OLPC XO
$400; laptopgiving.org
Since 2002, the One Laptop Per Child foundation has been developing its low-cost XO computer for use in the Third World. Earlier this month it finally went into mass production, and they’re celebrating by giving North Americans the chance to participate in the Buy One, Give One program. For $400, one gets two of the textbook-size machines – one to keep and one that is donated to an underprivileged child in a participating country such as Peru, Rwanda or India. The promotion runs until Nov. 29 and comes with a free year of T-mobile HotSpot access, which makes it a great deal for Starbucks-addicted philanthropists.
Sandish Sansa Take TV
$99-$149; take.tv
One of the main problems with downloading video is that it’s tough to get it from your hard drive to a TV screen. But Sandisk’s latest device offers a painless solution. TakeTV plugs directly into the USB port of any PC and lets users simply drag video onto it. From there, the unit connects to any TV and is controlled with a wireless remote. It’s incredibly portable, and at only $99 for the 4GB version and $149 for the 8GB version, it’s affordable, especially when compared to the cost of a Media Center PC or Apple TV.
The XShot
$24.95;xshotpix.com
Tired of getting only your forehead in self-portraits? What about never appearing in vacation pics because you’re the martyr behind the lens? With the XShot, that’s all over. Simultaneously totally useful and super nerdy, the XShot is a telescopic stainless-steel rod that adds three feet of reach to any point-and-shoot or hand-held video camera. It’s long enough to get five people into the frame. All you need to do is hit the camera’s self-timer or remote, hold the stick out and you’ve got yourself some priceless photo memories. Of yourself. Finally.
-Maxine Shen
Microsoft Zune (Part II)
$149-$250; zune.net
Microsoft refreshes the Zune line with three new models: 4GB ($149), 8GB ($199) and 80GB ($250). The smaller, flash-based players compete with the iPod nano, while the 80GB’s roomy hard drive and 3.2-inch screen make it ideal for video on the go. All use a new touch-pad navigation system and can sync wirelessly. New software includes an extensive social element that lets you compare musical tastes with non-Mac-using pals.
MediaSmart server
$600-$700; hp.com
How many computers are in your life? Maybe you’ve got a home PC, a laptop and a work computer? Not to mention your wife’s and kids’ machines. Finding that folder full of vacation photos has never been harder.
Increasingly, tech-savvy households have more than one computer, and it’s getting tougher to keep track of all the movies, music and other files being passed back and forth. Which is why we’re entering the world of the home server, a massive hard drive that can be shared by everybody on the network – and remotely via the Web.
Leading the charge is Hewlett Packard’s MediaSmart Server, a friendly little sibling of the hulking beasts behind your office network. It’s the first machine shipping to consumers with Microsoft’s new Windows Home Server platform.
About the size of a small PC, the MediaSmart Server is available in 500GB ($600) and 1TB ($750) flavors, and comes with helpful utilities, including automatic backup for connected computers and multimedia functions for sharing photos, music and video. All of this is managed through a glossy user interface that doesn’t require a network certification to operate.
Companies such as Iomega and Fujitsu Siemens have announced plans for similar setups. And as consumers’ need for media storage grows, so too will the list of manufacturers getting onboard.