Farmer Gadget picks BlackBerries

For Neeraj Gulati, manning an army of gadgets is easier than trying to break into his son's computer. The managing director of Ciena India regrets not buying a home automation system and is hoping to win the gaming console battle on home ground, some day.

Have your gadgets ever come to your rescue?

A GPS device came to my rescue when I almost got lost in Los Angeles.

Which one of your gadgets was a complete waste of money?

A PC-based home theatre video archival and search system that never quite worked. After getting ripped off on this one, the gadget now rests in peace.

What is your costliest device to date?

That would be the huge loan we took out on a BMW X5 that came with a funky GPS device. This was back in the early days of navigation systems, when they were only available in very few models of automobiles.

If you have to survive a day without your favourite gadget, how would you?

It would be difficult to survive a day without my BlackBerry phones, probably impossible. I am addicted to the BlackBerry 8800 and Pearl.

If you could, whose computer would you hack?

I would love to hack into my son's computer. He is at a very advanced level of Club Penguin and I wouldn't mind getting a slice of that action.

Tell us about one gadget you haven't yet mastered.

I have to master the game Need for Speed on Xbox 360. I am tired of being roughed up by gizmo-geek junior at home.

What's next on your gadget list?

A Blu-ray player to make my home theatre experience complete.

If you could, what dream gadget would you build?

It would be a portable handheld device that can perform VPN applications beyond email, with a holographic imaging capability, a virtual keyboard that can be beamed on to any surface, an inbuilt hi-resolution scanner, and a battery that can last a week.

Tell us about a bad tech moment.

I proudly flashed our new touch screen Crestron panel-enabled automated conference room with dual projectors, lighting control and then struggled to get the image on to the screens, only to realise that the laptop's output was not quite redirected.