The OneMinute Geek:

Tech Toys

Problem:

The universe of electronic gadgets seems to expand daily. Beyond the awesome home entertainment systems and great sound from ever-better speakers, you can delve into an almost limitless variety of gadgetry. How about a gaming machine for those who don’t want to watch a movie? Or maybe a mobile music unit to take along on your jogging route? And, of course, a digital camera to record your running form. There’s even an ultra small, secure notebook computer to help you keep everything together. Do you need any of these? If so, which are worth buying?

Solution:

You don’t have to be a geek to reap the benefits of the growing market for geek toys. For the first time ever, anyone, skilled or unskilled computer users, can buy more computing horsepower than they could ever really need. And it’s, for the most part, quite inexpensive. Here's a small sample of the current wealth of electronic products available.

Sony Puppy FIU Fingerprint Scanner: $150

http://bssc.sel.sony.com/Professional/puppy/products.html

This is ideal for those of you who can’t remember passwords. The Sony Puppy is a tiny fingerprint scanner that attaches to your PC. Whenever you need to login to your computer, an email account, or a web site, you just place your finger on the scanner and it’s, “Open sesame.” Awesome! Now, if you could just get a scanner to work on the front door…

Creative Labs Nomad MuVo NX MP3 Player $120

http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=3
&subcategory=20&product=4884

If you want music while you bike, jog, walk or whatever, you need this little player. It’s so small you won’t even notice it. And, yes, it does come with an arm strap. The 128MB version will hold 2 hrs of MP3 tunes. No special software is required for installation. It easily connects to your PC through your USB port.

Linksys Wireless-B Internet Video Camera: $229

http://www.linksys.com/splash/wvc11b_splash.asp

This camera allows you to set up a wireless video monitoring system and see what the camera sees live from wherever you are, from anywhere in the world. This means you can spend holidays in Barbados and still keep an eye on the home (or office.) You can set up the camera to send an email any time anyone or anything moves in the camera’s field of view. Useful for seeing what Fido’s up to when you aren’t home. Great for parents with latch-key kids. Ideal for transient homeowners.

DigtialWay MPIOHS100 Keychain Hard Drive: $199

http://ptech.wsj.com/archive/print-solution-20031112.html

This device looks like a Zippo lighter but is small enough to attach to a key chain or put in your shirt pocket. It needs no power and no software. Just plug it into your USB port and transfer files back and forth as if it were another drive. Compatible with both Mac and PCs, this great product packs 1.5GB of data. (That’s 1000 photos or several hundred MP3 songs.) So if you’re ever in need of transporting a lot of data but don’t want to lug it around on a laptop, you will love DigitalWay’s new key chain drive.

Sony Fontopia Headphone MDR-EX51LP: $39

http://www.sonystyle.com (go to portable audio, then headphones)

The Fontopia headphones actually fit into the ear canal. The sound is awesome, like having an orchestra in your head. There is no sound leakage, so you don’t get interference. These headphones are a winner for anyone interested in mobile audio.

James Kerr is President/CEO of SuperGeeks, a Hawaii-based computer service and repair company (www.supergeeks.net). Please feel free to send your questions, comments and suggestions to Mr. Kerr. He can be reached at kerr@supergeeks.net and 942-0773.