Gizmos for geeks

>> Jack in and jack off with the latest in high-tech widgetry
lby Michael Citrome

Shopping for geeks isn't easy. Come at them with something you think they'll love--like a Star Trek calendar--and they'll roll their eyes with a comment like, "Yeah, well I'm more into Voltron these days." Nowadays geeks work hard and play hard, so here are some toys your geek would appreciate the most.

Chill: Cool-It Personal Fridge, a pint-sized desktop fridge to hold those cans of Taiwanese coffee. $74.99 from www.thinkgeek.com.

Work more: Guarana Brazilia is the original energy drink. It's been around for decades, tastes like a sweet version of Guru, and comes from Brazil. Six cans for $4 at Portugese groceries.

Set on stun: The iPaq, Compaq's latest entry into the crowded PDA market looks like it belongs on Geordi LaForge's belt. It can play MP3s, record voice and best of all, it runs emulators, so you can game like it was 1989. $689.99 from www.onvia.com.

Pump up the volume: Portable MP3 players and MiniDisc recorders both suffer from a chronic lack of loud. The lack of volume can be particularly dissonant when bus conversations clash with your music during the daily commute.

Be the envy of your tech-savvy MUCTC cronies with the Boostaroo, a headphone amplifier about half the size of a bottle of Red Bull. The Boostaroo is a simple idea: it plugs inline between your player and headphones, and boosts the signal by 40 per cent. The only control on the unit is an on/off switch, for times when lower volume is appreciated.

Another nice feature of the Boostaroo is its three headphone-output jacks, so you can share your sounds with some friends, without reducing the volume level to background muzak. $20 U.S. direct from www.boostaroo.com.

Link up! Here's the scenario. You live in an apartment that you share with two other people. You have a computer, as do each of your roommates. One of your roomies also has a laptop. You all want to check out a Web site. There's one phone line.

Fortunately, Linksys comes to the rescue with the Instant Broadband Cable/DSL Router. This device is a take-home size version of a router, a sort of Internet roadmap. A router is the device that tells your emails where to go and how to get there, and having your own router can speed up your connection.

If you're already a subscriber to Sympatico HSE or Vid éotron cable Internet, installation is simple. Plug in the modem, configure a few settings, and your computers come together like Voltron. The best part is there's only one modem to rent and account to pay for, so the router can pay for itself in a year or less. $249.99 from www.onvia.com.

Lime power: The new Apple iBooks aren't just a postmodern industrial design project. These sub-$3,000 notebooks are crammed with the latest gizmos, and kick sand in the face of any wimpy Pentium.

The iBook Special Edition puts all the power of an iMac DV into a portable package. The 466 MHz G3 processor is a rocket ship for your data, whether you're playing games or running Photoshop. The SE iBook can edit video straight out of the box, with a built-in FireWire port to connect to digital camcorders, and Apple's own iMovie 2 software. A 10-gigabyte hard drive means plenty of room for video clips and a composite video-out connects to any TV.

You can also customize your iBook if you order online from www.apple.ca. For a bit of extra time, you get the option of adding RAM, choosing a DVD-ROM drive (standard on the SE), or a cool key-lime case instead of indigo or graphite. $2,699 (comes in graphite or key lime) at store.apple.ca.

Non-linear: Digital video is a great tool for amateur moviemakers. Even the pros are using it now, viz. Spike Lee's recent The Original Kings of Comedy, shot completely on DVCam.

Sony takes digital video one step further with the MD Discam. This camcorder passes the desert-island test--you can take it to any remote place, shoot footage, edit it on the camera, add graphics, titles and a soundtrack, and put the result in a bottle with a note marked "Help!"

The camera's kung fu comes courtesy of MD View, the video version of MiniDisc audio. The camera records on special MiniDiscs, so you can use non-linear editing techniques, just like on a computer. With 64 Megs of RAM and a Java-based touchscreen interface, you can rearrange shots, and even draw right on the 3.5-inch screen. The Discam even has a built-in Ethernet port, so you can download your video straight from the camera. A camcorder with a built-in webserver, how geek is that? Suggested retail price $2499.95 U.S.