Mondoville Gadget Bag: Sean Carruthers living the life of a Lab Rat
Sean Carruthers has been navigating the world of technology for almost all of his 40 years, but only figured out how to make a living at it a decade ago. Starting out as Test Lab Editor at the Computer Paper and HUB: Digital Living. Carruthers jumped over to the world of television in 2004, acting as a researcher and content producer at G4TechTV Canada shows Call For Help and The Lab With Leo Laporte. Currently a producer at the technology help website butterscotch.com, and co-host of the weekly technology podcast Lab Rats, Carruthers has opened his gadget bag for your inspection. Read his music, video, photo and more picks below.
MUSIC
iPod Classic, the 160-gigabyte version, is with me everywhere I go — I need as much space as I can get so I don’t have to keep deleting and re-filling the thing to suit my moods.
Beats by Dr. Dre headphones are great for anything with a good solid beat or a thick low-end. When I need something with a bit more range I head over to my trusty set of Shure in-ear headphones, which still sound great after a few years, even if the cables are starting to get a bit ratty in places.
The Korg Kaossilator, which is a touchpad-based synth with basic looping capabilities, works when I’m in the mood for music-making. Lots of old-school fun.
PHOTO
Canon Rebel XTi teamed with a Sigma 120-400mm telephoto lens are my favourites for shooting birds in the field. The lens is crazy heavy, but it’s a relatively inexpensive one — with optical image stabilization built in — allowing me to get good shots even when I’m shooting free-hand.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 works when I don’t want to sling a massive piece of glass: a 10-megapixel model with great wide-angle capabilities, amazing macro, and fantastic manual control. It’s like an SLR crammed into a small point-and-shoot body.
VIDEO
Sony XDCAM EX1 is the one I’m most likely to use for an event: a card-based full HD camera, with a reasonably compact form factor. We first got a chance to see this in action on the set of The Lab, where it impressed us by providing a picture that was almost indistinguishable from a professional camera five times the price. Sold!
WORK
MacBook Pro, a pre-unibody model, is still going strong. Not only is it great for my day-to-day tasks like email, writing and research, but it doubles as my mobile Final Cut edit machine when we hit events like the Consumer Electronics Show. It’s also the machine I use to compose all of the music we use for Butterscotch productions. I’ve decorated the lid of my machine with a removable sticker from Toronto-based GelaSkins.
iPhone helps me keep in touch with the rest of the world while I’m on the go. I’m almost always using the email app, the Facebook app, or the Twiterriffic client. It’s also my main gaming device — I’m insanely addicted to Peggle. I’ve got the phone wrapped up in the Mophie Juice Pack Air, a combo hardcase/extended life battery pack that gives me about twice the battery power as iPhone on its own.
BlueAnt ST3 is a Bluetooth speakerphone that isn’t technically in the gadget bag — but I use it in the car all the time, as it allows you to answer incoming calls by saying “OK” or “answer” rather than forcing you to push a button. It also downloads your address book from your phone, and uses a synthesized voice to tell you who’s calling, so you don’t have to glance down at your phone’s display. A truly hands-free device, the speakerphone portion attaches to the metal visor clip with a strong magnet, which means you can easily switch it to the other side of the visor when the sun is strong — or detach it when you have to bring it indoors to recharge.
LEISURE
Amazon Kindle, freshly available in Canada, is my latest addition. Its e-ink display is small but clear, and won’t cause eyestrain like a backlit LCD screen would. The one disappointment so far is the relative lack of titles available in the Canadian version of the Kindle store. This will hopefully change now that the hardware is available here.
THE BAG ITSELF
Tom Bihn Super Ego, with optional Brain Cell notebook sleeve, was the solution after wearing out several other bags. This one has 27 litres of cargo space, and it even comes with a water-resistant top zipper, which means it won’t leak in the rain. Big enough to hold my lunch containers, too.
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