Gigabytes, processors and color palettes, oh my!
Just because you’re in the market for a new notebook doesn’t mean all your buying decisions have to be technical. Besides choosing the specs for a new Toshiba Satellite A105 notebook, you also get to pick its color. Available in Peacock Blue, Sunlight Copper or Mist Gray, each notebook boasts a 15.4-inch widescreen display, a multiformat DVD burner and an Express Media Player that lets you watch movies and listen to music without booting up the operating system. The A105-S171 model features a 1.6-gigahertz Intel Celeron M processor, 512 megabytes of memory, a 100-gigabyte hard drive and built-in wireless connectivity for $1,050. Designed for multimedia entertainment, the Satellite A105-S361 provides a more powerful 2GHz Intel Pentium M processor, built-in Harman/Kardon stereo speakers, a 120GB hard drive and 1,024MB of memory. It costs $1,500. Other configurations are available.
www.toshibadirect.com
An audio hip-check for iPod wearers
Now you can shoot iPod sound from the hip. The Hippod iPod Speaker/Combo Case lets you tune in to your Apple iPod music without tuning everyone else out. Designed to work as a portable, wearable speaker with a protective lightweight carrying case and a built-in belt sleeve, the Hippod can be plugged into the headphone jacks on iPods and other MP3 players, allowing you to share your personal music collection with others. Available from Small Dog Electronics, the device costs $25.
www.smalldog.com
Finally: a keyboard designed for two-finger typists
New Standard Keyboards can help hunt-and-peck typists put their fingers on the right keys. Measuring just 12.5 inches wide by 5 inches deep by 1 inch thick, the streamlined keyboard has 53 keys arranged in an alphanumeric design instead of the 101 keys commonly found on a standard
qwerty design. The NSK535S model has a silver casing with black keys and white letters, while the NSK535R has rainbow color-coded keys that correspond to specific computer functions. The $70 keyboard connects to a PC via a USB port.
www.newstandardkeyboards.com
Don’t lose your cellphone; wear it
Can’t remember where you put your cellphone? Why not attach it to your wrist with holdTHATphone? Designed by an Oklahoma real estate agent who needed ready access to her phone, the leather accessory fits around your wrist like a watch and holds your phone in place with Velcro straps. Available in black, brown, green, pink and platinum, the phone holders cost $19.95 each.
www.holdthatphone.com
