Save a tree

Charles Wright can see the big upside of the best e-book on the market

It's not an insignificant investment, and let's face it, people have been bad-mouthing electronic books since they made their debut, but think of it in purely environmental terms: all those trees that would have had to die for your reading entertainment or education can now go on living, contributing to the elimination of your personal carbon footprint.

And the Iliad iRex e-book reader is, without doubt, the best electronic book and heavy-duty PDF reader on the market, with the biggest (8-inch) digital ink screen that's at least as easy to read as a conventional book.

The Sydney-based book chain Dymocks started importing Iliads from France last December, and sold out of an admittedly, small (100) initial order, within days. It accepts Compact Flash and SD cards; comes with Wi-Fi so you can download e-books in the Mobipocket format and electronic newspaper and magazine subscriptions and other files (HTML, PDF, txt and MP3). One battery charge gives you around eight hours reading, and you can scribble in the margins with a stylus. Price: $899.00.

A sad fact about your data is that it isn't loyal. Let it out of your sight, and it will happily go off with whomever happens to find it. Or steal it. Not, however, if it's secured in an Ironkey secure USB flash drive (ironkey.com). Protected by an onboard Cryptochip under strong hardware encryption, it will commit hari kiri rather than betray you.

After 10 incorrect password entries, the IronKey self-destructs, permanently erasing your encryption keys and data. It includes secure backup software so you can restore the contents to a new IronKey. The Ironkey also protects you on the internet, with a so-called 'secure sessions service' that route your web communications through an encrypted tunnel to the company's network routing servers and eventually out to your destination website.

It's a portable, simple, virtual private network. It also stores your online passwords, and checks for phishing sites before automatically entering them for you. Can they get the same technology into a personal diary? Price: 1GB $US90.00; 3GB $US124.00; 4GB $US170.00.

Everyone deserves music

The problem many of us suffer from, in an age when roughly 65 per cent of adults use their computers to access music, is one of place: that is, the right place for music (the lounge, the bedroom, etc.) is generally the wrong place for a computer. Logitech has come up with a brilliant solution with its Squeezebox, and the latest model, the Logitech squeezebox duet network music system, further refines things. It links your music library to stereo speakers anywhere in the house, via a hand-held controller with a full-colour LCD screen, and a compact 802.11g wireless receiver. You can have multiple receivers, and either synchronise them to hear the same music in different rooms, or different selections in different rooms. It also streams content from internet radio stations and subscription services, via Logitech's SqueezeNetwork aggregation service. Price: $599.00.

Safety (and easy listening) first

Here's a great investment in road safety: the Belkin TuneBase FM transmitter for iPods ends the irritation of suddenly having your music pleasure interrupted by an FM radio station broadcast that overpowers your in-car transmitter, forcing you to fumble around trying to find a clear channel. The latest model from Belkin includes a technology called ClearScan, which quickly scans and finds the best frequency with a single button push. There's a PRO setting, which optimises audio quality, and increases the volume, and in addition to the integrated battery charger and secure cradle (it comes with multiple sleeves to fit any docking iPod), there's a line out. Price: $139.95.

Reference: March 2008, volume 78:02, p. 78 – 79