Bose earbuds comfy, secure
Earbuds – small earphones that plug into your ear canals – are popular for listening to music on the go, but some listeners complain that earbuds fall out when they walk or that they make their ears feel stuffed.
Bose has revised its $99.95 TriPort In-Ear headphones with new “ear tips” that lie gently yet securely in the ear. The new soft ear tips (three sizes are supplied) fit in the concha, the little bowl-shaped hollow aft of the ear canal, rather than in the canal itself. A clip to fasten the cord to your clothes so its weight doesn’t pull on the earphones and a lanyard to catch them if they do fall will be available in June.
The earphones are available now from www.bose.com or Bose stores; authorized Bose dealers will have them next month. The owners of earlier Bose In-Ear models can get the new-style eartips free now and get the clip and the lanyard free in June from www.bose.com/enhance. – Ivan Berger, The New York Times
Big upgrade for tiny PC
Hoping to put a PC in every purse, Samsung has upgraded its Q1 line of tiny 1.7-pound portable computers.
These paperback-size devices, 9 inches by 5.5 inches by 1 inch thick, run Windows – that is, they are real computers – but they also function as touch-sensitive notepads.
The Home Premium edition of Windows Vista has been added to the $1,300 Q1P, available now, and its enhanced handwriting recognition should make it easier to use the 7-inch screen as an input device.
With a real palmtop PC, you can perform tasks that would shame mere portable e-mail devices.
With the right software, instead of just surfing the Web, you can build websites, then upload them using the onboard Wi-Fi connection or Ethernet jack. With Photoshop installed, you can correct and annotate a batch of photos copied from a digital camera’s Compact Flash card, then use a file-transfer program to deliver them.
A pair of stereo speakers and a microphone on the front make the Q1P a two-way audio-video gadget, letting you watch movies and talk on an Internet phone service. – Marty Katz, The New York Times
