Scott Hanselman started this "meme" a few days ago, then Nic jumped in, so why not joining and tell you my 4 life changing gadgets?

They both agree on GPS, iPod and DVR being their life changing gadgets: I don't have a TV (nor a DVR), and only watch movies or a few TV series, and I use GPS only when going trekking or doing mountaineering, so I cannot say that a DVR and the GPS are among my life changing gadgets.

  1. Cellphone: a friend of mine in Italy wrote a post about why the cellphone changed his life (in Italian), and I totally agree with him: you can send an sms and the recipient will receive it immediately, you can call your friend anytime during the day, not only when they are (and you are) at home, and also made the life easier for teenagers: if they want to speak to the "loved one" they just dial the number, and he/she will answer: when I was a teenager I had to dial her "land-line" number, hoping she would answer the phone and not her father (or mother).
  2. Laptop and wi-fi: Now I'm in NZ, and I have the exact same programs, data, and settings I had when I was in Italy last year. It would have not been possible with a desktop PC. And I can read my emails, or chat with my friends or work on Subtext both from my desk, on the living room, in the garden, laying on the couch. That improved my life a lot.
  3. iPod Nano: I can listen to my music while telecommuting, or while running, or while on the plane. I can take my favorite songs when going trekking, or sleeping in alpine huts before (or after) an hard day of climbing. I can listen to my music on the earphones, then jump in the car, connect it to my car radio, arrive at home, plug it into my loudspeakers: all from the same playlist and from the same device. I know, I was doing almost the same things back in the '80s with a Walkman, but an iPod is 1/10th the size, 1/10th the weight, and contains at least 100 times the number of songs
  4. Vespa: Not a tech gadget, but I never owned a motorbike, and moving around Milano with a Vespa gave me back at least 2 hours of life a day: it takes me only 10 minutes instead of 40 minutes to go to work, I don't have to struggle to find a parking, I can go in the no-car areas in the center of the city. So, after work I can go shopping and go for the usual happy hour: something that I couldn't do with the car or with public transports.
    Even when it snows.

And what about you? Which are your 4 life-changing gadgets?

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