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Serial Driller
When you're pretzeled under the kitchen sink trying to install a new paper-towel holder, the last thing you want to do is miss your mark and crack through the cabinet finish. Black & Decker's new cordless drill has a built-in spotlight, so you can see where you're screwing up; a switch to the left of the head activates a white LED located below the bit. Touch the battery indicator at the base and a three-step light lets you know how much longer you can continue your Bob Vila fantasy.
VPD850K: $39.99. Black & Decker: (800) 544 6986, www.blackanddecker.com.
Dashboard Downloader
Long road trips demand large music libraries, but swapping CDs with one eye on the road can be dangerous. PhatNoise's PhatBox CAS replaces your four-wheeler's disc changer with a Linux-powered system that can play up to 500 hours of tunes off a removable, 6-gig memory brick. Using a USB docking system, download digital audio from your computer onto the 8-track-sized cartridge. Plug the cart into the server - hidden in either the glove compartment or trunk, or under a seat - and your stereo will recognize the PhatBox as it would an external CD changer. The unit works with most of the leading car-audio systems, including Kenwood, Sony, and Clarion.
PhatBox CAS: $650. PhatNoise: +1 (310) 785 0397, www.phatnoise.com.
Eyes Wide Open
Sony's all-in-one TechnoLOOK digital video microscope lets you scrutinize your subjects without the squinting, thanks to a built-in 7-inch LCD. The 4.1-megapixel CCD lab-cam swings 45 degrees vertically and horizontally, and magnifies images up to 100 times. Connect this 13-pounder to your PC via standard video cables, then transfer stored images onto your computer or upload them back to the 'scope for viewing. Side controls adjust the zoom, focus, brightness, and camera angle.
Sony TechnoLOOK Video Microscope TW-TL10S: $6,600. Available from Caltex: +1 (949) 788 0101, www.sony.com/technolook.
Clear Difference
As more and more sporting events are broadcast with digital signals, you'll want super-definition to capture and analyze the highlights. Mitsubishi's HS-HD2000U is the only VCR now out to use the D-VHS videotape format, which ensures that the clear picture you see on your HDTV isn't degraded when it's taped. The player connects to your telly via FireWire, recording and returning digital signals at 28.2 Mbps. And because D-VHS tapes are the same physical format as VHS cassettes, the HS-HD2000U will play your video archives, including your treasured copy of the Mets' bottom-of-the-tenth win over the Red Sox in game six of the '86 World Series.
HS-HD2000U: $1,049. Mitsubishi: (800) 332 2119, www.mitsubishi-tv.com.
Half-Pipe Dreams
Hitting the slopes with 5-pound boots can leave you dragging your board across the powder instead of busting a front-side 360 à la Josh Dirksen. Catch more air with Yotas, ThirtyTwo's snowboard boots. Superlight thermal foam liners and custom-molded phylon foam midsoles mean these weigh 40 percent less than standard kicks, and they transfer kinetic energy while keeping the thermal component - so your feet stay toasty. The internal lacing system provides extra support at the ankle and heel, and the Agion antibacterial coating prevents nasty foot funk.
Yota: $269.95. ThirtyTwo: +1 (949) 460 2020, www.thirtytwo.com.
Hot-Button Issue
Still sifting through onscreen menus to paste text into your messages? Microsoft Office makes a deluxe keyboard for faster inputting. An extra pad on the left side holds Copy, Cut, and Paste hot keys, plus a scroll wheel and a rocking Alt-Tab-alike for switching applications. The Mac- and PC-friendly board gives the oft-ignored F1 through F12 keys handy, app-specific defaults, grouping them into categories and lumping together commands like Print, Spell Check, and Save. An extra row of buttons at the top launches and toggles between programs like Word and Excel. With a little practice, you'll be taking shortcuts with the speed of a sysadmin.
Office Keyboard: $64.95. Microsoft: (800) 426 9400, www.microsoft.com/keyboard.
Day Glow
Working on your laptop and your tan usually don't go hand in hand - for one thing, the sun always ends up washing out your screen. But unlike other notebooks, NEC's Versa DayLite uses bright external light instead of competing with it. The reflective 10.4-inch XGA display stays sharp outdoors, and taking advantage of the sunlight nearly doubles its battery life. If the weather turns gloomy, a switch on the front panel powers up the backlight so it shines like a regular laptop. Based on a 600-MHz Transmeta Crusoe chip, this 3.3-pound portable operates for up to seven and a half hours under the rays.
Versa DayLite: $2,499. NEC: (888) 632 8701, www.nec-computers.com.
Take It Inside
Manley Toy Quest's next-generation robot fighters, based on the Ready 2 Rumble videogame, let you practice your bitch-slap without doing harm. Slip your hands into digitally sensitive boxing gloves to gain control of one of two colorful 7-inch figurines facing off within a 12- by 12-inch tabletop ring. Throw a left hook and jab with your right, and your character does the same. The gloves deliver your punches to the ring through infrared. A speaker broadcasts sounds from the original video maulfest, egging you on as you settle the score.
Wireless Ready 2 Rumble Round 2 Boxing: $90. Manley Toy Quest: +1 (310) 231 7292, www.manleytoyquest.com.
Pop-Up Video
This Halloween, get in-depth trick-or-treat footage with Canon's 3D Imaging Video Lens. When mounted on the company's XL1 digital camcorder, its twin 3X zoom lenses alternately capture images every 1/60 second. You can watch the resulting video on a headmounted display, through polarized glasses using a special projector, or with stereo shutter glasses on a PC. Whichever method you use, each eye sees a slightly different image to give the illusion of depth, capturing every ghoulishly lifelike nuance of your kid's costume.
3D Imaging Video Lens: $8,499. Canon: (800) 652 2666, www.usa.canon.com.
