__ Sim-ply Irresistible __
When the illusion's gotta be really real, you've gotta go full bore. SimEx builds a line of electric simulators that'll leave your tongue hanging. Plus, the company will custom build and program a sim for your needs; their equipment was used in New York Skyride at the Empire State Building and Journey to Jupiter at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. And if you can't afford to buy, SimEx does rent out its simulators but come on, you know you have to own one.
Electric Simulator: US$8,000 to $16,000 per seat. SimEx Inc.: +1 (416) 597 1585.
__ Force-Feeding __
Need a little palpable reality in your virtual environments? Immersion Corp.'s Impulse Engine 2000 is a force-feedback joystick with two degrees of freedom that can simulate sensations such as liquids and springs. Imagine crashing a race car in a videogame and actually feeling the reaction of the car as it smashes into the wall. Other applications of the Impulse Engine include the simulation of medical procedures such as catheter insertion. If you need a little output to your hand's input, the Impulse Engine may be your answer.
Impulse Engine 2000: US$4,995. Immersion Corp.: +1 (408) 467 1900.
__ Blue Is/Not the Sky __
A thoughtful, somewhat brooding edifice, the ICG 355i is sure to handle your scanning conundrums with a calculated sangfroid. Its oversize A3 drum lets you scan negatives, linework, and transparencies in one batch. And it's almost idiot-proof: artificial intelligence automatically generates lookup tables to best reproduce the copy. The unit boasts an analysis resolution of up to 8,000 dpi, and if your horizon shot looks a bit toxic, you can use 355i's color-correction feature to paint the atomic sky a soothing cerulean. Nothing is true. Everything is permitted.
355i: US$83,000. ICG: +1 (908) 813 3101.
__ Surfin' the Wave __
Cirque Corp. has ported its GlidePoint trackpad technology to the keyboard. The WaveKeyboard has an ergonomic split-key design with a trackpad built into the wrist rest. It's compatible with DOS, Windows 3.1, and Windows 95. Along with your nifty new keyboard, Cirque throws in Bodysavers, stress-relief software that will remind you to take breaks and suggests simple exercises while you toil away in front of your screen. After all, a stress-free customer is a happy customer.
GlidePoint WaveKeyboard: US$99. Cirque Corp.: (800) 454 3375, +1 (801) 467 1100.
__ Dish on the Dish __
Every kid wishes for the Bionic Woman's superpower hearing. The SuperSonic Ear from Wild Planet Toys lets budding ornithologists listen to birds and other sounds outside normal hearing range. A satellite-dish amplifier transmits sounds through a pair of headphones and allows kids to listen without scaring away animals or tromping through natural environments. Also useful, but not necessarily recommended, for spying on older siblings and neighbors. Available this fall.
SuperSonic Ear: US$22 to $24. Wild Planet Toys: +1 (415) 247 6570, email explore @wildplanet.com.
__ Big BioBox __
Personal stereos have always been about bigger and better but inner peace? Samsung's MAX555 is a personal stereo that caters to the New Ager in all of us. The MAX's personal biorhythm equalization system, courtesy of the latest in digital technology, sets the sound to your cyclic mood swings. And when you need to escape, pop on the Background Natural Sounds system. Relax next to
a babbling mountain brook, or lose yourself in ocean waves or spring rains. This big box just might calm your savage inner beast.
MAX555: US $399. Samsung: (800) 767 4675 ext. 404, +1 (201) 229 4000.
__ Handle Your Data __
Faced with three hours of retyping paper documents that lost their digital equivalents? The DataPen from Storm Primax is a handheld personal text scanner that the company says can read text about 10 to 20 times faster than your average typist. DataPen uses real-time OCR software, so the words you scan show up, onscreen, in many popular programs and in any of 11 languages. Sweep it across the page as you would a highlighter, and convert hours of typing into hours under the sun away from your computer.
DataPen for Mac and PC: US$299. Storm Primax Inc.: (800) 338 3693, +1 (415) 691 6600.
__ Kiddie Kart __
Want to plan for your early retirement? Get the most computer-savvy person in your household set up right with the new Kin-der-Link computer table from Skools Inc. Made for kids age 4 and up, the table seats two and is equipped with a storage shelf underneath the desktop, a six-plug surge protector, and a wire management system. The height of the desktop is adjustable from 14 to 30 inches; the storage shelf from 7 to 22 inches. Soon you'll have them doing your taxes.
Kin-der-Link computer table: US$550. Skools Inc.: (800) 545 4474, +1 (212) 674 1150.
__ ABCD-Record __
The price of consumer CD recorders just dropped a little closer to our wallets Pioneer's PD-R05 is just shy of the US$2,000 mark. It employs a powerful three-beam differential push/ pull pickup for more stable, accurate recording and playback, along with one-touch synchro recording, automatic track-number writing, and a "Talk-Back" user interface. It's a mouthful, but if you can swallow it, you could be the first on the block to cut your own CDs.
PD-R05: US$1,950. Pioneer Electronics Inc.: (800) 746 6337, +1 (310) 952 3075.
__ Damaged Sonic __
Qubais Reed Ghazala of Sound Theatre builds the most unusual musical instruments you'll ever see. His Trigon Incantor is a circuit-bent synthetic human voice generator. By repositioning the steel balls on the pressure-sensitive stage, you can adjust the speech and tone patterns generated by the instrument. Circuit bending is Ghazala's term for creatively short-circuiting audio electronics to produce experimental musical instruments. Some of his other pieces have been built from modified Speak 'N' Spells
and Speak 'N' Maths. There's little out there like them.
Trigon Incantor: US$600. Sound Theatre: +1 (513) 731 7797.
__ Master Blaster __
Hey, couch potato! Try the TV Terminator, a pistol-shaped universal remote control with a trigger that fires off sounds of gunshots, machine guns, cheers, or boos at your television set. The remote works with most major brands of TVs, VCRs, and cable boxes. But be forewarned: it lacks a number pad and some of the other channel-surfing features you might expect in a remote. Then again, we all surf linearly anyway. Finally, you can throw in your two cents with Sally, Oprah, and Ricki.
TV Terminator: US$69.95. TVT Inc.: (800) 522 6888, +1 (604) 657 6030.
__ House That Glam Built __
The old-school, brutalistic disk holder is dead. Flying in the face of the nano-driven '90s, Stuart Karten Design has conjured the voluptuous superfluidity of the '80s with its Diskits Desktop Diskeepers. These foam storage boxes in the shapes of creatures and cityscapes will lend some serious big hair to your shiny-pated floppies. Each box holds
25 3.5-inch diskettes and comes assembly ready.
Diskits Desktop Diskeepers: $US13.95 to $15.95. Ring King Visibles: (800) 272 2366. Stuart Karten Design: +1 (310) 827 8722.
Thanks to Kristin Lowe and Tessa Rumsey.
