have you ever had a convenience change your life ?
Gadgets have pretty much been my grownup life , but I ca n’t really pin down one that changed it .
What ’s in your appliance bag ?
I , um , do n’t get out much ( quelle surprise ! ) , so I do n’t really have a convenience bag as such . Tossing my mighty ThinkPad 600X into a backpack probably does n’t make the cut .
I ’ve got a gadget _ pocket _ , though . My right pants pocket always hold in a Victorinox MiniChamp , an Arc Flashlight Arc - AAA , and a chrome ( now mostly brass , in reality … ) Fisher “ slug ” Space Pen .
Read – Dan ’s Data
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