IS THE MOVIE AS GOOD AS THE BOOK?
Made to be used as a stand-alone toy or plugged into a television, the Story Reader Video Plus is part of an expanded line of products from Publications International based on last year's Story Reader. A toddler edition is also in the works.
When this US$35 device is used alone, each page of the inserted spiral-bound book is read aloud in a clear voice. When it is plugged into the TV, the audio comes from the TV speaker and an animated version of the page appears on the screen, with each word highlighted as it is read. At any time, a child can flip the magnet-embedded page to interrupt the narration and move things along. The pages of the book are the controller, in an innovative relationship between book page and TV screen.
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A small game controller, which unsnaps from the front lid of the reader, can also be used to play five story-inspired word games.
The included book is a 21-page story, Alphabet Adventure. Additional books feature Dora the Explorer, Elmo, Scooby-Doo and Thomas the Tank Engine. The new device, due out this month, runs on four AA batteries. It does not work with older Story Reader software.
I SAW WHAT YOU DID. MY PHONE TOLD ME.
When you are out and about, there is no reason to be in the dark about what is going on at home. Staying informed will get a bit simpler when Motorola releases a new version of its Homesight home monitoring system. The new version no longer requires leaving your PC on all the time to monitor its signals remotely.
The Homesight system includes a video camera and wireless sensors that monitor movement, flooding, temperature changes and the opening of doors and windows. A starter kit that includes a camera, a motion detector and window and door sensors is available now.
You will still need a Windows-based PC to set up the new gateway version of the starter kit (the main unit is shown here). But then the computer can be shut off, and you can still watch the video stream through a Web site or on a Java-enabled mobile phone. (Any mobile phone can receive nonvideo alerts.) You will never again have to wonder whether your cat is shredding the drapes while you're out shopping.
THE CAMERA FOR YOUR NEXT FAMILY REUNION
In the never-ending war against bad photos, Fujifilm has a new weapon for the amateur. Its new FinePix S6500fd, a 6.3-megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom, has a trick up its sleeve: “fd,” or face detection.
Most cameras treat all subjects the same: a vase is a rose is a cute puppy. Fujifilm says that the S6500fd can give precedence to the faces in an image, ensuring that they come out looking crisp and well lighted. The camera can pick out up to 10 faces in a scene and is not thrown off by eyeglasses.
The S6500fd also has a fast image sensor that can grab pictures in 0.05 seconds and is specially calibrated for low light. The long optical lens offers a focal length of 28mm-300mm, but it is not removable, making this camera a step down from more expensive digital single-lens reflex cameras.
The camera, due out next month, has 10 megabytes of internal storage and also saves images on xD memory cards.
Now if only it could keep blinks from ruining the perfect portrait.
NEXT, THEY'LL EMBED THE HEADSET IN YOUR TOOTH
In the future, electronics may well be so small that there will be a danger of ingesting them inadvertently. The Samsung WEP200 Bluetooth headset may be the first product to fit that description.
Designed to work with any Bluetooth-compatible phone, this 3.8cm headset weighs considerably less than 42g and looks almost nothing like the standard Star Trek-style headsets worn by drivers and the ostentatiously connected. The microphone, found at the tip of the headset, picks up voices quite well, although it does have some trouble in windy situations. A small rubber attachment on the earpiece keeps it snugly ensconced in the ear, and an unusual coffin-like charging box keeps the tiny device safe and sound when not in use.
The WEP200 has only three buttons: two for volume and a talk/hang-up button. To connect the device, simply press the talk button for a few seconds. The mobile phone audio is then transferred to the headset for hands-free talking.
The headset's battery lasts four hours in use or 70 hours in standby mode. One drawback is that the WEP200 is so small it can get lost in your pocket.
A GO-BETWEEN MOVES MUSIC FROM THE PC TO THE STEREO
The Logitech Wireless DJ aims to make the process of getting music from your computer to your stereo slightly less annoying.
The system consists of a USB key that plugs into a Windows PC, a receiver and a remote control. Once it's all plugged in, Logitech's StreamPoint software activates iTunes or Windows Media Player and begins sending track data and audio to the receiver. The slim remote control has a bright backlighted screen that shows what track you're playing and allows you to browse your collection.
The Wireless DJ can stream to one or more receivers. The system has a range of about 45m and connects to a stereo via standard RCA jacks or 3.5-mm headphone cable. The receiver can charge the remote's lithium-ion battery, which runs about a week on a charge.
The Wireless DJ can play back protected content, like tracks purchased from the iTunes Music Store.
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