Keith Shaw’s Cool Tools Alert
* LATEST COOL TOOLS VIDEO:
Wireless routers for the road
West Coast Correspondent Joel Snyder talks about his experiences with various wireless travel routers and tells Keith why the SMC model is his favorite.
* LATEST COOL TOOLS COLUMN:
Review of Gateway’s M685-E notebook and Samsung’s YP-K5 music player
The scoop: M685-E notebook, by Gateway, about $1,800.
The scoop: YP-K5 digital music player, by Samsung, about $180 (for 2GB) or $230 (4GB).
* LATEST COOL TOOL BLOGS:
Skype “free calls” to phones ending soon
There’s not much time left to take advantage of free SkypeOut calls for North American users – the company announced today that this offer will end on Dec. 31. In an effort to keep customers talking, Skype announced a new calling plan – the Skype Unlimited Calling plan, available for $29.95 per year. Consumers and small businesses that sign up for the new plan by Jan. 31, 2007, will receive an introductory rate of $14.95 per year, Skype says.
HP, Cingular launch “global notebook”
Forget the world phone – the cool kids are gonna want the world notebook.
Yippee! A new memory card storage format
SanDisk and Sony today said they have expanded the Memory Stick Pro format with the development of the Memory Stick Pro-HG. The new format aims to be three times faster than Memory Stick Pro media, with a theoretical maximum of 480Mbps (or 60MB/sec), the companies said. The increased speed allows several gigabytes of data to be more quickly transferred to or from a portable device.
* The 2006 Cool Yule Tools Gift Guide:Reviews, ratings and prices on 100 gadgets that rise above the rest.
