Gillian Shaw
Sun
Latitude 2100, Dell
Aspire One AO751h netbook, Acer
iFrogz EarPollution earphones, iFrogz
Photo Shower Curtain, PhotoShowerCurtain.com
Latitude 2100, Dell, from $495
A netbook on every school desk. Already, university and college classrooms are a sea of laptop screens and now Dell has come up with a 10.1-inch netbook geared to the kindergarten to Grade 12 crowd. Clearly a company that has peaked into the backpacks of the average 11-year-old, Dell has given the Latitude 2100 a ruggedized design with a rubber casing for easy gripping. Wireless connectivity is a given, of course, and this netbook has an optional web cam. A network activity light on the lid is a giveaway for students who may not want the teacher to catch them web surfing. Weighing in at 1.32 kilograms, and available with a three- or six-cell battery, the Latitude 2100 has a three-in-one media card reader, optional external DVD+/-RW that plugs into the USB, and an optional touchscreen. Comes in five colours. www.dell.ca/latitude
Aspire One AO751h netbook, Acer, from $430
When this netbook craze started, the whole point was their tiny size — eight inches and smaller opened this new category. The tiny screens and keyboards have been giving way to larger ones, and Acer is pushing the netbook envelope with an 11.6-inch version, but promises it is thinner and lighter than earlier netbooks. However, it is larger overall and has a larger screen and full-sized keyboard to match. It’s blurring the lines between conventional notebook computers and their junior cousins, but Acer is the top netbook seller in Canada with a 72-per-cent market share and 80,380 units shipped, so it must be doing something right. From $430 with the extended six-cell battery version starting at $470. www.acer.com.
iFrogz EarPollution earphones, iFrogz, starting at $8 US for children’s to $20 and up for adults
Customize your headphones with a lineup that lets you mix and match components from the headband, base, side piece, speaker pieces, cushions and hinge piece to create your own look. The EarPollution lineup also offers earbuds in three styles with three earfit pieces to make fitting easier. Find them at ifrogz.com/earpollution.
Photo Shower Curtain, PhotoShowerCurtain.com, from $150 US
It’s the time of year for that perennial dilemma — what to get Dad for Father’s Day that he doesn’t already have. I’m betting the average dad doesn’t have a life-sized reprint of his favourite photo staring back at him in the shower. These curtains use a process that fuses the image into the fabric to create a permanent and durable image, according to PhotoShowerCurtain.com that takes customers’ photos and transforms them into the curtains. www.photoshowercurtain.com.
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