A rundown of new products: disks, headphones, and pets

November 21, 2000
Web posted at: 8:17 AM HKT (0017 GMT)

By Tinnie Chow for ebizasia

This week ebizasia looks at storage of digital information, the latest headphones from Bose that reduce background noise, and a newcomer to the growing market for robo-pets.

1-GB IBM Microdrive $US500 from IBM

It weighs less than an ounce, and is smaller than a matchbox. IBM's 1 Gigabyte Microdrive offers a way to keep your personal information safe by simply carrying it around with you. Even better, the world's smallest hard disk drive has just tripled its memory.

The tiny disk can hold 1000 high-resolution digital pictures, up to a thousand 200-page novels, or nearly 18 hours of high-quality digital music. It can be attached to a PC card and either used on your laptop, or attached to a variety of hand-held products such as digital cameras, handheld PCs, PDAs, portable Internet music players and video cameras.

Consumer electronic companies including Casio, Acer, Sanyo, Fuji, Hewlett Packard, Kodak, Minolta, Ricoh and Nikon have designed or plan to design products compatible with the Microdrive. The Microdrive is made by IBM, retails for $US500 and is available online at www.shopibm.com.

Poo-Chi $US30 from Tiger Toys

The latest in the new market of robo-pets, Poo-Chi is an interactive puppy programmed to respond in any way you want. He senses light, sound, and touch and the more active he is, the happier he becomes. Feed him his bone and he will go crazy. He will move his head, ears, legs, mouth and even sing songs when you play with him, but beyond that, don't expect to teach this new dog any old tricks.

Find information on Poo-Chi, which retails for about $US30, at www.tigertoys.com/robochipets. Meanwhile, look out for Super Poo-Chi, Meow-Chi and a bird called Chirpy-Chi coming to Asia next year.

QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Canceling Headset $US300 from Bose

Everywhere you go, there's background noise. It's the white noise that follows you when you're driving a car, walking on the street and sitting in a plane. If you ever wanted to just switch it off, take a look at the latest in noise reduction headphones from audio equipment maker Bose.

The Bose QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Canceling Headset offers one way to eliminate unwanted engine noise when you are travelling on a plane. The headset, which retails for US$300, reduces unwanted white noise so you can travel in peace and quiet without resorting to earplugs. If you want to hear in-flight entertainment, just plug the headset into the audio outlet, or your own personal audio player.

Find more information on Bose's range of noise reduction headsets at www.bose.com.

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