Consistancy (a rant perhaps?)

Let me speak for the Common Man here. Yeah I am talking to you big Shiny Thing Corporations. How about ya'll all find some middle ground and everyone makes money.

What am I talking about? What am I talking about? Compatiablity when making Shiny Thing purchases. Let me give examples from different aspects of gadget life.

For digital cameras there are seven different types of memory cards that are standard, thats not including the specialty cards that are sometimes needed. Do these ring a bell: Scan Disk, Scan Disk Mini, Reduced Sized Multimedia Card, TransFlash, Compact Flash, xD and then Memory Stick.

To take this digicam memory storage one step further, it puts a crimp in the computer industry. Becuase you guys can't figure out what is going to be the market share, they won't include a memory card reader on their pc towers. Wouldn't it be much more simple to have a memory card slot on your computer next to your DVD/CD drive, floppy drive or even your Zip Drive? Then the consumer doesn't need to buy picture bridge components or maintain another worthless USB plug that has become the new desk garbage of the 21st century. Don't even get me started on why USB plugs can't be standardized.

Another consumer misdirection is on the flashlight front. I went looking for a (literally) new Shiny Thing, a flashlight and as savy as I am in the genre, I can't figure out which torch is brighter because some companies use Lumens, some use Watts, some use accessable distance of viewing.

You can't go online to find out how many lumens are in a watt like kilometers in mile, oh no. Their not actually compatible units, except they measure lumination. One box convinced me that 1 watt = 25 lumens but then when I had two competing but 'comparabley bright' flashlights, each using a different type of battery, a cr123 and AAA respectively and there were huge differences in battery life. You can't have that! One company has all but admitted this and given up posting how bright their lights are and instead uses an obsure but internationally recognized method of posting viewable distance.

Bloggers! These things concern me! I want as I am sure you do, only the best product for the money. I may be an impulsive buyer but I do my damn research on what is the best rated, lightest in weight, most bombproof Shiny Thing I can buy.