What are gadgets and what are they for. Device what is it, the difference between a device and a gadget

08.03.2021

Graphic arts

We tirelessly surround ourselves with them, follow the news and hear about them from everywhere. It is now impossible to do without them, store shelves are teeming with lines of cutting-edge devices, and development companies are churning out and improving inventions almost every day.

But have you ever wondered what a gadget is?
The etymology of the word is disputed. A gadget is a small device-machine endowed with certain functions, often new ones.

The origins of the word gadget date back to the 19th century. The etymological Oxford Dictionary treats gadget (gadget) as a sailor's slang word for a small mechanical device or part that is not enough for the full operation of the ship (1886). Translated from the French "gâchette" means trigger. There is also a widespread version that the word appeared at a time when a miniature of the statue was made in the workshop of Gaget, Gauthier & Cie, where the famous Statue of Liberty was made, which was named after the manufacturing company (1886-1887). Some sources claim that the concept comes, again, from the French "gagée" (detail of a shooting mechanism, a small tool or accessory).

During a discussion on the Plymouth brand in Devon (1916), it was proposed to include the word gadget in the list of provincialisms. Then a naval officer who was present at the meeting added that he often heard this word from his colleagues and acquaintances. The word was used as a designation for all small details: mirrors, levers, badges, talismans, speedometers. In addition, this term was appropriate to call any old things. It is surprising that in our time, a gadget means something innovative.
By the second half of the twentieth century, the connotation of the term gadget was established as a designation of compactness and mobility. In the 1965 essay "The Great Gizmo", the term "Gizmo" was used interchangeably with gadget throughout the text. Architecture and design critic Rainer Banham defines the term as a distinctive class of American product—a small, self-contained, high-performance device at a reasonable size-to-cost ratio. The device requires minimal owner skills to use.

What is a gadget today?
This is a new, often expensive accessory that makes your life easier. This is a tool that allows you to easily use the resources and extend the functionality of another device. Thus, the gadget itself can be absolutely useless until it is connected to the main, more complex and autonomous device.

A gadget is a technological addition to any product.
If we talk about the term in the context of software, its analogue is the concept of a widget: an application that expands the functionality (of a tablet, smartphone, computer) or provides highly specialized information. Suppose daily weather forecast, personal horoscope, world news and politics.

Examples of gadgets are modern sports trackers, smart bracelets, audio and video headsets, Bluetooth, electronic devices that work exclusively in integration, for example, with a smartphone.
Many people confuse the concept of a gadget with a device. However, the device is a self-sufficient device that can work even better thanks to the gadget.

Every day we receive a colossal amount of information, which is sometimes difficult to understand, and the number of newfangled words is catching up with panic. But you shouldn't be so worried. We can only say “thank you” to the current reality for keeping us from getting bored, throwing up more and more topics for conversation, terms for study and gadgets for enjoyment.

And I (as well as other residents) can write my posts here and respond to your comments.

Before we start sharing information about useful things from the electronic world with you, discussing their strengths and weak sides, I would like to make a small lyrical digression about the word itself and the concept GADGET.

The word gadget has long entered our lexicon and is often used when it comes to products in the field of information technologies. But, unfortunately, many people do not know the exact meaning of this word.

Let's try to understand this in more detail.

Inside Steve Wozniak's backpack (clickable).

In fact, in English the word "gadget" has a very broad and abstract meaning and is translated into Russian as “little thing”, “adaptation”. If we analyze the exact meaning of the word gadget in Russian, it turns out that there is no unambiguous answer to this question.

The Wikipedia authors define a gadget as a specialized peripheral device with limited capabilities. This device is usually connected via standard connectors to more complex devices and is designed to expand their functionality. But in everyday life, gadgets have a wider meaning. Now they also include small digital equipment, for example, mobile phones, tablets, PDAs, etc. Moreover, this word is also used in software, which is nothing but a widget.

Summarizing the above, let us dwell on the general interpretation of this word as a kind of device that is an addition to the main apparatus. For example, a Flash card is a gadget for a telephone set, a car GPS navigator- a gadget for a car, etc.

Incidentally, the origin of the word gadget” also remains vague. The first appearance of the word in English popular literature was in 1886, when Robert Brown published a book called Spunyarn and Spindrift, in which the word "gadget" ( gadget) is used by sailors to refer to an object whose name they did not remember.

Americans tell everyone that the word comes from the name of the company Gaget, Gauthier & Cie, which participated in the creation of the Statue of Liberty, and, having made a small model of the statue, called it by that name.

The French are sure that the basis of this word was the French "gagee", which can be translated as "a small accessory." And even more plausible seems to be the version of the Oxford English Dictionary, referring the appearance of the word to the decade of 1850, and attributing the emergence of the word from the mechanism of the lock, in French. "gachette"(clamp, bracket) or fr. gagée (clip, fastener, collar)

And finally, the Scots know for sure that the word comes from their engineering jargon, where gadget is a form of measuring instrument.

Gadgets tend to be more fancy and smarter than conventional technology. In some circles, the difference between a gadget and a gizmo is that the gizmo has moving parts while the gadget does not. For example, a stylish digital clock is a gadget, while an analog clock is a gizmo. Creating gadgets, gizmos, blobjects is art, abstractionism, surrealism, impressionism, minimalism. You see it when innovations in the field of electronics are intertwined with the ideas of designers and incredible things are born (usually in a small circulation) that, in time, may well end up in a museum as representatives of the dawn of the era of accessible Hi-Tech technologies. Unlike a gadget, a gadget that has no practical purpose is called a novelty gadge, a form of measuring tool. The spring clip used to hold the vessel in the glass making process is also known as a gadget.

The gadget was named the first atomic bomb, so named by the scientists of the Manhattan Project, tested on the site of Trinity College.

But for example, what were gadgets in 1935:

In literature, gadgets are best known from spy movies, especially the James Bond series. Superheroes, especially Batman and Ironman, have a huge variety of gadgets. The cartoon character Inspector Gadget is famous, whose fabulous power comes from a set of gadgets. Also in the Disney cartoons Chip "n Dale Rescue Rangers, Gadget Hackwrench, one of the main characters has an internal ability to create tools and other equipment from garbage and junk.

Often found with gadgets devices(from English device device). This word means "a small device or device". In Russian, the word device came through the jargon of computer scientists. Strictly speaking, a device is some gadget for a computer, for example, a flash card. In modern speech, a device can act as a synonym for a gadget.

Computer lovers use gadgets for more spectacular modding (from the English modding< modifying модификация), т.е. индивидуального художественного оформления корпуса ПК.

And finally, let's mention widgets(from English widget - contraption). The word widget is an American version of gadget "and, meaning some object or device, the name of which is firmly forgotten. Perhaps this word comes from which is? how is it? + gadget. In modern Russian speech, the widget is used in connection with Internet technologies, where it means an additional tool on the site or on the desktop.The first widgets appeared in operating system Windows Vista. There they were located in one special panel. Now, in Windows-7 and 8, they can be placed anywhere on the desktop. So the word “gadget” is also used in software, where it is understood as a small application that provides Additional information, such as the weather forecast, news headlines, or exchange rates.

Let's start with the iPod, who else remembers about it?

It was one of the first devices from Apple, created according to a new concept filed by Steve Jobs. The concept involved positioning Macs as stations for connecting additional devices created by Apple.

To come up with a catchy name for the new device, Steve Jobs brought together a whole team of copywriters, among whom was the author of the iPod, Vinnie Chico (Vinnie Chieco).

They say that Jobs already had a slogan for an MP3 player: “1000 songs in your pocket”, so nothing limited the imagination of copywriters and did not tie it to the musical theme.

“As soon as I saw the white iPod, I immediately thought of the 2001 movie,” Chico told Wired in 2006. The fact is that the interaction of a computer and a music player reminded him of the interaction of a spaceship and an escape pod, which in this film was called the EVA pod. "It only remained to add the prefix 'i' and it was in the bag."

So, a part of this name "pod", literally meaning "detachable cargo compartment", and served as the basis for the "iPod" brand, which has become a household name in the circles of music lovers.

blackberry

These communicators, extremely popular in the USA and slightly less popular in Europe (many people in the CIS countries have not even heard of them), were created by the Canadian company Research in Motion (RIM). This company set as its goal the creation of a device that, without any problems, would help a busy person to communicate with their business partners, friends and relatives. One of the main points of the plan when developing such a device was to simplify access to e-mail.

The developers, having come up with the general concept of the device, could not find a suitable name. They did not want to use either the word form "e-mail" or its derivatives. I wanted to come up with a name that would be interesting and at the same time give a feeling of relaxation and comfort. Someone accidentally said that the buttons of the device are a bit like a blackberry, which in English is called "BlackBarry". To be honest, for me personally, the word "blackberry" immediately evokes an association with mighty thorny bushes, which are an impenetrable obstacle for all living things. But, obviously, Canadians have different associations, and therefore the word "BlackBerry" served as the name for a high-tech device.

Flash drive

The history of the USB flash drive began in Japan in 1984, when Toshiba invented the semiconductor reprogrammable flash memory. Specifically, the first flash drive was invented by the Japanese Fuji Masuoka. There were only 5 people in his company. But the name "flash" was invented by Fuji's colleague. Erasing information from the media reminded him of a flash, and this association formed the basis for the name of the new gadget.

Statistics

Well, in conclusion look at what interesting data is available at the moment. According to the data Fund "Public Opinion" (FOM):

80% of our fellow citizens, leaving the house, usually have at least something from portable consumer electronics with them. 8% take two or three different gadgets with them. Every tenth, however, does not consider it necessary to grab a single such item.

As FOM sociologists found out, the most popular electronic device in Russia is mobile phone. It is used by the vast majority of citizens - 91%. In certain groups of the population, the percentage of "mobile telephony" is even higher - 95-96% among people from 18 to 60 years old. Only the oldest are lagging behind, but even among pensioners, 77% use a mobile phone.

In any case, three-quarters of Russians (72%), according to them, no longer imagine their life without a mobile phone.

Every third or fourth average Russian (28%) and half of young people under 30 have already purchased and successfully mastered a laptop or netbook. 15% of young people do not part with them at all. Every tenth citizen of Russia (11%) has a smartphone (among the youth - every fourth), the same number of owners of music players in Russia. Tablet PC or 7% have an iPad. Every twentieth uses e-books(among young people - about one in ten). One in a hundred Russians has everything on this list. Only 6% have no such gadgets. True, here much depends on the age of the respondents: among older people, every fourth "electronic toys" does not like and does not have it at hand.

Our fellow citizens would not be themselves if they refused to philosophize. They cannot live without electronic devices. But at the same time, they think thoughtfully whether all this progress is for the good or vice versa, and what it ultimately brings to people.

According to 67% of Russians, electronic devices in general are "more useful". 17% believe that novelties are more harmful than useful. Another 16% found it difficult to answer.

Definitely, the following was written as a plus for gadgets:

44% appreciated the possibility of quick and affordable communication, communication. Citizens are especially pleased that you can chat on the phone right from the summer cottage and "without running to the post office", you can get through easily and quickly.

23% noted the convenience and comfort that useful gadgets provide - "for those who understand this," of course.

13% like what electronic devices give permanent access on the Internet to help you get information.

11% consider the compactness and small size of these devices to be a special plus. People who have suffered with "the world's largest Russian microcalculators" could not answer otherwise.

For 4%, gadgets have become the best sedative: people have stopped worrying about the "old and young", husbands and wives, relatives in the hospital, etc.

With the advent of gadgets, 3% began to save time and do more, quickly solve their problems.

1-2% each noted other advantages of electronic innovations: that they make life "more eventful", help pass the time in traffic jams, combine several devices and devices at once. And in general - "in our time it is impossible to live without them", they "expand the space", develop the intellect and even change the worldview of a person.

Only one Russian out of a hundred does not see any positive aspects in gadgets.

Respondents also noted the negative aspects of gadgets. They rested in this case on ecology, physiology and psychology.

35% of Russians believe that electronic devices can harm the health of users - ruin their eyesight, provoke headaches, etc. due to electromagnetic radiation and "waves". This is the main claim, all others were expressed much less frequently.

5% are afraid that gadgets "subjugate a person", cause addiction, "dragging" those who are too keen on such "toys".

4% said that children should be very carefully allowed near electronic devices in order to save their psyche, as well as vision and hearing. In addition, the Russians believe that children in general should move more, "play football, and not sit at the computer so that you won't tear it off!"

3% complained that gadgets really steal their free time.

2% noted that the purchase of such devices makes tangible holes in the family budget - "money is piling up - you will not have time to put it in the account."

1% each are disappointed that in some places the quality of communication is very low, batteries run out quickly, etc. And among the “philosophical” complaints, sociologists added to the list that gadgets, according to Russians, lead to the loss of “live communication” skills, interfere in public places (“minibuses are like call points”, “phones jingle in theaters and at concerts” ), carry too much uncontrolled negative information. Russians are also very worried about the fact that electronics is becoming a tool for all sorts of scammers or a carrier of unscrupulous intrusive advertising.

14% see no negative aspects in the widespread use of electronic devices.

The biggest fans of electronic gadgets are young and middle-aged people with higher education, high income, residents of megacities, Internet users. Opponents and especially distrustful are elderly and low-income Russians (there is little surprise here).

Sociologists saved the most philosophical question for last. They asked the opinion of the Russians about what electronic devices ultimately give people - freedom or more dependence?

65% of citizens were unanimous: with new gadgets, people have only become freer. Only 16% are convinced that electronic innovations "restrict the freedom" of their owners.

Well, at the end of our conversation, I would like to dream about the future. I will show you a video that took me several decades (more?) forward, although someone says that this is a corny glass advertisement :-(

The word "gadget" has firmly entered our modern lexicon. Sometimes we don’t even think about what it means, and we call any device with many functions this word. In this article, we will take a closer look at the most popular gadgets, what it is.

Word meanings

First, let's find out all the meanings of this word:

translated from French "gagée" - a small tool, accessory;
translated from the Scottish "gadge" is a form of instrument for measurements;
in the lexicon of sailors, translated from French "gâchette" - part of the shooting mechanism;
translated from English "gadget" - a device, a device.

We, perhaps, are closest to the last option. So, gadgets, what are they? These are non-standard technical devices, allowing you to perform several non-trivial functions at the same time.

What are the characteristics of gadgets?

Examples of the most popular gadgets

They are interesting, these gadgets (what it is, we considered earlier). They can easily fit in your pocket and can sometimes replace a full-fledged computer. Among the most popular:

computer term

In an operating system, gadgets are elements that perform specific functions. They can be seen in the OS Windows Vista(located in a special sidebar, which is by default located on the right side of the screen), Seven (you can set the location of the gadgets yourself). Similar elements can be found not only in the OS installed on PCs and laptops, but also on phones, smartphones, and communicators.

Another meaning

In childhood, many of us saw or heard about the cartoon "Inspector Gadget". This is the name of the main character - a resourceful detective who had the necessary devices for any occasion.

Results

Often there is a confusion of this term with another English word "device". If you look into the dictionary, then it means a device created for a specific purpose, that is, not having multifunctionality, but sharpened for certain actions. However, in practice, the same object is called both a "gadget" and a "device" at the same time. So, in fact, there is no difference in these words, and they can be considered synonyms. In this article, we examined what gadgets are, what they are, what characteristics they have.

Good day, dear readers of the Start Luck blog! I think that we all periodically come across words and expressions that are not entirely clear to us, but often used. And it seems that intuitively and from the context we guess about their meaning, but we cannot confidently give a definition. In modern life, some new terms come into use almost daily.

To keep up with the times, I propose to deal with one of these. I am one hundred percent sure that everyone reading this article has heard, and maybe even used the word "gadget" himself. But can you tell me what exactly it means? What is its origin? Having a hard time? Nothing! Now let's dot all i, so that in the future these questions will not be dead ends even for "dummies".

What does it mean?

So, gadget - what is it? There is no specific definition, as gadgets are very different. These are portable, pocket-sized devices that somehow simplify human life. They come as additions to some existing devices. It is quite possible to do without them (and some do), but if you look around you will see that you are surrounded by gadgets. Headphones were one of the first things that came to my mind. So, a phone, a computer, a player can work without them, but not vice versa!

Many mistakenly call smartphones, laptops and similar autonomous items of equipment gadgets. For them, too, there is a special generalizing word - "device". And you probably heard it. People often confuse these two concepts, because they are very similar. But we, as advanced users, remember their main difference: a device is an independent device, and a gadget is an extension to it.

It is worth saying a few words about another related concept - the widget. This is a gadget that resides in the software of smartphones and PCs. A widget is a small program: it can be the weather forecast on your phone or an alarm clock for Windows 7.

In general, gadgets have long entered our lives and are not going to stop. They surround every person more and more. And no wonder. Let's be honest, humans are pretty lazy creatures. Even if they do not refuse some tasks, they want to make them easier, speed up, reduce unnecessary actions and come up with various gizmos for this.

Where did it come from?

The origin of the term is a highly controversial issue. From the very first mention (it was at the end of the nineteenth century), “gadgets” were called everything. The first atomic bomb included! In general, it is generally accepted that those objects began to be called that, whose real names are too long, difficult to remember, or simply unknown.

Most likely, the English word "gadget" came from the French language. There are four versions here. First, one French company that took part in the design of the Statue of Liberty and made its miniature named it after itself - Gaget, Gauthier & Cie. To be honest, I see little connection here, but many will not agree with me. Well, their right!

The second version: there are sources claiming that the roots grow from the vocabulary of French sailors, or rather from the word gâchette, which means a trigger lever. Once again, it’s not clear to me, what does the gadget familiar to us have to do with it?

The fourth opinion is most common: “gadget” comes from the French gagée, which means “small accessory” in Russian. Here everything is absolutely clear, understandable and justified.

There are other options. For example, the Scots look for the origin of a gadget in engineering jargon. They have a measuring tool called a gadge. Who knows, maybe they are right!

Specific examples

I suggest you read articles on gadgets: a headset that reflects the mood or a prototype of an earpiece-translator. And I, driven by ordinary interest, decided to see what gadgets can be found on Aliexpress. As you know, everything is there!

Kitchen

The first interesting thing squeezer (I'll call it that) cherry and olive pits. If you're making a cherry pie, you don't need the bones in it, right? And cutting them yourself is long and inconvenient. As for olives and black olives, they are already sold without pits. But didn’t fatal mistakes happen to you - they mixed up the jar or simply didn’t look at what they took, but there was no time or opportunity to buy another one. In general, the subject is not the most useless.

Another kitchen gadget - corn tool . True, I do not know how to call it better, but I will explain its essence. You put the cob in there and twist it - the blades cut off the corn. Good alternative to canned food!

Household

Noticed a lot of these brushes . You pour the cleaning agent into a special compartment and, when necessary, press the button so that it gets on the brush itself.

I was also interested in washcloth ”, as the description says, for glasses. I don’t know how she will actually clean, but in theory she should help out bespectacled people. Small, always with you, the eyepieces got dirty - rubbed.

Computers

Frequently seen in the thread small lamps and fans that connect via a USB cable. At first I wanted to show you them, and then I came across a set! Judging by the comments, the product is really good: the light is bright, the fan blows strongly for its size.

On this I will probably stop. And yes, since we are talking about useful acquisitions, I recommend that you buy the course " Secrets of productive work at the computer ". What is it for? You will learn about the hidden abilities of your PC and be able to get more out of it than you thought.

Now that's all! I hope you liked this article and found it useful. If so, recommend the blog to your friends and subscribe to the public Start Luck Vkontakte . And I wish you success in all your endeavors and all the best!

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. In the circle where I communicate, the terms device and gadget are very often used, but at the same time, the speaker does not always realize that these concepts are somewhat different, and are not synonymous. Moreover, often what should be called a device is called a gadget and vice versa. In this small publication, I decided to dot the "i" so that no doubts arise.

The confusion is most likely due to the fact that these terms were borrowed from the English language and were used by many along with “wow” to emphasize their involvement in the world of technological progress and show their advancement in this matter. That's why I want to define what is a gadget and what is a device in their original understanding, as well as to determine the fine line of difference in these concepts.

What is a device?

The term "device" comes from the English word device and means some rather complex device, device or machine. Since we have recently been surrounded by such things (computers, laptops, smartphones, game consoles, etc.), it becomes clear why this term has become so widespread. It's easier to say the device than the full name of the device, which many do not even remember.

However, not every device falls under this definition. Is your wristwatch a device? And the alarm clock on the table? Probably not. They do not reach this high concept, because they lack manufacturability and fancyness (many functions). Here is a watch with a telephone function, with a radio and a built-in hard drive - this is a device.

It should also be more or less compact (well, at least like a computer or printer). A communications satellite is much more functional than anything we encounter, but somehow the language does not turn around to call it this word. But a modern mobile phone, music player, video recorder, camera, navigator, game console, pedometer, food processor and other technical gadgets containing at least one microcircuit are devices.

And most importantly, what, in my opinion, distinguishes device from the gadget - the first one should be a complete device, which needs only energy in the form of batteries or a connection to the network to work. Gadgets, by definition, are just an addition to something, but more on that below.

What is a gadget and how is it different from a device?

So, what is a gadget by definition? The history of this word comes from the English gadget, which means a device from the category of new products. Here's something hot, piping hot and right into the hands of users.

But gadget- this, unlike a device, is not a complete (independent and self-sufficient) device, but some technological addition to it (like for a tablet or laptop, or an external flash for a camera). Although many of us often consider a laptop as a gadget in the above example, and a modem made in the form of a USB flash drive as a device.

Other examples of gadgets are computer components that cannot work on their own, but serve as important parts of the main device. Those. gadgets cannot work independently and are designed to expand the functionality of the main device.

By the way, if we move from the world of hard to the world of software, then here we will also meet with the term gadget (widget), which will have a very similar interpretation - a small software application, which provides some small additional functionality or some rather highly specialized information (for example, a weather or clock widget on the desktop Windows desktop). In general, from the category of "a trifle, but nice."

So, sum up. The gadget has increased functionality in relation to the main device, but at the same time it has rather limited capabilities, because it cannot be used by itself, but serves only as an addition to the device. It is connected to the latter by some kind of connector or inserted entirely into a niche intended for it.

But we are so used to equating these two concepts in our everyday life that my publication is unlikely to change anything in the current balance of power, when device and gadget have merged into a single whole and are synonymous for 90 percent of Runet residents. It seems to me that nothing can change this, although for general development it still makes sense to know the true situation. IMHO.

Good luck to you! See you soon on the blog pages site