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| PC Today: Linux, Web Searches, Hardware Under $100 | |
| January 2001• Vol.9 Issue 1 Page(s) 16-18 in print issue | |
Affordable Gadgets & Accessories These Tools May Not Be Necessary, But They Make Computing More Fun |
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[GADGETS]
[RICH]
[GRAY]
In most cases, computer gadgets and accessories aren’t necessary to your every day computing routine. Usually, users buy these items to make annoying tasks easier or just because they are fun. Because gadgets and accessories could be considered superfluous, most people aren’t anxious to spend lots of money on them, so we’ve scouted out some cool gadgets that won’t leave you broke: All of them cost less than $100.  Powerless Products.
As odd as it may seem, everything computer related does not
necessarily have to come with a cable or a power cord. The following two
items are examples of products that, while powerless, are going to wind up
on many users’ “essential” list.Intrigo Lapstation. Intrigo offers a variety of work-anywhere lapstations, including an entry-level model for just $89. Notebook owners who are sick of trying to balance their computers on their knees will want to try out the Lapstation ($89; 805/494-1742; http://www.intrigo.com/). Weighing just 5.6 pounds, the Lapstation is sturdily constructed to stand up to the rigors of travel. It comes with expansion ports and dual side mesh pouches to keep your “office” materials at hand but out of the way. You even get your choice between midnight, sky, and mist colors. The Lapstation offers an adjustable width of 27.5 inches to 32.5 inches and an adjustable height 10 inches to 11.5 inches. The Lapstation’s work surface is 16 inches high x 25.3 inches wide, which should be big enough to hold most notebooks. Other models (priced at $139 and $189) offer additional features such as gel-filled wrist pads and pulverized aluminum in their construction. The Lapstation comes with a one- year warranty. |
Phone Fun.
Because most users still use telephone modems to connect their
computers to the Internet, it’s no surprise that the computer/telephone
link is a strong one. From devices that enable and improve Internet
telephony (the process of placing phone calls using a PC) to telephone
accessories that expand or improve your computer’s functionality, these
products all help you get the most out of your computer/phone
relationship.U.S. Robotics Internet Call Modem. When you’re ready to jump into the world of Internet telephony, U.S. Robotics has a modem for you. Their Internet Call Modem ($99.95; 847/262-7000; http://www.usrobotics.com/) gives you an Internet fax modem, Internet voice call capabilities, and online call management, all in one package. You can attach a telephone to this modem, and you can ring up another PC in the United States or Canada for free (using the included Net2Phone Internet Voice Call software).
The Internet Call Modem combines a host of specialized features, from advanced technology that finds and avoids the slowdown areas in your V.90 connection, to an incoming call feature that pops up a window when you’re online to let you know you have a call. (This feature requires caller ID and call waiting.) The Internet Call Modem also comes with the usual U.S. Robotics Connections CD, which is packed with a wide variety of software.
Yap Phone. Yap offers a variety of telephony products, most of which come in a little over our $100 mark. They do have a few products, such as the Yap Phone ($54.99; 888/581-0842; http://www.yapgear.com/), that come in well under $100, though, and they offer great alternatives to trying to carry on a conversation over the computer with a traditional microphone and speaker setup.
TheYap (for Your Alternative Phone), Phone was designed for those who wish to use a handset to place calls over the Internet. This device plugs into your USB (Universal Serial Bus) port and woks with Net2Phone software, which comes bundled with the phone. (Yap is actually a product of Net2Phone.) The phone weighs 180 grams, and according to the Yap Web site, works only with Windows 98 Second Edition. It offers various rates for sending calls (for example, from PC to phone in the United States, it costs 1 cent per minute; a call from PC to PC is free), and comes with a 2.7 meter cable, a $10 time card, Quick Start Guide, and more. Special features such as voice compression help to boost the quality of Internet phone calls.
Yap Headset. The Yap Headset ($44.95; 888/581-0842; http://www.yapgear.com/), also from the same company, offers a hands-free solution for placing Internet calls and comes bundled with many of the same products as the Yap Phone (such as Net2Phone and a $10 time card). This headset with microphone works with Windows 3.1, 95, 98, and NT 4.0. Like the Yap Phone, it offers free PC-to-PC calling, as well as a variety of other pricing plans depending on how you use it and where you’re calling.
Telephone Call-In-Control. The Telephone Call-In-Control ($63.95; you can purchase it online at places such as http://www.gizmocity.com/) is a cool little gadget that lets you call the phone number the Call-In-Control is connected to, such as your home phone number, and turn on and off lights, appliances, computers, and more. The Call-In-Control has a number of obvious applications, from turning on and off lights while you’re on vacation, to calling to turn on a home air conditioner before leaving the office for the day. For computers, you can call in to turn a machine on before exchanging information with it and then turn it off when you’re done.
The Call-In-Control is very easy to use. Once it’s set up, you just dial the appropriate number and wait until it picks up. (You can set it to pick up after anywhere from one to 10 rings, and it can be easily configured to get along with an answering machine.) Once it picks up, you turn on a device by pressing the star (*) key for three seconds, after which you’ll hear two high-pitched tones. To turn off a device, you do the same thing: call in, press the * key for three seconds, and wait to hear one high-pitched. The Telephone Call-In-Control is a great gadget that can be easily moved from device to device with very little installation.
Phonex Broadband Wireless Phone Jack. Do you have a room without phone jacks, and you’re not looking forward to paying a technician a bundle to put one in? Phonex Broadband produces a product called Wireless Phone Jack (801/566-0100; http://www.phonex.com/products_na.html) that will solve the problem without forcing you to rewire your house. The Wireless Phone Jack lets you use your electrical outlets as a phone jack. The Phonex package comes with a base unit that connects to your phone and any electrical outlet, an extension unit, and a 6-foot phone cord.
Phonex Broadband Wireless Modem Jack. The Wireless Modem Jack (801/566-0100; http://www.phonex.com/products_na.html) is a similar product from the same company. The Wireless Modem Jack is specially designed to support V.34 and V.90 modems. The modem jack also works well with set-top boxes. Both the Wireless Modem Jack and the Wireless Phone Jack are sold at various retail stores, such as RadioShack, so prices vary a bit, but you can expect to spend around $69 to $89 for the Wireless Phone Jack, and perhaps a little more ($99 or less) for the Wireless Modem Jack.
Glasses, Watches
& More. Gadgets, more than any other type of product, are
sometimes hard to categorize because they fill such a wide variety of
needs. Here are a few products that you may find useful, even if they
don’t fall into a particular category.Casio BZX20 PC Unite Watch. Dick Tracy, move over. Casio now produces watches that download information from the Web to keep you organized and entertained. While most of these watches are priced a bit over the $100 mark, the BZX20 PC Unite ($99; 888/932-2746; http://www.casio.com/) sneaks under the mark and makes our list, the only PIM (personal information manager) on a wrist to do so.
Quite simply, using the PC Unite is like strapping a Palm Pilot on your arm. With the PC Unite, you can store contact, schedule, and PIM data downloaded from the computer. You can store up to 8,100 text characters on the built-in text browser, and you can set up the watch’s alarm system to remind you of events. The watch is useful by itself, but Casio has made it even more useful by allowing it to synch with Cassiopeia and Microsoft’s Outlook on your PC using infrared transmissions. (The watch comes bundled with an infrared adapter and software for your PC.) You can also easily exchange information between two PC Unite watches with the Business Card Exchange feature.
The BZX20 PC Unite is able to transfer information at a rate of 115,200bps (bits per second), and it has more “typical” watch features such as a stopwatch and the ability to tell time in different cities around the world.
WinTV PCI. Watching TV over the Internet on a 56Kbps (kilobit per second) modem is pretty lame. Watching TV from your cable or TV antenna using a WinTV PCI board is very cool. The WinTV PCI ($49.95 to $99.95; 631/434-1600; http://www.hauppauge.com/) gives you your favorite program, sporting event, or newscast in a resizeable window that sits on your desktop. (You can resize the window from icon-sized to full screen.) The WinTV PCI offers a variety of features, such as a 125-channel cable tuner with automatic channel scan.
WinTV PCI comes with a number of software programs, including WinTV-SnapShot, which lets you capture high-resolution images in TIFF, BMP, GIF or JPEG file formats, CUSeeMe; VDOnet; Connectix Video Phone; and more. External audio/video inputs let you connect satellite receivers, VCRs, or video cameras to your computer, and you can easily capture video and still images from all these sources to your desktop.
Available for Win95 or later, WinTV actually comes in a number of configurations, many of which come in under $100. For example, you can choose from a $49.95 mono sound model, a $99.95 version with dbx stereo and an FM stereo radio, and more.
Keyspan Digital Media Remote. Have you ever wished you had remote control over such applications as PowerPoint and QuickTime and DVD, CD, and MP3 players? With the Keyspan Digital Media Remote ($49; 510/222-0131; http://www.keyspan.com/), you can easily control these applications from up to 35 feet away. The Digital Media Remote comes with an IR receiver that connects to the USB port of a Mac or Windows PC. You use the included 15-key remote to send the same signals you would if you were sitting at the regular keyboard. For example, if you usually press N to advance to the next slide in a presentation, you can use the remote to accomplish the same thing from farther away. The Digital Media Remote also comes with customization software that lets you customize the remote for use with almost any application you choose.
The Keyspan Digital Remote Control works with Win98, Windows 2000, and Windows Me or Mac OS 8.5.1 or later.
ELSA 3D REVELATOR Stereo Glasses. Utilizing the latest in stereo control technology, the 3D REVELATOR Glasses ($55 to $75; 408/961-4600; http://www.elsa.com/) from ELSA promise to add a whole new dimension to games or other 3-D applications. To enjoy these glasses, you have to be using an ELSA graphics card and 3D REVELATOR drivers. The pass-through adapter cable you need comes with the glasses. In addition, the REVELATOR Glasses only work with games that support Microsoft Direct X version 6.0 or higher (most recent games do). The REVELATOR Glasses come with a one-year warranty.
Wireless Mail Alert. This is the one product here that has absolutely no connection to your computer, but it was so cool we had to include it. With the Wireless Mail Alert ($79.95; 703/866-2000; http://www.designtechintl.com/), you can easily tell when the postal worker visits your mailbox. As soon as she opens the mailbox door, a mail alert sensor sends a signal to a receiver in your house. Once triggered, the receiver will chime every five minutes and a green light will continuously flash for two hours until you reset it. The Wireless Mail Alert has a range of up to 300 feet and comes with a waterproof mailbox sensor, mounting tape for the sensor, and a lithium battery.
CueCat Reader. We have seen the future, and it is about the size of a mouse and shaped like a cat, and it can quickly send you to the site of your favorite breakfast cereal. Digital Convergence’s CueCat Reader (free; 800/993-7751 [$9.95/minute]; http://www.cuecat.com/) connects to your keyboard port and lets you easily scan UPC and ISBN product codes to send your browser to a product’s Web site, get coupons and recipes, and more. The CueCat is backed by such partners as Forbes and RadioShack; you can get a free CueCat from places such as RadioShack or order one from the CueCat Web site and simply pay the $9.95 shipping and handling charge. (The benefit of ordering one this way is that you’ll get a free convergence cable, which lets you surf to Web sites mentioned on your TV.) CueCat works with Win9x, and a Mac version is in the works.
Privacy groups have raised concerns about the information that CueCat collects, and at the time of this writing there was still some question as to whether the company will adequately address these concerns. The problem in a nutshell is that Digital Convergence claims it will keep all information it collects private, but privacy groups question why it needs to collect this information in the first place. Even so, Digital Convergence hopes to have 50 million of its CueCat devices in consumers’ hands within the next couple of years, so consumers will have to deal with this issue at some point.
Make Computing Fun.
Sure they’re not always absolutely necessary, but these gadgets
and accessories all add an element of fun to your sometimes mundane
computing tasks. They may even fulfill one of your computing needs, and
for less than $100 you really can’t go wrong. 
by Rich Gray
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