Kindling a romance

Ratish Nair, CEO of Ad Magnet, is an avid reader, but not of the usual kind. E-books are more his thing. Perhaps for comfortable reading, then, Nair says he’s keen to invent a personal climate control system, now that the summer threatens to be long.

Name one buy you regret having spent so much money on.
So far I have been quite lucky to have never wasted money on unnecessary gizmos. One can only hope it stays that way!

Who’s your one-stop gizmo guru?
At the risk of sounding clichéd, it’s my 7-year-old son. He seems to be a lot more tuned-in than I am.

What gadget have you been waiting to buy?
I like reading, and I think the perfect device to ensure I keep up with my reading is the Kindle, the platform for reading e-books by Amazon.

What gizmo is a great stress-buster?
My mobile phone, the HTC Touch Diamond, keeps me going.

Name a gizmo that you think is highly overrated.
That would be the “universal remote”, meant to work with all home entertainment devices. There is nothing “universal” about it.

Which gadget would be a better companion than an iPod?
Well, nothing very unusual there — it would have to be the iPhone.

Is there a gadget that you think should be banned?
I think all robotic and virtual pets. That includes Tamagotchis and Aibo, which are digital pets available in the market.

Describe a gizmo that you would like to invent.
There’s not one, but three gizmos I would love to invent. It would be great to have a personal climate control system, something you can wear, although not as bulky as a space suit. I would then be able to choose my own weather!

Second on my list is a wireless battery charger (one can always hope). I would also love to invent a mind reader which can type out whatever a person is thinking.

What gizmo has been of great help to you, apart from your cellphone or BlackBerry?
My IBM ThinkPad. It is robust and practically indestructible (well, almost).