With frustration mounting at airport security lines, something had to give. The U.S. Transportation Security Administration has decided to give frequent travellers a break. When laptops are placed in certain cases, like the ScanFast line from Mobile Edge, the agency does not require them to be removed from the case for screening.
While many laptop case manufacturers, including Targus and Skooba, are planning checkpoint-friendly cases, Mobile Edge will ship briefcases, backpacks and messenger bags next month. The bags separate the laptops from surrounding pockets, ensuring a clear picture on the X-ray machine.
Most bags will still have to be opened, but the Mobile Edge bags flip back to offer an unobstructed view of the laptop inside.
The bags will start at $80 and will be available online and in stores. They come in staid all-business black and will fit almost any laptop.
Panasonic's Lumix camera with the Leica lens, and the Autotether, which will cut the engine in a boat if the operator falls overboard (New York Times)
— John Biggs
A camera with a whole lot of lens
Zoom lenses on digital cameras are designed to zero in on distant faces. Few can also go really wide, though. And fast lenses for shooting in dim light are usually found only on single-lens reflex cameras.
The Leica zoom lens on Panasonic's $500 Lumix DMC-LX3, though, goes as wide as a 24mm lens on a film SLR camera and opens up to f/2.0 — gathering twice as much light as an f/2.8. Photographers who like to use available light will also appreciate the camera's high sensitivity, up to ISO 3200 at its full, 10.1-megapixel resolution, and ISO 6400 with 3-megapixel resolution. The camera will be available in late August from Panasonic.com and some retailers.
Other toys and tools for creative photographers in this camera include six colour and three monochrome film-simulation modes, provisions for double- and triple-exposure shots and a choice of three aspect ratios. It can also shoot wide-screen videos in high definition.
The DMC-LX3's lens does not retract completely, so it will not fit in your pocket without a noticeable bulge. But it is a lot of lens.
— Ivan Berger
Wireless device cuts the engine on a pilotless boat
To prevent a boat from careering out of control when its operator becomes incapacitated or falls overboard, many power vessels have engine kill switches connected to a lanyard. These are supposed to be worn by the operator, but because they can be a nuisance, they are often not worn.
That provided a market opportunity for Anthony Viggiano, a Connecticut boating enthusiast, who created the first wireless lanyard and kill switch combination.
Autotether (www.autotether.com) uses two units: one connected to the kill switch by its own lanyard and a smaller one worn by the boat's operator. When a person falls overboard, the water prevents the two units from communicating, and the lanyard is pulled, shutting down the motor. Passengers can wear similar units that sound an alarm to alert the operator that someone has fallen into the water.
The Autotether ($295, including two sensors; $69 for each additional sensor) can be worn even by dogs on shore; if the animal strays beyond the device's 50-foot operating range, the alarm will sound.
— Eric A. Taub
Lean laptop built for speed
The drive to create smaller and cheaper laptops has emboldened manufacturers to stray from the tried and true. The Acer Aspire One, for example, boots up in about 10 seconds and uses a version of the Linux operating system instead of Windows.
Acer has hidden most of the laptop's complexity behind a simple interface. The Aspire One allows users to edit Word and Excel documents, surf the Web and look at pictures and video without having to run complex software. The laptop, which is 2.9 cm thick and weighs 1 kg, in its smallest configuration, has an 8.9-inch LCD screen and an Intel Atom processor.
Aimed at casual users, the Aspire One doesn't have an optical drive but includes a five-in-one card reader for memory expansion. It can hold either 8 gigabytes on a built-in solid-state flash drive or up to 80 gigabytes on a standard hard drive. The laptop starts at $379; a $399 version runs Microsoft Windows XP Home.
Most important, the laptop comes in blue, pink, white and brown, ensuring that buyers can find an Aspire One to match their luggage or living-room decor.
— John Biggs
