Okay, so they're not the highest-tech gadgets, but they sure are cute. The Knockman toys, produced by Japanese company Maywa Kenki, even had their own MTV commercials—and that makes them cool.
The toy line has five different models, which dance and make some sort of noise when you wind them up. The Knockman himself hits his own drum-like head, Colon's insides rattle, Pololon plays a "guitar," Chacha (my favorite) plays the cymbals, and Kerotama plays a "Latin guiro"—an instrument that looks like a marble rolling around in an innertube. And just like an iPod, each Knockman toy comes in white or black.
The Knockman Web site is just as bizarre as the little toys themselves. Each model has its own profile with poem-like descriptions such as "a smart beanpole with a guitar" and "shake, shake his bottom, dance dance!!" Also watch the KnockMan videos to see the toys in action, and check out the Knockman Planet line that's complete with accessories like chairs, carts, and hats.
You can buy the toys seperately or as a whole family. They're available on the Knockman Web site for 1344 to 1869 ¥ ($11 to $16), but you'll get a message saying, "Sorry! Shop is available only in Japanese!" I found the Knockman family at sweatyfrog.com for $25 each. Audio Cubes has a limited selection for $15-$19.
I hate using my laptop on planes. The traytable is never quite big enough for my computer, and I have to lean forward and hunch over to see the keyboard.
Many people must have the same problem, because Keynamics is bringing ergonomics to airplanes. The company is introducing the Aviator laptop stand, which sits on a traytable and props up a notebook to a comfortable typing angle. The stand lets you sit all the way back in your seat, relax your wrists, and open up the screen to a good angle. It's designed to stay sturdy even during turbulence or when the big guy next to you bumps you on the way to the bathroom.
This product is aimed at the business traveler and so, of course, it's portable: The stand breaks down into three pieces and slides easily into the side pocket of your laptop case. It won't load you down, either, because it weighs just 9 ounces.
I don't do much flying, but for $19.99, I wouldn't mind taking one of these on my next Amtrak trip.
I met today with the makers of Cellstik, a cute little gadget that backs up your cellphone's phone book in case you lose your phone, you want to transfer your contacts to another phone, or you want to edit them on your PC and return them to your phone. It's extremely easy to use, looks like a USB key, and costs only $39.99. Plug one end into your phone, press one button, and pow - you're backed up. Plug the other end into your PC, and you can edit your phone book with some very basic included software.
You can buy Cellstiks for Motorola, Samsung and LG phones right now, with Nokia and Sanyo coming soon; the ability to back up other info from your phone, like pictures and ringtones, will come in a new version next year.
The neatest thing about Cellstik from a techie's perspective is that it saves the phone numbers in an unencrypted, comma-delimited text format on the stick, which is really a 128K flash drive with some built-in software. So even though the stick only comes with a basic app for editing the phone books and transferring them to another stick, you could easily import the data into a program of your choice or use it with unsupported OSes like Mac OS and Linux. Cellstik's selling point is ease of use, but I hope techier types will reward its use of open standards by writing their own Cellstik plug-ins for popular applications and OSes.
With all of this nice weather being sent our way, I can't help but wish Summer was around the corner. And now that I don't live far from the Jersey beaches, I've been thinking of all the things I could bring along with me for my many weekend trips.
One of my very cool Summer finds is the iSplash: a rugged and splash-proof Stereo Speaker System designed by Sharper Image. It features an AM/FM Tuner and is said to work with any iPod, MP3 player, portable CD player, or satellite radio player with its ZipConnect technology.
The included retractable cable extends up to 18 inches so that you can conveniently pick up your player to make selections while connected to the system. Not only does the iSplash protect against water, but also sand and other weather conditions.
Its dual handles make it easy to carry the stereo speaker system and act as a stand as well.
The most exciting product I've held this week was the VK Mobile VK2020, currently sold by Dynamism for $399. At 8.8 mm thick and 1.9 ounces, this super-slick fashion phone is slimmer and lighter than either Motorola's SLVR L7 or Samsung's new SGH-T509, and it's reasonably priced for an unlocked GSM phone you could use on T-Mobile or many foreign carriers. (It works with Cingular in some parts of the country but not others.)
Slim doesn't mean feature-less, either. The VK2020 has 128 MB of memory of which 100 MB are available for the built-in MP3 player. It has Bluetooth for headsets, and USB Mass Storage Mode so you can move files easily to and from your PC.
It's not the greatest phone, phone-wise. The keys are small, the reception so-so, the screen is dim, and a lot of the features are really quirky. But it makes calls, and it's pretty. So, so pretty. It will attract conversation and make sexy people talk to you. That's what really matters here.
When you think of major players in the portable GPS navigation market, Sony doesn't come to mind. Sony is hoping to change that perception with the introduction of its nav-u Portable Satellite Navigation System.
The nav-u features a 3.5-inch (diagonal) touch screen with a special coating to make it both glare- and fingerprint-resistant. It has a built-in light sensor to adjust the screen automatically for optimal viewing in any lighting condition and includes both a day and night mode. Even in bright sunlight, I found the screen easy to read.
Installation and setup, as with most portable GPS devices, is quite simple. The nav-u arrives pre-loaded with Navteq's street-level maps for the 48 contiguous states (excluding Alaska and Hawaii) and a respectable database of 1.6 million POI (Points of Interest). All this information fits into 1GB of solid state memory. The nav-u mounts to the windshield with a suction cup or to a supplied plate that you can mount with screws. The mounting bracket is one of the better brackets I've seen; it's sturdy and easy to adjust. The bracket has a set of contacts that mate to contacts on the bottom of the nav-u, making it easy to snap the device in and out of the bracket. You can connect both power and an optional GPS antenna to the bracket, and not have to fumble with cables each time you snap the nav-u into or out of the bracket.
The nav-u is fairly straightforward to operate. It has only two hardware buttons: Power on/off, and a button that makes the device speak the last command. All of the other input is done via the touch screen. Upon boot-up, after the unit has acquired enough satellites for navigation, the first screen you see is the map screen. Across the top of the screen are three icons: one for hiding or showing all other icons, one to toggle between north up or track up, and one for Select Destination. Also along the top line of the screen are a battery-status indicator and a GPS indicator that shows whether you have enough satellites for navigation. A tap of the GPS icon shows your current latitude and longitude and the number of active satellites, and it lets you save the current position as a favorite. The bottom strip of the screen displays current compass direction, current street, time of day, and your current speed.
The interface is also fairly simple. A tap anywhere on the map screen brings up the main menu, which has icons for New Destination, Search Nearby, Route, Muting, and Settings. There's also a convenient Back Arrow icon that takes you back one level, and an Up Arrow icon that takes you directly back to the main map view.
Like most GPS devices, the nav-u lets you choose either 2D track up, 2D north up, or a 3D view. Its auto-zoom feature, available in both 2D and 3D views, automatically scales the map resolution based on your current speed. Unfortunately, most likely in a nod to simplicity, neither the main map view nor the navigation screen let you zoom in or out. Only the Select Destination screen, one that's not used for navigating, lets the user choose the zoom level.
The Settings icon lets you set your preferences or to view information about the unit. You can set volume, map view preferences, routing options, screen preferences, and more. The nav-u supports multiple speed profiles (slow, standard, and fast) for a car, motorcycle, truck, bike, and pedestrian. You can also choose the shortest or fastest route and set your preference (Yes/No) for interstates, tollways, and ferries.
New Destination lets you set your next route. You can choose from Address, Point of Interest, Select on Map, your saved favorites, or recent destinations. You can select an individual state or all states. If you choose to navigate to a POI, you can then find one near your current location, nationwide, or in a specified city. Finally, you can select either Any or limit your search to one of 11 categories: Gas Station, Restaurant, Accommodation, Entertainment, Shopping, Public Transport, Bank, School and Education, Civil Service, Health Care, and Enterprises.
Once you select a category, a screen pops up with your choice populated in the Category 1 field. Category 2 is actually a subcategory within the Category 1. The third choice is an icon that says "Please select." When you press "Please select," an alphabetic keyboard pops up on the screen that lets you type in the name of the POI. Or you can select List, which brings up a screen that has a large box containing the first choice on the list. You can scroll down the list using the Up/Down arrows until your choice appears in the large box, then touch the screen to make your selection. Once you've done so, you're returned to the previous page, where you can see the POI on the map, save the POI, or start navigation. Although you can generally find what you're looking for, this menu system is awkward compared with others I've tested.
In navigation mode, the nav-u displays an impressive amount of information. Both your current street and the street for your next maneuver are shown on the bottom of the screen. On the left, a graphic indicates the direction of your next turn, along with a "shrinking thermometer" that shows your relative distance to the turn. If two maneuvers are to be executed quickly in sequence, a second directional arrow shows the second turn. Your current heading, speed, altitude, miles to destination, and estimated time of arrival are also displayed. The nav-u supports multiple-destination routing, so if you have a second stage planned, miles to destination and ETA are to the next stage point. While you can display your planned route on the map, I'm disappointed that the nav-u lacks a List view that shows a list of your turns and the mileage to each. Most GPS devices have List views.
I road-tested the nav-u on our standard route and found no surprises. It generated the same route (with the same preferences specified) as did competing GPS devices that also use Navteq's mapping database, such as any of the Garmin units. Directions were spoken clearly and at appropriate times, such as "in 600 feet, turn right." Like its competitors, such as the Lowrance iWAY 350C, the Cobra Nav One 4500, and Garmin StreetPilot c330, the nav-u doesn't support text-to-speech conversion. The data on the navigation screen gave me confidence that I wouldn't miss a turn.
The nav-u has a list price of $599.99, which puts it squarely between some of its competitors' 3.5-inch screen GPS devices: the iWAY 350C, at $499, and the StreetPilot c330, at $699. Although the nav-u is fairly easy to use and has many features to recommend it, the Lowrance iWAY 350C is a better value.
Press previews at auto shows give the media a chance to view and photograph new cars without thousands of civilians getting in the way. But apparently, these events are also an opportunity to rack up incidental income by selling press kits online.
The online feeding frenzy isn't as pronounced as it normally is for January's Detroit show, the largest and most important in the U.S., or for the premier Frankfurt Auto Show held biannually in September. You can still find kits kicking around on eBay from these shows and others like the Los Angeles show (held in January) and the Geneva show (held in March).
What do you get in an auto show press kit? A CD-ROM with dozens of very nice electronic images (most of which show up online sooner or later on unprotected sites) and a bunch of press releases that have gone through translations that suck the life out of every paragraph. You also might get some clothing and sporting-goods freebies that aren't made to last.
If it were me buying or selling press kits, I'd be on the lookout for the gorgeous Rolls-Royce press kit (with slipcase), which is a rare find because of RR's restraint in distributing them. The immaculate, voluminous, and brick-heavy Mercedes-Benz E-Class binder is also a good find, as well as the stylishly designed Saab Aero X CD with a cutout X outer wrapper. Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com) had a nice presentation box with a replica of a 1926 used-car pricing guide and a chocolate bar, but the kit's value isn't as high as some, because it was readily available in the pressroom.
It's easy to assume some members of the media were trying to make a quick buck, but the fact that kits were posted for sale online on the very first press day suggested that some kits were siphoned off before ever reaching the press room. My take: Not only would a journalist have ethical considerations, but the eBay thing is an awful lot of work to make an extra 20 bucks. And it's hard to resist eating the chocolate bar from the KBB box (mine disappeared rapidly).
Slickdeals.net reports that Dell Home has the much sought-after black Canon Rebel XT body for only $504 after $100 rebate when you use a Dell 20% off coupon, get a $35 off coupon on eBay. They also have the silver body with 18-55mm lens for $584. You can use the 20% off coupon on some other Canon cameras as well. Go to Slickdeals for all the details. And move quickly. These deals tend not to last very long.
Dell Small Business is cutting $175 off the price of its $499 3100cn color laser printer. That brings the price down to $324. But Techbargains has a coupon code for $60 off $500 that will reduce it down to $264. That's nearly half off. You'll have to buy something else for at least a dollar to get the price up to $500. David Stone gave this printer 3.5 stars out of 5. Read his review.
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Good GPS unit with many nice features, but other competing products offer more features at a lower price.
Easy-to-read screen. Excellent mounting bracket. Built-in lithium ion battery and small size make it easy to use as a portable device.
No user-controlled zoom on main map or navigation map view (only auto zoom). No turn list for planned routes. Awkward POI entry.
Dell Small Business 
