RonRyan85

I am beginning to think that the GREATEST electronic
device ever made available to the American public is

Apple's iPOD music player!

Unless Apple stops making them and Pulls the plug out
of ITUNES as SONY did to their old mini-Disc MP3
music player and SONICSTAGE, I will continue to like
iTunes and the sexy white device called iPOD.

Besides being portable and tiny and able to hold just
about all of your old music and new stuff, I enjoy the
way you can form PLAYLISTS of the best tracks on a CD
and not have to play the whole record to get to the 2 or
3 "Good" songs on a recording.

I see where the new generation iPODS have color screens,
show still pictures and now videos but I am content to
just listen to my miniature jukebox plugged into my 80 watt
stereo system or for more private listening using a good
pair of earphones.

shakran

well, while iPod is certianly cool, I think it pales somewhat in comparison to the pacemaker, which is also electronic

Now if you're talking ENTERTAINMENT electronics, I'll take a DTS home theater above an iPod any day of the week.

Craven Morehead

you're all wrong - two words - remote control

Willravel

I love my iPod. I think I'm wearing it out. Of course, I'm at the core of the Apple Macintosh consumer base. I've had a different Mac every 3-4 years since the 80s. I think the greatest electronic invention is air conditioning, followed closely by solar, hydro, and wind power. I'm getting solar shingles for my house next year.

match000

Of course its the integrated circuit transistor.

cyrnel

I was just going to leave it at the transistor.

Then, being largely a night person, I thought how weird life would be if we couldn't control our day. Light bulbs have to make the top five.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

Bill O'Rights

Pocket calculator. With my math skills, being pathetic at best, this little invention has dramaticaly aided my life, over the years.

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match000

Yeah they are actually two great inventions: the transistor and the integrated circuit! Which when combined of course has been the reason why everything electronics exists today..

Furry

Actually....

You're not going to get very far without an I/O switch...

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match000

Which is what the transistor is.

catback

your all wrong, the greatest invention ever available to the american public has only two letters: TV....It's creation has created markets (TV dinners) and changed lifestyles (couch potatoes), it single handedly has to the greatest (probably not for the good) invention EVER!

DEI37

Or, cars. Gotta have electricity in some capacity and form for vehicles to function.

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ibis

Solar, hydro, and wind power have been around for hundreds of years. Nothing electronic about those. Plus, in their current form, thier increadibly inneficent. If you're into then for enviormental reasons, I applaud you - I wish more people would be concerned about that. I do though, think the enviorment would be better off if you took your solar cell money and gave it to a decent lobbying organization.
Thank you. I was half expecting those to go unnoticed.

Along the same lines... I would put a vote for the generator/alternator (the devices that take mechanical energy and transform it into "electricty". With out these, the transistor and the integrated circuit would be useless.

[que "the sun is the greatest"...]

bobby

TV........by far!!! cars are mechanical but high on list og great unventions..

XOXOXOO

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NBP

The laser should be at least top ten. It has come so far so fast. Who'd have thought there would be at least one in every PC, car, and stereo? As well as cheap pointing devices?

Maybe RFID in the next ten years?

match000

Hehe. good point. Essentially, a vote for Lenz' Law if i'm not mistaken, then.

flat5

The Electric Chair.

Fob_Magi

I hate to be a nay-sayer but actually I don't think the alternator/generator and several other things mentioned are technically 'electronic inventions', they are more 'electric inventions'.

The word electronics, although it is used more and more to describe all electric devices, really infers the use of themionic or semiconductor devices to control the flow of electrons. So if it doesnt have a diode, transistor or vaccum tube in it, I don't know that it could be called electronic :P

oh and I vote for the PN junction, the foundation of all modern electronics!

If you want a bit higher level than that, I vote for the switching power supply, whos high effenciency seriosuly improves the battery life of portable electronics.

as far as consumer level devices I would have to say the PC and the internet, making porn so easily available!

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Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both.
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Such is the Rule of Honor.

denim

Ah. Or maybe the telephone. Or even the telegraph.

cyrnel

Electronic or electric?

Discovery or invention?

Going back, how about the potato? I recall discoveries pointing to the early Egyptians plating gold using current from tubers. They knew the potential of this discovery, too, which is why they stopped the research. Can you imagine trying to get everybody out of their comfy air conditioned huts with free HBO just to build those big stone things?

__________________
There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195

RonRyan85

I was thinking of the best,fun filled,cool electronic device guys!
Not the transister or lazer. Sure everything since the vacuum tube
were great inventions. How about the Ham radio rig ,color television,
or HD flat panel TV or the chest thomping 100 watt stereo home
theater system with a giant Klipsch speaker system? Sure they are all
great devices....but for slam bangin' fun the one that gets my vote
is my iPOD ! (IF I ever get a HD color set....I may change my vote.)

Brewmaniac

We would not be participating in this debate without the invention of the pc and many of the above mentioned components which are inside the box!

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RonRyan85

Time for me to tell the TRUTH! I suggested that the
greatest ELECTRONIC invention was the iPOD ,just to
get all of you posting something and creating some
feedback! WE all know that the GREATEST ELECTRONIC
INVENTION so far is the PERSONAL COMPUTER ! Sometimes
I think the APPLE computers with their operating
systems are the best...but I have enjoyed my latest
laptop HP computer with it's Microsoft XP operating
system. Anyway maybe the Color HD TV should be the
one selected for 2nd place.Anyone want to add anything?

Fob_Magi

high res webcams!

without which good amateur porn would be so much more rare :/

__________________
Whoever appeals to the law against his fellow man is either a fool or a coward.
Whoever cannot take care of himself without that law is both.
For a wounded man shall say to his assailant, "If I live I will kill you, if I die you are forgiven".
Such is the Rule of Honor.

Xazy

Vibrator, this is a friend at the computer so you know, not X. But basically with this, I do not need men.

portwineboy

Ladies and Germs, we have a winner.

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RonRyan85

Nope...the Computer is declared the winner!

Blasphemy.

Me and my ipod have formed as one. This is my second one i've gone through.

rlbond86

Bah. Vending machines >> computers.

leftyderek

While I think iPods are cool, I would actually go for telephones- it is just so useful at all times. It entertains you (whether when actually talking to someone or just, pretending to) and it may even save your lives one day!

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-Die Lust der Zerstörung ist gleichzeitig eine schaffende Lust.

-...and god said
Lx1,go!
and there was light...

cJoe

Craven Morehead is absolutlely correct. Find me one person who after using the remote control would be willing to go back to manual channel surfing. Just to take it abit further...having three four or even five remotes is not as satisfying as one remote that does it all.

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Amakudaru

yup... every serial killers favorite toy... universal remote ... on the other hand, personal comps have revolutionized everything (including cars & other electronics)... with a lot of practice, anyone can become an expert programmer.

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"The numbers on the headstone are not important, it is the hyphen that lies between."

pixelbend

The problem is that the greatest electronic gear of today could not have been here if not for the gear of yesteryear. iPods are great, but they would never have existed if not for the Sony Walkman or the transistor radio or for that matter, the Apple Macintosh.

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RonRyan85

Discussion is now closed.
*********************************
The winner is the COMPUTER.

Second place must be shared by 2 devices:
1.The Cell Phone and

2.Apple's iPOD music player.

sashime76

Semi-conductors/transtors - the basis for a computer. Take away iPOD for a day, a week or a month and the world can still function. Same goes to TVs, remote controls, and pretty much anything and everything but computers. How's any company going to run without the employees behind the computers? It's how the globe is connected, how TFPers are connected.

barenakedladies

large mouth billy bass....

....take me to the river...........

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gustaf00

I'd say that the Ipod was more a remarkable success in marketing than electronics marvel. It wasn't the first mp3 player, nor the first with playlists, a hard drive, or a small form factor...it just looked like something by Apple, and sold by magic dancing silhouettes.

insidious_machinae

Here's another vote for the integrated circuit. It is the reason I have the job I do.

Poppinjay

I agree. I have a Sony mp3 recorder/player. It's much smaller and holds more songs than a similarly priced iPod, plus it has an FM tuner on board that gets great reception, even in my third floor office.

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Lak

3 words only:
My
Crow
Processor

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ignorance really is bliss.