Washington Life Magazine: February 2004: What’s Hot

What’s Hot
In gagets

Sony Clie PEG-UX50

With built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, digital camera and a wickedly cool clamshell design, the PEG-UX50 is the ultimate in PDAs. With its horizontal 480x320 pixel orientation, this latest Clie looks more like a mini-laptop than PDA. You can even flip and rotate the screen like a tablet PC. Measuring 4.1 by 3.4 by .75 inches and weighing in at a mere 6.2 ounces, the PEG-UX50 can go anywhere with you. $699.99 www.sonystyle.com

Pioneer DVR-810H

The Pioneer DVR-810H may look like an ordinary TiVo unit but this one has a built-in DVD-R to permanently burn your favorite shows and movies onto a DVD. The DVR-57H features up to 18X record speed, allowing you to record an hour show to DVD in just over 3 minutes. Oh yeah, it doubles as a DVD player too. Pretty slick. $1,800. www.pioneerelectronics.com

Samsung i600

Perfectly synched with Outlook, the i600 smartphone allows users to look up contacts, check their calendars and even check email wirelessly via Microsoft’s Windows Mobile Software. Its 2.5 inch diagonal screen supports 65,000 colors, while behind the screen lies a 200MHz XScale processor with 32MB of RAM for fast loading of applications. The i600 also has an expansion slot that supports both DC/MMC media (such as pictures, videos and music) and SD/IO compatible devices (cameras). For Verizon only. $599.99 www.verizonwireless.com

Cambridge SoundWorks Radio CD 740

Aside from typical clock radio functions, the CD 740 is the only CD clock radio that plays MP3s. It will also play CD-R and CD-RW discs as well. In addition, the 32-character display not only shows CD and MP3 text information, but also radio station information (RDS) too. The motorized, front loading CD slot is also a nice touch. $399.99 www.hifi.com

Sony KDF-70XBR950

With 70 inches of viewing real estate, the 70XBR950 is the largest Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) television from Sony. The brand new WEGA Engine System ensures a brilliant picture with a significant improvement in contrast levels (a major problem with most LCD and plasma screens). The unit also has a built-in tuner, Digital Video Interface (DVI) and HDTV interfaces for easy hook-ups. There is even Memory Stick media playback so you can view your digital pictures on screen. $7,000. www.sonystyle.com

Creative Sound Blaster Wireless Music

Wireless Music is solving one of the digital age’s nagging problems: by allowing you to listen to your MP3 collection at home without being chained to your PC (and without the bother of cabling or burning a CD). This device allows users to stream their MP3s (as well as Internet digital audio) to any existing stereo receiver in the house over a current 802.11b or 802.11g wireless network. Truly remarkable. $249.99 www.creative.com

iPod mini

Smaller and lighter than most cell phones, the new mini iPod holds up to 1,000 songs and is easy to navigate with just a thumb. Its anodized aluminum body comes in five adorable scratch-resistant colors. Best of all, it is available on Mac and Windows and comes with cables for both. Also included are sleek earbud headphones that are five times more powerful than the average headphones and a clip carrier for easy attachment. $249. www.apple.com

Olympus E-1

The ultimate in digital photography is the latest wonder from Olympus. The E-1 is the world’s first 100% all-digital interchangeable lens single lens reflex system. Built from the ground up, the E-1 system creates a uniform standard for image sensor sizes and lens mount configurations resulting in incredible image quality. The digital optics of the E-1 outperform conventional digital-film hybrids. $2,199.99 for body alone, and lens are $599.00 to $1199.99. www.olympusamerica.com