Best- Great stuff - tested and approved in our top-secret labs.
ONLINE TRADING SYSTEMS
First Class
Terra Nova RealTick Pro
A couple of years back, you could make money off stocks in your sleep; now you have to work for it. Direct-access broker Terra Nova offers heavy-trader musts like Level II quotes (actual stock offers), smart order routing, and multiple networks, plus the widest variety of triggers. You can buy or sell options based on the intraday movement of the underlying equity, and monitor the main indices graphically during the crazed opening hour. Competitor TradeStation does not offer options as of this writing, although it has the edge in back-testing and providing overall strategies.
RealTick Pro: from $185 per month, additional trades from $15 each. Terra Nova: (866) 996 8566, www.terranovaonline.com.
Business Class
CSFBdirect Anywhere
You need to trade heavily to justify the cost of a direct-access broker. CSFBdirect offers the traditionally employed a more practical tool. It's easy to navigate online, and you can trade via touch tone, wireless, or phone rep for the same commission. If your account holds more than $100K, you can read in-house analyst reports and get early-buying access to Credit Suisse First Boston-led IPOs, which have included Apria Healthcare and Skillsoft.
CSFBdirect Anywhere: from $20 per trade. CSFBdirect: (800) 825 5723, www.csfbdirect.com.
Coach
Brown & Company
To base investment decisions on your own sources, all you need is a deep-discount broker. Brown & Company provides unlimited free quotes, with the current ask and bid, and timely executions - in short, a no-frills trading site for experienced investors. The commissions beat better-known houses, and unlike conventional brokers, Brown isn't shelling out for overstuffed club chairs and ottomans. Like you'd be invited to sit down anyhow.
Basic account: from $5 per trade. Brown & Company: (800) 822 2021, www.brownco.com.
CONFERENCE PHONES
First Class
Polycom SoundStation Premier
Conference phones offer an alternative to facetime, though many only exaggerate the distance between colleagues. Newer phones rely on digital sound processing to adapt to room acoustics and home in on the orator. But not all DSP chips are created equal, and Polycom's top starfish uses the best. Even in a room of 30 x 40 feet, it cancels echoes to deliver near-broadcast-quality sound. Two ultra-sensitive extension mikes cover huge conference tables, while a remote lets the meeting czar store up to six numbers. Add Applied Global Technologies $20 dialer software, and you can beam digits from your Palm.
SoundStation Premier with two extension mikes: $1,599. Polycom: (800) 765 9266, www.polycom.com.
Business Class
Gentner ClearOne
This elliptical disc avoids the echo of other models in its class. LEDs around the dish flash according to voice direction, so you can see you're being heard. Unlike the two other models here, the ClearOne does not accommodate optional mikes, but it easily handles rooms up to 20 x 20 feet. You can hook it up to a PC to place calls over the Net, and the Express Conference button sets up one-touch connections through any conferencing service provider.
ClearOne: $399. Gentner: (800) 945 7730, www.gentner.com.
Coach
Spracht CP-2010
This phone doesn't suffer from the voice clipping that plagues its low-end brethren, but its sound is more muffled than that of costlier models. Spracht mimics the Polycom's shape and ability to accept twin extension mikes ($50 each); unfortunately, it doesn't have the same sort of integrated AC adapter/data jack - instead, you plug a tangle of cords into a separate data-port box. All told, the Spracht is a solid performer. Just don't mind the kitschy white-velvet packaging and startup chime.
CP-2010: $199. Spracht: (888) 350 0132,www.spracht.com.
HOME WATER FILTERS
First Class
Kinetico K2 Drinking Water System
Dr. Strangelove's purity-obsessed Jack D. Ripper would have loved Kinetico's K2. The system combines filtration with reverse osmosis, using a semipermeable membrane to deliver H2O so ultraclean that there's a gallon of wastewater for every drinkable gallon produced. The dealer-installed, under-sink unit needs a new $63 set of filters after every 500 gallons (enough to quench a small household for a year), while the $110 membrane, which eliminates viruses and other micro particles down to 0.0005 micron, lasts up to 15 years. The K2's storage tank holds 3 gallons ready to drink.
K2: $500-700, plus installation. Kinetico: (800) 944 9283, www.kinetico.com.
Business Class
Quixtar Water Treatment System IV
Quixtar's under-sink unit reduces more contaminants - over 140, including protozoan cysts, pesticides, and lead - than any other carbon-block system certified by testing agency NSF International. The WTS IV strains down to 0.2 micron, which lets viruses and some bacteria through, but unlike reverse-osmosis systems, it leaves in "good" minerals like calcium, magnesium, and fluoride. You'll need a $114 replacement filter after 1,250 gallons.
Water Treatment System IV: $490. Quixtar: +1 (616) 787 6000, www.quixtar.com.
Coach
PUR Ultimate Faucet Mount
This popular model attaches quickly and easily right to your faucet, and its 1-micron filter removes all the real bad guys: cryptosporidium, giardia, and toxins that most clip-ons miss, like benzene, MTBE, and mercury. As with the other systems here, it improves taste and odor, and indicates when blocks need replacing. Tilting the unit back gives you unfiltered water for washing. Cartridges last up to 100 gallons (about two months) and cost $20.
Ultimate Faucet Mount: $45. PUR: (800) 787 5463, www.purwater.com.
