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Technology is all around us, we are forced to trust it at every turn. We trust it to keep track of how much cash we actually have in the bank, we trust it to count that cash and give it to us in the street. Technology is responsible for making sure our train gets us to work on time, and technology makes sure that your dinner does not burn in the oven whilst you are watching The Simpsons. It is unavoidable; we have to trust technology many times a day.

But we can take things too far, some technology is imprecise at best, most people realise this and adjust their behaviour, many do not with disastrous consequences. Let us consider some of the startling road traffic accidents that have been caused by a drive following their GPS unit too closely.

In the USA, a bus driver, carrying a girls softball team as passengers, blindly followed his GPS unit under a low bridge, far too low for his bus, and sheared off the roof. Ignoring the large yellow signs that were screaming LOW CLEARENCE! At him, the driver proceeded under the bridge, as he believed the GPS unit was set to truck/bus mode and trusted its judgement. A spokesman for the bus company was quoted as saying “We just thought it would be a safe route because, why else would they have a selection for a bus?” which just goes to prove that people are somewhat dumb sometimes.

In the UK, a female motorist was following directions to Carmarthen, she was following here GPS unit and came to a closed railway crossing that was not highlighted on the unit. She decided the GPS was right (mind boggling) and that the crossing was not real (even more mind boggling) and proceeded to life the first of the closed gates (idiot alert). She drove her car onto the tracks and climbed out and went to open the gate on the other side of the crossing. She was completely amazed when a train came along and totally trashed her car! I mean, how stupid can a person get?

Again in the UK, a driver was following his GPS unit through the village of Luckington (appropriate name) and was not paying attention to the actual conditions outside of the vehicle. His GPS unit directed him onto a bridge which crosses the River Avon.  Unfortunately, the bridge had been closed for repairs for over a week, the car drove straight off the incomplete bridge and into the river. When local residents were asked to comment on the accident they replied that it was nothing uncommon and that they had been pulling an average of two cars a day out of the river for the past week! One resident told that when questioned, the drivers often replied with something along the lines of “My sat-nav told me it was this way”.

GPS accidents are now becoming a common occurrence, frequently lethal and easily avoided by following proper operating instructions.

ASUS unveiled three new EEE PC models at Comdex in early June. For the purpose of this post, I will be taking a look at the new 901 model. Is this the gadget of the year? In my book, yes it certainly looks like it could be.

I have owned an EEE PC 701 since just after they were launched, and at first, I thought it would be an incredibly useful tool to me, it was the first truly portable device that did everything I needed in a single, small and robust package. It was light, shock proof and very portable.

In reality things didn’t work out as I expected, there were three problems with the machine, that although they could be overcome, were enough when combined to stop me using the device as I had intended with ease. Firstly, the screen is just a little too small, the 7” 800×480 display is fine for checking email and a little occasional browsing, but working on it for any more than a few minutes was just awkward. Secondly, the battery life is a joke; ASUS implied that users would get around 3.5 hours from a single battery charge, in reality I am lucky to get 2.5 hours. Lastly, the storage space is just too restrictive, the 4GB SSD drive fills up quickly, which stops me installing an entire application suite.

So when ASUS revealed the 901, I was fairly pleased to read the specs, it seemed to me that they had addressed every issue I have with my old 901 model. The new 8.9” screen has a native resolution of 1024 x 600, definitely large enough for me to use for an hour or two at a time. Battery life has been greatly extended by incorporating the new Intel Atom CPU into the design. This tiny processor draws a very small amount of power and extends the battery live to around 8 hours on the 901. The storage problem has been banished by increasing the size of the SSD to 20GB, this means I can install every application that I currently run on my desktop PC and still leave enough space to carry a cut down version of my MP3 collection. Asus have also included an internal Bluetooth adapter, which is something else that was missing from the older models.

I will definitely be picking one of these sub-notebooks up as soon as they go on sale. My old 701 model has shown me how useful it can be to have a fully functioning PC tucked away in my bag, but it has also shown me how frustrating it can be to have to use something that has some basic design flaws.

The new ASUS EEE PC 901 is definitely top of my lists of best gadgets released in 2008. I hope that it will become a useful and productive tool in my social and working life.

Now and then, I come across a gadget that quite literally astounds me. This can be due to technical innovation, blatant stupidity or a whole bunch of other reasons in-between. However, this is the first gadget I have ever found that would definitely take my breath away if I used it. Actually, it would take far more than my breath away; it would also take a part of me I am very attached too!

I am speaking about the SmartKlamp, this device is… Wait for it… a disposable, single shot, self-circumcision device! Seriously, I cannot believe anybody would trust a piece of mass produced plastic to undertake this delicate and potentially eye watering operation on their behalf. I know darn well I would not.

The SmartKlamp is sold in several sizes and comes in a sterile package. It works by cutting off the blood supply to the foreskin and is left in place for a few days until the aforementioned piece of anatomy drops off! One can only imagine how this works; surely, if the blood flow has been stopped then it will start to rot before dropping off? The mind boggles trying to imagine how this entire process would progress.

The manufacturers recommend that a local anesthetic is applied before using the device, I do hope this is printed clearly in the instructions, you know how dumb some people can be. One particular fact that had me laughing was the statement from the manufacturer that tells us that although the SmartKlamp is currently only available in sizes to fit babies up to pre-pubescent boys, there are current tests being carried out upon an adult size model in Turkey. What sort of person signs up as a guinea pig to test a device like this? Would you?

Although the device is designed to be used by a doctor, it is stated that an individual under proper supervision can carry out the procedure upon themselves, and in fact, in the Far East where the product was initially developed, this is the major form of use. The local population has discovered that they can save on the cost of a doctor by combining the SmartKlamp with a sharp pair of scissors!

This is a prime example of a gadget that was developed for the benefit of the medical profession and has been adopted and adapted by the general population. The real problem here lays in the fact that although the SmartKlamp is designed to greatly simplify the circumcision process, it was never intended as an alternative to allowing a trained professional to undertake the operation. It is highly unlikely that the people who are using this as a cheap form of circumcision are trained to deal with any complications that crop up; certainly, they are unlikely to understand how to prepare a sterile environment to make sure the risk of infection is minimized.

Personally, I think anyone who decides to use this gadget outside of a medical facility is taking their life, or at least an integral part of it, in their own hands.