Fetish
Where's the Printer?
Ever been on the road and without a printer? Take a look at Canon's NoteJet, a 25-MHz '486-based notebook PC that doubles as a 360-dpi Bubble Jet printer. No kidding. Pop up the keyboard and you'll find a ten-page paper tray (it even accepts transparencies, just in case you have a last-minute change to that presentation). The compact unit includes two PCMCIA slots (one of which can be used as a fax-modem), a regular 3 1/2-inch disk drive, and your choice of 85 to 180 Mbytes of storage. And get this: The whole thing weighs less than eight pounds! ($2,999 with 180 Mbytes storage.
Canon Computer Systems: +1 (714) 438 3075.)
How Do You Say "Totally Awesome" in Japanese?
Forget Berlitz - the totally wired crowd learns foreign languages by computer. By far the best example of a foreign language tutor on disk (actually, a bunch of disks) is Power Japanese from BayWare. This masterful multimedia Windows program is not only the best way to learn Japanese, it's also an excellent example of how powerful a personal computer can be in supplanting or improving on traditional teaching methods. The program features more than 2,000 digital recordings of native Japanese speakers and also teaches you how to write and recognize all the basic Japanese syllables. This very complete package even includes a parallel port sound adapter and a set of Sony headphones.
($389. BayWare: (800) 538 8867, +1 (415) 312 0980.)
The Wide World of Words
If it's in the English language, it's in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). The analog-bound wordsmith can purchase the OED 20-volume set for $2,750 (check Barnes & Noble), and find more than a dozen pages on the word "make" alone. We digital folks, however, can save a bundle of dough and a lot of wear and tear on our page-flipping fingers by getting the whole shebang on a CD ROM for $895. If you're a power user of the English language, this disc is a must have.
(Oxford University Press: (800) 334 4249, +1 (212) 679 7300.)
Pure Speed
For those who feel the need for speed, Digital Equipment offers the Alpha AXP workstations - the fastest desktop machines on the planet. Sure they don't look sexy, but with a 200-MHz Alpha processor, who cares? The DEC 3000 Model 500 X AXP (hey, great name), shown here, will set you back major kilobucks, but it's worth the binge. DEC also offers a low-end model based on the same Alpha chip technology, starting at around $5,000.
($69,995. Digital Equipment: +1 (508) 493-9857.)
Kiss Your Hiss Goodbye
The most amazing technical achievement in software so far this year is the Digidesign Intelligent Noise Reduction System, or DINR. DINR can remove hiss, hum, and other similar noises from existing audio material. Using Digidesign's Sound Designer II software, a compatible interface card, and your home computer, the program listens to a portion of the audio and actually learns the exact pattern of the hiss or hum to create a special signal processing algorithm for removing it. DINR can be used to clean up all those records, tapes, and movie soundtracks and bring them into the digital age.
(Sound Tools II interface card: $3,495. Plug-in module: $995. Digidesign: +1 (415) 688 0600.)
Small Is Beautiful
It's cool. It's small. It's the new Nikon Coolscan color slide scanner. Just pop a 35-mm slide into the little slot , and a beautiful color image pops up on your screen. Usually, when you think of color scanners, you visualize a big flatbed device or a low-quality hand-held model. The Nikon Coolscan is a total-ly new form factor, which places a high- resolution (up to 2,700 dpi), 35-mm slide scanner into a device small enough to be mounted into a half-height disk-drive bay in a standard desktop computer.
(LS-10 Internal Scanner: $2,195. LS-10E External Scanner: $2,495. Nikon: (800) 526 4566, +1 (516) 547 4355.)
The Apple of Your Eye and Ear
The new Power CD from Apple is the first Apple product to bridge the worlds of computers and consumer electronics. With a design that makes it look like a beefy hand-held CD player, the unit is easy to carry around for listening to your favorite audio CDs. Or, you can plug it into your TV set and play Kodak PhotoCDs. Or, you can plug it into your Macintosh and use it as a CD-ROM drive. This versatile virtuoso will be available later this year for less than $500.
(Apple Computer: +1 (408) 996 1010.)
Mint Your Own CD-ROMs
Almost five years ago, Tandy boldly predicted that it would introduce a consumer recordable CD, code-named Thor. That project never materialized, and Tandy officials wince when you mention it. But now the well-financed computer nerd can get his or her very own CD-ROM recorder. The RCD-202 from Pinnacle Micro can record 580 Mbytes of data in 63 minutes, and supports a number of different CD-ROM formats. All the cool nerds now use this instead of tape to back up their big hard disks.
($3,995. Pinnacle Micro: (800) 553 7070, +1 (714) 727 3300.)
The Final Fetish
For wired ones ready to pull their plugs comes the Fetish item of last resort - Dr. Jack Kevorkian's suicide machine. No official price has been set because this product is still in the test stage. Interested beta testers should write to Dr. Kevorkian directly, or turn their family physician onto the neighborhood hardware hacker. To get your own, you'll have to go through Kevorkian's lawyer. Try: Figer, Figer and Schwartz, 19390 W. Ten Mile Rd., Southfield, MI 48075. Don't forget to cancel your subscription.
Sounds as Good as It Looks
Rock Solid Sounds describes both the product name and audio quality of this ultra-high-tech family of innovative speakers. Produced by B & W Loudspeakers, a vendor of top-notch loudspeaker systems, the Rock Solid Monitors produce some of the best sound at the most reasonable price to come out of B & W. The Solid Monitor is a beautifully designed speaker system - both technically and aesthetically. The Solid Twin Bass Subwoofer ($350) reinforces the bass sound of the Solid Monitor system, although the Monitors provide plenty of bass on their own. Highlighting their aesthetic appeal, the Rock Solid speakers are available in white, black, two-tone gray, and black with purple.
($299 a pair. Rock Solid Sounds of America: +1 (508) 664 3406. B & W Loudspeakers: PO Box 1470, Buffalo, NY 14240.)
Digital Disguises Department
Fool your friends, deceive your boss, and pretend you're not home with the latest telephone gadget to hit the wires. The Voice Changer Telephone uses cheap DSP technology to change your voice from female to male (and vice versa), child to adult (and vice versa). Fourteen other variations are available at the press of a button. You can automatically disguise your voice for both incoming and outgoing calls. Good for pranks or for kids at home alone.
(Telephone: $89.95. Voice Changer Converter: $69.95. Reliable Home Office: (800) 424 6255, +1 (312) 666 1800.)
The Big View
Remember those twin-lens reflex cameras - the ones with the big viewfinders that you held at about waist level? Sharp has created the video-cam equivalent with its ViewCam; a combination video-camera and LCD monitor. Sharp replaced the camcorder's traditional viewfinder with a four-inch LCD monitor, then attached it with a swivel joint so you can get those hard-to-frame shots. The big viewfinder also serves as an instant playback monitor or viewer for pre-recorded 8-mm film.
($2,199. Sharp Electronics: +1 (201) 529 8200.)
