Keith Shaw is Programming Director at Network World, responsible for multimedia strategy (videos, podcasts, chat events). In addition, he writes the Cool Tools column, which looks at personal technology, gizmos, gadgets and other fun stuff. You can reach Keith at kshaw@nww.com.
In addition, Shaw is the editor of the DEMOletter newsletter/blog, coordinating the weekly publication of articles for the DEMO community of demonstrators, sponsors, attendees and media members. He also assists the features department in a variety of print and Web site projects. He has moderated several events for the Network World Events group, including Technology Tours on wireless LANs and Messaging/Spam. In 2004 he won an award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors for the Sept. 15, 2003 article, Spam in the Wild.
Shaw has been at Network World since December 1999. Before joining Network World, he worked at Computerworld for three years in several editing and production positions. He has been a journalist for more than 17 years, with experience at many daily newspapers. He has vast experience in writing, editing and design. He holds a bachelor's degree in newspaper journalism from Syracuse University.
Hard as it is to believe, there are other gift ideas in the portable entertainment space other than the iPod. Here are some reviews of some things we've tried over the past few months:
The holidays are here, and it's time to rock! With more than 100 products to choose from, let us take you on a journey through our favorite personal technology products and gift ideas for the rock star techie on your list. From phones to computers to the hottest video games, we've got a bunch of great gift ideas. Please peruse and share with friends and family!
The more digital content that we create (music, photos, movies, etc.) and the more we want to share it with others, the more likely it is we'll need some place to store it. You might be looking at digital cameras or music players on your holiday list, but just as important is storage that helps you keep the content stored or created with those gadgets safe and sound. Here are some storage products and concepts we liked:
The October release of Windows 7 helped unleash a slew of new notebook and desktop systems upon the world, and the good reviews for the operating system helps ensure that this holiday season will see lots of people upgrading their older systems for new ones. Plus, the low price of netbooks means that people can get some computers without breaking the bank ¿ always good in a recession. Here are some systems that we liked playing with over the past few months:
This is the second year of this category, featuring devices and services that let you "get digi with it" ¿ or rather digitizing your old analog content. From old music to old movies, if you have boxes of old content, you¿ll need the latest gear to help bring that content into the digital age.
One of the most popular categories of device over the past few years has been the cell phone and smart phone. This year, in particular, saw an explosion of smartphone devices, with every major carrier having at least one, if not many, smart phone offering.
Mice and keyboards have been around as long as computers, but that doesn't mean you can't bring innovations and new features to these common peripherals. From Bluetooth to specialized gaming peripherals, here are some favorites in the mice and keyboard market this year:
Gadgets were practically invented for mobile business workers ¿ always traveling, they¿re always looking for technology that makes their journeys easier, more productive, and even fun or entertaining. You can argue that other categories in the gift guide, such as portable entertainment, smart phones, even computers/notebooks owe their existence to the road warrior. That said, here are some travel (or automobile) specific gadgets that we enjoyed:
It's amazing to see not only megapixels going up while prices go down, but the size of cameras, both for taking still images and videos, have also gotten so small. This doesn't cover the entire range of products out there in the world of digital photography, it covers the stuff that we were able to try and like here at the office:
We are closer than ever to the realization of the networked living room dream that has been promised for years by technology vendors. No longer do we need to consume our content in one location on a specific device ¿ the networked home means you can consume digital entertainment in a variety of locations and in a variety of ways. Here¿s a bunch of products that you¿ll want to add to your home network to be entertained:
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