A couple years ago I got pair of the 5 mile versions of these and the wife and I tested them out quite a bit. I gotta say the 5 mile range is pretty accurate, and having a live radio to talk with the wife when she’s out hiking or walking the dogs is great. The one thing I would have changed with mine is to have internal batteries as ours have 4 AAA’s and with a kid in the house those batteries are always in high demand.

This new version does just that - gives you a charger base and 2 handsets. Stay in touch with your kids while they are riding their bikes - or keep a line open to family or friends while out and about. These are even great when your out shopping - ever lose the wife in the mall?

* Communicate from a distance of up to 8 miles away
* 22 channels to communicate from along with 38 codes per channel
* Comes with rechargeable batteries and drop-in charger
* QT noice filter to minimize interference
* Comes with removable belt clips to clip on anywhere

VoIP is just about everywhere right now, and it will most likely become the communication method of choice in the future, considering all its great advantages and low costs of calling. We've got VoIP voice services in the most important IM clients around, and also a service that has become a synonym for calls made via the Voice Over Internet Protocol, Skype. That's the reason why more and
more manufacturers are launching all sorts of VoIP-compatible devices, and one of the thinnest and most stylish such gadgets I've come across lately is the VoIP phone from Aipotek, a device so thin it can rival a credit card.

The phone sports a very sleek and attractive metal mobile phone-like design (although I guess a better description would be remote control-like design), with a brushed-metal back and a glossy faceplate, which will surely represent a sort of a magnet for fingerprints. Moreover, it has an extremely small form factor, measuring just 7.5 x 36.5 x 123 mm, and is compatible with Skype and most of the other services or IM Clients that use this protocol of communication, as for example MSN/Yahoo Messenger/Gtalk etc.

Another interesting fact about the VoIP phone from Aipotek is that it supports voice-recording functions, at least when connected to a PC running the Windows OS, so that you can record every word you say during your conversation.

However, this phone does have a relative serious problem, and that's the USB cable. The VoIP phone from Aipotek would have been a lot better if there were no wires attached to it, but even so, it has a pretty cool look and, at around 40 US dollars, it could represent a pretty interesting solution to your VoIP appetite.

Although digital photography reigns supreme nowadays, there are still a lot of people who miss the old days of paper photos, especially those instant ones provided by
Polaroid. And it seems that those days might once again come back, albeit adapted to the modern technology, since a company called ZINK has announced the development of a pocket-sized printer which can cough up photos without using a drop of ink.

According to the company, the most important component of the whole printing process is the special photo-paper developed by the company, an “advanced composite material with dye crystals embedded inside and a protective polymer layer outside”. This “paper” is initially clear, but when subjected to the action of the heated “printing” head, the crystals activate and create the desired image. Thus, you can get a high quality image in almost no time, and if some colors or details are not exactly satisfactory, you can always print the picture again, since the paper is recyclable.

These very innovative devices will be able to print out 2- x 3-inch photos and will be available in 2 variants: 1 standalone unit and another nit which, according to the company, can be "embedded" in just about any device, ranging from mobile phones to digital cameras. According to the Engadget website, the standalone format will be available for $99 and the camera / printer hybrid will be available for $199. A very interesting financial aspect related to this device is the fact that a pack of one hundred sheets will cost just around $19.95, which is not too much, if you're a hardcore fan of paper photos, that is. Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether these things will take off or not, as digital photography is too powerful to overthrow right now.

Disney wants a slice of the digital music market as well, so the company will introduce a new lineup of MP3 players, specifically designed for the its main clients, the children aged between 6 and 12 years.

Disney’s
MP3 players, known as Mix Stick, will come in four colors: Disney Chrome, Forever Princess, Sassy Pixie and That's So Raven, with a price of $49.

Mix Stick will allow the copying of music from CDs or the Internet; Disney will also introduce pre-filled memory cards, called “Mix Clips”. The first announced titles belong to Hillary Duff and James Brown; Disney will also make available the soundtracks of its movies.

Mix Stick’s storing capacity is relatively small, 128 MB, that is enough to fit 60 songs.

Still, with the help of the memory cards, the capacity can be increased to 1GB, which is pretty good considering that iPod Shuffle costs $99. The supported formats are MP3 and WMA.
Disney plans to distribute Mix Stick through the Wal-Mart and Target networks.