Canary improves its wifi finder

Canary Wireless' second-generation Digital Hotspotter improves on the original with a sleeker design and more reporting capabilities than just about any other similar device on the market.

It's form-factor is about the shape and size of an MP3 player -- think Apple's iPod Nano -- and it weighs just 2 ounces. A 3-line backlit LCD screen on the front displays a plethora of information about whatever hotspots it finds: A signal strength graphic, network ID, network encryption status and type, and channel data to indicate whether you're looking at an 802.11b, g, or n connection.

Who needs one of these? Anyone who computes on the go. Having a wifi finder negates the need to crack open your laptop just to see if there's wifi available where you are. But, unlike many keyfob devices that only alert you to the presence of wifi, the Canary device gives you a pretty good idea if you'll be able to connect.

According to the latest hotspot report by iPass, a leading provider of enterprise mobility services, a growing number of businesspeople are using hotspots to stay productive on the road. In its Wi-Fi Hotspot Index, iPass found that usage of Wi-Fi hotspots by traveling businesspeople increased by 68 percent between the second half of 2006 and the first half of 2007. "These results indicate that business demand for Wi-Fi hotspots has grown from a novelty to a mainstream need," said Joel Wachtler, VP of marketing and strategy at iPass.

The Digital Hotspotter runs $59.95. Canary even offers bulk business purchasers the option of having the devices screen printed with a company logo.

-- Tom Gromak

-- May 9, 2008

Move pictures to your computer even faster

With digital cameras pushing ever more megapixels every few months, those digital image files are getting ever bigger. And the time it takes to transfer them is growing longer. Verbatim is changing that.

If you have an ExpressCard equipped PC or Mac desktop or laptop, those waits can be made shorter with a device like Verbatim's CameraMate ExpressCard reader. This neat little $39 card plugs into the ExpressCard34 slot on the side of my MacBook Pro, and seems to move images created by my Canon 30D in at least half the time it takes with a USB 2.0 reader.

On my Mac, no drivers were required. Drivers for Windows are on an included disk.

The CameraMate does its work via a technology called PCI Express -- it allows hard-disk-like communication speeds via the external ExpressCard slot. Those external slots aren't yet commonplace on desktops, but they're fairly common on laptops, especially Apple's MacBook line.

Make sure you know which you need. ExpressCard slots come in 34mm and 54mm varieties. One won't work with the other (newer MacBooks use the 34mm variety).

-- May 1, 2008

Recover your stuff from that old internal hard drive

So you installed -- or plan to install -- a new hard drive in your PC. But how do you get the data off the old one? Easy. After you're done with the upgrade process, use NewerTech's USB drive adaptor to connect an internal hard drive as an external USB device.

Sure, this $35 tool is aimed at the techie crowd, but it's not really that complicated. Anyone can take an internal drive, connect its pins to an external adaptor like this one, then jack it in. The result is a kinda-sorta external drive.

NewerTech's adaptor even makes it easier: Its face features LEDs that light up to let you know what kind of drive you've connected and if it's connected correctly. It'll handle both IDE and SATA drives (IDE drives have connectors that look like wide rows of metal pins; SATA drives connect with a plug that's smaller, flat, and only about an inch wide).

We've used one of these after upgrading the drive in a MacBook Pro from the stock 60-gigger to 250. We installed the new drive, re-installed the OS, then connected the old drive with an external adaptor to transfer all the documents and settings and software back over. It's easier, cheaper, and more technologically rewarding than hiring the Geek Squad to do it.

-- March 12, 2008

Slim, light DVD burner goes anywhere you do

StarTech's SlimDVD burner gives mobile computer users more freedom to play and burn CDs and DVDs without adding bulk to your backpack.

The compact device features a reliable Panasonic drive but doesn't feature the wall-warts that usually accompany such peripherals. Instead, it draws its power directly from your machine's USB 2.0 port. A caveat: That's both good and potentially bad. It means one less thing to carry, and one less power-outlet to seek out when you're snagging free wi-fi at Panera. That's something we like a lot.

But it also could pose a problem if your laptop doesn't have a powered USB port (don't worry too much, most do) or if that port is under-powered (more of a problem on some laptops). We found the latter to be an issue on one of the two USB ports on a MacBook Pro used to test the drive. It simply wouldn't spin up. If that happens, you can get an optional AC adaptor -- or just switch ports. We did, and all went well.

Otherwise, discs burned and played quickly and reliably on the StarTech drive, which provides 5x DVD-RAM write speeds, 8x (DVD+RW), and 6x (DVD-RW).

What we like most, again, is the size. Most external DVD/CD burning solutions are too big and bulky to go anywhere but your desktop. StarTech's device is just over five inches wide, and less than an inch thick, weighing in at about 12 ounces. It lists at $149, but we occasionally found it cheaper and on sale at some online vendors.

-- February 5, 2008

More fun, and much cheaper, than buying a real Apache

Take your office battles to the air with the Air Hogs Havoc Heli Laser Battle set, featuring the worlds smallest remote control, laser-firing helicopters.

Sure, they aren't real lasers, so you can't do any real damage to your cube-mate or your boss. But you could have hours of fun with these tiny, palm-sized flying machines. Spin Master Ltd., the company that makes and markets them, promises a short learning curve and high reliability compared to some of the other tiny choppers on the market.

A pair of laser-equipped birds is $79.95. Yes, they actually do fire small lasers at each other, and each can sense when it's been hit -- sort of like aerial laser-tag. If that's more than you want to spend, 25 bucks will get you a single original Air Hog.

Bombs away!

-- December 27, 2007