25 Easy Pieces

The tech you need to live the life you want

[product]Audiovox NPC5400[/product]

GPS navigation systems are great--if you make your living as an explorer, a traveling salesman or a touring musician. For those of us who work in the same place every day (and can remember how to get there) daily use has been superfluous--until now. The real-time traffic system available in the NPC5400 receives road-condition information via FM signals and constantly updates your GPS to show accidents, congestion and construction as they happen. The system can automatically recalculate the best route based on the current circumstances, and with a single click you can get additional details about what's going on.

[releaseInfo]$1,100[/releaseInfo]

[website]audiovox.com[/website]

Technology used to be like Cindy Scheinman from 12th grade. You were madly in love with it, but no matter how much money you spent, it was indifferent to your true needs (such as a decent instruction manual). But unlike Cindy, tech has recently seen the error of its ways. It wants to spend quality time with you. and it can be a cheap date some nights. In appreciation of this trend, here are 25 terrific ways that technology has transformed from a high-maintenance nightmare to the chill, helpful and sexy companion you always knew it could be.

[product]Voodoo ENVY m:50[/product]

Buying a laptop is a devil's bargain. Do you want a 10-pound monster that could run Nasdaq or a one-pound marvel that barely has enough juice to surf the web? Forget we asked, because the witch doctors at VoodooPC have I cooked up this featherweight phenom, encased it in carbon fiber and given it an appropriate name. Don't let its svelte 3.4-pound figure fool you--there's no skimping here. With built-in Wi-Fi and a speedy Intel Pentium M mobile processor under the hood, this thing will run any application you can throw at it. To fully pimp it out, you have a choice of colors, ranging from modest to mind-blowing, and a set of custom line-art tattoos (see left) that will give you a little mojo wherever your travels take you.

[releaseInfo]$1,938[/releaseInfo]

[website]voodoopc.com[/website]

•YouSendlt What do you do when a file is too funny to keep to yourself but too big to send in an e-mail? You use yousendit.com, a free, ad-supported service. Upload that homemade Doctor Zhivago remake to its site, along with a list of those you want to show it to, and it will send an e-mail with a link to the file so your pals can download it without clogging their in-boxes. The files you upload are available on the site for seven days and can be as big as a gigabyte--which is enough space for more than two hours of torrid Zhivago action.

[website]yousendit.com[/website]

• Get Digital Ripping a few CDs into MP3s is fast and simple. But what about 100 CDs, or 1,000? If you want to fill that new iPod with legit music without rebuying your collection, you're looking at a serious hassle--unless you let Get Digital handle the grunt work for you. For about $1 a disk, the company will send you boxes of empty CD spindles that you fill and ship back. About a week later it returns your CDs along with all the files ripped to any format and bit rate you choose, stored on data DVDs or a portable hard drive. You also get a binder containing all the album art and track listings. Does it get any easier than this?

[website]getdigitalinc.com[/website]

Canon Digital Rebel XT Two years ago Canon introduced its extraordinary Digital Rebel, a digital SLR camera that cost just under a grand. Ditching film no longer meant giving up interchangeable lenses, fast shutter response or your left kidney in trade. Now a new XT version of the groundbreaking shooter is here, and it's even more impressive than its big brother, with a slimmer case, tack-sharp eight-megapixel resolution, zippy three-frames-a-second shutter speed and an impressive instant-on feature to keep you from missing impromptu chances to squeeze off a few shots. Plus, you're buying into a huge product line, with a vast selection of lenses and accessories just a credit-card swipe away. Now all you need to unleash your inner Pompeo Posar is a beautiful woman and a convincing smile.

[releaseInfo]$1,000 with lens kit[/releaseInfo]

[website]canonusa.com[/website]

[product]SanDisk ImageMate 12-in-1 card reader-writer[/product]

Our ever-expanding array of digital cameras, camcorders, MP3 players, cell phones and PDAs uses an ever-expanding array of itty-bitty memory cards to store information. Do, you honestly know whether your camera uses CF or SD? Or where you put the transfer cord? Invest in a cheap and easy card reader like this one and you'll never have to answer such questions again. Slap it into a USB port, pop in any memory card, and drag and drop to your heart's content, loading and unloading your devices with the digital equivalent of wild abandon.

[releaseInfo]$35[/releaseInfo]

[website]sandisk.com[/website]

• Napster to Go After Napster was forced to shut down in 2000, the smart money wrote off a comeback for the file-sharing pioneer--which proves the smart money is often dead wrong. Napster is not only back, it's once again schooling the establishment on what the people want and how to give it to them. For the price of a single CD a month, you get the run of a million-song (!) library, all of which you can load onto a portable player and take with you (check your player's compatibility before subscribing). If you stop paying, the songs stop playing, but that's a small price to pay for completely eliminating buyer's remorse.

[website]napster.com[/website]

[product]Seagate Pocket Hard Drive[/product]

Those teeny USB thumb drives are fine for moving the odd word-processing document or music file, but when it comes to carrying complete digital movies, batches of high-res photos or a big chunk of tunes, Seagate's Pocket Hard Drives are the way to go. The three-inch disks are available in 2.5-gigabyte ($119) and five-gigabyte ($159) capacities and need no drivers or external power. Plug one into a USB port with its built-in retractable cable and you're done. No hassle involved--just instant, portable, sizable storage.

[website]seagate.com[/website]

[product]Sony HDR-FX1[/product]

You get only one crack at shooting the videos you'll force others to watch for the rest of your life. You may as well treat the bastards to the best. Sony's HDR-FX1 is the first "consumer-priced" camcorder that can record a full 1080i high-definition signal (translation: a really good one). Three separate light sensors (CCDs) provide professional-quality color reproduction, and Carl Zeiss makes the lens (which has a 12x optical zoom). The shooting controls are enough to make any Sundance wannabe soak his soul patch in drool. Manual zoom and focus rings let you get as arty as you want, and Super SteadyShot image stabilization means your shoots will look professional even if you're anything but. This camcorder may be a little bulkier than most, but the on-screen results are nothing short of astonishing. Oh. and if Aunt Pat's mustache is a little too vivid at 1080i. you can always dial the camera down to regular DV recording.

[releaseInfo]$3,700[/releaseInfo]

[website]sonystyle.com[/website]

[product]Archos AV4100[/product]

Fill the drive on Archos's latest multimedia jukebox and you could watch video 24-7 for more than two weeks and not see the same explosion twice. Equipped with a beautiful 3.8-inch LCD.theAV4100can record movies and TV shows directly from your cable box. satellite receiver or DVD player, as well as play back digital music and show photos. The first generation of these gadgets from various manufacturers were a pain to load up. but many kinks have been worked out. Major improvements include the docking station, which lets you plug in without wire hassles, and software that lets you turn the AV4100 into what amounts to a micro-TiVo. Don't be stingy when dragging and dropping those files-the 100-gigabyte (yes, that's 100-gigabyte) hard drive can hold more than 200 hours of video, 1,500 hours of music or literally a million photos.

[releaseInfo]$800[/releaseInfo]

[website]archos.com[/website]

• Grouper File-sharing services have gotten a bad rap in past years, with many stuck in litigation. But a few have risen above the fray by offering intelligent ways to avoid outright theft. First off, Grouper is not global, share-with-everyone, piss-off-the-RIAA kind of software. It's a program that lets you set up a common space where you and your pals can all download one another's video clips, digital photos or other files and stream one another's music. Safe and simple, the software opens your stuff only to the handpicked peeps you've invited into your group. It's private, password protected, fun (you can instant-message and chat) and completely free of charge.

[website]grouper.com[/website]

• Pinnacle Studio Version 9 There are no bad home movies, just bad home-movie editors (a.k.a. home-movie non-editors). To make people pay attention to your flicks, you need to get in and out quickly (i.e., your Grand Canyon trip should run three minutes or less). The good news: It's shockingly simple to do with this powerful package from Pinnacle. Load it onto your computer and turn raw footage into a polished production in a matter of minutes, with a musical score, cool transitions, titles and credits. It'll even let you design DVD menus and burn discs for you. Never has $80 saved so many from so much suffering.

[website]pinnaclesys.com[/website]

[product]Kodak EasyShare-One[/product]

Why wait till you get home to show off that girl you met on the steps of the Parthenon? Kodak's EasyShare-One is the first camera to let you share the joy with your buddies back home from any Wi-Fi hot spot. With its built-in hardware and software, you can send photos over the Net right from the camera-no computer required. Plus it has a four-megapixel sensor, a 3x digital zoom and a bright, beautiful three-inch screen. Add such niceties as in-camera photo-editing and album software and you've got yourself one badass snapper.

[releaseInfo]$600[/releaseInfo]

[website]kodak.com[/website]

[product]iRiver H10[/product]

Do you really want to carry the same little MP3 player as your mom, the mailman and half the 12-year-olds on your block? Instead consider iRiver's sleek H10, which has miles of style, a bright 1.5-inch color display for photos, a built-in FM tuner (which rocks for pulling in TV audio at the gym) and a removable, rechargeable, replaceable battery that lasts up to 12 hours. It comes with five gigabytes of space (the standard for midsize players), as well as a slim profile and support for the Napster to Go subscription service. How's that for thinking different?

[releaseInfo]$280[/releaseInfo]

[website]iriveramerica.com[/website]

• Google Desktop With careful organization and scrupulous attention to detail, you'll always know where the files on your computer are stored--but what fun is that? It's far easier to download the free Google Desktop program and let it keep track of everything for you. You can set the software to automatically index the web pages you browse, along with your e-mail messages, IM chats and Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF and text documents--even photo, audio and video files. Just pull up the familiar Google search page, tell it to find a keyword (say, defenestrate), and it'll find any document on your machine that has that word in it. No more getting frustrated and throwing your computer out the window.

[website]desktop.google.com[/website]

[product]Sony PlayStation Portable[/product]

By now you've probably had the chance to check out this miniature marvel for yourself, with its 4.3-inch widescreen, console-worthy game graphics, ability to play music and movies and built-in Wi-Fi. It's a seriously amazing gadget. It has the usual Sony buzz kills, like proprietary memory cards and video formats, but that's why we have hackers, right? In any case, for a device as incredible as this we're willing to look the other way just this once.

[releaseInfo]$250[/releaseInfo]

[website]us.playstation.com[/website]

[product]Pioneer AirWare XM2Go[/product]

Broadcast radio has been circling the drain for years, while satellite radio keeps getting better. Now you can carry all of XM's commercial-free music, sports, talk and news channels wherever you wander thanks to this innovative XM2Go receiver. About the size of a transistor radio, the AirWare has a built-in antenna and a five-hour memory buffer that will bank audio for when you're out of satellite range. Plus you can mount this beauty in your car or on your home stereo.

[releaseInfo]$300[/releaseInfo]

[website]pioneerelectronics.com[/website]

[product]Norton Internet Security 2005 Anti-Spyware Edition[/product]

Got spyware? Not anymore. We've trusted Norton products to product our computers since the dusty old days of DOS. Now, in addition to stymieing hackers and virus writers, the latest version strikes fear into the hearts of those who infest computers security needs--highly automated, frequently updated and controlled through a single easy interface. The way we see it, 80 clams is a small price to pay for enjoying all the convenience of the Net without worrying about prying eyes.

[releaseInfo]$80[/releaseInfo]

[website]symantec.com[/website]

[product]Humax DRT800[/product]

Are you still letting network execs tell you when to watch TV? Still watching commercials? There are other brands out there, but TiVo's interface remains tops for digital video recorders, and this high-capacity box from Humax can hold up to 80 hours of televisual delight. Running out of room isn't a problem thanks to a DVD burner-player that allows you to save those O.C. episodes for your grandchildren's edification. And it all comes for less than the cost of a high-end cell phone.

[releaseInfo]$500[/releaseInfo]

[website]humaxusa.com[/website]

[product]RCA-to-miniplug cable[/product]

Want to play your digital tunes through your stereo? There's no shortage of high-tech solutions, from hard-drive-equipped stereo components to network music clients to CD players that read MP3 files on disc. But there's an easier way that'll run you just $7 at RadioShack. Plug the little end of an RCA-to-miniplug cable into a PC or MP3 player and the two-pronged end into the Aux slot on your receiver. Now hit Play and spend the money you saved on a two-year Napster subscription.

[product]Axentra Net-Box One[/product]

If step one is getting an Internet connection, step two should be adding a Net-Box One. Don't let its dorky looks fool you: This unassuming little white box handles a heap of digital dirty work, bathing your house in wireless Internet access and letting you store music, photos and other important files on the hard drive so everyone in your home can share the wealth. It'll also enable you to access your files over the Internet when you're away from home, perform automatic backups on any computer on your network and even serve up web pages to bypass those monthly hosting fees.

[releaseInfo]$500[/releaseInfo]

[website]axentra.com[/website]

[product]Philips Shoqbox[/product]

[product]Tivoli Model Sirius Satellite[/product]

The outside is retro, but its guts are all techno. The latest in Tivoli's line of handsome, high-quality tabletop radios, this baby fills a room with both warm sound and high design, and it has AM, FM and Sirius Satellite Radio all built in. Tuning in the 100-plus Sirius stations couldn't be simpler-presets allow instant access to your favorite channels; you can search by artist, song or channel; and its generous LCD screen provides information on what you have currently dialed in. When it comes to over-the-air signals (yes, they still make those), Tivoli's tuner and antenna technologies are unsurpassed and can bring in even distant stations with remarkable precision. If you want to play your own music, there's an input for a matching Tivoli CD player. We can't think of a classier way to greet Howard Stern when he makes his satellite radio debut, or to listen to Sirius's broadcasts of every NFL game this season. While you're waiting for kickoff, NPR will do justice to the finely crafted cherrywood cabinet.

[releaseInfo]$300[/releaseInfo]

[website]tivoliaudio.com[/website]

[product]Philips Shoqbox[/product]

Good technology is the traveler's best friend. Case in point: This tiny yet room-filling micro-boom box from Philips is smaller than a can of shaving cream, weighs just 12 ounces and packs an FM radio, an alarm clock and 256 megabytes of storage space for music (enough to hold up to four hours of MP3s). The tiny built-in titanium speakers are surprisingly powerful, with a warmth and bass uncommon in such a small system. Sure, it may not be enough to drown out the sounds of your revelry for the hotel-room neighbors, but at least it will provide a little musical accompaniment.

[releaseInfo]$150[/releaseInfo]

[website]philips.com[/website]

[product]Samsung HL-R5688W[/product]

Because life isn't complicated enough, high-definition TV signals come in several different grades, each designated with a number (indicating how many lines are in the image) and a letter (i for "interlaced" and p for the superior "progressive scan"). Until now, when you bought a set you chose from models that could display video at 780i. 780p or 1080i. Still with us? This Samsung 56-inch rear-projecting DLP model is the first TV that can display a 1080p picture, putting even the most discriminating TV snob's jaw squarely on the floor. The impressive 5,000-to-one contrast ratio means Yankee Stadium looks as if you could walk right through the screen and into the dugout, while the progressive-scan display renders the Big Unit's hottest heat with surprising clarity.

[releaseInfo]$5,000[/releaseInfo]

[website]samsungusa.com[/website]

[product]LG VX8000[/product]

Trading up to a high-speed cell phone connection won't let you finish conversations any faster, but it will make your constant companion a lot more entertaining. The LG VX8000 uses the new high-speed EVDO network from Verizon Wireless and comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera, a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, an external color screen for photo caller ID and a handsome two-and-a-quarter-inch main display. What makes it really sing and dance, though, is Verizon's V CAST service, which delivers news, sports and entertainment video clips, plus 3-D games and mobile websites at speeds Verizon claims approach a DSL connection's.

[releaseInfo]$150 with contract[/releaseInfo]

[website]verizonwireless.com[/website]

Where and how to buy on page 131.