Mobile Media and More

Spar with Jackie Chan, cruise with confidence, and send love digitally with these newest gadgets.

Agam Shah, IDG News Service

Agam Shah is an editor with the IDG News Service, based in San Francisco.

Media is merging in this month's collection of digital gadgets. Martial arts legend and film familiar Jackie Chan is applying his black-belt ways to the video gaming industry by launching two games for SSD's Xavix Port interactive gaming console. And Imation's LifeMix is taking greeting cards digital even when they travel by snail mail.

Digital Greeting Cards

LifeMix from Imation combines two existing products: a greeting card and a blank recordable CD. The resulting package resembles a fancy CD holder, with a beautiful design on the cover and a disc inside onto which you can burn photos and videos.

An Imation spokesperson explained the concept like this: You can either spend $4 on a greeting card from a local store, or invest the same amount on a greeting card with recordable CD media that invites you to create personalized greetings with images, music, and videos.

A 700MB greeting card sounds promising indeed, but creating CDs is a skill still reserved to the technologically savvy.

Several designs for different occasions are available online from Imation. Mailing one of these digital greeting cards costs 72 cents in the U.S. LifeMix cards are also available at retailers such as Circuit City, Office Max, and Staples.

Shure's New Headset

At the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Shure displayed its E4c earphones, which are targeted at the discerning audiophile. The new model represents a modest upgrade over the E3c earphones, but it's a lot more expensive.

The music from an Apple IPod Mini sounded great on the E4c, with deep bass, but to the average ear it didn't sound any different than it does on an E3c. However, the newer model definitely looks sleeker, has better components, and is lighter than the E3c--weighing just under an ounce, a Shure representative says. At $299, the E3c isn't cheap. Shure expects to ship the earphones by June.

Welcome to Geekdom, Jackie

I know a martial artist with a fourth-degree black belt who usually smashes four cinder blocks to exhibit her strength. She's lucky the blocks can't strike back. The Jackie Chan Action Boxing video game is similar: Players can strut their strength by punching an opponent without having to dodge a return jab.

The game plays in SSD's Xavix Port interactive game console (which I reviewed last November). Users put on the bundled boxing gloves and punch a mean-looking opponent displayed on the TV. The boxing gloves communicate wirelessly with Xavix Port, and the motion reflects on the screen as a punch. People lined up at CES to give the game a shot. One man even tried kicking, but it didn't help him win.

Not as many people were trying out the Jackie Chan Action Mat, which comes with four step pads that communicate with the Xavix Port, so you can jog and exercise through various games. In a statement, action star Chan says the game is the "right product to combine fitness and technology in a fun and enjoyable way."

Both games are scheduled to start shipping around June, but SDD isn't revealing prices yet, according to a company representative.

Bluetooth GPS System

Using a Global Positioning System receiver and a PDA, Iogear's Bluetooth GPS with Navigation Software provides directions via maps, voice, and text. A small GPS receiver, which communicates with a satellite to track a vehicle's position, communicates with a PDA containing the navigation software to provide detailed driving directions or to show drivers the way to the nearest restaurant or bank.

Iogear's system draws on a number of parameters, including the shortest or quickest route. It can even estimate travel time based on the vehicle's speed. However, its biggest draw is its 25-hour battery life, making the unit good for long road trips, says Joseph Zhang, Bluetooth product manager for Iogear. However, you'd still need an in-car PDA charger so your handheld could keep up.

Lovingly dubbed "Anja" by a colleague who tested it, a female voice on the GPS receiver directed him from San Francisco to a Lake Tahoe ski resort in California without incident. It even directed him en route to a remote restaurant named "Wonderful Chinese Restaurant," which he wouldn't have found otherwise. The product's benefits overshadowed some hitches involved in getting off the highway and being unable to locate the nearest bank through the navigation software, he said.

Before hitting the road, it took him 40 minutes to load 300MB worth of map data from a CD to his Hewlett-Packard IPaq 4300 series PDA. The maps are big because they contain the smallest of roads, parks, restaurants, banks, and other data necessary for a trip, Zhang says. Map data for all 50 U.S. states totals around 2GB, he adds.

Iogear does not currently update the map data, but the company plans to do so in the future, Zhang says. The system provides maps for the U.S. only.

Overall, the $300 system will be a good purchase if Iogear delivers on its promise to offer updates like its competitor, TomTom, which offers CD map upgrades for certain systems it sells.

Inflatable Water Scooters

For nonswimmers, a new inflatable water scooter from Daka Designs is a good way to enjoy a sunny afternoon in the pool.

The Hong Kong-based company recently launched this product aimed at kids and homes with pools. The scooter is inflated with a pump, then a hole in its middle connects the engine to the steering handle. Once the scooter is in the water, the handle steers the underwater motor, which revs the craft left and right.

The $140 scooter is scheduled to ship this summer, says a Daka Designs spokesperson.