Feature-packed box

GIZMO GALLERY

The 40 GB hard-drive is removable and it's easily opened for memory upgrades and so on. It comes with an extensive onboard manual which explains the special features.

The PC users' guide

It's unusual to recommend a dead-tree book but "Surviving PC Disasters, Mishaps, and Blunders" by Jesse Torres and Peter Sideris from ww.paraglyphpress.com/ is an excellent addition to the average users' shelves.

This offers practical, cost-effective solutions for all the irritating problems that PC users commonly face.

Apart from typical hardware and software solutions, the $30 book also offers advice on avoiding viruses and spyware, travelling comfortably with technology, troubleshooting networks and protecting yourself from internet fraud, identity theft and the Recording Industry Association of America, (which is apt to sue file-swappers enthusiastically).

It includes esoterica such as handling a desktop that bursts into flames or a monitor that explodes (switch off the power and don't chuck water).

Hot spot finder

A WiFi seeker is a small device useful for locating WiFi access points or "hot spots" for wireless internet connections. This key-ring sized Wifi seeker from Chrysalis Development finds 802.11b and 802.11g WiFi hot spots, where your laptop can log on easily.

The four lights blink in patterns that locate strong signals for upto 100 metres or so from an open access point "� if all four are on that's a maximum signal.

Wifi Seeker doesn't distinguish between open and encrypted spots. So that could be an irritant.

The Zen MP3 player

The fashionable Zen Micro MP3 & WMA player from Creative Labs actually offers some more features than the iPod at around half the price ($250 equivalent).

This 3-inch handheld carries 2,500 songs plus FM radio (which can be set to 32 stations and record to disk) in a micro-sized 5 GB player and comes in 10 electrifying colours, all overlaid with blue glow and backlit buttons.

It uses USB 2.0 for transfers. Up to 12 hours of normal battery life and the battery can be easily swapped with a fully charged battery for continuous play.

It has a built-in voice recorder as well. The Zen has a vertical touchpad and a removable disk so you can easily connect to the desktop to back up data as well and as a personal organiser.

Good loud sound quality (though its unavoidably tinny on the bass).

Star Wars space ship

It seems that Star War fan(atic)s never grow up. This working model of Hans Solo's "Millennium Falcon" space ship is designed to be a great nostalgia trip for the man who's got $60 to spare and wants to revist the 1970s.

The Hasbro (www.hasbro.com) re-release of the ultimate transporter for Star Wars action figures has all the mod cons of the original. It includes a boarding ramp for escaping imperial firefights, cargo bays for stowing androids and a cockpit built to fit both pilot and Wookiee action figures.

But it's also been updated with blazing light cannons, blue LED engine glows, hyperdrive sound effects and even a missile that you can fire. All you need is a clockwork Harrison Ford!