TelePort Speakerphone Edition

My suggestion is the new Global Village TelePort Speakerphone Edition modem. Along with all the standard modem features (and an upgrade path to 56 Kbps speeds some time in 1997), the device acts as a speakerphone even when your computer is turned off and enables full-duplex conversation and simultaneous voice and data transmissions. [Alfred S. Sacheli <mral@onramp.net>]

<http://www.globalvillag.com/external.html>

Modem Surge Protector

For those who thought getting a computer would catapult them into the bleeding edge elite - as they recover from the seventh crash that evening: a mouse fashioned from the jawbone of an ass, to remind us all of our humble, and often more effective, heritage: "Stupid box of *&^%&^* circuits!" CRUNCH!

In all seriousness, however, I suggest a surge protector for the modem line. I've had two not-inexpensive links to the outside world blow in this little shack of dirty-powered horrors in which I now reside. Perhaps others could learn my lesson by putting one in now. I'm using a modified dedicated suppressor from Black Box, though I've seen them in power strips here and there and know that other companies make dedicated versions, such as the Tripp Lite DataShield. [Jonathan D. Sweet" <sweet006@maroon.tc.umn.edu>]

<http://www.blackbox.com/bb/products/p63.html/ tig3b4>

PageME! -- Anyone who lives and dies by their alphanumeric pager should check out PageME!, a clever program from Mark/Space Softworks. PageME! enables you to create a little application that contains all your paging information. You can then give the application to anyone you want, and they can then easily send you messages via your pager. You can even password-protect the application so you can post it on a public Web site, say, and only let certain people send you pages.

<http://www.markspace.com/pageme.html>

Mark/Space is offering a special deal to TidBITS readers through 31-Dec-96 via the URL below - $59 for just the PageME Construction Kit (normally $79) or $99 for the PageME!/PageNOW! bundle (normally $129). [ACE]

<http://www.tidbits.com/products/page-me.html>

PocketNet

My favorite gadget is a compact telephone cable called PocketNet. It is about two inches in diameter and one inch thick. Two RJ-11 modular (male) phone connectors pull out of it, unreeling up to 16 feet of ribbon cable to connect your laptop to the wall jack, and reeling itself in when disconnected. It is only available direct from Pilot Technologies in Minnesota for $15.95, or in bundles with additional accessories. There is something extremely satisfying about the way it retracts the cable into itself. (Don't confuse this with a similar version that has the smaller handset plugs to take up slack between a phone handset and its cradle). [Stanley Karter <kar@sirius.com>]

[This product has been renamed the CordMinder 16; the price remains the same, and details should appear shortly on the Web page below. -Geoff]

<http://www.pilot-tech.com/TeleD.html>