Normally, they...Mouse + phone?
Targus has begun selling a unique two-in-one PC peripheral that sounds ideal for the home, office or while on the road.
Targus has begun selling a unique two-in-one PC peripheral ideal for the home, office or while on the road.
Aptly called the USB Notebook Mouse Internet Phone, this computer accessory looks like a regular travel mouse but is also a fully functional VoIP phone — compatible with Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Instant Messenger, Google Talk, Skype and Vonage — thanks to its built-in microphone, speakerphone, headphone jack and independent sound chip with volume control.
The USB Notebook Mouse Internet Phone costs $49.99 and is available at Staples and London Drugs.
This product begs the question, though: Do you want your technology converged? Does a music phone work as well as a dedicated MP3 player? Are you interested n your GPS navigation unit playing downloaded video clips for kids in the backseat? Do you rely on your PSP as a digital photo album?
Filed Under: Computers & Software
The question one should ask is how often do I need a specific tool vs a multi-tool. As a self employed contractor, I have a full range of expensive hand tools and the right tool for the right job makes sense and also saves time. However, if a customer has called me for a non-specific repair, I do not want to drag my whole tool case in with me when a quick inspection dictates that the job can be done with the multi-tool on my belt.
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Well, I agree with James. It really depends on the task at hand. Though with certain things, I was more inclined to buy a multi-tool. I hated carrying a cell phone, digital camera, mp3 player and my laptop, so I went out and bought a Nokia N91 which does all those things in one gadget (minus some laptop features, but I was really just interested in the WI-FI!) But my tool set for working on the car is a 384 piece box set and not a bag of multi-tools where parts of the screw driver are missing, the plier turns into a sloppy wire-cutter and what not! I guess the real questions are:
1) Do you really need the multi-tool (i.e. is it beneficial to you)?
2) How is the quality of the multi-tool compared to a specific tool? And are you willing to take the trade-off?
Those were my main concerns when shopping around!
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Multi-purpose devices are always nice but they always seem to lag behind in terms of packing the same features that a dedicated device has. Some are indeed impractical if combined (ie. an SLR camera with a cell phone). http://taghlub.blogspot.com/
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I like multi-tasking devices if they can do all the tasks as well as I need them done. For example, I was recently in the market for both an MP3 player and a PDA. I discovered the the iPod had the PDA features I needed while being both an MP3 and video player. But I would have gone for two separate devices (and definitely not an iPod) had I needed more out of the PDA.
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