ALL EYES ON YOU
ShareVision 3000
Videoconferencing has moved out of the boardroom and into the den, thanks to this low-priced unit that squeezes a video and an audio signal over regular phone lines. Of course, moving up the technology ladder has its price: with your mug constantly onscreen, you’ll need to remember not to roll your eyes in dismay until after you hang up the phone. ($449.99; Creative Labs; 800-998-5227)
A VIEW TO A KILL
SimulEyes VR
Will your next pair of shades be Ray Bans, Revos or possibly SimulEyes? The latest in virtual-reality glasses are so inexpensive that they may slip into the mainstream. The glasses’ effects make games seem more lifelike: the end of a “hallway,” for example, creeps up just like the real thing. Of course, these specs may make you look more like a monster from your favorite game than an Armani model. ($99; StereoGraphics; 800-746-3937)
TRAVELING CAM
Sony DCR-PC7
Forget artists and spies; the real market for Sony’s compact new digital camcorder is teens who are forced to endure the embarrassment of tourist dads pointing their giant cameras at every Paris cafe. This tiny, 1-lb. DCR-PC7 camera, with its 2.5-in. screen that swivels out to preview each shot, lets Dad always have Paris and the kids their dignity. ($3,199; Sony; 800-222-7669)
LORD OF THE RINGS
StarTAC cell phone
If it’s good enough for globetrotting execs like Sun Microsystems’ Scott McNealy, it should be good enough for you. Weighing slightly more than 3 oz., this sleek Motorola cell phone is the year’s crown prince of miniaturization, using a flip-open cover to approximate the Star Trek “communicators” that are the industry’s role model. New extra: long-life batteries. It’s a phone Captain Kirk would be proud of. ($1,000 to $1,500; Motorola; 800-331-6456)
TAKE TWO
Kodak DC25
Amateur Ansel Adamses will appreciate the Kodak DC25’s small LCD screen for reviewing photos seconds after you snap them. If you don’t like what you see, just erase and start over. The camera, one of the best available for less than $500, uses removable “flash” memory modules for extra storage. You can print the photos from your PC and soon at high-tech photo shops. ($499; Kodak; 800-235-6325)
POCKET PROTECTION
Pilot 1000
For all their nifty buttons and sex appeal, handheld organizers have always seemed cooler in concept than in reality–too clunky and complicated to replace pen and paper. Then U.S. Robotics introduced its Pilot, the first palmtop to cram addresses and a daily calendar into a simple, 5-oz. electronic tablet. With a penlike stylus, users can jot down notes on the screen and transfer them to a desktop PC program like Lotus Organizer. ($249; Palm Computing; 800-881-7256)
TRIBAL WARFARE
SideWinder Game Pad
The fine art of gaming requires precision tools. While a joystick is perfect for the sharp pitches of a flight simulator, a more refined controller is needed for sports and fighting games. Rather than opting for a space-age design, Microsoft based its new Game Pad on that outback classic, the boomerang. The oddly shaped console makes it easy to dodge virtual “point guards” in N.B.A. Full Court Press, or to execute a combination punch in Mortal Kombat, thanks to a responsive controller and nine programmable buttons. When you’re fighting for your life, fear not: the wisdom of ages is resting in your hands. ($44.95; Microsoft; 800-426-9400)
GAMES OF THUNDER
Acoustimass Multimedia Speakers
No matter how vivid the danger lurking deep within its corridors, a game like Quake would be little more than a feast for the eye without equally rich 3-D grunts and groans. That’s where Bose’s top speakers come in handy: the amplifier and two ear-thrashing cubes will replace that grating, tin-can PC sound with a digital symphony. ($699; Bose; 800-444-2673)
PAGE TURNER
SkyWriter
It’s hard to think of a way to cram much extra functionality onto a pager, which is not expected to do much more than, well, pick up pages. That hasn’t stopped the engineers at Wireless Access from developing a two-way pager that lets pagees send and reply to E-mail. The pager also picks up regular news, stock quotes and sports headlines and can be leased (the right choice, since the Skywriter costs $399 to buy) for about $15 a month. Pointing to each letter with the cursor may not be the most elegant solution, but it’s your best option until pagers with built-in keyboards arrive next year. ($24.95 for messaging service; Skytel; 800-456-3333)
LOOK, MA–NO MODEM
NewsCatcher
Connecting to an online service these days is a cruel mixture of luck and prayer, especially when you’re competing with your teenage kids for that precious phone line. NewsCatcher, however, delivers stock prices, sports scores and headlines via a wireless paging system that works without a modem. ($149; Global Village Communication; 800-227-0697)
CHANNEL SURFING
WebTV
It took them a while, but the computer and consumer-electronics industries finally did the math. Although roughly a third of U.S. homes have entered the PC age, almost every American owns a TV–making the boob tube, at least theoretically, the ideal vehicle for bringing the Internet to a mass market. Now Palo Alto, California-based WebTV has teamed with Sony and Philips to roll out low-cost, Internet-TV browsing terminals that plug easily into television and phone lines. Then even the most byte-shy technophobe can surf the Net and enjoy the convenience of E-mail. ($329 to $349 [box] and $19.95 [monthly access]; WebTV and Sony or Philips; 800-469-3288)
MOUSE POTATOES
DirecTV
Long dismissed as just for rural folk, satellite dishes are now the entertainment system of choice for real couch potatoes. DirecTV has led the anti-cable charge, beaming crisp, digital pictures from 150 movie and sports channels to pizza-size discs (available from RCA and Sony) below. ($200 to $400 [dish] and $15 to $65 monthly [programming]; DirecTV; 800-347-3288)
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