Accessories

Would you like a hard drive with that?

The humble hard drive used to be the least interesting part of your computer, only getting attention when it was (a) full or (b) broken. Then it curled up inside the iPod and got sex appeal by association. Now hard drives are everywhere. For example:

• Samsung has announced the SGH-i300, a mobile phone with a 3Gb hard drive for storing music and photographs.

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Roku SoundBridge: rock on with streaming audio

Computer keyboards in the living room will never be part of modern style. You need an appliance to couple your digital music addiction to your eye-friendly hi-fi without putting your noisy, space-guzzling computer on display. One of the most eye-catching options is the Roku SoundBridge, a wireless media bridge that enables you to stream music from your computer to your hi-fi.

We looked at an M1000 SoundBridge with a 280x16 pixel display (about 180)... Follow the link for more Continue reading...

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Blue Nova Mediabox

The Mediabox is a munchkin-sized 40GB hard drive that plugs straight into your TV for video or audio playback without a computer. The 215g drive is tiny, just 130mm long, and sells for £150.

There are three sockets on the Mediabox, one power supply plug, one USB 2.0 connection, and one AV-out port to hook this diminutive drive up to your TV. When it’s plugged into your computer, the Mediabox is powered from the USB port. TV playback requires a power cable.

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Sony Ericsson ROB-1 gets your spy ball rolling

Sony Ericsson is calling it the ROB-1, but to us he can only be Rob the Robot, a mischievous sphere with three wheels, a built-in camera and Bluetooth connectivity. You control him using the joystick or keypad on your Sony Ericsson phone, watching the video that is streamed to your screen and taking pictures as you see fit.

With a range of 50m and the ability to move forwards and backwards, turn on the spot and tilt the camera up and down, Rob is perfect for all sorts of nefarious activities. We're just not sure you'll want to send the diminutive spybot out into the world alone. The 11cm sphere carries no weapons and looks like a high-tech croquet ball, so his James Bond exploits could be terminated with a single blow from the opposition's mallet. Continue reading...

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