Technology you'll want to take to school
It's that time again -- not only for pencils, books, and dirty looks, but for Facebooking, rating professors, and seeking out WiFi hot spots.
Teachers, as you attempt to dazzle your audiences with digital whiteboards and projectors, do not begrudge your students their own toys.
Yes, smart phones are good for cheating, but they are also good for taking notes and for outlining projects.
And yes, some pens are doubling as MP3 players, but they also serve as scanners.
So now might be the time to redraw the boundaries for using technology in the classroom.
Below, you'll find a few fun items to add to your educational mix, whether you are heading to middle school, high school, or college. And whether you plan to be at the head of the class or in the back row.
Taking notes
Pentop computer for school
If I used a pen that stored everything I jotted down, all I'd wind up with at the end of the week would be copies of meaningless notes and my signature sketches of the Starship Enterprise, such as the one my sister-in-law discovered once on a guest card at our church.
The new Fly Fusion Pentop computer captures, digitizes, and converts your chicken scratch into editable text with software that runs on your PC. It even has a built-in "tutor" that will help you complete your algebra homework, for example, when it detects you have started writing a formula.
Similarly, the Fly Fusion recognizes when you have written down a name from the Periodic Table, and tells you its symbol.
The Fly Fusion also translates English words into Spanish or French, and will help you outline essays.
In other words, this should make a good homework assistant, but good luck getting your teacher to let you take a test with it. The device (about $80 at flyworld.com) connects to your PC (sorry no Macs) via a USB cable, which is included.
Play
The new Sony PSP connects you to virtual worlds
Work and play mix on campus like no place else. Now you can say the same for Sony's refreshed PSP gaming system, due out in September.
The new, lighter, and slimmer PSP (in black, silver, and white) will also let you store music, video, and photos, and play some games wirelessly with friends nearby and over the Internet. The device also has a video-out port for playing videos and games on bigger screens.
The PSP will be rolled out in the fall, bundled in limited edition "entertainment packs" featuring the Star War Battlefront and other popular games.
Keeping in Touch
A Dutch-designed webcam for the dorm
Whatever you place on your dorm room desk, the people in charge are likely to view it with suspicion. That vase? Looks like a bong. Exercise ball? Probably filled with beer. Your new desktop gadgets might also catch the eye of an authority figure.
Take the sexy Alibi, from the Dutch design firm Boynq (Boynq.com). It's a tube-shaped webcam that looks like it has something to hide. The camera's lens peeps out from a colorful rubberized collar, and its lid, tilted sideways, gives the Boynq a bit of a sketchy look that I like.
The Alibi (about $80 at Amazon.com and Target.com) has a built-in 5-watt speaker and a directional microphone with noise cancellation, so your webcam buddies should hear less of those annoying echoes that your PC's built-in microphone can produce.
You can tilt the Alibi's lens 25 degrees, and rotate it 300 degrees, if you want to document your roommate's annoying habits, for instance.
The USB-powered Alibi has a rubberized shell that comes in purple, blue, or orange.
Finding your way
A lightweight traveling and computing companion
It's no fun getting lost in a new city, especially when you're carrying excess baggage.
The HTC Advantage (htc.com), a laptop-style mobile phone available for about $850 at Amazon.com (for the lesser-equipped of two models), may be a good fit for users of business and productivity applications, and college students who like to surf from one WiFi café to the next.
The Microsoft Windows Mobile 6 device (loaded with Office Mobile apps) supports a number of cellular networks, as well as GPS, WiFi, and Bluetooth. It also ships with TeleNav GPS Navigator, helping you find your way about town, and lets you mark the WiFi hotspots and other notable sites you come across.
For a monthly fee (about $10), you get turn-by-turn directions and movable maps.
The Advantage weighs less than 13 ounces and measures about 4 by 5 1/4 inches. It is less than an inch thick.
It has a full, if tiny, QWERTY keyboard and a 5-inch display -- huge for a mobile phone, but, quite honestly, pathetic for a laptop.
The Advantage ships unlocked, but check with your wireless carrier first to be sure you will be able to use your service on the new device.
Innovative last week
Headphones for the iPhone
You look pretty good with your new iPhone, but you will look a whole lot better wearing a pair of V-Moda Vibe Duo headphones (v-moda.com). The headphones, which work with the iPod and other MP3 players, has a microphone for making calls on the Apple device. The Vibe Duo is available in black or chrome and has studded metal parts, with soft silicone ear fittings and black fabric-covered cables. Some users are beefing about the Duo's lack of a switch that lets you stop your music while taking a call. Perhaps that, and the Vibe Duo's cost (about $100), are among the prices you pay for looking marvelous.
