Fetish
Mouse Beautiful
Most mousepads are either depressingly bland or sickeningly cute. Since my desk is already loaded down with more ugly junk than I care to report, I've adopted a Gallery MousePad. With a natural, latex-sponge base and an antistatic Lexan surface decorated with a famous work of art, the Gallery MousePad works great and looks great, too. The 16 different styles available range from Vincent Van Gogh to Keith Haring. Gallery MousePad: US$18.95. Manticore Products Inc.: +1 (312) 862 2689, fax +1 (312) 862 2297, e-mail manticore8@aol.com.
Office in a Box
Why do I have to buy a separate copier, fax machine, and printer when all these systems ultimately perform the same task of putting ink to paper? Hewlett-Packard must have also wondered why, because its new OfficeJet personal printer-fax-copier is not only an inkjet printer and plain paper fax, but also a copier that reproduces at full or reduced sizes. It outputs pages up to 300-by-600 dpi resolution, at a rate of three pages per minute. And it can receive and hold up to 24 faxed pages in memory. HP OfficeJet: US$959. Hewlett-Packard: (800) 752 0900, +1 (208) 323 2551.
Ricochet Network
The Photonics transceiver system, based on infrared technology, allows you to access your LAN without a wire. You use your familiar communications software, but your network connection is made via an infrared signal, not a hardwired line. The Photonics transceiver's signal spreads throughout the office, unlike the narrow infrared beam of your TV remote control, so you don't need to point your computer directly at the infrared eye. Cooperative Starter Kit: US$749, additional access point base: $109. Collaborative PC: $449. Photonics Corp.: +1 (408) 955 7930 ext. 240, fax +1 (408) 955 7946.
Buying Online
As soon as I plugged in the P100 screen phone from Philips I was hooked. The phone database and financial- and custom-calling services are hot. The screen phone has an 8086 processor, expandable to 4 Mbytes of RAM, a built-in modem and a grayscale display. Oh, and did I mention the keyboard, card reader, PCMCIA slot, and printer port? As impressive as all this hardware is for a phone, it's the software and the services that make the screen phone necessary for the truly wired. P100: US$699. Philips Home Services: (800) 284 2428, +1 (617) 238 3400.
Couch Potato Hacking
Even people who can't figure out how to record Models Inc. on their VCRs will be able to figure out how to use the StarSight on-screen program guide. Connect this box to your TV and preview selected channels up to a week in advance, or channel surf in style with on-screen plot summaries. You can search for shows by title or subject, and once you've decided what to watch, use the one-touch recording feature to make sure you won't miss it. And if you want to wipe a channel off the face of the earth, just program the system to skip it from now on. Subscription: US$5 per month. Stand-alone unit: approximately $200. StarSight Telecast Inc.: (800) 643 7827, +1 (510) 657 9900.
Fast Burn
A CD-ROM holds lots of data - the problem is that it's always somebody else's data. Make your mark on the shiny platters with the world's first quadruple-speed CD-ROM recorder, from Yamaha. The Expert Series CDR 100 half-height drive has an adapter for Macs, PCs, and other workstations, and is compatible with all standard CD recording formats. You can premaster CD-ROMs and audio CDs or back up your data quickly. CD Expert Series CDR 100: US$5,000, CDE 100: US$5,500. Yamaha System Technology Division: (800) 543 7457, +1 (408) 437 3133, fax +1 (408) 437 8791.
World Builder
Forget those hokey PC systems with jerky motion and low-res graphics that only hint at the possibilities of virtual reality; this baby delivers on the promise. The PROVISION 100, based on an Intel workstation, is capable of rendering up to 300,000 polygons per second in stereo with full-color photo texturing. The VR software included provides an object-oriented programming interface. PROVISION 100 VPX: US$49,600. Division Inc.: (800) 877 8759, +1 (415) 364 6067.
Skip the Darkroom
This digital camera from Kodak is perfect for taking high-quality color photographs when you don't have time to deal with darkrooms or Federal Express. The DCS 420 is based on a Nikon N90 camera body. It provides the feel and lens-switching capabilities of a traditional film camera but uses 36-bit color and digital storage to capture images. The PCMCIA slot supports a variety of hard-disk and flash-memory cards. The DCS 420 even has a built-in microphone to record notes about a shoot. DCS 420: US$10,995. Eastman Kodak Co.: (800) 242 2424 , +1 (716) 724 6888.
Keys to a Better Back
Wrap your fingers around the curves of this keyboard to reduce the strain on your neck, back, and arms. The Microsoft Natural Keyboard boasts built-in, adjustable palm rests that straighten and support your wrists. This is made by the same people who brought us Windows, you ask? Well, yes, and the keyboard has two Windows-specific keys to provide fast access to active applications. Natural Keyboard: US$99. Microsoft Corporation: (800) 426 9400, +1 (206) 882 8080, fax +1 (206) 936 7329.
Adjust Your Attitude
I've never been able to jump out of bed refreshed and ready to seize the day. The jarring buzz of a typical alarm clock only makes it worse. But mornings became less miserable when I got Magnavox's AJ3930 clock radio, which wakes me with the CD of my choice. And there's no need to hunt across my cluttered night stand for the snooze button. I just wave my hand in front of the built-in motion detector to delay my day another nine minutes. AJ3930 CD Clock Radio: US$179.95. Philips Information Center: +1 (615) 475 7317.
Lots of Knots
Anybody who drives a vehicle beyond 125 mph is generally a cop, a crook, or rich enough to afford high-risk insurance. Either that or the driver is cruising behind the wheel of the 43 Scarab Superboat, the world's fastest offshore V-hulled vessel. Outfitted with three supercharged motors, the Scarab has a luxury cabin for serious power-lounging and an instrument panel that puts most aircraft to shame. Why spend US$600,000 on a Jaguar XJ220 and crawl on the highway when you can pick up a Scarab and go full throttle on the open sea? 43-foot Scarab Superboat: US$500,000. Wellcraft Marine: (800) 755 1099, +1 (813) 753 7811, fax +1 (813) 751 7808.
Watch This Disc
S-VHS quality video and CD quality audio together on the same compact disc? Yep - it's called Video CD, and the SC-VC10 from Technics is the first minisystem in the world to support the new standard. Video CD is based on MPEG-1 compression technology, which can can cram up to 74 minutes of digital audio and full-motion digital video on a single disc. Pretty impressive, though it means two discs are needed for most Hollywood movies. When you see this player in action, however, you won't mind taking a popcorn break to view the latest Video CD release. SC-VC10: US$999.95. Technics: +1 (201) 348 9090.
Edited by David Jacobs
