Street Tech

New from mac outfitter and peripheral manufacturer Griffn Technology is the iTrip — an FM transmitter designed specifically for iPods. Like usual FM transmitters, it broadcasts tunes from your iPod to any car or home stereo via the FM tuner. But because it’s specifically designed for the iPod, it has some advantages, such as drawing power directly from the iPod (no batteries needed) and the ability to control which frequency is used from the iPod’s menu. And of course, it doesn’t mar the good looks of the iPod design. $35.

If you’re a fan of the looks of the new iMac, but are stuck using a laptop for your day-to-day computing, you can now add some style and ease your ergos by putting your laptop on the Lapvantage Dome. It’s nothing more than a laptop stand, but it does lift your laptop up to eye level and allow for rotation and adjustment, all while looking pretty snazzy. Basic models are available for $50, but the deluxe rotating adjustable model costs $80. For that price, you’d think that it would have added a USB hub to make it easier to plug in the required external keyboard or mouse…

Glow Rings are keychains which sport a small glass vial that houses phosphor and tritium. Radiation from the tritium makes the phosphor glow in one of five different colors without using batteries or bulbs. I haven’t found any US distributors yet.

Several times over the last two years or more various cell phone manufacturers have announced “wrist-phones,” leading just about every journalist, myself included, to make inane Dick Tracy references. Finally, two of these phones appear headed to market; the DoCoMo Wristomo (pictured top left) and the Samsung wrist phone. The DoCoMo phone, which reportedly is already on shelves in Japan, has a unique design that folds around the wrist like a bracelet, but unfolds to allow the wearer use it like a regular phone. It has a full keypad, eight-line mono display, and has internet access. It operates on the PHS system in Japan, which is a short-range, low-power, and low(er) speed connection than GSM.

In contrast, the Samsung phone (pictured bottom right) is a GSM phone for use in Europe and other parts of the world with 800/1900 networks. It does not have a keyboard, though it does have a color Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display — one of the first devices to make use of the low-power color alternative to TFT. The phone does not have a keypad, but supports voice dialing and Bluetooth, which means that it can be dialed from a PDA or BT headset. It has GPRS capability too, which means that other BT devices could use the phone to access the Internet at high speeds. While the preferred way to use the phone will probably be through headset, the phone reportedly includes a speaker-phone function, so no headset is needed. With a talk-time of just an hour and a half, and a standby time of “up to” 80 hours, the phone will definitely be a niche product. The Samsung will reportedly be available in Europe in Q3 2003. Both phone are expected to retail for about $1000.

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