Phone, flash drive let you call free
Voice over Internet Protocol
When your college kid hits you up for extra cash this fall, it probably won't be to cover the phone bill, despite what he tells you. Most phone calls are free if you're using Skype or another voice over IP (VoIP) service, so there's no excuse for not calling home.
You can equip yourself and your kids with new tools certified by Skype to work with the free calling service (which is now owned by eBay). One of them is the VOIP321 phone from Skype and Philips, a lightweight and fairly conventional-looking handset that connects to Skype via a wireless base unit connected to your PC's USB port. The VOIP321 fields both landline and VoIP calls. You can program the phone to have separate ringtones for the two types of calls.
The VOIP321 cordless handset's backlit keypad has a Skype key for initiating VoIP calls. It also features a speakerphone key, and mute, redial, and menu options.
But you must plug the VoIP321's base unit into the wall to power it, and connect it to your landline if you want to operate in dual mode. I've been tripping over all the extra wiring around my computer since I plugged the phone in.
Another bummer is that -- at least for the moment -- this is a Windows-only device. You can also get a very handy USB flash drive, the SanDisk Cruzer Micro, which comes pre loaded with the Skype software.
That way, you or your kid can get Skype up and running quickly on any PC, as long as its security features don't bar you from doing so.
The Cruzer Micro (prices starting at about $40 for 512MB) is about the size of three Chiclets laid end-to-end. It has an excellent retractable USB connector, so you can keep the contacts clean and undamaged without having to keep track of one of those annoying little plastic caps.
Prototype
Your home holodeck is on the way
It's a sci-fi fan's dream (well this one's, at least): Imagine sitting down to dinner at the captain's table aboard the Enterprise with T'Pol, or taking your place at ``the conn" on the bridge. Everywhere you look, the ship is reproduced in exact detail, right in your own home.
James Tunick, president of the New York-based new media agency Studio IMC (www.studioimc.com) believes such home ``holodecks" may be commercially available in less than five years, as the prices of high-end flat-panel displays and digital video projectors continue to decline. Much of the software for immersive environments is under development at major universities and hi-tech firms.
You can move about the objects in these virtual worlds, and view them from every angle. The only difference is that you can't actually reach out and touch your virtual dinner date -- at least not just yet.
Studio IMC (Interactive Multimedia Culture) has developed a metal orb, called a crystal ball, which has infrared sensors that detect your body gestures when you are near it. IMC has already set up interactive promotions for Heineken (which puts you inside a beer bottle) and other companies.
Studio IMC also aims to be the ``William Morris agency for new media artists" who will create content for immersive entertainment systems, said Tunick.
Home Entertainment
A monster screen makes your plasma TV look like a postage stamp
Just in case you can't get enough of the sweat beading on the faces of your favorite USGA players, Panasonic plans to ship a 103-inch, 1080-pixel HD plasma TV later this year. The TH-1103PZ600U (let's just call it ``the monster," shall we?) is about 7 feet wide by 4 feet high, so even in the most generously proportioned McMansion, some items will be displaced. The built-to-order 103-inch Panasonic will be available through high-end electronics retailers for about $70,000 per unit. Because it is so huge (the size of four 50-inch HDTV plasma sets) you won't be able to drive it away yourself. Your retailer will have to install the TH-1103PZ600U for you.
