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Living room-ready media extenders leverage your home network to bridge the gap between PC and TV, serving up tunes, photos, videos, DVDs, and, if you BYO tuner, DVR-style TV. The DSM-750 MediaLounge Extender rocks Draft-N (802.11n) wireless, so if you pair it with a similarly advanced router, you can cut the ethernet umbilical cord and still stream high-def content. That’s the theory, anyway: Media merely dribbled between our Netgear router and the extender. It was only when we synced the MediaLounge with D-Link’s GamerLounge router (hmmm), that we got video flowing like an avalanche.

The DSM-750 has HDMI, component-video and optical-audio outputs, making it a good fit with highfalutin home theaters. It can stream most video and audio formats, including DRM-protected tunes. But the extender lacks a DVD player, and dumb-ass copyright restrictions prevent you from streaming DVDs from your PC. If you want movies, you’ll have to download them from Media Center staple CinemaNow or rip your disc library. As extenders go, this one works pretty well, though smart shoppers will look to the Xbox 360 instead. Yep, Microsoft’s game console doubles as a media extender, and it can download both movies and TV shows with Xbox Live. Plus, it plays DVDs.

WIRED: Cinchy setup. Streams content from PCs and NAS drives. Supports live TV viewing, recording and timeshifting, provided your PC has a tuner. Front-mounted USB port lets you play content from flash drives.

TIRED: Video tops out at 1080i. Menus look a bit muddy. No volume controls on the extender remote. Can’t play DVDs. Wireless streaming demands high-end Draft-N router. Xbox 360 works equally well and plays games and DVDs to boot.

Price/maker: $320, D-Link

Read our full D-Link DSM-750 MediaLounge Extender review.

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Puget Systems Deluge-i L3

Puget Systems builds desktops, laptops and server towers, with more customization options than NASA can calculate. We custom-built the Deluge-i L3 with aggressive components into an insultingly powerful, flashy gaming PC. For starters, there’s the Quad Core Intel Core 2 Extreme overclocked to 4 GHz and 4 GB of OCZ Reaper RAM. In the graphics department, three 768-MB GeForce 8800 Ultras run in triple SLI. It has a 40-GB Xceed Ultra solid-state drive for speedy access to programs with a second 500 GB Seagate Barracuda for housing our legally acquired content.

Accessing the Intertubes is also fleet-footed; a Killer network interface card actually improved our ping and helped up our headshot count. Even with a Koolance water-cooling system that includes three large fans, this monster idles at about 85 degrees Fahrenheit, easily hitting 140 during our more rigorous Doom 3 and Peggle sessions. When fully operational, this beast is louder than a monster-truck rally. If you can’t already tell, this rig is excessive. Unless you want to create Skynet in your gaming crib, you don’t really need the triple SLI — we couldn’t even get this configuration to run Crysis at full specs.

WIRED: Very tidy build, without a rat’s nest of cables. Quality hardware components. Lots of handy benchmark logs and data included (useful if you know what it all means). Case-lighting lumens are directly proportional to awesomeness.

TIRED: Pricey (even for a custom job). Weighs in at almost 75 pounds. Case-lighting lumens are inversely proportional to social status. What’s that? I can’t hear you over my PC’s Harrier-jet-loud cooling system.

Price/maker: $9,600 (as tested), Puget Systems

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Read our full Puget Systems Deluge-i L3 review.

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So everyone in the products department at Wired has a type of gadget that they absolutely adore and completely geek out on. Me? I love watches. Not just any watches. I love geeky, LED-flashing, binary-sporting, Japanese-manufactured, virtually-impossible-to-decipher watches. Watches like the TokyoFlash “Infection.” A timekeeping device like this actually is perfect for striking up conversations with strangers — especially the ladies.

The number of red LEDs represent the hour — there are eight of them right now, indicating that it’s 8 o’clock. The yellow ones correspond to five-minute increments. See there are six of those. Six times five is 30. And the green LEDs represent individual minutes. There are three of those right now. So it’s eight plus 30 plus three. So it’s 8:33. Every now and then you meet someone who’s really into the watch. In that respect, it’s a great litmus test to see if a girl is a keeper. Aside from that, the TokyoFlash watch also forces you to do a few mental gymnastics when figuring out the hour. And, seriously, isn’t it time for all of us to start doing that? –Daniel Dumas

WIRED: Flashing lights. Hard-to-decipher graphics. Math. This thing is less of a watch and more like geek catnip. Telling time requires a bit of brainpower.

TIRED: Try, just try, to get an accurate reading in direct sunlight. See what happens when you ask someone if they want to see your “Infection.”

Price/maker: $40, TokyoFlash

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Read our full TokyoFlash “Infection” review.

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The Yamaha NX-B02 is a portable wireless speaker that can stream tunes from your cellphone, laptop or any other Bluetooth device, and can even do it sans power cord: Just insert four AA batteries, and rock on. The speaker has four buttons up top — power, volume, and Bluetooth controls — and off to the side is a 3.5-mm In line for portable devices. Getting the speaker to sync with a Bluetooth device is pretty easy, and the wireless range was about 25 feet, smooth and clear all the way.

In the portability department, the NX-B02 is tough to beat. At only 3.3 inches wide and 6.7 inches high, I was able to duct-tape it to my handlebars, bike around with the ice-cream-truck song playing, and watch the kids come running from their houses. The sound quality at low volumes is pretty thin, but turn it up, and the detail and depth in the midrange is impressive for a speaker this size. It can’t compete with most iPod speakers, but it’s a significant upgrade from your laptop’s speakers, with more detail, amplification and depth. For smaller rooms, or a day on the beach, it’s a worthy companion.

WIRED: Unique gizmo, with Bluetooth audio and ultraportable design. Five watts per channel is louder than it sounds. Battery power a beauty option. Cinch to set up and use.

TIRED: Weak bass won’t impress the hip-hoppers. Black, white and red color choices are bland-o-rama. Pricey, and something of a luxury item.

Price/maker: $150, Yamaha

Read our full Yamaha NX-B02 review.

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The Edge 705 combines GPS maps and navigation, heart rate, cadence and power output into a palm of your hand wireless unit. It can display up to 16 separate metrics during the ride and combined with the included software and web-based apps it becomes an incredible tool for social networking, exploration and serious training analysis. From a gander at the spec sheet, it seems setup and orientation would take awhile, but it turned out to be a breeze straight out of the box. I was rolling in less than an hour, with a map telling me my location and plotting a course to the trailhead while spitting out vitals all along the way.

The included software helps you track courses, training regimes, and a mass of recorded data. Users can easily upload their data to the Motion Based site and share activities. Just pick one of the many rides uploaded by users on the site, click on “download to device” and the opportunities for fun and exploration are endless. Over the course of a couple weeks I found the 705 to be incredibly accurate, even in close quarters with other bike-borne wireless electronics. It’s righted my course a few times and has become an invaluable training tool, enabling me to analyze ride and race data over a couple months and realize marked improvements.

WIRED: Detailed maps and directions are spot-on. GPS reception is excellent even in heavily wooded areas. Software and web-app integration are a boon to digit crunchers.

TIRED: Needs capability for more than three bikes. CD-ROM user manual needs more detail. Should come with a glare-free screen skin. Must run the battery all the way down before the first charge or you’ll only get about 3 hours of use.

$650 as tested, Garmin

Photo: Jackson Lynch/Wired.com

Read our full Garmin Edge 705 GPS review.

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After cracking open the eight separate boxes the Orb system set comes in, it’s clear that Orb is going for an eye-catching industrial look. Copper finished front/left/center speakers look steampunkish but still manage not to clash horribly with living room decor. Instead of opting for typical box speakers, Orb Audio draws on its namesake for hardware design. The front left, right and center speakers of our Mod4 system were made up of quadruple banks of the company’s signature orb-shaped desktop speaker. Bringing up the low end was Orb’s 300 watt, 10-inch “Uber Ten” subwoofer.

Believe it or not, those copper balls actually pack a punch. Rock, jazz, and even hip-hop sounded surprisingly clear out of the box, producing both impressive mid-level presence and resonant highs. However, playing a Blu-ray disc presented a couple of minor snags. By about halfway through an advance copy of Rambo (2008), I noticed that most of Sylvester Stallone’s grunts were hogging the audio field. After some investigation, I discovered that the speakers’ sound fields are slightly narrow when playing digital content. A quick repositioning fixed this. Save for this small setback and some prohibitive pricing issues, the Mod4 system is a smart choice for DIY audiophiles who don’t mind going off the beaten path to design their system.

WIRED: Awesome clarity for both music and hi-def movies. Easy to assemble. Surprisingly solid craftsmanship. Hardly any distortion at high volumes. Satisfyingly heavy and durable speaker stands. Metal rods on HOSS stands have been hollowed to hide speaker wire. Expansive customization options. Ten-inch sub brings the thunder!

TIRED: Not the broadest sound field we’ve encountered. Want ear-level speakers? Extra speaker stands are going to cost you $300 a pair. Center channel speaker stand kept coming loose. Speaker wire can be tricky to secure due to enclosed clamps.

$2,300 as tested, Orb Audio

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Read our full Orb People’s Choice Home Theater Speaker System review.

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The Sierra Wireless Compass looks like a chunky USB drive, but it houses not only a microSD slot (up to 32 GB) for adding some memory but also a (Sprint) EVDO modem and a GPS receiver. You won’t get blazing speeds (imagine five minutes to download a 10-MB file), but you will get access from anywhere, plus a decent if under-featured GPS to boot. The data plans are unremarkable: $60 for 5 GB a month; $40 for a paltry 40 MB (hint: kick down the extra $20, cheapskate).

When you fire up the modem software, handy meters show your signal, time spent and data usage. But there are also tabs at the bottom for some simple applications, some GPS applets and a VPN option. In a rare bit of altruism, one of the applications even offers the location of WiFi hotspots across the United States, should you be running low on data. While the GPS is useful, it’s web-based and slow, and there’s no simple way to find and track your location. The chubby unit also hogs the ports; good luck sliding in your wireless mouse nubbin next to it. We also found that the modem is all too eager to slip from EVDO the slower 1xRTT connection.

WIRED: The little bugger accesses the Tubes from just about anywhere. Includes a microSD slot so it can double as a thumb drive. Drivers included on the device; no CD necessary. Includes full-featured GPS and a mini-suite of tools. Cheap!

TIRED: The little fatty is a space hog, blocking nearby ports and necessitating a USB extender (included). Gets dad-gum hot. You will lose the detachable cap in 5… 4… 3…

$50 with 2-year activation, Sprint

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Read our full Sierra Wireless Compass 597 review.

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This wireless adapter for the Wii Nunchuck comes in two parts: a small receiver that snaps into the port on the bottom of the Wiimote, and a nunchuck housing with a flat base that houses a pair of AAA batteries. While gaming, the adapter functions flawlessly. We tested the adapter with a host of different games and noticed no obvious lag. And while the battery compartment adds some weight, it’s not enough make the nunchuck feel unbalanced.

Battery life is superb. Nyko claims 60 hours, and they ain’t lying. We’ve been playing on the same set of AAAs for weeks now. The small receiver that attaches to the Wiimote, however, is a power hog, significantly shortening battery life and creating false power readings. Still, if you’re using rechargables, the battery drain isn’t as much of an issue. If you play a lot of Wii Sports, $20 is a small price to pay to keep the nunchuck cable from smacking you in the face, or other parts of your anatomy. And if you’re a fan of Mario Kart, then, well, blaming your loss on the tangled cord is no longer an excuse.

WIRED: Flawless functionality and simple setup means you’ll forget you’re using a wireless adapter. Stellar battery life keeps nunchuck going strong for up to 60 hours. Battery pack also functions as a nunchuck stand.

TIRED: Receiver dongle significantly saps Wiimote batteries. Added nunchuck girth may make boss battles harder for those with small hands.

$20, Nyko

Read our full Nyko Wiimote Wireless Adapter review.

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I listened to a little Sarah Vaughn on the 2200s at my desk this week and then turned around to see my co-workers staring at me. Everyone in a 15-foot radius was able to enjoy the soul of the famous blues singer, but I could barely hear her. Why would a set of headphones sound loud to everyone else, except the person who is wearing them? The answer lies in the 2200’s open-back design. Meant to reduce sound pressure and make listening easier on your lobes, the ‘phones basically hemorrhage excess audio into the space around you.

So to get a true sense of the way the headphones handled I locked myself away in the privacy of my basement. In my concrete box of solitude, the headphones created a nice spatial sound, but the bass was a little thin, and the treble a bit harsh. In the end, the 2200s could not provide the warmth and depth I get from other headphones costing half the price. The 2200s are not exactly comfortable either. The cans are big but they don’t so much cup your ears as swallow the sides of your head. Ultrasone also claims that the S-Logic technology lets you listen to music at higher volumes without risk of damaging your ears. I’m all for preserving my auditory senses — I just don’t want to damage the hearing of those around me in the process.

WIRED: S-Logic feature not only prevents hearing damage but also simulates believable surround sound. Solid design will stand up to the repeated abuse suffered on public transportation. Detachable cord’s more than 20-foot range almost makes up for lack of range on headphones.

TIRED: Ambient sound is louder than your mother-in-law after a half dozen highballs. Hideous color scheme makes us retch a little. Just could not get music pumping out loud enough to suit our tastes.

$300, Ultrasone

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Read our full Ultrasone HFI 2200 review.

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The Asus M70S is the first laptop computer with a full terabyte of storage space standard, courtesy of two 500-GB drives spinning away inside its ginormous, 8.8-pound chassis. And while spec-wise the M70S is a loaded baked potato (2.5 GHz Core 2 Duo, 4 gigs of RAM, Blu-ray, TV tuner and an ATI Radeon HD 3650), the machine is buggy in day-to-day use. Applications installed only after hiccups, strange lags erupted almost at random and baffling messages asserting DRM errors popped up when we did something as simple as playing back a standard DVD. Most troubling: Windows Vista only reported 3 GB of RAM instead of the four we knew were present.

Power through the issues and you’ll find the M70S offers exceptional performance, though not record-breaking by any stretch. $2,400 isn’t a terrible deal for the surfeit of goodies you get, but gamers with cash to burn will want even better performance than the M70S can offer — and they’ll demand considerably better stability. We do, too.

WIRED: Surprisingly good battery life (more than 1 hour, 40 minutes) for a 17-inch rig. Dual hard drives allows for mirroring (and perfect, instant backups). Precise loud speakers, including bottom-mounted subwoofer.

TIRED: Very buggy even under minimal load. Extremely dim LCD, even at max brightness. Awkward case design requires punching a difficult-to-reach button to open the lid.

$2,400 as tested, Asus

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Read our full Asus M70 review.

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This small set-top box is dead simple to configure and use with my existing Netflix account. Plug it in, hook it up to the HDTV with an HDMI cable, plug in an ethernet cord, and then use a confirmation code to link it to your account. I was running within five minutes. The box streams movies from Netflix — it doesn’t download them. I was able to get the 1.0 Mpbs stream in my testing, which resulted in perfectly acceptable video quality. Higher quality streams are available, and over time, HD streams will show up, which the box can handle.

Choosing content to watch is done on your computer, using the familiar Netflix interface. Anything that’s available for instant viewing can be added to the player’s queue. The upside is that browsing the amount of content on Netflix is much easier on a computer than TV; the downside is that you’ll find yourself wanting your laptop by your side. On the downside, Netflix has 100,000 DVDs available, but only 10 percent of them can be procured for streaming. The great thing for current customers is the cost: $100 for the box, and then $0 a month extra.

The score below is balanced between the ease of use and quality of the hardware, and the dearth of content available. If every piece of media in the Netflix catalog were streamable, this would be a 10 for sure.

WIRED: Textbook definition of a simple setup. Good video quality from streams. Box automatically upgrades as new software features become available. No cost above normal Netflix subscription.

TIRED: Another nondescript black box to clutter up your living room. Just not as much content as we wish was available. Box and remote, while functional, just aren’t very good looking.

$100, Roku

Photo by Jim Merithew, Wired.com

Read our full Roku Netflix Player review.

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Armed with GPS, and a GSM radio, the Snitch acts as a stowaway spy, broadcasting its location on demand. Place it in your vehicle and track away through the online applet. You can schedule times for the Snitch to report on its location, or you can track it on the fly. If you arm it, an integrated motion sensor tattles via e-mail or text message when it detects movement.

The Snitch’s battery can keep the thing alive for a few days of occasional use, or you can get a car charger or kit to tap into the car’s electrical system — good for the sneakier types. The device’s GPS and GSM signals are hearty enough to get a GPS signal and send alerts from within a trunk. If hidden, you can control it by text message. On the not-so-great side, the unit ships without a manual; just a getting-started guide. The costs add up too: You must pay for activation ($169 per year!) and “tracking credits” that are depleted as you communicate with the device or track its location. Plus, if you don’t use your credits, they expire.

WIRED: Slightly evil. Tracking is plain fun, especially with the sweet, sweet revenge of busting that two-timing (insert spouse’s name, vile adjective) once and for all. Powerful signal makes for easy hiding.

TIRED: Slightly evil. The lack of a user manual makes learning the ins and outs of the device a slow process. The Snitch website is somewhat cryptic. Tracking credits are silly.

$400 plus activation, GPS Snitch

Read our full BlackLine GPS Snitch review.

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The Casio EX-F1 is flat-out one of the fastest cameras we’ve ever tested — and ideal for capturing unpredictable moments. Everything about the F1 screams speed, from its sleek elongated body to the 60 frames per second you’ll be able to capture with its high-speed CMOS sensor and LSI processor. Hell, even the camera’s flash will fire up to seven times a second for up to three seconds.

The F1 also happens to be a decent video camera, capable of shooting standard and high-def movies (1920 x 1080) at up to 1,200 fps. You can even set the EX-F1 to independently fire off a series of pictures thanks to a handy motion detector. Despite these great features, the EX-F1 is admittedly a flawed speed demon — it’s heavy and awkward, its low-light performance was abysmal compared to other (much cheaper) DSLRs and when shooting movies at the highest 1,200-frame rate, you’ll notice the actual frame itself shrinks considerably. The F1 is still a remarkable example of what’s possible when camera makers refocus their energy on including features that are, you know, actually fun to use. And fun is probably the best way to describe the F1.

WIRED: Divvy up those 60 shots per second in multiple ways: 30 shots per second for two seconds, 20 for three seconds and so on. Mini-HDMI jack makes for sexy F1/HDTV pairing. Pre-record mode means you’ll capture moments you thought you had missed.

TIRED: 12x zoom is slower than a three-toed sloth with an Ambien addiction. Crappy low-light performance only partially forgiven by the camera’s zippy flash. No optical eyepiece so you’ll have to rely on the tiny electronic viewfinder. Flash doesn’t work in pre-record mode. $1,000 may seem steep for such scant megapixels. Cannot capture sound while recording high-speed video.

Price/maker: $1,000, Casio

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Read our full Casio EX-F1 review.

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The new version of the Jawbone eliminates the 2006 version’s previous fit issues — for me at least. Within two minutes, I had the right size earpiece, and the correct over-ear loop to keep it locked to my cheek — a requirement for the proper function of the noise-cancellation. One big help is that the Jawbone has shed a ton of weight and size since the last version as well, now tipping the scales at just 10 grams heavy and 50 percent smaller than the first version.

Call quality is still as good as it gets with a Bluetooth headset, which is to say good but not great. The noise cancellation is supposedly upgraded, but people on the other end of our calls couldn’t tell a difference between the two models. Overall, though, this is truly an upgrade. Aliph has taken the best-performing headset on the market, and made it smaller and easier to wear. Which is pretty much all you can ask for.

WIRED: Great sound. Serious upgrade in wearability, even with fewer options. Doesn’t weight you down like the older model. Easiest syncing headset ever; starts up in pairing mode the first time you turn it on.

TIRED: Still relies on a proprietary power connector that isn’t the same as the first model, either. Design cues are a little bit Gucci for some wearers (especially Wired geeks). A quick spin through the manual a must to understand how to operate invisible buttons.

$130, Jawbone

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Read our full Aliph “New” Jawbone review.

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Not only is the screen on the new version of the Eee PC 4-G bumped up from seven inches to nine, the RAM is doubled (from 512 MB to 1 GB), the solid state storage system jumps from 4 GB to 20 GB, and, of course, the price takes a leap, too, hitting the $550 mark. The bigger screen (and larger resolution) makes web pages, documents and graphics files far more navigable and legible. The keyboard, while technically the same size as the 7-inch 4-G, actually feels a little bigger.

Though the CPU is the same as the 4-G (a 900 MHz Intel Celeron), the extra RAM is a big help. The 900 boots noticeably faster, and application lag is improved. Battery life also gets a big boost: We eked almost four hours of video playback from the device, vs. two hours, 20 minutes on the 4-G. The Eee didn’t remember our WEP key after a reboot, and the battery life meter was totally wrong during our testing, but those issues are probably due to some Linux drivers that can be updated. Though the price tag is now rising well past $500, it’s still an awfully attractive deal.

WIRED: Positively pint-size, just 3 ounces heavier (2.2 pounds) than the seven-inch model. Window XP model available (same price, but drops total storage from 20 GB to 12 GB). Excellent component upgrades over 7-inch model.

TIRED: Price now flirts with full-size notebooks. No 802.11n. Multitouch-like trackpad features are simplistic and underdeveloped. Some fan noise. Uncomfortably dim screen.

$550, Asus

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Read our full Asus Eee PC 900 review.

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If you do like to crank tunes on your PC, Axiom’s Audiobyte speaker system is one of the biggest desktop boomers out there. It includes two satellite speakers, a subwoofer and a 55-watt-per-channel amplifier that connects to a PC, iPod or any other source via the minijack port. The satellite speakers put out a clean, neutral sound with plenty of detail and depth in the high and midrange, even at low volumes. They look gorgeous, but might feel a little out of place if your desktop decor is littered with brushed aluminum Apple products.

For a desktop system, though, the sub is awfully big and boxy. The amp also doubles as a space heater, so you’ll probably want to stash it under the desk, and then use your feet on the volume knob. At $350, and another $180 for the sub, this is one of the priciest desktop systems you’ll find. But if you have a home office where you listen to music, play videogames and watch movies, it will certainly breathe new life into the experience.

WIRED: Nice build quality, including titanium-domed tweeters. Satellite speakers look and sound sharp. Lots of color and finish choices, like faux walnut burl. Crank up the volume without distorting the sound.

TIRED: Over five hundred bucks and there’s no remote? We like our LEDs and all but the big ring of them around the volume knob is overkill. Seriously, a sub that large should thump harder.

$530 as tested, Axiom

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

Read our full Axiom Audiobyte Desktop Speaker System review.

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When you first pop open the A305, you may gasp a little: Reflective hematite stripes and lacquered finish catch light, while the keys shimmer like little black candies, inviting your fingers to dance across them. But the mirrored surface also invites smudges to the party — a lot of them — which means you’ll be spending time spiffing the thing up before it can be seen in public.

Then again, the Toshiba’s packed with goodies. An Intel T8100 processor, 3 GB of RAM and a 512-MB ATI graphics chip provide punch for processing and playtime. Dual 200-GB drives offer tons of room for HD video that you can pipe out to a TV through HDMI. An extended battery lends two hours of time away from an outlet. While the screen is bright and sharp, it’s a little too reflective; if you don’t like the way you look, use this laptop exclusively in the dark. And maybe that’s where the Toshiba performs best. Slip in a DVD or a game in the darkness of your dungeon, watch the inset DVD controls glow coolly through the dark, game away in peace, and know that no one will ever see the smudges.

WIRED: Breathtaking good looks. Sweet specs delight (casual) gamers without causing poverty.

TIRED: No Blu-ray to go with the HDMI. Mirrored surface is positively smudgo-philic, while the screen causes unwanted self-examination. The fingerprint reader separates the mouse keys and fails to justify its existence.

$1,250 as tested, Toshiba

Read our full Toshiba A305 review.

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This new compact DSLR from Canon gets the now obligatory two-mil bump in resolution to 12.2 megapixels, but in the case of the XSi, the prestige lies in a new Digic III processor, higher 3.5-fps frame rate, a larger viewfinder, back-of-the-camera-dominating 3-inch LCD, quicker autofocus, a bundled 18-55mm f3.5-5.6 lens with optical image stabilization and the inclusion of Live View.

This wide zoom lens (29-88mm 35mm equivalent) benefits from expected sharpness and added f-stop range. The XSi is given a bump up from its more expensive siblings with dual Live View autofocus. You can choose between the phase-change AF and contrast-based AF. Canon specs the XSi with the same Digic III processor and 14-bit Analog-Digital converter used on its top-of-the-line 1Ds Mark III series. This combo delivers — among many good things — quicker image processing, faster frame rates and a broader range of tones with improved color rendition on the final prints. All told, Canon has made a credible case for the step-up-from-point-and-shoot customers to give the XSi a hard look.

WIRED: Switch to SDHC memory. Relatively low noise at high ISO settings. New battery with 50 percent more endurance.

TIRED: ISO tops out at 1600. Plastic body seems too plasticky. ISO in only full-stop increments. Lacks the useful HELP mode of its major competitors. A tad bit pricey.

$900 as tested, Canon

Read our full Canon Rebel XSi review.

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There’s a lot to love about this phone on the surface: It’s elegantly minimalist, light weight and versatile. At 4 x 2 x.7-inches, it shares the form factor of its cousin the F700, making for a slick, pocket-friendly presentation. The Glyde’s clean profile is rounded out by the unit’s sparse use of external buttons and a slimming dark-blue-on-silver chassis. With its sweet looks, the bonuses of multimedia support and a decent 2-MP camera with flash, the Glyde is clearly a stylistic progression compared with Verizon’s other touchscreen phones.

Likewise, the Glyde does fairly well with its full HTML browser too. Wikipedia and Google queries were easily executed and relatively quick with the phone’s EV-DO connection. Of course, with no accelerometer, onscreen QWERTY keyboard, or gesture-based navigation, the Glyde isn’t exactly an iPhone-killer. Samsung attempts to sweeten the deal by adding a basic QWERTY keyboard (accessible by sliding the screen to the right). In truth, this addition ends up being a mixed bag. The fastest way to zip around on this phone seems to be an underwhelming combination of touchscreen and QWERTY navigation. Score? Glyde 1, Pseudo-futuristic badassery 0.

WIRED: Sleek and compact design. Bluetooth compatible. Adjustable vibrating feedback for touch commands. Backlit QWERTY keypad is easy to see in the dark. Records up to 10 minutes of video. Speedy performance. Crisp call quality. Vibrant 240 x 440 touchscreen. Touchscreen automatically locks after initiating calls.

TIRED: Onscreen buttons near screen perimeter can be unresponsive. Automatically switches to landscape whenever browser is opened. Weak speaker output during both multimedia playback and speakerphone calls. No onscreen QWERTY keyboard for texting. With only 35 MB of internal memory for music, shelling out for a microSD card is unavoidable.

$300 (with two-year agreement), Verizon

Read our full Samsung Glyde cellphone review.

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The Olympus Evolt E-420 is the most diminutive digital SLR we’ve seen — and that’s a good thing. Most SLRs are bulky, heavyweight beasts tipping the scales at 2 pounds or more. The E-420 is more of a bantamweight, weighing in at just 1.4 pounds with the included kit lens.

Feature-wise, the E-420 holds its own against other low-cost SLRs. The 10-megapixel sensor produces good quality images with little noise up to and including ISO 800 (it maxes out at ISO 1600). Like other recent Olympus cameras, such as the E-510, it has a Live View mode, which lets you compose shots on the LCD instead of peering through the viewfinder as you must do with most SLRs. The E-420 sports a variety of autofocus modes including one that automatically detects faces in the frame and focuses on them. That feature worked well in our tests but sometimes took as much as a second to locate a face. Also, it only works when the camera’s Live View mode is switched on.

WIRED: Light weight and small size make it far more portable than most DSLRs. Live View lets you compose onscreen instead of peering through viewfinder. Speedy autofocus. No discernible shutter lag. Paging all photo geeks: RAW format support.

TIRED: Fewer buttons means it takes more menu-surfing to adjust basic settings like ISO and white balance. Face-detection feature can be slow. Four Thirds lens compatibility is largely moot, as no manufacturers beside Olympus and pricey Sigma support the standard. No pop-up bong attachment.

$600 with 14-42mm kit lens, Olympus America

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The Drobo storage automaton takes care of just about everything a normal RAID-based device does, but with virtually no effort on your part. Better still, it plays friendly with every manner of OS: Linux, Mac, Windows or whatever bric-a-brac home computing environment you can throw at it. The only problem — as many have noted — is the lack of a GigE port. But that’s where the DroboShare comes in.

Essentially a flat stand that sits under the Drobo, this little device transforms the server from a DAS (Desktop Attached Storage) to a NAS. For anyone who already owns a Drobo, this little supplement device should be a no-brainer. We hooked it up to our Airport Extreme and were up and running in minutes. Yes, speed was noticeably affected when switching from USB2 to Ethernet, but most home users aren’t going to be using the Drobo as a swap drive for Photoshop or video editing anyway. Time Machine backups worked like a gem, and we were even able to stream iTunes and some other, um, HD content in across an 802.11n WiFi connection without a single hiccup. While pricey, the Drobo and DroboShare still represent one of the easiest ways we’ve found to set up a shared-network drive.

WIRED: Idiot-proof setup. Self-mounting (thank you, Samba file server). No software required. Supports almost all major file systems, including NTFS (Windows), HFS+ (Mac OS X), EXT3 (Linux) or FAT32 (various), so you can use it in multiple PC settings. Flexible: mix-and-match drive capacities, brands and speeds, so as your insatiable lust for storage grows, so too will Drobo’s data storing prowess.

TIRED: All that expandability and ease of use come with a ridiculous price. All told, you’re paying $700 for the Drobo and DroboShare (tip: search the Internetz for package deals and save a few ducats) — and that’s sans SATA drives. Four drive bays + fan = leafblower-level noise. No UPnP or DLNA media-server functionality, so no remote web access. USB-Ethernet bottleneck hampers speed.

$700 as tested, Drobo

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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This little guy will let you manage and fine-tune your backups, and it functions as a media server so you can remotely access your photos, music and videos as well. There are some notable limitations to the 2120. Setup was a bit more involved for things like the Photo Webshare service, and it took us a while to figure out how to simply add photos. You also won’t be able to remotely access the PCs on your home network with the Media Vault.

One very important thing to remember: The 2120 ships with just one fixed 500GB drive — not exactly a storage beast. It could (or should) be presuming you’ll be backing up from multiple PCs. There is one extra bay that accepts a 1-TB drive, but still, the 2120 is nowhere near as flexible as the Drobo or other RAID-based devices. Still, if remote access is important to you and you want the ability to manage all your backups and shared folders, for the price, you’re simply not going do much better than the 2120.

WIRED: Back up your backups by adding an additional drive to the 2120 with USB. Serves as a DLNA media server, which paves the way for iTunes music aggregation, photo web sharing, remote access and web-based file browsing. None of that data corruption bugginess that’s been plaguing WHS. Cheap at 300 bones.

TIRED: Mac-tolerant, but not Mac-friendly: Access stored data from a Mac, but setup is restricted to Windows machines only. Only two drive bays instead of the typical four. The Media Vault’s software can handle only file-level backups, not full-system backups.

$300, HP

Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

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The Z9 effortlessly satisfies the standard phone user, and pleases the rest of us with a couple extra perks. You get your e-mail and IM; you can listen to music from the microSD card or buy some more. Calls are above-average quality (trust us, we’ve been shouting into an iPhone for the last year). In addition to 2-megapixel shots and recording video, it can also video share — send live video to other 3-G AT&T users, which is great for broadcasting scenes from your DIY fight club or natural disasters.

But the star of the show is the GPS. This is no cell-tower GPS Lite that only tells you what block you’re on; this is the real deal, with turn-by-turn directions, live traffic info, access to the AT&T database for points of interest — you know, stuff that’s actually useful. If you don’t want to punch in an address, just call the 877 number and speak it. On the downside, you will visibly age while it initializes, and it sometimes miscalculates your direction. Fortunately, goofs are few and far between and the Z9 picks up on them.

WIRED: Excellent call quality. Strong GPS capabilities. Lets you transmit (or receive) live video to other 3-G AT&T phones. Haptic feedback tickles.

TIRED: GPS can be slower than waiting for the Optimus Maximus. Pretty heavy. Proprietary headset/power connector = crap.

$249 (with two-year contract), Motorola

(Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com)

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If Dr. Evil of Austin Powers fame were more musically minded, he may have demanded something like the beamz — a musical instrument with “fricking lasers” attached to it. As a kid with his music career still ahead of him, beamz founder Jerry Riopelle frequented an ice cream shop with a laser-triggered doorbell. When the MIDI music format appeared in the ’80s, he wondered whether the same concept could apply to making tunes. The result, decades later, is the beamz Music Performance System.

This large USB peripheral includes six beams generated by 12 lasers that, when broken, activate elements of 30 songs stored on your computer. Riopelle managed to create a laser-based instrument anyone can play — a harder task than it sounds, since the musical parts have to mesh musically in nearly limitless permutations of hand waves. Music experience helps with timing, tempo, arrangement and composition, but it’s so easy and amusing to play that only the Invisible Man could fail to have fun. — Eliot Van Buskirk

WIRED: Lets anyone make music. With lasers. Near-zero latency. One-shots, loop-based samples, dual-sample banks, “conductor” beams for toggling sections and a backing-track creator allow complex compositions. Exports in WAV format. Plans include a “third-party composer program,” a Stevie Wonder play-along and other downloadable songs for $2 each.

TIRED: The demonstration video almost defies explanation. Seriously, click on it. Some of the sounds seem dated. No Mac version (yet). Pricey considering that this is nothing more than a fancy toy.

$600, Sharper Image

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What RIM’s aversion to 3-G is we’ll never figure out. With version 8120, RIM updates its beloved Pearl smartphone with WiFi but still omits a 3-G radio and, oddly, GPS, the latter of which can be found on both the 8110 and 8130. The shell is virtually identical to older Pearl models, and functionally very little here has changed. Aside from some minor interface tweaks (woo, new icons!), the trackball-and-two-letters-per-key experience is fully intact.

The big news, of course, is the addition of WiFi, and RIM seems to have finally gotten the kinks worked out of its 802.11g implementation; we didn’t encounter any of the troubles we experienced with the BlackBerry 8820 last year. If you dig the BlackBerry’s mature e-mail features (who doesn’t?) and can handle the whole bi-character key setup (and we know many who don’t), the Pearl 8120’s a solid upgrade to hold you over until a 3-G version (fingers crossed) arrives. —Christopher Null

WIRED: Camera upgraded to 2 megapixels plus flash and video capability. Software is somewhat better at word detection and correction; even works well with odd, multiword URLs. Crazy-loud speakerphone. Very sensitive mic offers exceptional call quality in our tests. Very fast battery charging, and nearly nine solid hours of talk time in our benchmarking. Stable WiFi implementation.

TIRED: Pearl keyboard still not for everyone. Lack of 3-G is absurd. No GPS.

$200 (with two-year contract), RIM

(Photo courtesy Jim Merithew, Wired.com)

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The latest effort to get the boob tube on a mobile device is AT&T’s Mobile TV with FLO (Forward Link Only), and it’s surprisingly good. Coupled with the LG Vu phone, it’s a match made in couch-potato heaven. The MediaFLO service uses an unusual, nonstandard bit of spectrum to ensure that the streaming of your favorite flicks is uninterrupted. Instead of downloading the data over AT&T’s 3-G network, the Qualcomm-developed technology operates primarily on the old UHF television band, though it does tap into the 3-G network in order to get started.

The result is that there’s virtually no buffering and programming starts up within a few seconds. On the Vu’s brilliant 3-inch screen we found picture quality to be insanely clear and frame rates to be smooth as the ice cubes in a tumbler of 30-year-old bourbon. “Mobile TV” is a bit of a misnomer. Only a few channels are simulcast, meaning you can watch them in near-real time. All other programming, like episodes of your favorite Fox shows, are time-shifted and updated when necessary. Still, watching live streaming TV or movies like The Karate Kid on the Vu’s 3-inch haptic touchscreen is pretty amazing.

WIRED: Good selection of simulcast and time-shifted programming. No network lag. Live streaming CNN is a must for news junkies. Variety of programming packages should fit just about everyone’s viewing style.

TIRED: Unless you’re in an area with strong 3-G coverage, the service simply will not work. Right now the service is only available in 58 locations nationwide.

$30 per month as tested, AT&T

(Photo courtesy AT&T Wireless)

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The Kensington SlimBlade trackball mouse is an aerodynamic, sleekly designed peripheral. It’s also a tad schizoid. And that’s a good thing. What I am crazy about is that with the touch of a button on top of this mini-size travel mouse, its smooth-gliding scroll wheel transforms into a responsive trackball. Finally, there’s a pointing device for your notebook that works in tight spaces and is as comfortable to use as the larger desktop mice I’m more accustomed to.

The SlimBlade’s 1,000-dpi laser is dependable: No matter what surface it lands on, the mouse performs perfectly. The roller ball even offers 360-degree scrolling without having to physically move the mouse. Bluetooth connectivity means that the thin-profile mouse is all you need to carry — no extra USB adapters or encumbering cables to schlep around. If your PC doesn’t have built-in Bluetooth, Kensington’s new USB Micro Adapter should do the trick. With a mouse of this caliber, don’t be surprised if you find yourself plugging it in to your desktop PC as well.

WIRED: Thin enough to stick in a shirt pocket. Seamlessly switches from mouse to a 360-degree trackball. Auto-sleep mode automatically extends the two-AA-battery life up to six months. Seriously. Plastic chassis feels like metal with some heft. Amazingly comfortable to use despite its size.

TIRED: Mouse/trackball mode button initially takes some time to figure out. Hard to know when sleep mode has kicked in.

$100, Kensington

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This no-frills unit rocks a bright 3.5-inch QVGA screen encased in a black plastic chassis, and weighs less than half a pound. On top of all the normal manuals, the NAV730 includes a car charger, mounting bracket, 1-GB SD card containing U.S. maps, USB charging cable and a DVD containing backup maps. The WinCE-based OS was fast enough when navigating the menus, but the user interface was a bit of a downer.

Acquisitions were also a bit of a mixed bag. I was able to get a 28-second lock while outdoors on a relatively clear day. Meanwhile, attempting the same feat indoors took 2 minutes, 32 seconds. These aren’t necessarily bad times, but other GPS units we’ve tested achieve faster locks in more challenging settings. Once I got moving, the voice-guided turn-by-turn directions were easy enough to understand via the text-to-speech feature and surprisingly loud 1-watt speaker. Unfortunately, these solid additions were marred by occasionally spotty destination markers. These navigational hiccups were extremely rare, but honestly there was a moment or two when I questioned whether the NAV730 would accidentally direct me into oncoming traffic.

WIRED: Extremely cheap and mostly effective. Excellent multimedia support (MP3, WMA, OGG, MPEG4, AVI, WMV, GIF, JPG, TIFF). Zippy menu navigation via 400-Mhz processor. Accurate text-to-speech pronunciation of street names. Traffic Message Channel compatible (subscription required). Voice guidance in 20 languages.

TIRED: Seriously light on preprogrammed points of interest. Hard power cycle necessary for charging. Clunky menus and overall UI can prove challenging. No Bluetooth support. On/off switch is too far recessed, hard to toggle. 320×240 screen is hard to read outdoors.

$170, V7

(Photo courtesy navigonusa.com)

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For its price, the Navigon 2100 Max is fairly swank. If you plan out your trip far ahead of time you’ll have a positive experience. The Navigon can switch from 2-D to a 3-D Reality mode that will even show you which lane you should be in. In emergencies, you can bring up the nearest tow truck, hospital or pharmacy. But once you leave the highway or want to navigate on the fly, prepare for frustration. It’s hard to get the scroll buttons to register, address look-up is time-consuming and unintuitive, and the Points of Interest directories are hard to navigate, especially if you don’t know the name of the business you’re searching for.

The most aggravating of all is when the unit starts talking back, arguing like a real estate lawyer. If a community is not a “registered municipality,” the Navigon can still find it, but won’t let you navigate to a street within that area. One address we checked simply couldn’t be found because we couldn’t provide the correct hamlet for it. Yes, Madame Navigon is hard to satisfy and takes patience to deal with; if you don’t have the time to convince or cajole her to do your bidding, then it’s time to spring for a pricier model.

WIRED: Midrange features at a flea-market price. The speaker has a good set of lungs and demands to be heard. The unit’s excellent mounting bracket is virtually shake-free.

TIRED: Sluggish response time frustrates and causes double-taps. Obstinate refusal to recognize certain towns even though they show up in auto-fill enrages the most gentle souls.

Price/maker: $299, Navigon USA

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The enV2 is apparently the end result of spilling coffee on a stack of consumer satisfaction surveys from the first enV. It’s a lighter, slimmer package, but a botched facelift leaves it with all the style of that TI-36 you ditched back in high school. Easy to dial, but with the half-inch-tall screen on the front, the enV2 isn’t really good for much else. Thankfully, once you open it up there’s a full QWERTY keyboard — not as wide at the original, but the keys are evenly spaced so it’s still great for messaging.

There’s a 2-megapixel camera, but even if you have figured out how to comfortably hold an Altoid-can-clamshell without blocking the much smaller lens with your fingers, pics and video turn out pretty grainy. Where to end? Do yourself a favor: If confronted with the choice of purchasing an enV2, think long and hard about it. After all, you’re stuck with this device for two years. — Nate Ralph

WIRED: Bluetooth. Vibrant interior screen. External microSD slot. Stereo speakers.

TIRED: VZ Navigator (pay me!), IMs as SMS (pay me!), POP e-mail (pay me!) and the walled garden web “browser” (pay me!) will jack up that monthly bill. No WiFi.

$130 with two-year contract, Verizon

Photos courtesy Jon Snyder, Wired.com

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Packed into a dual analog/digital face, the Tissot T-Touch is literally a flotilla of functions. So what exactly does it do? Well for starters, how about dual time zones, two alarms and countdown chronographs? OK, still not impressed? But how about adding a barometer, thermometer, perpetual calendar, compass, altimeter and an azimuth (sort of a GPS system on your wrist)? Oh what’s that? Getting gadget fever? Wait, there’s more.

What really makes this timekeeper unique is how all these functions are activated: the face is a touchscreen. By tapping on seven different points on the analog face the digital portion displays the results instantly. Of course to cram this type of instrumentation into a watch requires a certain amount of heft and the T-Touch does not disappoint, weighing in at more than a quarter-pound. Programming the T-Touch’s ambitious functionality also takes the same patience that would go into solving a Rubik’s Cube. But if you possess that patience, this just might be the ideal timekeeping, temperature-sensing, direction-finding, altitude-detecting, all-in-one, wrist-mounted wundergizmo.

WIRED: Dual analog/digital face provides actual temperature, directional readings and barometric readings. Backlighting and water-resistance to 330 feet useful for all you deep divers out there.

TIRED: Hard to program. Confusing eight-page instruction booklet almost as thick as an issue of Wired magazine. Quarter-pound weight plus J-Lo-class thickness make you conscious of the watch at all times.

$1,100, T-Touch

(Photo and wrist modeling courtesy James Merithew, Wired.com)

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The iK500 iPod Dock’s two 5-inch subwoofers and passive radiator on the back pump out the shock waves while the dual tweeters take care of the crispy bits. Whether it’s thump or twitter, the Kicker sounds equally good.

More than a brutish and simple set of speakers, the Kicker comes with a remote that lets you navigate your iPod menus to select playlists or songs and adjust the volume, not just the shuffle and volume of lesser remotes like the Bose SoundDock’s. Knob revivalists will dig the prominent protuberance on the front of the case, which covers power, volume, bass, treble and aux-in selection. The back of the box offers a 3.5mm line-in port and stereo RCA-out for connecting external speakers.

WIRED: You can’t get busted for disturbing the peace if you can’t hear the cops banging on your door. Achieves ear-stinging volume without distortion. Volume, bass and treble controls are accessible with a poke and pinch of the front-facing knob. Zune owners can pick up a similar zK500 model.

TIRED: The iPod docks vertically (rather than at an angle), making the screen hard to read. The direction buttons on the remote slow down scrolling. No mic-in for high-decibel karaoke.

Price/maker: $350, Kicker

(Photo courtesy Jim Merithew, Wired.com)

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Admittedly, most people don’t sit around thinking, “Gee, I wish I could set up a high-speed WiFi network here at this picnic. Or at the beach. Or in my minivan.” But for us gadget junkies, we do think that. That’s why this mobile router and EVDO card combo from Kyocera is perfect for us. The router signed on automatically go to Verizon’s network after inserting the ExpressCard; you can also use older PC card modems with the router. Soon, we were sharing very snappy net access with everyone in the nearby park. Two small quibbles — the router required periodic reboots, and we never got scalding download speeds on the Rev A network. Downloads topped out at 700 Kbps while uploads peaked in the 400-Kbps range. But for the price and ease of use, not to mention the McGyver-like ability to quickly throw up a network, the combo is hard to top. — Mark McClusky

WIRED: Dead simple to set up — we went from box to internet surfing in less than five minutes. Routing functions worked well, easily managing dozens of clients. Handsome white case design. Router accepts PC card, ExpressCard or USB wireless modems. Four-port wired router included. ExpressCard protrudes less from laptops than competing models.

TIRED: Slight instability required power cycling to resolve. Speeds not quite up to our hopes for EVDO Rev. Antenna on card seemed a little fragile.

Router:

$250, Kyocera

Card:

$50 (with two-year contract) from Verizon, Verizon

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Lasonic X Famous i931

The Lasonic X Famous i931 is a ghetto-fabulous boombox designed by former Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, and its ability to play music from iPods, SD/MMC cards, microphones, USB sticks and line-level sources hits us right in the feature-set sweet spot. But with an interface that somehow renders the user-friendly iPod nearly un-navigable and a chintzy plastic construction, it’s best-suited for one activity: belting out rhymes over backing tracks stored in one of the above-mentioned formats. See, this thing has a quarter-inch input that works with a standard stage mic. A gain-control knob mixes vocals above or below the music, while an echo knob adds various intensities of delay to your voice. We would not recommend this 2×12-watt monster for regular music listening since it can be so frustrating to use. But if you know exactly what you would do with a microphone enabled iPod boombox, Lasonic X Famous i931 will get the job done in style — Eliot Van Buskirk

WIRED: Plays MP3s from iPods or flash memory. Displays song information. Lets you address throngs with a microphone (not included). Remote control and custom-fitted docks for various iPod models are included.

TIRED: Flimsy construction not tough enough for the streets. Semi-opaque plastic obscures iPod screen; no display on remote. Controls are more confusing than MF Doom’s rhyme schemes. Doesn’t work with iPhone or iPod Touch. Even when blasting “Fight the Power,” we didn’t feel like tossing a garbage can through a window.

$250, Famous Stars and Straps

(Photo courtesy Eliot Van Buskirk, Wired.com)

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The 10-megapixel Olympus SP-570UZ makes a good shooter for the photo enthusiast who lacks experience yet has enough loot to drop on an entry-level DSLR. You can start out relying on the auto settings (they won’t steer you wrong), and then explore the advanced functions as you build your skill. Even the most hopeless of n00bs can use this thing. The more experienced user can squeeze a lot from the camera in various shooting situations, and you can perform nearly all functions manually for more control.

The camera’s lens barrel extends to a lewd length, but it packs a 20x zoom. The anti-shake controls help in the long shots, but you’ll lose some detail unless you’re using a tripod. The camera boasts a litany of functions — face detection, burst mode, 22 scene presets, movie recording and epic zooming ability, but where it really excels is up close. Those who like to sweat the small stuff will love the super macro mode that captures excellent detail in flowers, bugs and other assorted tiny objects.

WIRED: Stunning macro function makes big shots out of the smallest subjects. Versatile controls soothe the enthusiasts while auto presets comfort the n00bs. Excellent manual. Top-mounted hot shoe makes swapping external flash options easy.

TIRED: Pretend-professional zoom requires two hands. Zoom shots without a tripod can come out blurry. Stubborn clinging to proprietary xD media is irritating: Resistance is futile, Olympus.

$500, Olympus

(Photo courtesy Jim Merithew, Wired.com)

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The brand-new 15.4-inch (1280×800) Gateway M-151X comes in three hues (red, silver and blue) or wrapped in a blue and white floral graphic called Arctic Bloom. While the M-151X is, at heart, a mid-range laptop, its 1.66GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM and 250 GB hard drive should provide all the power and storage you need for just about anything that’s not specialized: Gaming is decent, graphics are solid and video editing is easy on this machine. The sea of mainstream laptops is littered with lackluster look-alikes, and while the M-151X isn’t perfect, it manages to occupy that sweet spot between price and performance, not to mention style.

WIRED: Silver keyboard looks great with the brushed metal bezel that surrounds it. Touch-sensitive volume slider and slot-load DVD burner: score! Bluetooth, HDMI, 5-in-1 card reader, fingerprint reader, 1.3-megapixel webcam with mic. Solid two hours of battery life — even while running multiple multimedia apps.

TIRED: Only three USB ports (no room for one more?), no FireWire. Speakers leave much to be desired, namely bass. Screen is very reflective, most noticeable with dark images, as when watching movies.

$850, Gateway

(Photo courtesy Jon Snyder, Wired.com)

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