Tech Watch: Audio E-mail; Notebooks; Color MFPs; Displays, Security Drives; IPaq rx1950

A look at new products and technologies available to solution providers by leading and emerging vendors

E-Mail For People On The Go

There's a time and place for everything. But for those of you with clients who want to read documents when they're, say, driving to work, running on the treadmill or using the restroom (you know who you are), there's MT1. The software from Limerick, Ireland-based MagneticTime converts e-mail and Microsoft Word documents to standard MP3 files, which means a user can listen to them on a PDA, iPod, cellphone or PC (a Macintosh version will be available shortly, the company says). MT1 automatically creates a new folder in Outlook. By copying files or messages into that folder, a user can import the messages into the MT1 application, which is a desktop player, and messages are read in order. Voice playback, however, is rather sterile and can be a bit much to listen to over time, despite the company's claim to the contrary.

MagneticTime MT1, www.magnetictime.com Price: $40

Panasonic's Tiny-But-Tough Notebook

Need a notebook that can take its share of abuse? Panasonic's latest Toughbook W4 is a subnotebook computer that weighs a mere 2.8 pounds, yet sports a 12-inch display with a distinctive magnesium-alloy casing and shock-mounted hard drive. While not meant to be tossed around, Panasonic's Toughbooks are known for their use in industrial settings. The battery provides six hours of power. The Intel Pentium M-based system comes with 512 MB of RAM, a 400-MHz front-side bus, a 40-GB hard drive and 802.11b/g wireless support.

Panasonic Toughbook W4, www.panasonic.com/toughbook Price: $2,150

Color MFP For Less Than a Grand

Color MFPs are now in the sub-$1,000 range, and one worth looking at is the Brother MFC-9420CN. Though it lacks the color quality of the recently featured, standalone Lexmark C520 Series, Brother's entrée makes up for it with versatility. This is clearly a traditional monochrome MFP that offers color to those who occasionally need it. The printer generates 31 pages per minute (ppm) in monochrome and 8 ppm in color, with a resolution of 2,400-x-600. Still, for $800, you can offer an MFP that prints, copies and receives faxes in color and has a built-in Ethernet interface; a 35-page automatic document feeder; a 250-sheet paper tray that supports legal- and letter-size paper; and toner cartridges that support printing 10,000 pages in black-and-white and 6,600 pages in color.

Brother MFC-9420CN, www.brother.com Price: $799

A Touching LCD Display

Kiosks may still be a niche technology, but it can be a nice niche for many solution types, ranging from health-care organizations, cafeterias and other retail locations to casinos and, of course, trading floors. NEC Display is looking to simplify the sale for solution providers with its new line of 15- and 17-inch AccuSynch LCD monitors, complete with built-in touch-screen capability. In the past, several NEC partners note, the touch-screen option had to be added by a third party. Now, thanks to a licensing agreement with 3M, NEC is building the company's ClearTek touch screens into its displays, providing better integration, technical support and supply through NEC's distribution channels. NEC is offering two types of monitors: one with capacitive technology, which offers fast and accurate performance, and one with lower-cost resistive technology. Both support USB interfaces to link touch commands to the application.

NEC AccuSynch touch LCD series, www.necdisplay.com Price: Ranges from $600 to $800

Don't Lose This Key

Security Guardian may look like your run-of-the-mill USB flash drive, but it's actually a gadget that lets users create virtual disk space on their hard drives that's visible only to them when the device is in the USB port. Those who want to protect their e-mail or personal files can remove Security Guardian, and the virtual disk space and programs installed on it will become encrypted and disappear from view. Data can't be recovered if the PC is stolen, according to its Taiwan-based manufacturer, Frontier Information Enterprise. In the event the device is lost, the user has three opportunities to enter a password to recover the data. Security Guardian can secure up to 128 GB on any given system.

Security Guardian, www.fie.com.tw Price: $89.99

iPAQ With All the Essentials

If Windows Mobile is your preferred standard for PDAs, Hewlett-Packard's new iPAQ rx1950 is a solid choice for basic Office applications and Wi-Fi access to e-mail, the Web and IP-based applications. In addition to the standard Microsoft Windows Mobile apps, including Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and Outlook, HP offers its own tools for wireless, with one-touch access for device and power status, memory and backlight settings. The one disappointment is that the iPAQ rx1950 has only 96 MB of memory, though an SD card will allow for much more storage. For the price, though, this handheld is on par with Palm's competing TX device. In the end, it's a question of which OS your client prefers.

Hewlett-Packard iPAQ RX1950, www.hp.com Price: $299