Now, Wherever You Go You Need Not Suffer a Net Loss
Netizens: Feeling lost without the Internet while commuting by car, train or bus?
Better investigate the Listen Up Player, a pager-size portable device that lets you select audio information you’d like to hear from the Net, including broadcasts of news, music, entertainment, audio books and language lessons.
This little player, which weighs about 4 ounces and runs on two AAA batteries, can digitally store an hour of audio content to be played any time you want through an earphone (included), any headset or via your car stereo system. Through its manufacturer’s Web server, audio transmission is sent to your personal computer at home for transfer to the Listen Up Player.
At last month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the Listen Up Player received the Innovations ’97 award from the Industrial Designers Society of America and consumer electronics press.
Listen Up Player ($299 suggested retail) will be available in April from Audio Highway in Cupertino, Calif. There will be an additional fee for usage--but it can be lowered or waived if the listener agrees to accept commercials. Call (800) 77-LISTEN.
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Power Tool: Both home handymen and electricians should conclude that Electric Finder is a handy little tool. It’s a clever pen-like AC voltage tester that detects the presence of electricity so you don’t touch a live circuit.
The yellow tool, which fits in a pocket like a pen, gives out a high-pitched squeal, accompanied by glowing red light, if a circuit is “hot.” All you do to activate it is press down on the clip on top of the “pen” and hold it near anything electrical.
Livermore electrician Don England, who tested Electric Finder, says, “It saved my life by detecting 480 volts on a panel I was working on. If it would not have squealed to warn me of the hot circuit, I would have put my hands right into high voltage.”
Electric Finder, which operates on two 1.5 volt batteries (included), costs $14.95, plus $3.05 shipping, and can be ordered from Northwood Marketing, P.O. Box 11651, Pleasanton, CA 94588.
