Squeezebox Duet unleashes music on your computer

Edward C. Baig
USA Today

A lot of folks listen to music on — let’s face it — ho-hum-sounding computer speakers. About 95 million people are expected to pay for online music services this year, researcher IDC says. IDC adds that nearly two of three adults who use computers at home or the office access music on their PCs.

It doesn’t have to be that way. The new Logitech Squeezebox Duet network music system I’ve been testing liberates your music from the room in which the computer resides. That means you can wirelessly take Internet radio or songs trapped on a PC or Mac, and hear them pumped through the finest stereo in your house.

One big caveat: Squeezebox cannot play music that has copy protection — including many songs from Apple’s iTunes music store.

Squeezebox consists of just two components: a standard-size remote controller with a 2.4-inch, color LCD screen and a paperback-size black receiver that attaches to your stereo or powered speakers. They connect to your computer and each other via your home network.

You can do virtually everything from the palm of your hand, at least after the initial setup. The controller lets you browse and choose the music you want to play — from a gaggle of Internet radio stations, free and subscription services, such as Rhapsody, Pandora and Slacker, and your own music collection.

You can play podcasts and sound effects provided by the Squeezebox service (babbling brook, crackling fire, etc). And the remote can display album art, Flickr screensavers and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) news feeds.

With extra receivers, you can play the same song in multiple rooms or different songs in different rooms.

Squeezebox invites comparisons to the Sonos Digital Music system I raved about three years ago. Sonos set the standard for products of this type and is easier to set up and use. Still, Squeezebox is a welcome lower-cost alternative. It costs $400 for a single-room system vs. $1,000 for a two-room Sonos bundle. Extra Squeezebox receivers cost $150; extra controllers, cost $300. Here’s a closer look:

•Installation. Setup can be tricky for a non-techie. You have to be comfortable with your home networking settings. You can use Wi-Fi and/or ethernet. If you use Wi-Fi, you’ll have to enter its security key (if there is one) using the controller’s not-quite-iPod-caliber scroll wheel. Squeezebox uses the common 802.11g Wi-Fi technology that does not need a line of sight to the receiver. I had no problem controlling a basement receiver from an upper floor.

You’ll also have to connect the Squeezebox receiver to your home stereo or any powered speakers you want to listen through. You can do so via standard RCA-type analog cables, which are supplied, or digital optical and co-ax cables, which are not.

You can use Squeezebox without a computer, but you’ll need one for setup. You create a free online account at Logitech’s SqueezeNetwork. There, you enter account information for radio stations and music services you want to access on the remote, including Rhapsody and Pandora. You can also download software that lets you play tracks stored on a PC or Mac, as long as they don’t have copy protection.

I also created an online Music Locker account on MP3tunes.com. Uploading to the Music Locker meant I could leave my computer off and still hear my collection. Other restrictions may apply: For example, Rhapsody lets you connect to no more than three hardware devices per account.

Among the Internet radio options at your disposal are Live365, Radio IO and Shoutcast. If you know the URL or Web address of a favorite radio stream, you may also be able to play that over the network. Through another service called RadioTime, I was able to access local New York City stations.

•Playing music. The Squeezebox remote is generally easy to navigate. There’s the typical fast-forward, rewind and volume buttons, plus other controls to add songs or genres to a playlist. You can move up and down menus via the scroll wheel. The main menu is segregated by Music Library, Internet Radio and Music Services, and Settings, among other choices.

Still, it wasn’t intuitive enough. I was often tempted to start a song by pressing the center button inside the scroll wheel rather than a dedicated play button. You also have to choose a menu item to turn Squeezebox off. I’d prefer a physical button.

Annoyances: If the controller is in sleep mode, you’ll experience a brief delay before it reconnects to Wi-Fi.

Twice while using Pandora and Slacker, album art on the LCD didn’t refresh when a new song began. Rhapsody failed because of an unspecified “internal system error.”

The controller is an “open-source” Linux computer that developers can enhance in the future. They might take advantage of a limited-functioning headphone jack on top of the remote and an SD (Secure Digital) memory card slot in the battery compartment.

The battery is removable. Logitech says you can go 20-plus hours during basic use or five hours of constant scrolling, but I did have to recharge the unit a couple of times after not doing so overnight.

Despite imperfections, Squeezebox Duet is a fine product for people who want to free up digital music throughout the house.

 

Other

This is the single most significant wireless innovation since the introduction of the Blackberry. It takes more than a gadget these days to get my sincere attention but this is a killer business device that no laptop user should be without. Exclusively from Rogers the Ovation USB Mobile Broadband modems. These are truly as simple as plug in and connect. No software to load with full support for Windows XP, Mac OS X, and Vista (yes, even 64 bit Vista).

So here is what it is: much the same way you would plug in a USB flash drive you can plug this modem (which is the same size as a stick of gum) into any Laptop or Desk Top and instantly have Full High Speed internet. In real world tests (on the Rogers network) this device has obtained steady connections of about 2.5MB download and about 1.5MB upload. The user experience is the same as being connected to high speed residential internet such as Shaw Cable, Bell or Telus DSL etc. No longer do you need to run around looking for a hotspot or internet café. No need to purchase daily access from Hotels or Airport lounges. This is commercial grade mobile broadband for everyone. Instantly download attachments of any size, use your Laptop as you always do ANYWHERE! This is also ideal as a back up for connected networks in case the primary internet connection goes down.

One of the smallest mobile broadband USB modems available for global wireless connectivity, the Ovation MC950D is easy to install and use. Simply plug your device into a computer and allow the device to install and connect as no CD installation is required for Windows. Designed for HSPA, the Ovation MC950D delivers broadband download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps. It also has the lowest power consumption over any other wireless WAN USB device so you don’t have to worry about it draining your laptop battery power! This high speed laptop access modem works in North America, Europe and countries around world in supported bands.

Many companies have a Virtual Private Network solution in place to allow remote access to e-mail and the corporate LAN for their employees. Check with your company’s IT department to find out if a VPN solution is supported by your company.
If you use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access your e-mail or Local Area Network, you will need to subscribe to the Rogers Wireless VPN service. You can then connect to the Rogers Wireless VPN Connection and start your existing VPN software.

World

Tired of Nigerian money hustle, inventive Net users wear down swindlers

Ethan Baron
Province

Scam artist “Patrick Chan” must have thought his dreams had come true when he received a gushing e-mail from a Surrey woman named Nissa.

Like most Internet scammers, Chan’s true identity and location are unknown. But his motivation was clear. And Nissa, like a growing number of web surfers around the world, is doing her best to make his dream and those of other fraudulent e-mail scammers a nightmare.

She’s declared war on Internet scammers such as Chan. Nissa’s goal, shared by others whose work is profiled on websites such as thescambaiter.com, and 419eater.com, is to tie up scammers’ time and resources so they’ll have less time to cheat people.

And Nissa, who did not want her last name revealed, has another motivation: “It’s fun.”

Chan’s initial contact with Nissa will sound familiar: Posing as executive director and chief financial officer of a major Hong Kong-based bank, he proposed a “business project” that would require her to spend no money other than the cost of setting up an overseas bank account.

Of course, she would need to send her personal information to Chan to facilitate a massive cash transfer.

The pitch is known by fraud watchers at Phonebusters.com as “Advanced Fee Letter Fraud,” and as the Nigerian letter scam.

It is one of several scams that show up routinely in Canadian e-mail boxes. Ontario-based Phonebusters.com, the Canadian anti-fraud phone centre, lists the main solicitations as those involving:

– Donations to false charities.

– Inheritance schemes where the target is promised a share of wealth.

– The prize pitch, where the targets are advised they’re lottery winners but need to send their private information or cash to collect.

– And phishing, where the scammers pose as genuine banks or other organizations and ask for personal information.

More menacing is the “hit man” e-mail, a relatively new scam that recently surfaced in Vernon in which a supposed hit man hired to assassinate the e-mail recipient writes he will only abort his mission in exchange for a large payoff.

E-scamming is serious business.

Fake lottery letters and e-mails snared at least 4,000 Canadians and suckered them out of $18 million last year, according to Phonebusters.

At least 4,633 Canadians had their identity stolen and were defrauded of $6.4 million online, by letter and phone. The Nigerian scam alone fooled 152 Canadians to the tune of $5.2 million.

Taken in that context, Chan’s grand plans don’t seem so laughably harmless. Nissa’s response was designed to turn the tables.

“I don’t want to miss this chance!!!” she wrote. “I am so glad you sent me an e-mail!”

She’s been “baiting” Chan for about three weeks, with requests for additional information.

“I think I can get a few months out of him,” she said.

British Columbians are still falling for e-mail scams, said Lynda Pasacreta, chairwoman of the Mainland B.C. Better Business Bureau.

Rather than baiting scammers, it’s best to ignore them, Pasacreta said.

“As long as people respond, or send money, or give them opportunities to create identity theft, they’ll just keep on,” she said.

Follow Nissa’s correspondence with Patrick Chan.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

It’s great for the car on your way to a meeting

Lowell Conn
Province

The ultimate improbable car gadget, Planon’s Printstik PS910, is a portable car printer that prints documents from a PDA or laptop via hardwire or Bluetooth. This product is so compact that people are more likely to mistake it for a blunt weapon than an office accessory.

It also is so small that it prints on a special roll exclusively designed for it. With print speeds of up to three pages per minute, it’s not the quickest printer. But when you need that small document printed on the way to a meeting, desperate times call for desperate measures. The accompanying software even allows BlackBerry users to print from their devices.

Weighing in at only 0.68 kilograms and featuring a battery that will print 30 pages on one charge, it may not be ideal for printing epic-sized tomes. $300;

visit www.planon.com.

A CB gets BT

While CB radios have not penetrated beyond a certain niche market, we wonder whether Cobra’s newly unveiled 29 LTD BT CB Radio will break this trend. Modelled after the popular 29 LTD series, it adds Bluetooth technology for easy transmission of cellphone calls. It does not technically solve the dilemma of freeing up your hands, but individuals who need a CB will see this as a natural evolution to making their radio a one-stop communication shop. Providing access to emergency channels as well as tactile control to keep drivers’ eyes on the road, it arrives with a noise-cancelling microphone and five-watt speaker that offers more than enough listening power.

We suspect there may be a retro-edgy subculture of drivers who may have an interest in mounting this device on their compact’s dashboard. $190; visit www.cobra.com.

Safe, cool, entertaining

It is always gratifying when a safety gadget happens to be a cool gadget, too. Boyo’s VTC461R falls into this category.

It’s a rear-view camera combined with a 15-centimere colour mirror monitor that also serves as a DVD monitor. Consumers need only attach the waterproof-housed camera to the licence-plate frame, clip the video monitor over the rear-view mirror and switch the car into reverse. A video feed from the rear-view camera will immediately turn on, helping drivers back up safely. The monitor and camera connect to one another through a wireless 2.4-GHz transmitter, $300; visit www.boyovta.com.

© The Vancouver Province 2008

 

Edward C. Baig
USA Today

You use a computer at work, one at home and a third when you travel. You carry an Internet-capable smartphone, too. If only your documents, photos and other files could be synchronized across all of them (and the Web) so that when you alter a file on one, changes are reflected on the others.

That’s the promise behind a consumer-oriented “push synchronization” service called SugarSync. It launches Thursday from Silicon Valley start-up Sharpcast, whose photo-only sync service has been commercially available for a year.

SugarSync extends syncing to documents and other digital media files. It doesn’t matter if stuff resides on a Windows PC or Mac. I’ve been testing it on two Windows desktops (one running XP Pro, the other Vista Ultimate) and an iMac (OS X Leopard).

The service was buggy in my tests, and there’s room to add and improve some features. But I’m hooked on the concept.

SugarSync goes well beyond regular online backup services. You have remote access to your files, even from some mobile phones — no need to e-mail files to yourself or carry portable USB drives.

And there’s the syncing itself. SugarSync lets you work as always. You might create or change a document in Microsoft Word. SugarSync transparently handles the heavy lifting so that it is replicated on other machines, usually quite fast. Or rotate a photo in Google’s Picasa and have it refreshed elsewhere. Files reside in the same directories they always have.

PCs you are syncing need not be online (or even turned on) at the same time. If your work computer is off when you a tweak a file at home, the edits will sync automatically when the work machine reconnects online.

You can browse and send files on your computers from Web-capable phones. The mobile version of SugarSync is optimized to run on BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices. You can take a picture from one of these smartphones and have images turn up on synced computers. You can’t yet sync documents.

I tested SugarSync from a Windows Mobile-powered Palm Treo and an iPhone. I could view pictures and documents on the Treo but only photos on the iPhone. Sharpcast is licensing its sync technology to wireless carriers, broadband operators and manufacturers.

The Mac version is glitchy. At times, changes I made to Word documents on the iMac were not immediately reflected on my PCs. Instead, I saw a “Pending Upload” message. Sharpcast says the Mac software was in its early “alpha” testing stage and only Thursday graduates to a more advanced “beta” stage. The company is shooting for a full 1.0 release later in the spring.

Here’s more on SugarSync:

•Pricing. Subscriptions are tied to the amount of online storage you have, rather than the number of machines you sync. You can sync as many machines as you want, but the service isn’t cheap. A basic subscription gives you 10 gigabytes of online storage for $5 a month or $50 a year. A 30-GB plan costs $10 a month or $100 a year. The top-tier 250-GB plan costs $50 a month and $500 a year. SugarSync includes a 45-day free trial. First year prices are half off for Sharpcast Photos subscribers and SugarSync beta testers.

•The kitchen sync. Upon signing up, you’ll be issued a secure personal website — username.sugarsync.com — so you can remotely view your stuff from any computer connected online.

You’ll have to download SugarSync Manager software onto each computer you actually want to sync. The software displays the folders and files you are syncing and backing up across all your machines. The initial upload can take days or even weeks.

There are a couple of ways to sync. A “full sync” ensures that changes to files and folders are replicated on all computers. While you can do a “full sync” from any folder, SugarSync includes a folder called Magic Briefcase that makes it convenient to drag in files you want to keep close tabs on.

Fully synced folders and files take up space on all the computers you are syncing. If space is cramped, you can do a “lite” sync to remotely fetch files on demand. Only when you save files will changes appear elsewhere.

SugarSync also gives you access to a Web archive to permanently store versions of files that are later deleted or modified.

•Contacts. You can import contacts from Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL into a SugarSync address book (for e-mailing photos and files to pals). It’s an address book without spice. There are no fields for phone numbers, snail-mail addresses or other data.

Sharpcast plans to add all that later in the spring when you’ll also be able to import contacts from Microsoft Outlook. Also coming: the ability to remotely stream full playlists and albums that originate on another computer from a Web browser or mobile phone.

Once such new features arrive and bugs are addressed, this imperfect but worthwhile service promises to only get sweeter.

Murderbox crafts high-end computers with a flair for design and personality

Marke Andrews
Sun

Charles Harwood’s Murderbox is a cottage industry, literally.

Harwood builds Murderbox, a custom-made computer, in his Vancouver condo, and the business is — at least for now — strictly local. Harwood gets his message out by word-of-mouth, builds a single computer unit when he gets an order and personally installs it at the client’s house.

“I’m only selling them locally for now because I want to have the ability, if an issue arises, to deal with it first hand,” says Harwood. “I don’t want to just build them and ship them off and hope for the best.

“If I’m going to be in this market, I want to make sure I’m providing 100 per cent service to my customers.”

These are early days for Harwood’s business. He built his first Murderbox for a friend, Vancouver screenwriter Simon Barry, last summer, and has made just three units thus far.

Harwood began using computers professionally in 1994 when he worked in the visual effects industry in Vancouver. He kept wanting to modify the machines he used at the office, seeing the shortcomings of each design. He also had an interest in esthetics, “which in the PC world is something that doesn’t exist.”

When Barry approached him about designing a PC for the screenwriter, Harwood researched the technology and came up with the Murderbox, an attention-grabbing name meant to play on the term “killer” when used to define the best of the best. At first, Barry’s computer was a one-off, but that changed once the machine was built.

“Just seeing the way Simon reacted to it, and seeing how he appreciated the workmanship that went into this, that’s when I came up with the idea of doing this [as a business],” says Harwood.

The Murderbox (details of which are at www.murderbox.com) uses an existing aluminum chassis, the Silverstone TJ07, which Harwood modifies with his own interior design. The machine is water-cooled, a quiet alternative to noisy fans. He then installs the latest video card, hard drive and processor. Because technology for these latter items changes so quickly, Harwood does not want to stockpile machines, preferring to build them on an order-by-order basis.

“If a new product comes out tomorrow and you’ve commissioned me to build a computer today, if I haven’t already ordered the [older] product, I can put the newest product in your computer,” says Harwood, who will also upgrade a Murderbox if a buyer who already has one wants the latest technology.

A Murderbox sells for $6,200, and is guaranteed for delivery within three weeks.

Design is an element Harwood feels is missing at the big computer manufacturers, who mass-produce their products, and is often overlooked by hard-core computer users, who stress efficiency and performance.

“I wanted Simon’s computer to look clean, unique and elegant,” says Harwood. “I was very happy with the result, and I’ve since modified it.”

Barry is a satisfied customer.

“The most important thing for me is it’s completely silent,” says Barry. “It plays high-definition movies and runs the latest video games, which is important because I sometimes do video-game adaptations for screenplays. It’s a restriction-less machine.”

Harwood’s cottage industry is partly by choice (quality control), and partly out of necessity (he’s in this business on his own).

“I’m looking for some venture capital to get this to the next level,” says Harwood, whose long-range plans include having a rep in every major Canadian city who could do the hands-on care that he’s performed in Vancouver.

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Marc Saltzman
USA Today

The high-definition-video war may be over now that Toshiba has conceded defeat for its ailing HD DVD format, but those interested in buying a high-def Blu-ray player still might want to wait for new features coming in the fall.

Sure, existing Blu-ray machines can play the nearly 500 Blu-ray discs available. They can deliver gorgeous, top-of-the-line 1080p resolution on compatible high-def televisions. But the next crop of Blu-ray players will be compliant with the upcoming Profile 2.0 standard, which adds Internet connectivity to the machines via a feature called BD-Live.

“Imagine being able to download high-definition trailers to current theatrical releases right to your TV, or selecting additional language tracks or other online bonus materials,” says Josh Martin, a senior analyst at consulting firm Yankee Group.

Depending on the disc, BD-Live will also let people chat in real time during films, type in their mobile phone numbers for free movie-related ring tones, play online multiplayer games or upload custom-made audio commentary.

Sony  has announced two upcoming Blu-ray machines with Profile 2.0 support: the BDP-S350, available this summer for $399, which can be updated to the latest profile over the Internet when it’s available; and the BDP-S550 ($499), which will ship with Profile 2.0 in the fall.

“Technology always evolves, and new features are added to platforms continually, whether it’s a Blu-ray machine or other consumer electronics products,” says Chris Fawcett, vice president of home video at Sony Electronics.

The new Sony players will include extras such as built-in or expandable memory and multiple audio technologies, including Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD High Resolution Audio or DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, depending on the model.

The Sony PlayStation 3 ($399) video game system, which also has Blu-ray playback functionality, offers a future-proof solution. Sony says the Internet-connected console can download an update for the Profile 2.0 standard.

For now, the most up-to-date Blu-ray players offer picture-in-picture functionality, also known as BonusView. That allows simultaneous video and audio streams so that you could, for instance, have a small window with video commentary while watching the feature film. Unlike regular DVD players, Blu-ray machines also let viewers turn on some bonus features, such as director commentary, with one button on the remote, as opposed to leaving the film to visit the disc’s main menu.

Not for everyone

Many people who decide to wait to buy a BD-Live-capable Blu-ray machine probably won’t even use that feature, notes Martin. “These upcoming players aren’t for everyone, especially for those who just want to watch the movie,” he says.

The BD-Live players connect to the Internet via an ethernet plug in the back of the unit. But “not everyone has a broadband connection in their family room,” notes Sandra Benedetto, spokeswoman for the Blu-ray Disc Association trade group.

Will BD-Live-enhanced discs work with current-generation Blu-ray players? Generally, yes, Benedetto says. “The BD-Live feature just won’t be available.”

The death of HD DVD will not mean automatic victory for Blu-ray, says Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch, the New York-based IT research firm. “With high-quality and cheap ‘upscaling‘ DVD players at one end and HD downloads more common, the Blu-ray folks will need to work hard to win the hearts, minds and wallets of consumers to adopt.”

All kinds of features

Consumers who purchase the newer Blu-ray machines should keep in mind that the Blu-ray discs themselves must also support advanced features such as BD-Live and BonusView.

Lionsgate’s horror sequel Saw IV is heralded as the first BD-Live-ready Blu-ray disc. It contains an interactive feature called MoLog (short for movie blog), where viewers can share their own audio or video content or join an online discussion using an onscreen keyboard. While the disc came out in January, the online BD-Live features will have to wait until the Profile 2.0 standard is here.

Fox’s Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, available on Blu-ray April 15, will include a BonusView picture-in-picture reference guide called Weyland-Yutani Archives, letting viewers hack into the movie-based corporation’s secret computer to read about “all things Alien and Predator,” says Fox. The franchise’s first BD-Live content won’t be available until later this year when Fox reissues the original Alien vs. Predator on Blu-ray with a multiplayer online game called Alien vs. Predator vs. You, demonstrated

Disney’s first BD-Live title will be a Blu-ray Platinum Edition of Sleeping Beauty, scheduled for October release.

Network connecting universities has capacity of five GB per second

Chad Skelton
Sun

B.C.’s universities unveiled a new computer network Monday that redefines the meaning of high-speed Internet, with enough bandwidth to download an entire feature-length film in a single second.

The non-profit network, known as BCNet, connects the province’s major research universities to each other and to the wider world, so they can collaborate and share research data.

Until recently, the network had a capacity of about 1.25 gigabytes per second (GB/s) — fast, but insufficient for some of the major research projects in the province.

Michael Hrybyk, chief executive officer of BCNet, said a $6-million upgrade of the system — paid for by the provincial and federal governments — has quadrupled the network’s capacity to 5 GB/s, or about 50,000 times faster than your high-speed home connection.

What makes the network possible, said Hrybyk, is fibre-optic cable connecting B.C.’s major universities.

Two fibre cables, each no bigger than a strand of hair, can transmit data on up to 72 different wavelengths at once.

Each wavelength — essentially a different colour of light — is able to send up to 1.25 GB of data a second.

At the moment, said Hrybyk, BCNet has turned on just four of those wavelengths.

But, with a little extra equipment, it could turn on all 72, giving the network a bandwidth of 90 GB/s — or enough to download an entire movie library in mere seconds.

“We definitely have a world-class infrastructure network here for our leading researchers,” said Hrybyk.

The new network will be used to share large volumes of data from major research projects, such as the University of Victoria‘s Neptune underwater observatory.

Hrybyk said he also hopes the network will allow more distance learning and collaboration, by allowing students and teachers to do live videoconferencing in crystal-clear high definition.

“It won’t just be a fuzzy image,” he said. “You’ll get a real sense of what the instructor is doing and be able to see the students.”

Hrybyk said it will be some time before consumers have access to Internet speeds like this.

That’s because the wires that go into most people’s homes — copper phone lines and coaxial cables — simply don’t have the capacity of fibre-optic cable.

“The current infrastructure we have serving our homes and businesses is really inadequate for these next-generation, data-intensive types of things we’re doing,” he said.

(To learn more about scientific discoveries in B.C., check out The Vancouver Sun’s Science in B.C. blog at www.vancouversun.com/scienceinbc/)

© The Vancouver Sun 2008

Sun

1 Olympus E-420 digital single lens reflex camera, $530 or $630 with ED 14-42mm f3.5/5.6 Zuiko Digital Zoom Lens

Billed as the world’s smallest digital SLR this is aimed at those amateur photographers who are ready to graduate to a SLR model but want the lightest weight and portability. At 380 grams, this latest offering from Olympus is 20 to 40 per cent lighter than competing cameras in its category, although it doesn’t have all the features of some of its heftier siblings. At 10 megapixels with a 2.7-inch LCD and features like on-screen autofocus, face detection, shadow adjustment technology and perfect shot preview, it offers an option for those looking to step it up a notch from their point and shoot. www.olympuscanada.com.

2 GPS Snitch, Blackline GPS, $400 plus monthly tracking service

Sounds like something Jack Bower’s counterterrorist unit would employ. This wireless vehicle security and tracking device provides real-time tracking through the Internet or text messages to your cellphone and it’s small enough to hide in any car, truck, motorcycle, ATV or snowmobile. The battery lasts up to seven days and it can be hardwired into the vehicle’s power. It can also track road trips by allowing the user to import their driving history into Google Earth. www.gps-snitch.com

3 Diamond (like) USB flash drives, Kinlan, $100 for one gigabyte, $200 for eight GB

Dress up your flash drive in diamonds — actually diamond wannabes since Kinlan lists the materials in this as zircon, brass and gold plating even though it has given them the highfalutin’ name, “diamond USB flash drives.” Sorry to disappoint those of you who thought 100 bucks might get you a real diamond. They come on a pendant so you can repurpose your costume jewelry to carry around important files, photos of your kids or any other vital information you care to wear. Kind of this millennium’s version of the old sentimental locket only instead of just holding a couple of photos, you can carry the entire family tree. www.kinlan.com

4 FP-4820 Swivel Top TV Stand, Bell’O International, $200

If your room is too small to swing a cat, you can swing your flat panel television. Put it on this pole and spin it around to watch. With a swivel mount, the stand suspends the TV and lets you turn it almost 360 degrees, making it perfect for that tiny downtown pied-à-terre or anywhere you’re having trouble squeezing in your big screen TV. www.bello.com

© The Vancouver Sun 2008