I'm a woman in a technical field, clinical lab science, which is traditionally female-dominated. While I'm always annoyed by how the few men in my department get promoted ahead of women, enough women are in managerial positions to make me feel confident that I have some kind of upward mobility here. It helps that my lab is almost entirely female, the only men we get are part-time student workers here for a summer or maybe a year.
My boyfriend, however, works in a male-dominated tech industry: video game development. I get bothered by the fact that no women work for his company and all the wives of his coworkers are essentially baby factories. I shudder to think of the casual misogyny going on in their office, and I doubt I'd be able to put up with that environment for more than a couple years.

also it adds "ninja!" to the search field. Fun!

I'm surprised yours broke so spectacularly. The Kindle has the same screen as my Sony Reader, which I somehow dented, causing a little gray blob towards the bottom of the screen. It doesn't affect anything, though, the screen still works and the blob hasn't gotten any bigger over time (this happened about 6 months ago). These screens do seem more resilient than LCD screens, and way more so than touch-sensitive LCD screens, but I guess they're not totally unbreakable.

We don't have a toaster, either, we just use the broiler when we want toast. I make my mcmuffin clones the old fashioned way. I toast the bread in the oven and poach my eggs in a pot on the stove.
Thinking about it, we have no toaster but four different coffee makers (drip, espresso, stove top espresso, and french press) and three grinders (manual burr grinder, automatic burr grinder, and automatic blade grinder). I guess it's obvious we would rather have coffee for breakfast than toast.

One huge benefit of buying Gatorade in powder form is that you get it made with sugar, not high-fructose corn syrup. It tastes better and doesn't screw up your pancreas. Also, I like my drinks a bit tart, so I use about half as much of the powder as recommended. Fewer calories, not as sweet.
I can buy giant tubs of powdered Gatorade at my local vitamin store for about $10. Much, much cheaper than buying a dozen gallons of the stuff pre-bottled.

No. No, no, no. Seriously, no. [head explodes]

I cannot, under any circumstances, bring myself to even consider drinking something called "bawls" that comes in a modified dildo.

I have several Acme bags from reusablebags.com that stuff into their own integrated little pouches that are quite small and fit comfortably in the back pocket of my jeans, not to mention my purse. The only downside is that they're shaped like regular plastic bags and are as annoying to carry as regular plastic bags. They hold about twice as much stuff, though. For longer walking trips to the store (like the 2 mile walk to Trader Joe's) I have two compact bags-in-pouches that fit on my shoulder. One is by Reisenthel (also at reusablebags.com), the other was a freebie from Method. I also have an ultra-compact Reisenthel that is so small and slim I can keep it in my purse at all times for those unexpected trips to the store.

@joejoejoe -
My uncle got my grandmother a prepaid VirginMobile phone, too. I went to lunch with her when she got it and gave her detailed instructions on how to work it, which she dutifully wrote down in her little notebook. She forgets that she wrote everything down, though, and has trouble using the phone. Especially when it says she has voice mail. That's too far removed from her everyday phone use to remember what it is and how it works. She also hates how tiny the phone is. I very much like this idea, with the large text and the large buttons. The emergency button is a good idea too (though I agree with those above that a Swiss cross or caduceus would have been better than a heart), since my grandfather has been falling down a lot lately.
I've seen a number of these types of phones announced over the last few years, but I've never seen any of them actually for sale anywhere.

My sister had a disc camera. I was about 8 years old, and wasn't allowed anything fancier than a 110. I remember being crazy jealous of her, I thought the disc camera was awesomely sleek and futuristic. Even then I was clearly a nerd.
@David Bruce Murray - my sister also moved on to a Minolta SLR, which was promptly stolen on a trip to France.

@David Carroll:
It's significant to point out a lack of Black tech bloggers for the same reasons it's significant to point out female tech bloggers, but is not significant to point out White or Asian tech bloggers: there aren't very many of them, suggesting that something is steering them away. Considering that there should be nothing about blogging itself to keep certain groups of people away, there must be some other reason, and that's worth contemplating.

I've always preferred "challenged" over disabled or retarded. I work with a number of independent mentally challenged adults and find that term to be both accurate and sensitive. That said, sometimes it doesn't convey the depth or gravity of a person's condition, and can seem kind of hyper-PC, especially when dealing with those with severe developmental problems.
Also: the wheelchair car concept seems great, but how safe is it? Is the chair really secured in the driver's spot? Is there a seatbelt or harness system?

I have a truly spill-proof Thermos-brand travel mug. It works by having a drink-through screw top that gives you access to your drink with a 1/4 turn. It's a bitch to open if you pour boiling water in, close tightly, then wait an hour to open it. Keeps stuff hot or cold for several hours, though. As long as you remember to screw it closed when you're not drinking it's genuinely 100% leak- and spill-proof. Of course, that didn't stop me from putting it *inside* my laptop bag without the lid fully closed. Dumped a lot of coffee directly into my computer. Didn't cause any damage to the computer but the bag's totally ruined.
http://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-Leak-Proof-Travel-Mug/dp/B000FDP13I/

Man, thanks for bumming me right the hell out. Damn.

Yeah, this does need an update to include all the cellular operations. Right now it's missing my all-time favorite mashup, Bell Atlantic-NYNEX Mobile. What a mouthful.

As someone touched upon, in developing countries steel cans are still widely used. This may have been designed with 3rd world steel cans in mind, not the aluminum can pictured. Also, the red/orange and biohazard symbols are not truly universal.
To those who question the usefulness in America, keep in mind this was meant for clinics in third world countries, not those in the US, where real plastic containers can be had cheaply. This will pack and ship much smaller than plastic containers, and save money for the aid organizations that would pay for them. It's not a perfect idea, but it's certainly not terrible.

This is a pretty bitchin' idea. I've seen the pot/pan sets with the single, removable handle before (and I think they're popular in professional kitchens) but never in such a small, basic set. While I wouldn't have been able to afford it when I was a poor college student, this would have been a perfect addition to my first apartment, where I used my mom's old pots and pans which were, frankly, kind of crappy. Also, a wok would have been awesome back then. Stir fry is a perfect cheap staple food.

I use a 0.6L Sigg aluminum (recyclable, non-leaching) water bottle. It works very well, and doesn't tend to hold flavors very strongly so I can fill it with Gatorade and not be tasting it in my water for 6 months. The Slate article mentions that the Sigg bottles are hard to clean. You can buy bottle brushes and cleaning tabs for them, but for most cleaning I just fill the bottle halfway with hot water, a drop of dish soap and shake like hell. For more thorough cleanings denture tabs work well (they're cheaper than the Sigg tabs, and work equally well on stainless travel mugs).
Oh, and maybe New York is lacking in public water fountains, but I used one in Chicago two nights ago and passed about 5 on my bike ride yesterday.