Gadgets and Gizmos

by Jamie McAfee

Get ’em while they’re hot. Here are this month’s latest and greatest offerings — from gadgets and gizmos to killer applications and ASPs. This section highlights the latest trends and keeps you abreast of the newest products to hit the shelves.

Frugal Friend

Tired of paying too much for those recurring monthly bills? LowerMyBills.com may be the answer. Simply enter your zip code and find the cheapest rates for long distance, wireless, Internet access, credit cards, mortgage, gas and electric, and much more.

Scan 2K

Users of Windows 2000 may have noticed problems using older scanners. Jetsoft’s Art-Scan Pro 4.2 makes scanners compatible with Win2000, NT, 98, and 95 including SCSI and USB (scanner) models. The software also offers sophisticated scanning tools for improving image quality. Descreening, for instance, removes dot patterns in images, and scan-sizing resizes images.

Jetsoft Development Inc.; 800-374-7401; www.scanhelp.com; $80

Desktop Scanning

Hewlett-Packard’s HP ScanJet 5370C scanner, available for PC and Mac, offers 42-bit color depth and 1200dpi optical resolution. The ScanJet features four front-panel buttons for easy scanning, color copying, e-mailing, or faxing. For users who want to scan negatives, 35mm slides, and transparencies up to 5 inches by 5 inches, the active lighted transparency adapter can be purchased as an accessory.

Hewlett-Packard Co.; www.hp.com; 800-722-6538; $299 for the scanner; $199 for the transparency adapter

Park Files

Store files with Driveway.com and get 25MB of free storage space in a password-protected account. Point-and-click access allows for easy storing, transferring, renaming, locking, deleting, copying, sharing, and viewing files online. Once shared files are selected, e-mail notifications are sent automatically to sharing recipients to allow immediate access. Large files can be transferred without e-mail attachments, removable storage devices, or floppy diskettes.

Driveway.com; www.driveway.com; 415-247-8778; free for 25MB

Search Party

Snippets.com gathers and consolidates information you choose from the Web and presents it on the desktop in a concise and accessible way. Once downloaded, individual snippets from various Web sites are placed in a row displaying the information in a small window. Clicking on the window enlarges the view; double clicking opens a full view of the Web site. Capture current information such as stock prices, news feeds, weather, horoscopes, and much more.

Snippets.com; 888-764-7738; www.snippets.com; free