High Tech Joys
1. COPY IN, DIGITAL COPY OUT
You may do a lot of networking this season, meeting business contacts you’ll want to remember long after the parties are over. Not only does the palm-size OptiCard 821 color scanner capture business cards, but it recognizes the person’s name, company, address, and phone and fax numbers in more than 175 languages. You can then save that info to Excel or Outlook. The scanner also converts photos to digital images that you can save, edit, or print, and converts Office files to searchable PDFs. Pretty nice for $149. http://www.plustek.com
2. REAL EXECUTIVES DON’T ASK DIRECTIONS
If Santa had the TomTom ONE XL·S satellite navigation device, Rudolph would never have become a household name. Not only can you have streets, traffic warnings, and weather info spoken aloud to you, but you can improve the maps too—say, blocking a street under construction. Changes are immediate for you, but TomTom verifies improvements before incorporating them into new map releases. To download changes made by other users before they’re verified, you can use the included PC/Mac software. The XL·S is cool—a cool $400. http://www.tomtom.com
3. MOBILE SECURITY IN A FLASH Thieves don’t take a holiday. So why carry confidential information on an unprotected flash drive? Corsair’s Flash Padlock USB 2.0 drive automatically locks in 15 seconds when it’s removed from your computer, and unlocks with a programmable PIN number up to 10 digits long. This nifty stocking stuffer comes in 1GB ($30) and 2GB ($40) capacities and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms. http://www.corsair.com
CECILIA GALVIN is managing editor of ChannelPro.
4. HEADPHONES FOR THE SOCIAL SET It’s the ultimate gift for MP3 player aficionados: headphones that enable you to listen to music and to the world around you. The speakers in the AirDrives stereo earphones lie on the outside of the ear, so you can go running and still have a conversation with your jog buddy. The speaker placement also makes the earphones more comfortable, and offers protection from potentially damaging decibel levels associated with conventional earbuds. AirDrives can be preordered for $100 (adult); or $70 (child). http://www.inairtechnology.com
