If you like the idea of making free phone calls all over Canada and the United States, then the MagicJack might be for you. It’s a USB that plugs into your PC or Mac to make calls using the Internet. Plug in a cordless phone with a cable directly into the other end to truly make your calls at home portable. The device and the first year of service costs US$39.95. Get the latest on great gadgets.
It’s vitally important that you back up your data from your computers, but the process should also be easy. Toronto-based Clickfree offers a line of portable external hard drives that work without clicking anything. Just plug it in and it automatically backs up anything that falls within its list of 400+ file types, so your music, photos, video, emails, attachments and other documents and projects are safe. Sizes range between 120GB to 500GB. Read more about great computer accessories.
Have an iPod? A Sony PSP? A digital camera? Ever wanted to move stuff that you have on one of these devices to play on the other? Nero Move It ($59.99) is software for Windows PCs that largely solves that problem by allowing you to plug in different devices to your computer and move around photos, music and video between them. It also transcodes multimedia on the fly, so that you don’t have to worry if a certain format will play or not. Read more about great computer accessories.
Parents could love that they can monitor their kids’ Internet usage and help keep them safe with Home Network Defender from Linksys By Cisco (30-day trial, $59.99 US for annual subscription). As a parent, you can even block specific websites, get usage reports directly from Linksys and even cut off Internet access entirely to specific devices hooked up to the home network. So, if you want no Internet connection going to the XBox 360 or Playstation 3 during 'homework hours', it’s easily done. Read more about great computer accessories.
Tap into a whole world of radio with the Sanyo R227 Internet Radio ($199.99), which offers over 14,000 radio stations from 200 countries and territories, along with over 20,000 audio podcasts. Have parents who are from China and would love to listen to a station from back home? They can get a whole host of them directly from China over the Internet with no interference and no subscription costs. It can be connected through an Ethernet cable or wirelessly with Wi-Fi. It also has an FM tuner, so you can still listen to your favourite local stations, too. Learn about the latest in great computer accessories.
One of the smallest MP3 players you can find, Apple’s new shuffle ($99.99) now has a VoiceOver feature that speaks out song titles, playlists and alerts you when your battery is getting low (in 14 languages). The playback controls have also been moved to the earbud cord, so you don’t have to touch the Shuffle to skip a track. With 4GB of space, you should have no problem fitting 1,000 songs onto this little guy. Read more about the latest MP3 players.
If wires aren’t your style, there is an alternative with the Sony W-Series Walkman ($99.99). The W-Series features a one-piece design that wraps around the back of the head with earbuds that stick out from each side. Ideal for the gym, jogging or any other hands-free exercise, it can play up to 90 minutes of music after just three minutes of battery charging. A full charge offers 12 hours of playback. There’s 2GB capacity, which Sony says is good for 480 songs. Comes in black, white, pink or violet. Read more about the latest in audio gadgets.
From Ottawa-based Ecosol, the Powerstick is a cool little device that can charge your portable gadgets when you don’t have a charger or power outlet nearby. You just plug the Powerstick into a computer’s USB port and watch its “gas gauge” fill up. With a full charge, you can use the stick to power up iPods, iPhones, BlackBerrys, digital cameras, GPS units, MP3 players, cell phones and pretty much any portable gadget that uses a mini-USB input. Read up on the most recent gadget news.