Gadgets and gizmos
- — 01 September, 2000 12:07
Tru Connect
The Netcomm Tru Connect Combo Card is an Australian product that offers an integrated modem and 100Mbps connection for laptops. Fitting standard Type II PCMCIA slots, the card is unusual in that no adapters are needed to connect RJ-type telephone or Ethernet cables, sparing users the need to carry those fiddly and easily-lost bits of plastic.
Netcomm
Price: $478.50
Phone: (02) 9424 2070
URL: www.netcomm.com.au
Mini-mouse
If you're the undersized clone of a supervillain who keeps hogging the mouse, what can you do? Don't destroy the world, just get the Mini Wheel Mouse from Logitech. Only 10cm in length, it weighs less than 100g, and has a length-challenged 80cm cable to avoid tangles. Just right for your mini-notebooks.
Logitech
Price: $69
Phone: (02) 9972 3711
URL: www.logitech.com
USB Ethernet adapter
Here's yet another way to connect your computer to things. This interface supports 10/100Mbps Ethernet, and can be installed as a Plug and Play USB device without any need to open the computer. This could be handy when you need networking in a hurry.
Microgram
Price: $121
Phone: (02) 4389 8444
URL: www.mgram.com.au
Palm surfing
If you're a Palm computing fan and Net junkie, you can combine your obsessions with a Qualcomm Palm V Connectivity Kit: a connection cable and combo carrying case which will convert your Palm V and a suitable GSM phone into a portable Internet access point.
Genuine Mobile Accessories
Price: $205 (phone not included)
Phone: 1800 662 111
URL: www.qualcomm.com
Rugged camera
The problem with buying a $2000 digital camera is that you may end up never taking it anywhere for fear of dropping it, getting it wet, or otherwise depreciating your investment ahead of schedule. Kodak offers a solution to this dilemma in the form of the DC5000, a shock/weather/dust-resistant version of its popular digital series.
Kodak
Price: $1349
Phone: 1800 130 674
URL: www.kodak.com.au
World Travel Connection Kit
If you're gadding about all over the world with your notebook, you might not be able to connect it to the phone system of the country you happen to be in today. That's why Targus has produced the World Travel Connection Kit and its smaller brethren - so today's jetsetter is never without power or phone services, as long as there's a socket available.
Targus
Price: $202.40
Phone: 1800 641 645
URL: www.targus.com
Rubber Bandit
American company Rubberworks has a dream: to build the world's biggest rubber band plane - and fly it. For several months, a dedicated team of volunteers has been working on the 10m long, 22m wingspan rubber-powered aircraft to prepare it for its first flight with a live pilot.
Rubberworks
URL: www.rubberbandit.com
Kangoo Jumps
These spring-loaded boots might look like something out of the Coyote's Acme catalogue, but they're for real. They're Swiss-engineered, but a far cry from the famous Army Knife. Manufacturer Denis Naville S.A. displays plenty of pictures on the company's Web site, but is being cagey with the prices - so far, only Switzerland has a distributor, and there's no indication what a pair of Kangoo Jumps might actually cost.
Denis Naville S.A.
URL: www.kangoo-worldsite.com
