Craig Crossman photo Craig Crossman
National Newspaper Computer Columnist

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ZIP DRIVE ELIMINATES POWER CORD

The 100 megabyte Zip Disk from Iomega has been around for years. They recently introduced the 250 megabyte drive that can also read and write to the older 100 megabyte disks. The newest external Zip 250 USB drive model ($179.95) is even smaller than its predecessor, eliminates the power cord and with an optional adapter, becomes Firewire enabled.

If you use a notebook computer you can power up your battery powered notebook, plug in the Zip Drive to your computer's USB port without rebooting and have all the data and storage you want without any other external cords since it's powered from the computer's USB port. At only nine ounces it is very portable and easily slips into a briefcase or even an inside pocket.

The drive can actually read and write data faster than the USB standard can deliver. This was intentional since Iomega designed this 250 model with the future in mind. An additional adapter that's just become available allows you to literally turbo charge the drive by hooking the unit to a Firewire port. Since Firewire transfers data much faster than USB, information transfer rates to and from the Zip disks will more than double. The Zip 250 USB Firewire adapter comes complete with cable and driver software for both PC and Mac. $79.95.

www.iomega.com (800) MY STUFF

Headphones will shake you up

 If you like computer games, you're going to love Evergreen Technologies' new RumbleFX headphones. Great sound is a must when it comes to games. Of course great graphics are important but even the best of visuals come up short without those teeth rattling sounds. Sound completes your total submersion into a video game so it's important to have a great set of speakers along with a subwoofer. The subwoofer supplies the deepest bass frequencies that can vibrate your intestines for the ultimate in visceral responses. But now there's something that might give even the best of the speakers the shakes. The new RumbleFX headsets immerse gamers in the virtual reality of positional audio vibrations so they not only hear where the action is coming from, they also feel it.

All games with magnified bass sounds such as explosions, rockets, gunshots, and more which basically describes most of the games on the market today, will vibrate or "rumble" on the RumbleFX headphones. They're compatible with console video games such as Playstation and Nintendo. The RumbleFX headphones also plug directly into any stereo mini-jack, the standard sound output connection on most PCs, Macs and hand-held Game Boys. Now you can blast away without raising the dead nor the ire of your neighbors. $59.99

www.rumblefx.com

CD Drive does it all

Looking for one drive that will fill all of your playing as well as recording CD needs? Check out Compro's PDS-MJ drive. It supports the five popular (Audio, CD, CDR, CDRW and MP3) CD formats into a single compact and portable unit. Connect the PDS-MJ to any Windows PC or Mac via a choice of interfaces including USB, Firewire or PCMCIA and you're ready for any CD they throw in your direction. Alone, it works as a portable audio player that plays back audio CDs and MP3 library CDs you've burned. lt can also be connect to a stereo system and used as an MP3 Jukebox for nonstop music playing. This is one fancy little unit. $500.

http://www.acscompro.com/mp3/pdsmj.htm
Craig Crossman is a McClatchy-Tribune newspaper columnist writing about computers and technology. He also hosts the nation's longest running nationally syndicated radio talk show on computers and technology, Computer America, heard on both the Business TalkRadio Network® and the Lifestyle TalkRadio Network®, weeknights at 10PM Eastern time.  Visit his website at http://www.computeramerica.com

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