Gadgets

If you're a laptop owner who hooks your portable to your peripherals, you know what it's like to disconnect various cables from your PC and plug them in to your laptop. You also know that if you need something from the desktop, you may have to reverse the process and reconnect everything all over again.

If plugging cables in and out of your docking station isn't your favorite pastime, you might want to have a look at the new UniXpress USB Port Replicator by Addlogix. It's a multifunction USB 2.0 cable for users on the … Read more

If Bill Clinton's been getting crank calls lately, he shouldn't assume it's Kenneth Starr on the other end. A better bet: pals of a Delray Beach, Fla., busboy who found singer Jimmy Buffett's cell phone outside a jazz club in late May. The Smoking Gun reports that the 22-year-old told police his buddies may have crank-called the former prez, whose number was stored in the $500 phone's directory.

According to a column in Thursday's Palm Beach Post, the address book contained a number of other high-profile entries, including Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Bill Gates, … Read more

The latest MP3 digital music player from Lexar Media may be known more for what it lacks than what it packs. That's because the entry-level LDP-200, which retails for $49.99, comes with no storage capacity.

The device is one of those rare digital music players sold without some type of storage included. Bang & Olufsen's BeoSound 2 also comes without internal storage capacity.

No storage means consumers need to supply their own SD (secure digital) memory card--or pay more for one with a player with storage installed. Lexar is giving customers a choice of three upgrades: … Read more

When I first learned that there actually exists a Hello Kitty USB hub, the commercialism-wary cynic in me was disturbed. Much like consumers on Milkandcookies.com or Digg.com, I thought, "Now that is scary."

Then the mother of a 5-year-old girl took over. I smiled just imagining the look on my Hello Kitty-obsessed daughter's face as she keyed alongside her moving and talking Sanrio star. It's not quite the Hello Kitty sewing kit I had growing up, but still managed to conjure up some sweet memories. Perhaps Delores put it best in her comments on … Read more

One in five kids has been bullied or threatened via their mobile phone or computer, according to a study by U.K. children's charity NCH.

Bullying by text message was the most common form of abuse reported, with 14 percent of kids interviewed saying they had received upsetting messages on their mobile phones.

The survey, titled "Putting U in the Picture (PDF file)," collated responses from 770 youngsters ages 11 to 19. One in 10 said someone had used a camera phone to snap their picture in a way that made them feel uncomfortable, embarrassed or threatened. … Read more

PNI, a Korean research firm, has developed speakers made of thin transparent sheets studded with electrodes, according to the Web site Insead Innovasia. The firm has worked on the speakers, which are about as thick as cloth, for four years and now hopes to go into mass production. Right now, the speakers can only support sounds in the upper end of the register and not low bass sounds yet.

In the past 30 years, speakers have undergone a massive revolution. In the "Frampton Comes Alive" era of the 1970s, Kenwood and others decked their speakers in fake wood … Read more

After spending a good part of this past weekend planting, watering and fertilizing delicate new saplings, I'm not so sure I'd want to let Ambrogio's Evolution robotic lawn mower loose in my garden.

Then again, I'm kind of overprotective when it comes to plants. No one touches my dahlias but me.

Those gardeners who feel OK letting others tend to their greenery, on the other hand, might like to know about the $2,299.99 fully autonomous bot, which shifts into mowing mode when it senses long grass, according to the product's Web site.

The … Read more

Plans to outfit a suburban Atlanta school district with Apple Computer iBooks have hit a legal snag.

Butch Thompson, a former Cobb County, Ga., commissioner has filed suit to stop the school board's laptop plan, according to the Associated Press. Cobb County Superior Court Judge S. Lark Ingram has set a July 8 hearing date, reports the Atlanta Journal Constitution (subscription required).

Apple announced in May that it will sell as many as 63,000 iBooks to the Georgia school district in one of the company's largest education deals ever.

But Thompson says voters weren't sufficiently informed … Read more

Orbit Baby is giving new meaning to next-generation technology.

The small Newark, Calif.-based company, made up of new dads and uncles, has developed the futuristic Orbit Infant System, sure to please even the most techie of babies (and their parents).

Three years in the making (and seven patents filed along the way), the Orbit car seat, car base and stroller are designed to be safe, simple, secure, lightweight and super easy to use. The car seat snaps into the base and stroller from any direction, eliminating the need for parents to contort their bodies and strain their backs. And … Read more