Cool Tools

By Keith Shaw

Can a keyboard be full-size and portable? Yep

12/03/08

The scoop on the OnBoard Travel Keyboard and the Juice Pack for iPhone 3G.

Copy (or erase) lots of data to USB, fast

11/21/08

This rectangular device looks like an old-school cable set-top box or video game console, with 15 USB slots arranged in three rows.

BT-200 headset beats the noise (mostly)

11/19/08

I'd love to have the great noise cancellation features on a device that fits my ear better and is somewhat stylish. I'm not talking about fashion-model style, just something that won't make me look like I should be voguing or taking orders for a Billy Mays "as seen on TV" ad.

Lessons learned in this year's holiday guide

11/10/08

Read five things I learned this year compiling our annual "Cool Yule Tools" holiday gift guide, in which we present our favorite tech gift ideas for the holiday season.

Slacker: Great service, lousy device

10/29/08

Like another Internet radio service, Pandora, Slacker.com lets users create personalized radio "stations" that play music that the user wants to hear. Now, the Slacker G2 Personal Radio Player is a small, handheld device that aims to re-create the Slacker experience, but in an iPod-like small audio player.

Two more handy iPod/iPhone add-ons

10/23/08

Who says gadgets have to be expensive? Here are two simple and effective iPhone/audio accessories that will enhance your ownership of portable audio devices.

Two ways to track via GPS

10/16/08

Globalstar's handheld Spot Satellite Manager is a personal GPS tracker that can provide friends and family members with alerts and updates on the owner's location. The Zoombak Universal A-GPS Locator personal GPS locator can help users keep track of the location for a vehicle, pets or even a person (placed in a backpack, for example).

Accessing HD content from anywhere

10/08/08

Sling Media's Slingbox Pro-HD is a small appliance that connects to your TV and home network to let you stream TV content across the LAN or the Internet.

RealDVD: Get it while you can

09/30/08

RealNetworks' RealDVD software lets users save their DVDs onto their computer's hard drive.

Sonos, Logitech offer great network music options

09/23/08

Sonos debuts its Multi-Room Music System. Logitech's Squeezebox Boom Network Music System is an all-in-one system that can access lots of music over a home network.

Two travel gadgets that hit the spot

09/17/08

Kensington's iPhone and iPod rechargeable battery pack and Belkin's Mini Surge Protector with USB Charger are both extremely portable.

What was cool at DEMOfall 08?

09/10/08

It's time once again for people on-site here at DEMO and back at work to ask me, "What was cool at DEMOfall?" The show (produced by Network World's events team) took place last week in San Diego and featured 72 companies offering the latest in technology products.

Two "iGadgets" enhance music experience

09/03/08

Griffin Technology's iTrip Universal portable music player FM transmitter is easy to set up and use. Aerielle's i2i Stream is a pair of tiny wireless streaming devices that lets two people share one MP3 player.

Netflix box rocks, but where's the content?

08/27/08

With Roku's Netflix Player you can watch Netflix movies and TV shows through the TV instead of having to wait for DVDs in the mail.

Gadgets get Wi-Fi right (Part 2)

08/19/08

The Dash Express in-car GPS navigation device's Wi-Fi connection is easy to configure, and its Outlook and Web browser plug-in gives you two-way Internet connectivity.

Gadgets get Wi-Fi right (Part 1)

08/12/08

With the Eye-Fi Explore Wi-Fi-enabled SD card you can automatically upload photos from a digital camera and have the photos go into your PC via your wireless LAN.

New Das Keyboards let you type faster; Outi earphones are worn outside the ears

08/05/08

New Das Keyboards let you type faster; Outi earphones are worn outside the ears so you avoid the "What?" response when someone talks to you.

Three quick gadget hitters

07/30/08

Griffin Technology's PowerDock lets you simultaneously charge iPods and iPhones; Macally Peripherals' FlexTune combination iPod charging/speaker system lets you extend the speakers out horizontally from the base; and DXG USA's DXG-567V HD high-definition digital video camera lets you shoot quick videos in the palm of your hand without needing a tape camcorder.

Ease of use makes two devices shine

07/23/08

The Pinnacle Video Transfer handheld device allows quick and easy backup of different video sources. Sierra Wireless' easy-to-install Compass 597 tiny USB device offers wireless WAN access to Sprint's Mobile Broadband.

Review: iPhone 3G makes great greater

07/16/08

Apple's iPhone 3G includes a faster wide-area wireless network, Exchange support and built-in GPS.

Sprint's Instinct: It's iPhone-ish!

07/10/08

Sprint's Instinct smartphone has some features that make it stand out against the iPhone, but not enough to surpass it.

IdeaPad's cool idea - facial login

06/30/08

One of the latest ultra-portable notebooks from Lenovo, the IdeaPad aims to be more stylish and lightweight than your typical corporate notebook. Features include an Intel Core 2 Duo L7500 processor (1.6 GHz), an 11.1-inch display with an integrated Webcam, 2GB of memory, a 120GB hard drive and built-in 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi. All of this in a very light and compact 2.4-lb. package.

Mini mobile devices impress

06/24/08

Motion Computing's C5 tablet computer for healthcare has a built-in handle and a built-in camera. HTC's Shift ultraportable computer has built-in 802.11b/g/ wireless LAN connectivity, and let's you quickly access e-mail and get quick updates without booting up.

BlackArmor protects data; KR2 makes data mobile

06/18/08

It's hard to see a more secure way of protecting data on a portable storage device than with Seagate's Maxtor BlackArmor USB portable hard drive. And Kyocera Wireless' KR2 Mobile Router is great for groups of people who need quick access to a network in areas where either Wi-Fi doesn't exist or who want to share a wireless WAN connection.

Can you stop the iPhone now, IT?

06/11/08

One of my initial thoughts after hearing about the iPhone 3G was, "Hmmm, I wonder how the enterprise is going to keep this device out of the office." Last year, the checklist of reasons why IT shouldn’t support it was pretty long, but Apple appears to have seen the lists and solved lots of these items.

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