Gadgets

Imation announced Wednesday it's begun selling a new 4GB version of its Micro Hard Drive.

The $189 product has a padlock-shaped design; its USB connector is a loop that can be clipped to objects such as key chains. It uses a 0.85-inch hard drive from Toshiba and works with Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

Imation introduced its $159 2GB version of the product in the summer. The 4GB version will be on display at the Consumer Electronics Show's Innovations Plus exhibit at the Sands Expo and Convention Center next week in Las Vegas.

The drive comes … Read more

Earthcam, a company that sells software for viewing and distributing Webcam images, announced its selections for the top 25 Webcams of 2005 on Tuesday.

Among the picks are Webcams showing the British Antarctic Survey's ship James Clark Ross, the Department of Motor Vehicles in Anchorage, Alaska, a living room with lights that can be turned off an on over the Internet, Los Angeles beaches, and the Swedish city of Skelleftea.

Ever looked up at the stars and wished you could get instant information on the objects of your astronomical affection? Then you might want to point your gaze toward the Celestron SkyScout, a new handheld celestial viewing device likely to be a meteoric hit with stargazers.

The GPS-enabled gadget offers on-the-spot commentary, in scrolling text and narrated audio, about the most popular celestial entities. Point the SkyScout at any bright star and it identifies the object from a database of 6,000-plus entries.

SkyScout combines GPS technology, which gives the time, date and location of the user; software that calculates … Read more

Drivers of stand-up scooters should beware. Unless they are on a Segway, they can go to jail in some states if they get caught operating them while intoxicated, according to published reports.

Kevin Crow, a North Carolina landscaper tried to beat a 2003 drunk-driving conviction by arguing that his scooter is less like an automobile and more like machines that are exempt from the state's drunk-driving laws, such as a lawnmower, bicycle, and the Segway scooter, the two-wheeled electric vehicle that uses a gyroscope to help balance the driver.

A three-judge panel of the N.C. Court of Appeals … Read more

My, how life for college students has changed since the days of blue books, No. 2 pencils and liquid-paper-encrusted term papers.

To wit, Tegrity Campus, a software system that merges old-fashioned handwritten note-taking with multimedia presentations to help students get the most out of university lectures.

It works like this: Students take notes on regular paper just like they did back in the '80s, only they do so using Tegrity's special digital pen (which features camera technology on its tip), or, alternately, a tablet or notebook. Lectures, meanwhile, are automatically recorded and archived on the participating university's Web … Read more

If you're not into cutesy peripherals, avert your eyes now. Imation has come out with a line of furry flash drives in the shape of three animals: hippo, dog and crocodile. Just open the mouth of your little drive to find the connector.

The 128MB USB 2.0 drives, which just launched in Japan for 3,480 yen ($30), are PC- and Mac-compatible and weigh about an ounce. Not to show favorites, but the doggie drive has really cute ears.

Korean mobile phone operator LG Telecom has surfaced the CanU 502S, a waterproof cell phone developed with Casio Computer. The promotional Web site for the phone shows a shark swimming up from the bottom of the sea and grabbing the gadget in its jaws. LG Telecom doesn't vouch for the phone's durability in the face of Great Whites, but the company does say the product will survive about 30 minutes if dropped in a pool, tub or sink.

According to The Korea Times, the CanU 502S is that country's first waterproof mobile handset. The clamshell phone has … Read more

You can watch TV on your iPod. Why shouldn't you able to watch it on your refrigerator? LG Electronics thinks you should. Thus, the latest model of the company's TV Refrigerator. LG showed off the update for the first time on Wednesday at its 2006 product preview in New York City.

The newest iteration of the company's Jetsons-style side-by-side fridge houses a 15-inch standard-definition cable-ready LCD TV with a DVD connection and FM radio--entertainment additions that suddenly make the prospect of slaving over a hot stove all day a lot more appealing. The appliance also has an … Read more

While the iPod Nano can be somewhat hard to find at any price, one store is selling the device for 99 cents--at least a couple of them.

99-Cent Only Stores plans to sell nine Nanos for 99 cents when it opens its latest outlet on Thursday in La Quinta, Calif., near Palm Springs.

While the iPod giveaway is fairly recent, the publicly traded discount chain has long marked new location openings by allowing the first few customers to buy something quite valuable for 99 cents.

"We used to have 19-inch TVs, either Sharp or Panasonic," said company spokesman … Read more