Heres something for you all to think about..

What has been the best use of technology you have come across/used in the last 6 months?

for example.. for me i think it would have to be podcasts..

i listen to alot of internet radioshows and streamcasts.. previously were a bit of a mare to record.. but with the podcasts on itunes i think it really is a damn good use of technology

my new phone(nokia 91) plays mp3's etc very well and t'other day i bought a small FM transmitter that plugs straight into anything with a 3.5mm jack(which my new phone has ) so i now have a 4gb wireless mp3 player in my van

I hear what you're saying about podcasts - I especially like some of the software out there that removes the need for iTunes as an interface, and gets round the nastiness of trying to parse an xml file for IE6 html format (as it can't read/present the raw XML nicely unlike IE7 beta)

I also like the idea of some medical technology floating around at the moment - Oxygent. Touted by some as 'artificial blood" it's more an "oxygen therapuetic" - mimics the oxygen transport of blood (actually surpasses it) but doesn't have the drawbacks of traditional transfusions - it csan be stored at room temperature, it's allogenaic (so no types/cross-matching required), 2 year shelf life (blood is useless after something like a month iirc) and it doesn't have some of the more unpleasant risks of carrying a disease (such as Hep, HIV etc). Did i mention that on total cost it's also significantly cheaper per unit than blood?

Whatever your views on transfusion/giving blood, you can't say that in some applications (I'm thinking primarly in south africa where a lot of the blood stocks are contaminated or those who choose to refuse blood) a safe stop-gap like has immense value.

Course, there is also the research at the moment that's genetically modifying plants to produce human haemoglobin......that's right, plants that produce the key component of blood.........now that's freaky. Not sure that this one classes as a good use of technology though.....

My Mitac Mio A701

Whats that I hear you ask, well have a look at :

http://www.mio-tech.be/products/GPS_PDA_Phone/a701/a701.html

For those who don't want to its a Phone, 520Mhz PDA, Camera, MP3 player and GPS all rolled into one nice neat package.

Last 6 months? Nah, Last 3 years... TiVo !

Sat Nav every time

Its sat nav for me too - having come from a "A MAP IS GOOD ENOUGH!" - its a god send sometimes, even locally.

I never bother with the latest phone so nothing amazes me there.

Another vote for Sat Nav here.

Wonder what the widespread use of them has done to A-Z map sales though?

Another vote for Sat Nav here.

Wonder what the widespread use of them has done to A-Z map sales though?

Sat Nav for me, and with many having the ability to donwload camera sites how are the police going to replace the lost revenue from cameras when we are all running them???

Ipod for me.

The new apple line up of computers, more and more people have them now they can run windows. Plus they are so much more appealing to the eyes

I used to be a firm believer in maps, I used to get anywhere with a simple map and a good sense of direction.

SatNav is fantastic - so I vote for that.

Sat nav and ipod definitely. I love having all my collection on there.

In recent years, TFT monitors and common rail diesels!

The switch that lets you turn off the telly whenever crap like big brother comes on.

6 months, nothing really springs to mind.

Last few years: MP3 players and sat nav

Also the engine - where would we be without it?