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| | The CIA once built Bond-like gadgets to use in secret operations. The gadgets, including a mechanical dragonfly with a listening device and a rubber robot fish named "Charlie" whose mission remains secret, are displayed at CIA headquarters to mark the 40th anniversary of the Directorate of Science and Technology. Unfortunately, the exhibition is not open to the public.
Gadget (French “gadget” is an amusing toy, thing, technical novelty, an invention): a technical accessory (including digital technologies) which has high functionality, but limited possibilities (specialization). Portability is one of the main attributes of gadgets. A gadget is traditionally considered a pocket computer and a cellular telephone with additional functions like text input recognition, an organizer, text and graphic editor or tuck away keyboard. The following items are the most popular: pens with a set of electronic services (a ball pen as a phone, camera, etc.), radio receivers with additional functions, laptops, watches, bracelets, electronic books, night lamps with sound effects, emotions’ detector and universal players for presentations, etc. Recently, so-called educational consoles with touch screens (LeapFrog, etc.) are popular among the youth of developed countries (USA, Japan and EU). Today, it is possible to consider that a gadget is any digital device, which is small enough to put on your hand or to connect to a PDA or a smart phone. The appearance and functional potential of the gadgets are predicted in works of cyberpunk.
Gadgets tend to be more unusual and “clever” than usual technologies. In some circles, it is considered that the difference between gadgets and gizmos is that the gizmo has moving parts and such moving parts are not present in gadgets. For example, a stylish digital watch is a gadget and a similar one is a gizmo. The creation of gadgets and gizmos is an art, abstractionism, surrealism, impressionism and minimalism. You can see it, when innovations in the electronics sphere are weaved with ideas of designers and improbable things are born (usually in small circulation), which can appear in a museum as representatives of an epoch of accessible Hi-Tech technologies origin. Unlike gadgets, the accessory, which does not have a practical purpose, is called a novelty.
The etymology (the real meaning of word) of the word “gadget” is disputable. Some sources assert that it was invented by the “Gaget, Gauthier and Cie” company. This company has taken part in the casting of the Statue of Liberty, made its smaller version and named it by the company. Other sources speak about its origin from the seamen lexicon from the French “gâchette”, which is the name of the shooting mechanism part; from the French “gagée”, which is the small tool or an accessory; from the French “engager”: it means “to connect one thing with another one” and even from a Scottish word from the engineering slang “gadge” - a form of measuring tool. The spring clip, used for the holding of a vessel in the manufacture of glass is known as gadget too.
The first nuclear bomb was named “gadget” by the scientists of the Manhattan project.
In literature, gadgets are known better, thanks to espionage films and especially to James Bond movies. Super-heroes, especially Batman and Iron Man, possess a huge set of gadgets. The character from the cartoon films Inspector Gadget, a fantastic force of which originates from set of gadgets, is popular. Also, in the Disney's cartoon films Chip ' n Dale Rescue Rangers, Gadget Hackwrench, one of the main persons has the internal ability to create tools and other techniques from dust and old things.
In software, a gadget is a small plug-in, which gives additional information, for example, a weather forecast or an exchange rate. Typical examples for gadgets in software are Google Gadgets.
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