A KNIFE FOR THE REST OF US
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I guess it had to happen sooner or later. I've
just seen a Swiss Army knife specifically designed for computer
repairs. I've always known that the makers of the venerable Swiss
Army knife have designed models for more specialized applications.
Take fishing, for example. The fishing version has additional blades
for stripping off fish scales and cutting nylon tackle. But never in
my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd see one let alone three
models specifically designed for fixing computers. The CyberTool 29
($57), CyberTool 34 ($79) and CyberTool 41 ($90) model numbers
reflect the number of computer-fixing tools to be found in each
knife. All the CyberTool models come in a variety of solid and
translucent colors. In addition to the ubiquitous large and small
knife blades, accessories such as bit wrenches, hex sockets, torx
and pozidrive bits, a combination ball point pen and DIP switch
setter, along with wire cutters and crimpers are to be found in
addition to the otherwise more commonly useful implements such as
the corkscrew, tweezers and toothpick. After all, even computer
technicians still need to open the occasional bottle and practice
proper oral hygiene. |
www.swissarmy.com
The hubbub over a hub
| A hub is an electronic device that increases
the number of peripheral that can be connected to a computer. For
example, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) lets you connect up to 167
different peripherals such as printers and scanners to a computer.
But most computers come equipped with only one or two USB ports.
Hubs usually have at least four or more additional ports built into
their case and are usually designed to accommodate one standard such
as USB or Ethernet. Plugging a hub into one of your computer's
existing ports gives you that many more ports in which you can add
more devices. There are plenty of hubs manufactured for the USB and
Ethernet standards but until recently, few were available for the
newer, faster FireWire standard that can accommodate up to 63
high-speed devices such as external hard drives. Belkin recently
introduced a 6 port FireWire hub into their line of computer
accessories and they've even made it nice to look at. The hub stands
at a vertical angle and comes in either graphite or white. LED
indicators display activity on each port. The powered hub includes
an AC adaptor so that your computer's power supply won't bear the
increased electrical burden of your added FireWire devices. $99.95. |
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www.belkin.com
Portable digital recorder
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Olympus has just introduced a digital voice
recorder designed for your computer. The portable DS-2000 is a small
hand-held recorder that can record up to 22 hours of recording time
on one removable 64 megabyte SmartMedia flash memory card (it comes
with an 8 megabyte card). Flash memory doesn't forget even if the
batteries wear out. Downloading your speech files is easily done via
the unit's USB connection. The LCD panel displays recording modes,
time remaining, date and time. Voice activation is ideal for
handsfree operation. Editing ability lets you easily insert or
overwrite any of your recordings. An acceleration without pitch
distortion feature lets you preview recordings 50 percent faster
than real time. Included DSS Player 2000 software lets you download
and control the sound files directly on the computer. $299 |
www.olympusamerica.com |
