Home Office: Nifty Gifts for Your Home or Office
Trackball fanatics, wireless headsets, squirrel par course.Steve Bass
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I won't deny that my yearly holiday gift guide is, flat out, a great newsletter to write. I spend two weeks trying out some really nifty products and then give you my impressions. But first I need to share some reader e-mail.
Mice: No! Trackballs: Si!
You folks don't hold back when you find I've missed the boat. In this case, it was the trackball. Over twenty of you politely (ha!) said I was crazy not to mention trackballs in my newsletter about mice.
The typical message started with "Bass, you don't know what you're talking about." David from Sausalito, California, said, "I've used the Logitech Trackman Marble for several years. Buttons are programmable and [it] cradles your hand." Leo Ferret from New Hampshire, told me: "FWIW, I've used most pointing devices on the market, and I feel M$ Trackball Explorer is THE BEST. Just Velcro it to your desk and enjoy a great design." For details about the Trackball Explorer, go to Microsoft's site.
But the badgering wasn't over: Other readers said trackballs are more precise, easier to handle, feel better in their hands, and don't need a surface to roll on. BTW, if you have an extra USB port, you can have the best of both worlds: Most PCs can simultaneously accommodate both a mouse and a trackball. Check the PCWorld.com Product Finder for a stack of trackballs.
Now stop complaining, okay?
On With the Gifts [Drum Roll, Please]
Speak With a Geek: The majority of you are computer savvy; if you can't troubleshoot a problem, you know where to look (or you write to me thinking I have the answer). My guess is many of you have relatives [Hi, Mom] who are often befuddled and need tech support. Here's an idea to save you a trip across town. Be a big spender and buy that relative a month of tech support from SpeakWithAGeek.com for $40. They'll get 24/7 support with calls answered within 5 minutes, the service claims. You can see if it's worth it with a five-day free trial.
Auravision Slim Series Illuminated Keyboard: Say you're doing a PowerPoint demo in a darkened conference room, and probably boring your audience. It's good that the lights are out so at least you can't see anyone sleeping. OTOH, if you can't see your notebook keys, you might accidentally reformat your hard drive or display something embarrassing, like your Victoria's Secret wallpaper. Auravision's illuminated keyboard ($80) protects you from this fate. One quibble, though: You're stuck with a PS/2 connector.
Plantronics CS50 Wireless Office Headset: Wireless headsets are getting lighter and can transmit longer distances. They're ideal for a home office person who wants to wander around the house. They're also quite expensive. But if you want a lightweight headset that looks similar to the kind of wireless headset you might use for a cell phone, the $279 Plantronics CS50 is for you. Its batteries last roughly 8 hours and the range is 300 feet--I could get only about 200 feet without breaking up some, however. But that's still not bad for sitting in the hot tub while talking to my editor; and I could easily answer and end calls from the headset. The headset recharges in its base unit, which connects to the handset connection of your phone.
Two Good Reads
It's good to get away from sitting in front of your monitor occasionally, especially if it's to read (like from a book, of all things). Here are two of my favorites:
Coolest Camera
Canon's EOS 10D: You probably know I'm enthralled by digital photography. The camera I'm using right now is Canon's EOS 10D, a 6-megapixel, professional-quality SLR. (I have another ten days on the loan; I may eventually buy one.) Its pictures are sharp; colors are bright, vivid, and lifelike--more so than I've ever achieved with print film. The EOS 10D has lots of features, such as fast autofocusing and a wealth of exposure controls. Canon offers a tremendous range of lenses, including many with image stabilization. The camera's not cheap (you knew there was a catch). It's roughly $1400 for the body alone; the lens I tried, the EF 24-70mm f/2.8, runs about $1350.
One for the Road
Zip-Linq: You know how bulky cabling gets when you're schlepping it around in your notebook's carrying case? I'm delighted to report that Cables Unlimited has an array of cables that fit snugly in a 4-inch, keychain-like device yet stretch to between 2.5 and 4 feet, depending on the cable. Choose from RJ11 cables for modems, IEEE 1394 Firewire, USB, Cat 5 RJ45 for networking, and others. Discount prices start at about $9.
Like Multimedia? Dive In...
ADS Tech Video Capture Gadgets: About a year ago I told you about USB Instant DVD, an external video capture device that lets you import from lots of sources--VCRs, digital camcorder, or analog video recorders--and then burn the results to disc.
The product's still available (it's now in version 2.0), but there's also a cheaper model. For roughly $100, the DVD Xpress also captures input and burns it to disc. The difference is the DVD Xpress can't export back to TV or tape, and won't accept a digital camera input. You can go to ADS Tech's site for more info, or just check out the product comparison table for a quick hit.
Our Product Finder has the lowest prices on the DVD Express and the Instant DVD 2.0.
IsoNode Antivibration Feet: If you're an audiophile, you probably already know about lifting speakers off the floor to get better sound. The same is true for computer speakers--especially the subwoofer. For $12.50, you can get a set of four self-adhering antivibration feet that will support up to 30 pounds (large ones are available for $20). They're also good for placing under DVD or CD players and computers.
Dig This: I love wildlife--except, of course, for squirrels. They need to be tormented whenever possible. Here's a 1.5MB video showing an obstacle course that should've driven the squirrel crazy. (To download the self-running video file, choose Save; to run it immediately, choose Open.)
Dig This, Too: Here's the same squirrel getting some revenge--and no, it's not a doctored video. (Use the instructions above for this self-running 1MB video file.)