44

IEE

ES

PE

CT

RU

M•

No

vem

ber

2002

CONSUMERL

OG

ITE

CH

INC

.

When is a pen more than a pen? When it has an optical sensor to captureyour pen strokes, a processor to digitize them, and onboard flash me-mory to store up to 40 pages of notes.

The digital Logitech io Pen is significatly fatter than a ballpoint, but com-fortable in the hand and surprisingly light (53 grams with cap). Scribble yournotes, diagrams, or to-do and calendar items on special paper [see “SwedishStart-Up Puts New Spin on Pen and Paper,” IEEE Spectrum, July 2001,pp. 34–36] that helps the optics orient itself in following the text. The papercomes in three varieties: in a familiar Mead notebook, as 3M Post-It notes, orin a FranklinCovey day planner.

Put the pen in its cradle for synchronization through the cradle’s USB con-nection with your Windows 98/Me/2000/XP computer. From there your notesmay be stored or e-mailed using software included in the starter package,which comes complete with pen, cradle, five ink cartridges, an 80-page note-book, and 50 Post-Its. The day planner dubbed iScribe is available onlinefrom its manufacturer. The io Pen will hit retail shelves in January but untilthen will be available only online.

s the gift-giving season approaches,the dizzying variety of electronicgadgets and gizmos is greater

than ever, and making achoice, especially if you have a technophilein mind, has never been tougher. But some-thing from among the items collected heremight strike your fancy. They include a penfrom Logitech that stores handwritten notes

in flash memory; several thumb-size remov-able hard drives that store hefty amounts ofdata in a device that clips onto a key ring; acordless headset for a Bluetooth-enabledphone; and some of the smallest camerasyet, to say nothing of a pair of the personaldigital system (PDA)/cellphone hybrids thatmay win your attention as a cellphone butthen turn out to be far more than that.

A

The Power of the Pen

Prices: US $199 (io Pen) http://www.logitech.com$50 (iScribe) http://www.franklincovey.com

Gifts forTheHolidays

BY WILLIE D. JONESAssistant Editor

IEE

ES

PE

CT

RU

M•

No

vember 2002

TO

P:

T-M

OB

ILE

US

A I

NC

. B

OT

TO

M:

NO

KIA

CO

RP

.

45

Do-It-All Devices at Far Different Prices

The T-Mobile Sidekick is the latest ofthe sleek PDA/phone hybrids intro-duced this year. The 175-gram device,

about the size of a bar of soap, has a 6.5-cm LCD display, which swivels awayfrom the unit to reveal a Qwerty keyboardsomewhat larger than the microscopic typeon two-way pagers [photos, right at top].Best of all, it costs only US $200 (with acti-vation agreement), compared to $599 for aNokia 9290 Communicator, the class inthe field [bottom].

The Sidekick, developed by DangerTechnologies (Palo Alto, Calif.), doesn’toffer everything its competitor does, but ithas many important features—and insome ways outshines its pricier rival.Both have always-on Internet con-nections, but the Sidekick is faster, trans-ferring data at a rate of 53.6 kb/s, versus14.4 kb/s for the Communicator. Thedevices cut down on download times,pulling up stripped-down versionsof Web pages and images.

Both offer AOL Instant Mes-senger and wireless e-mail withsupport for attachments such asWord documents, JPEGs, and AdobePDF files. The Nokia phone has anedge here because its screen displayspages in 4096 colors, while the Sidekickdoes its work in monochrome.

The Communicator also has multi-media capability. It comes with softwarethat converts multiple file types, so youcan send, receive, and view video clips,digital images, and music.

On the other hand, the Sidekick’sheadphone jack doubles as a port for anoptional camera attachment; it takessnapshots that it could then send via e-mail. Handy as it is, the Communicatordoes not take pictures.

For e-mail, the Communicator sup-ports many mail protocols; the Sidekicksupports comparatively few. Thephones are also remarkably similar inthe features and functions available forpersonal information management(PIM), such as an address book, to-dolist, and scheduler.

The Sidekick’s data-syncing capabilityis limited. For the initial transfer of datafrom a PC, the user must upload the in-formation to T-Mobile’s Web site, whichthen forwards it to the device. After that, alladditions have to be done manually andsyncing with programs such as Outlook isnot an option. The Nokia Communicator,on the other hand, syncs readily with PCsusing common PIM applications.

When talking, you can either holdthe T-Mobile unit up to your face—

rather awkwardly—or use it with ahands-free headset. Although a bitclunky compared to the average cell-phone you might see on the street, whenheld to the ear, the Communicator feelslike you’re talking through a phone in-stead of a Nintendo GameBoy. And anymisgivings about its size are sure to besquelched when it is opened lengthwiseto reveal its full Qwerty keyboard andcolor screen. The Communicator canalso send and receive faxes.

Price: US $200http://tmobile.com/

Price: US $599http://www.nokiausa.com/communicator

46

IEE

ES

PE

CT

RU

M•

No

vem

ber

2002

If you’ve ever wanted to share what you were listening to on aportable MP3 player with a group of friends but had no way toamplify the music, look into the Soundbug mini-loudspeak-

er. About the size of a computer mouse, it turns ordinary flat sur-faces such as tabletops, doors, or windows into sounding boardsthat could really blast out your song files. Wave Industries Ltd. hasexploited the properties of a material dubbed Terfenol-D. Devel-oped by the U.S. Navy to improve sonar, the so-called smart mate-rial is highly responsive to magnetic fields or low-voltage electri-cal signals generated by, you guessed it, an MP3 player. It respondsby expanding and contracting strongly, making it well suited for

converting the electrical signals to sound. Placed in contactwith a resonating surface, it turns the surface into a

loudspeaker with 75-dBm peak volume.The Soundbug attaches to surfaces via a suc-

tion cup on its base and plugs into the standard3.5-mm headphone socket of products likeportable CD, MP3, Minidisc, and cassette play-ers, hand-held game consoles, camcorders,and laptop computers. Two Soundbugs canbe parallelled for stereo sound. As for con-trols, you have three options: off, quiet, andloud. A power-save mode automatically shuts

the unit off when no audio source is detected,extending the life of the three AAA batteries

that power it to four hours of continuous play.

What if you could share broad-band access across severalcomputers in different rooms

without ripping up the walls to installEthernet cable everywhere? That’s thestrength of IEEE 802.11b or Wi-Fiwireless networking, which just goteven less troublesome with home net-working kits from Microsoft Broad-band Networking Group.

Setting up a wireless LAN andensuring the network is secure can betricky. Microsoft simplifies the experi-ence by clearly diagramming how towirelessly network two or more PCsusing a base station and either a USBor notebook PC Wi-Fi adapter—theitems in the kit. The diagram also illus-trates how to link the network to a

broadband modem. Those with onealready connected to a PC by an Eth-ernet are shown on the same diagramhow to connect that wired PC to thenow-wireless network .

With the physical network in place,a setup wizard detects the PC’s Inter-net service provider and modem set-tings and automatically configures theattached computer. The wizard copiesthe Wi-Fi network settings to an (in-cluded) setup disk, eliminating theneed to jot down settings and lengthyencryption keys for setting up andsecuring the other PC. The 128-bitwired-equivalent protection (WEP) en-cryption is turned on by default to pre-vent wireless eavesdropping. A built-infirewall is also part of the package.

CONSUMER

Home Networking GoesPlug and Play

Making the Walls Talk

TO

P: W

AV

E IN

DU

ST

RIE

S LT

D.

BO

TT

OM

: MIC

RO

SO

FT

CO

RP

.

Price: US $49.95 at the manufacturer’s Web site,http://www.soundbug-us.com/, but it sells for $29.95 athttp://www.thinkgeek.com.

Price: US $220http://www.microsoft.com/broadbandnetworking

Bluetooth Headset Cuts the Cord

The Casio Exilim EX-M1,which is roughly thesize of an audiocassette,

recently lost the title of theworld’s thinnest digital cam-era to the Pocket Digital [seep. 48]. But the 12.4-mm-thickunit certainly justifies itsextra space, packing in anMP3 player and a media cardslot that supplements its12MB built-in flash memory.

Still, the Exilim is di-minutive enough that a cou-ple of breakthroughs in com-ponent manufacturing were

needed in order to stuff thesefeatures inside. The camera’sspace-saving lens-CCD unitprovides 1.3-megapixel (1280by 960) resolution withoutinterpolation. It also boasts a4-cm color liquid-crystal dis-play that allows you to reviewimages on the spot.

The guts of the camera,including its CPU, RAM, andflash memory, are squeezedonto a single chip, leavingroom for a built-in flash—another camera staple thatcouldn’t be shoehorned into

its slimmer competitor. Modememory retains preconfig-ured settings (like zoom andflash) when you turn it off,restoring them when youpower back up.

Like the Pocket Digital, the Exilim is powered by a

lithium-ion battery whose en-ergy is topped up whenever itis connected via its dockingstation to a computer fordownloading image files. Italso comes with remote con-trol stereo headphones for lis-tening to the MP3 files.

Packing in Extras

IEE

ES

PE

CT

RU

M•

No

vember 2002

47

The HBH-30 headset for Blue-tooth-enabled cellphones has cutthe cord attaching headsets to

phones and portable music players.It’s one of the first products of a jointventure between consumer electron-ics giants Sony and Ericsson.

Matching a phone and headset issimple. The headset is “discovered” by aBluetooth-enabled device, such as SonyEricsson’s T68i mobile phone, once theheadset’s control button is pushed forabout 10 seconds. Thereafter, the de-vices automatically discover each otherand connect when the phone’s Blue-tooth capability is enabled and the head-set is in range. To prevent confusion,

neither the phone nor the headset willrespond to a device to which they havenot been formally introduced.

If your phone supports voice dial-ing, you can initiate calls from theheadset by pressing a button on itsearpiece and saying one of the previ-ously programmed names. The 28-gram device has a maximum standbytime of up to four days and talk timeof up to four hours.

Along with the headset comes aSony Ericsson phone charger thatplugs into it without a cradle. Includedare a belt pouch and a small adhesive-backed holder for a car so the headsetis within easy reach when driving.

TO

P:

SO

NY

EC

ICS

SO

N B

OT

TO

M:

CA

SIO

Price: US $349 http://exilim.casio.com

Price: US $180http://www.ericsson.com

Imagine being asked the time andgiving it after glancing over at whatappears to most people to be noth-

ing more than a badly wiredtraffic light or your kid’swinning science fair entry.The BC-10 TimeCube bina-ry clock, which displays thetime with a panel of six byfour LEDs, is bound to be aconversation starter. Thecolumns represent thenumbers one, two, four, oreight (from right to left), and the rowsassign two LEDs each to the hour,minute, and second.

Thus, to represent the numeral ninein, for instance, 12:59:51, the first andfourth diodes on the fourth row wouldbe lit up. A few seconds later, at 1:00,none of the diodes would be aglow

except the first one on the second row. The circuit board is encased in a

translucent red or green plastic case thatopens up to allow access to three time-set buttons.The TimeCube is availableas a kit or fully assembledat the online store, Elec-tronics USA. The storealso sells a host of othergadgets such as a wirelessdigital audio transmitterthat allows you to broad-

cast sound from, say, a CD player to anearby FM radio.

Another (less expensive) version,which works essentially the same waybut is reminiscent of a control panelfrom “Star Trek”’s Enterprise, is avail-able from the folks at thinkgeek.com.Theirs sells for $19.99.

Time Flashes By

Covert Cameras

CONSUMER

48

IEE

ES

PE

CT

RU

M•

No

vem

ber

2002

TO

P L

EF

T: L

OG

ITE

CH

INC

. TO

P R

IGH

T: C

OO

LIF

E S

TU

DIO

SB

OT

TO

M: N

ICH

OL

AS

EV

EL

EIG

H

Price: US $129.95.http://www.logitech.com

Price: US $49.95 (as a kit) or $69.95 (fully assembled)http://electronicsusa.com/bc10.html

Spies may line up to trade in their Minoxes when they dis-cover the Pocket Digital camera from Logitech Inc. Itcould easily be mistaken for a business card holder, but

press the tiny button on the back, and the 6-mm-thick device takesa fairly decent snapshot. Its CMOS image sensor draws only 15mW—a good bit less than typical CMOS sensors and far less thanthe charge-coupled devices in most high-end digital cameras.This miserly use of energy means it is unlikely that the camera’slithium polymer battery will run out of juice before a secret agentcan fill the Pocket Digital’s internal, 16MB NAND flash memory.

The CMOS sensor has only 300 000 pixels, but Pocket Digi-tal is marketed as a 1.3-megapixel camera. The extra million or sopixels are added through software interpolation that occurs as

images are being uploaded to a computer. To boost resolution,SMaL Camera Technologies, which licensed the components toLogitech, developed a proprietary technology called Autobrite.Autobrite improves the dynamic range of CMOS and CCD sen-sors, letting them capture images with wide variations in light lev-els without some elements of a photograph being too dark or toowashed out to register.

Naturally, to put the camera in a body this small, some fea-tures that are standard on bigger, more expensive models hadto be jettisoned. For example, an optical viewfinder replaces aliquid-crystal display, and there’s no built-in flash.

The Pocket Digital comes with download software and adriver that allow the choice of which images to transfer.

• If you crave music, consider the Nomad

MuVo memory key, which is also an MP3

player. The 64MB model will store up to 15 MP3

song files downloaded through a USB port. It plays them back

(in the order downloaded) using control buttons on its face.

Power for 12 hours of playback using headphones comes from

a single AAA battery housed in an included cradle. From

Creative Technologies Ltd., the business-card–sized unit comes

in a 128MB as well as a 64MB version.

49

Tons of Storage on a Key Ring

LE

FT

CO

LU

MN

: E

UT

RO

N S

PA

; C

RE

AT

IVE

TE

CH

NO

LO

GY

LT

D.

RIG

HT

CO

LU

MN

: T

RE

K 2

00

0 L

TD

.; P

EN

DR

IVE

.CO

M

• Eutron SpA’s PicoDisk, which has the same capacity range

as the ThumbDrives, relies on 128-bit encryption and your

own PIN to keep data out of the wrong hands.

Taking your files with you is muchless of a hassle, thanks to a hot newproduct: portable, solid-state mem-

ories no bigger than a pack of chewinggum. The devices, which rely on non-volatile EEPROMs of varying capacities,plug into a USB port and are recognized

by the computer as just another remov-able drive. The dozens (or even hun-dreds) of megabytes some of them hold(with 1GB and 2GB models on the way),suits them better than floppy or even Zipdisks for storing digital images, musicfiles, and very long documents.

Many have a clip or ring so they may beattached to a set of keys, hence their beingcalled memory keys. Other advantages overZip disks include a smaller, sturdier formfactor, faster access, and no moving partssubject to wear. And they come in differentstrokes for different folks.

Price: ¤82.50 (64MB model),¤124 (128MB model)http://www.eutron.com/pico.asp

Price: US $129.99 (64MB model) $169.99 (128MB model)

http://www.nomadworld.com

IEE

ES

PE

CT

RU

M•

No

vember 2002

• For digital camera fans, the PenDrive.com’s PenDrive Plus

includes a slot that accepts SD and MultiMedia cards. Even

if its flash memory is filled with important documents, you

can free your camera’s wafer-size memory cards to take

more snapshots.

Price: ¤129 (128MB model), ¤229 (256MB model)http://www.pendriveshop.de

Additional reporting by Elizabeth A. Bretz

• If security is a concern, the ThumbDrive Touch has a built-in

fingerprint sensor that won’t let just anyone get at the key’s

contents. Software included by Trek 2000 International Ltd.

allows you to authorize use by two other people plus yourself.

Capacity ranges from 32MB to 128MB.

Price: US $99 (64MB model)http://www.trekstorusa.com