Misc

Things have changed hugely since I last looked at a baby monitor. Wired has long gone and now wireless with its limited channels has now been replaced with DECT technology, this unit however goes much further.

Sometimes a product’s title can cause some initial confusion as happened with kit developed by Bluelounge

Backups, as has been stated many times, are important; not only for your peace of mind but also to ensure you have the appropriate tool to help you recover when disaster strikes.

An external USB2 CD/DVD drive is obviously extremely valuable for those who have a netbook or a notebook that lacks such a drive. Furthermore, it can often rejuvenate a somewhat tired machine or even one with a dead DVD drive. The Lite-On eSAU108 series are USB-powered and are thus easy to connect and use.

The value of data can decrease if it is not immediately available. A portable USB storage device will allow you to take your data with you on your travels.

When did you last perform a backup? You do backup your data, don’t you? Perhaps this next product might help.

The concept of a paperless office continues to be a myth as can be seen with this next product which combines traditional elements with modern day technology.

One for the fashion conscious - a smart way to carry your gadgets around with Urban Bagz

It's not easy being a consumer these days. There's so much choice and it's very difficult to detect a real bargain. Our job at GadgetSpeak is to review products and bring you our experience before you buy. But with the economy the way it is, it's also interesting to take a look at price comparison sites like Ciao, designed to help you compare value from retailers.

Until I wasted over an hour looking for my car keys which, it turned out, had slipped down the side of the armchair, I thought that Doro’s MemoryPlus 335 Wireless Object Locator was just for those elderly people who are losing their memory. In fact, I have realised that there are many of us who could well make good use of it – for example where there is only one set of keys for the car that is shared around the family.

The Kensington notebook expansion dock with video model K33367EUB is easy to use and brings a number of the advantages of a desktop machine to the notebook user. It provides the user, when at home or in the office, with a quick and simple means of connecting their notebook to an external monitor as well as full-size keyboard, mouse, the network and other peripherals.

The SP200 is one of the newer budget additions to the GN Netcom’s Jabra range of Drive ‘N’ Talk Easy Bluetooth Speakerphones. It is easy to use without taking one’s eyes of the road and so is possibly safer to user than a number of products on the market.

Browsing the web using a mobile phone used to be a painful experience. Low-fi ‘WAP’ sites were a pathetic shadow of the real internet and the cost could be astronomical. It's good to see that things are changing!

When is a mouse not just a mouse? The answer, as I discovered recently, was when the mouse is also a presenter’s tool.

First a Digital Luggage Scale that is easy to use and it could save you pounds of money by not having an overweight case. Second a Solar recharger for USB devices that comes from Brando those clever USB people in Hong Kong.

Bamboo has many uses but I never thought I would come across one that would involve my computer and various software mini-apps.

Turn a standard mouse upside down and you have an inactive piece of kit but this is not the case with a new product from Kensington.

As the computer mouse develops and expands its functionality, there is still a market for the more basic model.

It is only after one has been using a machine for quite a while that you start to wonder whether the memory can be upgraded and whether there would be any benefit in doing so. This is one upgrade that can be relatively straightforward and within the grasp of many technically aware PC users. It is made simpler by the informative web sites of memory suppliers Crucial and Kingston.

Mobile devices, such as the popular iPod, rely a great deal on battery power which has a habit of running out at inconvenient moments. One solution to this type of problem could be a battery pack.

Online storage, sharing capability and a backup option from a USB Flash stick – it is possible.

Once you go beyond 2GB the SD card limit then choosing SDHC cards becomes more difficult as there are a number to choose from. Obviously a brand name like Kingston, Dane-Elec or San-Disc is half the battle but beyond that there are various Classes.

Recently I was invited to the launch of a new product that was described as a personal sharing device. This was the Leyio PSD.

The title of this book is really a misnomer as it is really suitable for all beginners to digital photography irrespective of whether or not they have previously used film.

Despite being a firm believer in the "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" mantra, I was recently tempted to carry out an upgrade.

Not one item but two, first a battery powered screwdriver from Black and Decker and second a nice powerful USB torch from Brando in Hong Kong and as you would expect it does have another function, read on to find out what.

You could say that I am one in a billion. Well not exactly me but rather the subject of this next review.

First a device that allows you to charge up to five USB devices from a single 13amp socket. Second two ‘AA’ and two ‘AAA’ rechargeable batteries from Vatra, they come with a Free dual recharger unit.

To paraphrase a Lionel Bart song of yesteryear, “Toys ain’t what they used to be.”

This is claimed to enable one to get connected in over 150 countries worldwide. Consequently, it will meet most people’s needs and yet only weighs around 150gm and so is an ideal travel accessory for the computer user.