PEZ box dispenses MP3s, not candy
If you’re hunting for a digital music player with a distinctively different look, check out this special, limited- edition model. The PEZ Pal Boy MP3 player resembles the popular candy dispenser, complete with brown-haired Pal Boy lid and bright red body. The gadget can store about 120 tunes in its 512 megabytes of memory, and you can use the discreetly placed controls and headphone jack to listen to them.
Powered by a single AAA battery, the PEZ player is compatible with MP3 and Windows Media formats. It ships with a Universal Serial Bus (USB) cable and headphones.
Cost: $100.
www.pezmp3.com
Phone packs high-end multimedia features
When you’re not talking on Samsung’s SCH-a970 mobile phone, you can listen to MP3 tunes through its dual-stereo speakerphone (or through headphones), snap pictures with its 2-megapixel camera and capture video. Using its VoiceMode option, you also can dictate text messages.
The clamshell-style phone’s other features include swiveling color screen, slot for TransFlash memory card, Bluetooth connectivity and the ability to view both downloaded and streaming video. Available through Verizon Wireless, the unit costs $350. A $50 rebate is available with a two-year service plan.
www.verizonwireless.com, www.samsung.com/wireless
Safeguarding computers and kids
It takes only a few innocent clicks and your child has exposed your computer to spyware and phishing or has accidentally accessed an adult-only site. “CyberPatrol 7.5” can help protect your child – and computer – from such threats. With the program’s new filtering wizards, you can select age-based settings for different users, fine-tune filters to create exceptions for some categories and allow overrides to let authorized users view blocked Web pages. Other tools minimize chances of a child (or unsuspecting parent) revealing personal data when visiting fake sites that appear to represent trusted companies. The title, which includes 12 months of updates, costs $40. A free 14-day trail is available.
www.cyberpatrol.com
Zipping software compacts those digital photos
SnapZip 2006 will get your digital photos to your friends faster and with less hassle. The updated program from Winferno Software can compress a photo so its file is as little as one-fifth the size of the original. The program also now integrates with Microsoft Outlook, making it simpler to e-mail zipped (compressed) files to others and unzip (decompress) files you receive from others.
www.winferno.com
