Home and Office Gear Gift Ideas [2010 Cool Yule Tools]

Great stuff to deck out your home or office computing environments.

Desktop or notebook – check. Smartphone – check. After that, though, there might be some additional pieces of gear to make your home or office truly productive. Here are our picks for some products that help you create a better home or office. 

Products reviewed in this category: 

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Desktop or notebook – check. Smartphone – check. After that, though, there might be some additional pieces of gear to make your home or office truly productive. Here are our picks for some products that help you create a better home or office. 

Products reviewed in this category: 

• Ooma VoIP system 
• Plustek SmartPhoto P60 
• iomega iconnect wireless data station 
• ThinkGeek USB 7 hub 
• Vtech Expandable Cordless Phone System (Bluetooth/touch/answering) 
• Plaster Networks - powerline network adapters
• Epson Artisan 725 Arctic printer 
• Lexar Multi-card 24-in-1 Reader (USB 2.0) 
• Smartfish ErgoMotion Laser Mouse 
• Omnitech/Staples "bling" rhinestone mouse 
• Das Keyboard Professional S mechanical keyboard 

Ooma Telo VoIP system, by Ooma

The latest home voice-over-IP system from Ooma includes a base station that you hook up to your broadband router (it actually recommends connecting it between the modem and the router for optimal voice quality). You can then attach a normal phone to the base station, or you can purchase optional Telo handsets, which connect to the base station via DECT wireless. The Telo base station has all the features of the Ooma Hub, with the additions of an online phonebook, the ability to receive HD voice, support of the Ooma Telo handsets, and a USB port for future expansion. You can get a new phone number, or port your existing phone number for a one-time $39.99 charge. 

Once connected and activated, you get free home telephone service (in the U.S.) - no monthly charges for telephone calls unless you want to upgrade to the premium service (which costs $9.99 monthly and offers additional features like an instant second line, three-way conferencing, the ability to forward to a mobile phone, a backup number, and even Google extensions or using Bluetooth to answer mobile phone calls with the Telo handsets. You also get free voicemail for the phone. Ooma also just introduced an iPhone app (for $9.99) that lets you make voice calls from your iPhone through the Ooma Telo base station. 

Setup takes about 15 to 20 minutes, and the sound quality on the phone calls is just as good as any other VoIP service, if not better. The HD voice feature is awesome if you make Ooma to Ooma calls (or Ooma to a handset connected to an Ooma Telo base). If you're sick of paying monthly service fees for home telephone service, the Ooma system is a great alternative, and can pay for itself within a year of purchase.

Cool Yule rating: 5 stars 
Price: $250 for Ooma Telo base station, $300 for base station plus one handset. Additional handsets are $50, and the Ooma iPhone app costs $9.99.  
Company Web site 
Reviewed by Keith Shaw 

LS6245 Expandable Cordless Phone System, by vtech

I have to admit, this is a product I’ve wanted for some time – a cordless phone system, based on DECT 6.0 (no interference with Wi-Fi) that can expand to a large number (eight) of handsets and also connect to a cellular handset via Bluetooth (actually, two cell phones for additional virtual lines 2 and 3, if you will). You can also connect Bluetooth devices like cordless headsets to the system, meaning the same cordless headset you use with your cell phone can also be used with the LS6245. Convenience is oozing from every pore of this product, and it’s stylish as well, quite reminiscent of those amazingly expensive but oh-so-cool Bang and Olufsen phones.

Hooking a cell phone to a cordless phone sounds a bit complex. Is it? Not really – pairing a cell phone (I used the Sony Ericsson Vivaz) with the LS6245 is no more complex than pairing a headset, and everything worked on the first try. You can then direct outbound calls (via a “cell” button on the vetch handset) to the cellular phone, and, similarly, inbound calls wind up on the cordless handsets. This means you can just drop your handset near the base station when you get home, and voila, inbound cellular calls will reach you anywhere in the house. This is also a great solution for those who have marginal cellular coverage; just put the LS6245 base station on an upper floor, and you’re all set – answer (or dial out) via your cell phone anywhere you have a cordless handset. 

There are a number of counterintuitive user interface features on the handset, and I personally don’t really like the styling or form factor. And I’d like Bluetooth in the handsets – now that would be cool! But the functionality is cool and there’s real value here. I wouldn’t mind getting one of these myself (hint, hint). 

Cool Yule rating: 4.5 stars 
Price: $79.95 for base station and one handset; $39.95 for each additional handset (up to eight total) 
Company Web site
Reviewed by C. J. Mathias

USB 7 Port Hub with Power Switches, at ThinkGeek.com
Having additional USB ports available on a computer these days is a necessity, not a “nice to have” any more. By the time you connect a keyboard, mouse and storage device to your PC or notebook, not to mention any laptop cooler system, or devices that require two(!) ports, you don’t have anything left for any additional gadgets that you may want to connect. The USB hub that I used for many years, by Belkin, has been a solid workforce performer, but so many devices going in and out of the device had me feeling that it was time for an upgrade (don’t ask, hard to explain). 

The older hub also likely didn’t have USB 2.0, so upgrading to the USB 7 Port Hub with Power Switches made sense. First, all of the ports are USB 2.0 compatible, which could speed things up for devices that may have been connected to older ports. Second, I like having power switches on each port, which lets me turn on or off the device by flicking a switch. This is great for things like backup devices or storage drives – I can turn off power access via the hub instead of unplugging the drive itself. 

My one complaint is that I don’t really know who makes the hub – the packaging says it’s made in China, but there’s no company listed, and you can get it through the ThinkGeek Web site. I’d prefer seeing a company like Kensington, Targus or Belkin come out with a branded version, just so I knew where to go to get service. Of course, ThinkGeek offers other USB hub devices as well, so check out their listings. 

Cool Yule rating: 4 stars 
Price: $20 
Company Web site
Reviewed by Keith Shaw