Sun
1) APPLE WIRELESS MIGHTY MOUSE, $79.
We’ve always found the freedom provided by a wireless mouse was the freedom to accidentally drop it in our wastepaper basket, but that’s just us. Others have been hankering after a wireless version the multi-button Mighty Mouse for some time now, wondering what has been taking Apple so long to cough it up. This Bluetooth 2.0- based mouse comes with four independently programmable buttons so that users can do all sorts of neat things like call up Dashboard or Spotlight instantly. It automatically switches to low power mode during inactivity.
2) SONY TAV-L1 ALL-IN-ONE HOME THEATRE SYSTEM, $4,000 US.
The Sony TAV-L1 might seen a touch pricey for what is essentially a 32-inch LCD flat panel HDTV in a motorized housing, but heck, it does look kind of neat and it has everything you’ll need for great sound. The components of the audio system, including an individual slot-loading DVD player, are housed in the motorized unit that, when you push smartly on that remote, lowers itself to reveal the 1366×768 resolution screen. Other elements of the audio system include two vibration cancelling sub-woofers and a digital amplifier.
3) PENTAX OPTIO S7, ABOUT $300 U.S., AVAILABLE IN SEPTEMBER.
Another one of those ideal trip cameras, although priced less than most in this category, the new Optio S7 comes with face recognition technology (it knows a face when it sees one) and ISOs automatically adjusted as high as 1600 so you can shoot in lower light or catch the action at sporting events. Comes with a 3x optical zoom, a 2.5-inch LCD monitor and 23 megs of internal memory just in case you run out of space on your digital card and absolutely have to have that final photo of the day.
4) STANLEY FATMAX TRULASER DISTANCE MEASURER TLM100, $160.
It’s one thing to sort of know how far away something is and quite another to know the distance for sure. This new device from Stanley has an accuracy at 100 feet of plus or minus 1/4 of an inch. It’s range is two to 100 feet. Now, if you have bigger places to measure then you might want to go to the TLM200 and TLM300 models ($400 and $550.00 respectively).
© The Vancouver Sun 2006
