You've spent US$200 on a MP3 player, which came with a free pair of headphones. Now, are you ready to spend about the same amount to get a better pair of headphones like the Shure E3C set. What you will get, for certain, is a lot more quiet: the Shure's earbuds are intended to block out extraneous sound (97 per cent, the company says) so all you should hear is the blissful sound of Bach or whichever extreme death metal group has caught your fancy this week.
The experience of inserting the buds into your ears is initially discomforting; you feel as though you're disobeying those warnings from your parents not to stick things into your ears.
I tried them on a number of train and subway journeys and found it a mixed experience. The cord is quite thick, so walking can dislodge the earbuds, losing clarity. Getting the earbuds correctly placed and balanced is difficult; often one ear or the other seemed to get more input. And when they shifted, the treble and bass dropped abruptly. While they're terrific at cutting outside sound, if you try to sing along with a favorite song your voice seems alarmingly close.
-- Charles Arthur,
The Guardian, London
Google may be the leading search engine brand, but very few people know about the company's additional products such as Google Earth, Google Local, Google Mobile and Picasa. To remedy this, the company has opened its first internet cafe-cum-live-laboratory at London- Heathrow airport.
Initially, the trial will run until Christmas, but it could continue into next year. "We have already been offered the space for a second month," explains Andy Ku, Google's product marketing manager. "We might also launch at airports and other venues across the world."
For travelers wanting to kill time before boarding their flight, Google Space is perfect. According to the company's research, the average traveler wastes more than nine hours a year waiting for flights at British airports. Rather than paying Heathrow's hotspot providers for Web access, at Google Space you can surf the net and read your e-mail for nothing. Ten Samsung M50 laptops have been provided, and members of staff are on hand to help.
Google is hoping travelers will try out its new products at the same time as checking their e-mail, and that appeared to be the case during our visit. The area has been developed with the traveler in mind, with images from Google Earth projected on to the walls and icons for Google's travel services on the desktop. One woman from Kansas was delighted when staff showed her how to use Google Local to find a hotel in Prague.
But the biggest hit was Google Earth. "It's absolutely amazing," said Taher Hussain, as Google Earth flew him home to Queenstown, New Zealand.
-- Chris Price
The Guardian, London
Ever since eBay announced in September it would splash out US$4bn on Skype, things have been surprisingly quiet for Internet telephony's most visible pioneer.
However, late last week Skype launched a new version of its software. Though there have been changes, the program -- which uses your computer to reroute telephone calls across the net -- remains fundamentally the same. Phone calls to other Skype users are free and connecting to numbers outside the system offers lower-than-normal network prices. You can buy a virtual phone number, or hook up an internet telephone handset to replace your landline.
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