Personal Tech
Hardware
I've just severed my .Mac account. I used the service for Apple newbies for at least six years, so I'd have some place other than my chaotic home office to back up my files. But at $150 to $200 a year for 30GB of storage, max, I never felt I got my money's worth.
That doesn't mean I'm planning to work without a safety net, however. Iomega recently released dual-interface (FireWire and USB 2.0) versions of its eGo Portable Hard Drive, in 160GB and 250GB.
Prices range from about $130 to $190, depending on the drive's capacity. (I always say more is better, if you can afford it.)
If you are a Mac user, I strongly recommend using the eGo for backups. I plugged the eGo into my iMac's FireWire port last week. No drivers, no third-party software, no worries: The eGo was truly plug-and-play.
Time Machine popped up to ask whether I wanted to make the eGo my drive for automatic backups. (Time Machine is a Mac OS X system utility that keeps hourly backups of everything on your system for the past 24 hours, daily backups for the last month, plus weekly backups, until you run out of disk space.)
Looks and mobility are not important to me when it comes to hard disks. Besides, no matter which color you choose, your eGo will still look like a whiskey flask. I also suspect the drive's screwed-on plastic end pieces will crack if you drop the unit.
If you worry about losing your data to some at-home disaster (the reason many back up their data online), you can always pop the eGo into a fire safe at night.
Security
This shredder is easy to use just about anywhere
For all the fretting we do about passwords and phishing, it's our junk (snail) mail and receipts the bad guys are using to steal our identities. But who wants to hover over a trash can every day, shredding tons of "convenience checks," bills, and other mail bearing our personal data?
The Ziszor is one shredder that goes anywhere! (At least, this is the line I am pitching for the infomercial.)
You can shred on the couch, in the bathroom, wherever you find a few moments to chop up those dangerous papers.
The hand-held Ziszor (about $40 at ziszor.com) looks like one of those wands the TSA workers wave around you at the airport. It's only 10 inches long and weighs less than 1.5 pounds. It comes with four AA batteries and three catch bags. A box of 30 catch bags for the Ziszor costs about $3.30, and should last a couple of months.
Printers
HP Photosmart gets colors right, connects via Bluetooth or WiFi
My printer ticks me off. I'll bet you feel the same way about the one you picked up for $150 when you bought your PC. Most inkjet machines, even those doubling as scanners, or as copy and fax machines, strike me as shoddy and difficult to dispose of.
But it is amazing how many features you can get in a single machine. The HP Photosmart D7460 is an unbelievable device for the money (about $120 at online retailers).
First, it's a six-color printer (not four-color), so it yields brilliant prints, as good as anything you'll get from digital files at the pharmacy.
Last week, I banged out two beautiful prints in seconds, using the D7460's card reader, which accepts multiple formats.
The D7460 has two trays, one for photo paper, the other for the all-purpose stuff. That way, you do not have to constantly swap in the right stock for a particular job.
The D7460 is also wireless: You can connect to your WiFi router or nearby Bluetooth PC. You set up your network connections using the printer's touch screen.
Innovative last week
OLED displays hard to find in US
If you are mad for display technologies, then you already know that organic light-emitting diodes are the next big thing. OLED relies on layers of organic material to create bright, sharp pictures and will lead to large, ultrathin (and flexible) displays.
OLED is expensive to make at the moment. That's one reason the technology is turning up first on mobile touch screens. Samsung recently released the Soul, a phone with navigation controls on its OLED panel, which change with each application you run on the device.
The Soul will be available in Europe next month. No word yet from Samsung on when the Soul and its OLED ilk will appear stateside.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.
