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WATCH A FLOPPY DISK ON TV

You are one of the many who have embraced digital technology. You're online with your computer, take pictures with your digital camera and scan images from magazines and photographs with your scanner. But when the time comes to share your digital images with family and friends, you may have already noticed that not everyone has the necessary equipment. Fortunately, Microsoft has just released a new way for anyone to be able to view digital photos using an ordinary television set.

Looking pretty much like a small floppy disk drive, the TV Photo Viewer connects to any standard TV set's video in jack, plug in the AC power cord and you're ready to go. Microsoft provides a CD that includes "Microsoft Picture It! Express 2001" photo-editing software that lets you create digital photo albums onto floppy disks. These images can be ones you already have or new images from your camera, scanner or downloaded from the Internet. Photos must be taken in 640x480 JPEG format but the software will import existing images from a variety of popular graphic formats such as BMP, GIF and TIF. And although the resolution is considered to be low, proprietary software technology optimizes each photo for added clarity on a TV screen.

One floppy disk album can hold up to 40 pictures and since floppy disks are about as cheap a storage medium you can find, cost will never be an objection when it comes to making floppies filled with your pictures. The software lets you edit and arrange your photo album. You can crop, rotate, add captions and even add a title page. When your album is just as you want, click one button and the entire album is instantly written to your computer's floppy drive.

When an album floppy is inserted into the TV Photo Viewer, the images can be watched using the included 5 button remote control. Back and Forward let you scan the photos. And since the TV Photo Viewer can directly view disks created by the Sony Mavica digital camera, Rotate lets you position those photos right side up. Auto puts the TV Photo Viewer into an slideshow mode that advances to the next image automatically, The software lets you predetermine the interval length between photos.

At $159, the TV Photo Viewer makes a great gift to those friends and family members who may not yet be a member of the digital society, but who would still enjoy seeing your digital creations.

www.microsoft.com/tvphotoviewer

Cordless pen and mouse

If you've ever tried drawing or signing your name on a computer using a mouse, you know it's like trying to write with a brick. Even back when humankind first drew something on a cave wall, they probably used something long and pointed like a stick. Crayons, chalk, pencils, pens and just about any other writing or drawing implement all have something in common. They're long and have some sort of tip at the end that makes contact with the drawing surface. A computer mouse doesn't even come close. A graphics tablet has a flat surface on which you move a stylus. Wacom makes the Graphire2 that improves on their first version.

The Graphire2 comes with a cordless and batteryless stylus and mouse. The surface is pressure sensitive so as you apply pressure, the line becomes darker or wider. The stylus has an electronic erasure so when you flip the stylus over and rub, the image in the screen correspondingly disappears. The stylus also sports two buttons that can be user defined. The mouse and stylus can be instantly interchanged at any time. Included software lets you paint and draw using conventional art media such as canvas and charcoal. Connects via USB, comes in three colors and works with PC and Mac computers. $99.

www.wacom.com (800) 922-6613