Skype phones are cheap and handy
Net telephony
USRobotics has just turned out two new (and cheap) USB VoIP phones you can slip into your collegians' duffel bags this week. The phones are handy and reliable. Of course, I can't guarantee your kids will ever use them.
The phones, the USR9601 USB Internet Phone and the less sophisticated USR9602 USB Internet Mini Phone, are ``Skype certified" -- meaning they are guaranteed to work with the increasingly popular Internet calling service. (I've read that there are more than 110 million Skype members, but I've only Skyped with one or two of them myself.)
With one of these phones, you can activate Skype on your computer with the push of a button and dial any US or Canadian telephone number directly. With Skype, domestic calls (and those to other Skypers anywhere) are free. International calls are fairly cheap, and are debited from your ``SkypeOut" account.
The 9602 is lightweight and a tad longer than a candy bar cellphone, and costs about $25. The beefier 9601 (about $50) offers additional features common to many landline phones, such as speed dial and a blue backlit LCD display for caller ID and viewing contact lists.
The USRobotics phones are designed to help reduce the echoes and ``tunnel" sounds common to Internet calls, and they do help block out background noise. (USRobotics also offers a USB speakerphone and a USB telephone adapter for Skype. It also plans to introduce new Skype products later this year.)
But there are other alternatives to your PC's built-in microphone and speakers. Any good USB headset will vastly improve the quality of your Skype calls. I use a Bluetooth headset myself, with excellent results. And bear in mind that the 9601 and 9602, like most other Skype certified phones, are only for Windows PCs. If your kid is packing a Mac, they won't work.
Books
A new dictionary sorts the SIMs from the SIMMs
A friend last week asked me how many kilobytes are in a megabyte. I said a thousand.
Actually, it is 1,024 -- something I was reminded of when I consulted a very helpful new reference book, ``High Definition: An A to Z Guide to Personal Technology" (Houghton Mifflin), due out in October.
(It's currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com.)
The dictionary, from the editors of American Heritage Dictionaries, distinguishes between the terms ``internet" (a network of computers) and ``Internet" (a matrix of networks that connects computers together.)
It also wastes space on some antiquated entries such as ``vaporware" (software promised but never produced). More helpfully, it clarifies esoteric terms such as ``IP spoofing," ``script kiddie," and ``packet sniffer."
Here is my favorite entry for a digital-age activity, and it's a new one to me:
``Zapruder: To analyze a movie or video frame by frame in order to discover details in the image that are not easily seen during normal playback."
Accessories
Here's a backpack to foil the laptop thieves
Ever notice how many stolen laptops are reported to have tens of thousands of sensitive personal records on them? If someone stole my iBook they wouldn't find that much data, but the loss to me -- of drafts and manuscripts, receipts and contacts -- would be pretty damaging.
Most likely, if your laptop is stolen, it will be lost along with your carrying case in a coffeehouse or other public space. But if you fear a crafty thief might lift your laptop or MP3 player from your pack on a crowded Green Line trolley, you might want to check out the SecurePack backpack, from Mobile Edge (www.mobileedge.com).
Mobile Edge says it's virtually pickpocket-proof, because it lacks external zippers and pockets. To get inside the pack, you have to take it off first.
The padded backpack holds laptops of up to 17 inches, and has pockets and penholders and a special pouch for your iPod (and a hole through which you can thread your headphone cables). Its shape and textures give the SecurePack the look of either a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle breastplate or a CamelBak that can keep you hydrated for an entire week. The backpack, about $80, comes in either black and yellow or urban camouflage, both with reflective trim. 