Choice high-tech gifts: cool digital cameras, mobile accessories and wired watches are more affordable than ever

Black Issues Book Review, May-July, 2004 by Robert S. Anthony

Booklovers--readers, scholars and writers--also need gadgets to make work and play easier. If you need a gift for one of them in this season of Mother's Day, Father's Day, graduations, weddings and other family events, this is a good time to try new technology. Thanks to a steady drop in prices, high-tech no longer has to equal high priced.

For photo buffs, Concord Camera Corp.'s new Eye-Q 4360z digital camera (shown at right) offers a resolution of 4.0 megapixels, at a price tag of just $199 (954-331-4200, www.concord-camera.com). The camera has a 1.5-inch color display on its back and offers a 3X zoom lens and 6X of software powered digital zooming lot a total effective zoom of 18X. The Eye-Q 4360z stores photos on Secure Digital (SD) memory cards, but also has 16 megabytes of built-in memory.

Frequent travellers can always use compact electronic accessories. Keyspan's ZIP-LINQ Sync & Charge cables ($15.99 to $17.99; 510-222-0131, www.keyspan.com) do the same job as the charging cradle that came with your Palm handheld or Pocket PC (like recharge and synchronize data with your desktop or notebook PC). But the cables take up a lot less space in your suitcase. The ZIP-LINQ Mini Optical Mouse ($21.99; above, middle) is also considerably smaller than standard computer mice and connects to any computer with a universal serial bus (USB) port through a retractable cord. Other ZIP-LINQ retractable cord products include phone ($12.99) and Ethernet ($14.99) cables.

Higher functioning wristwatches compatible with Microsoft Corp.'s new MSN Direct wireless information service are now making it into stores. These watches receive frequently updated data--weather, local traffic reports, stock prices, and, yes, even the time--via FM radio signals from towers in major metropolitan areas. They can also receive short e-mail messages, although you can't else the watch to respond. Sign up for an MSN Direct wireless service account ($59 a year or $9.95 a month) and then surf to the MSN Direct Web site (www.msndirect. com) to select the information you want sent.

Finland-based Suunto Oy recently introduced the MSN Direct--compatible Suunto N3 sports watch (at right, bottom, $300; 800-543-9124, www.suunto.com), which also includes a stopwatch with lap and sprit times and is water resistant to a depth of 330 feet. Fossil Inc. (800-449-3056, www.fossil.com) also offers MSN Direct compatible watches, including the Abacus Wrist Net AU4000 ($129), the Fossil Wrist Net Round FX3001 and Wrist Net Square FX3000 ($179 each).

You can add the functionality of the Franklin electronic translator (in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish) to your handheld device with the Audio Translator card from Mobile Digital Media Inc. (650-961-0636, www.gomdm.com). The $39.95 card is compatible with many of PalmOne Inc.'s organizers, as well as many Pocket PCs.

Robert & Anthony is a syndicated technology writer who lives in Brooklyn, New York.