Off for a quick break! Ferreting resumes on 25th August. Cheers!

The Duo-DX E-Cassette device is one neat concept – an MP3 recorder which lets you record audio directly from a stereo hi-fi system simply by popping the unit into the system’s cassette deck. No PC needed! The unit comes with 96MB of memory on board – which can be expanded to 160MB using MMC (i.e. SD) cards – uses Ni-MH rechargeable batteries and is priced at $199.99 from Radio Shack.

I stumbled across the USB Phone at a local London computer fair the other day and was immediately intrigued. It’s nothing more than a small USB connected handset which gives you a more ‘phone centric’ way of using voice over IP on your PC. You know, to make using services like Net2Phone and Dialpad a tad easier. What struck me though, was how cool this product would be if it had a Bluetooth chip inside, so that you could simply…

Iogear has introduced a USB based Bluetooth networking kit which lets you set up a small network using two Bluetooth USB adapters and some software. The specs claim a data rate of 723 Kbps at ranges of up to 330 feet, but as with all marketing blurb I take that with a pinch of salt. What’s interesting is that the system will also talk to Bluetooth peripherals like phones and PDAs which is neat. Priced at $179.95 which includes the…

The HomeBase Desktop is a desktop interface which is based on Mozilla browser and runs on top of Linux. I mention it here because it shows that there are a lot of folks out there working on trying to make a viable and attractive alternative to Microsoft Windows and more importantly they’re getting better at it. For someone who only needs the most basic of functionality (WP, browser, calendar etc) then this could be a real alternative. Of course the…

The Browser Archive is a gathering point for all shapes and sizes of Web browsers. I’m not overwhelmed by the design (it would be nice to have one click access to a brief description for instance) but it’s a nice resource nonetheless. [via Metafilter] Update: Hmm, I suppose it’s a good enough replacement for the BrowserWatch site which seems to have disappeared.

The Gyration Ultra Mouse is a cordless, optical device which incorporates motion sensing so that you can wiggle it about in the air to drive the onscreen cursor. Sounds fascinating, but I’m not sure just how useful that would be in practice. Working meeces in 3 dimensions is bad enough! [via slashdot]

These folks spammed me, but I’ll forgive them just this once because it looks like a neat product. The Emerson Switchboard is basically an upgraded fax/phone switch, but it copes with computer, phone and fax all in one. This means that you can make or take phone calls or faxes while you’re online surfing using one phone line. Priced from $39.99.

Yes indeedy, it’s yet another entry in the ultimate geek chair steeplechase. And today’s model hails from the sunny land of Korea. Words are gobbledygook, but the pictures say it all really.

This article from HardOCP covers new technologies being introduced by Intel to deliver next generation processors. The key sentence – ‘These transistors feature gate oxides that are only five atomic layers thick (1.2 nm)’. Now that’s small!

An interesting piece from the New York Times looking at the introduction of new 13 digit barcodes, which will be introduced in America in 2005 to cope with extra capacity needs. The article implies that it could lead to the same kind of disruption in retailing as the Y2K bug furore.

Wow, Theo Jansen has created plastic tube ‘sculptures’ that walk along the beach propelled by nothing more than the power of the wind. Check out the videos, because they really show these things to be fabulously and spookily like real animals.

These Wireless E-D Glasses are billed as ‘the Best 3D Gaming Experience EVER’. Now who’s to argue with such passion? And here in the interest of fairness is a passel of reviews from online toy testers. The verdict seems to be positive, so have $99.00 handy if you’re easily swayed. I must get a pair in to have a look at sometime. [scribbles reminder note.]

WiebeTech sells a whole range of interesting little gizmos which connect to standard hard drives to give FireWire compatibility and the like. One of the most interesting products is this FireWire Keychain which contains a 1GB compact flash drive. Here’s a review of it for your delectation!

PCStats.com is featuring a heap of useful PC tips & tricks which were submitted for a recent competition on the site. Bookmarkable.