technology

Cut rate cool

Not all exciting new tech products for travelers are expensive; five of the nine items here cost under $200.

Samsung MM-A800 camera phone

$349*
Give your thumbs a well-deserved rest. The MM-A800 offers both voice command and voice dictation for sending text messages. So, you can say, "Send text to boss," and then, speaking carefully—one word at a time—say the message itself. The system isn't perfect, but it's easy to correct errors and much faster than picking out letters with your thumbs. The MM-A800 is also the first cell phone in the United States with a two-megapixel camera for snapping print-quality images.

Toshiba Libretto U100

$2,099
Smaller than a letter-sized notepad and not much thicker, the 2.16-pound Libretto U100 is nonetheless a full-fledged Windows computer with a 1.2-gigahertz Pentium M processor, 512 megabytes of RAM, a 60-gigabyte hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi. The keyboard and 7.2-inch diagonal screen are cramped, but the Libretto comes with a "Zooming Utility" to easily enlarge small type that would otherwise be hard to read. The Libretto also has a built-in fingerprint scanner for security.

DeLorme Earthmate GPS LT-20

$99
In-car navigation systems make it easy to find your way, but only if you're driving your own car. DeLorme's Earthmate GPS LT-20 kit turns your notebook computer into a navigation system with the company's Street Atlas USA 2006 software and a small yellow GPS receiver that plugs into a USB port. To help keep your eyes on the road, the LT-20 can deliver spoken turn-by-turn directions through your notebook's speakers.

PalmOne LifeDrive Mobile Manager

$499
This impressively versatile device won't pack your suitcase or hail a cab, but it does almost everything else. It's a personal digital assistant keeping track of address and appointments; it's a viewer and editor for Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents; it will fetch your email and display Web pages through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless networking; and after work, it will play MP3 music, display digital pictures and run video on its big color screen. With a four-gigabyte internal hard drive, the 6.8-ounce LifeDrive offers far more storage than competing personal digital assistants.

Kensington Personal Firewall portable device

$49
Want to win points with the over-stressed administrators in your company's Information Technology department? Tell them about the Kensington Personal Firewall, a USB device that provides full protection—even for wireless connections—whenever it's plugged into a computer. Many IT managers don't allow firewall software to be installed on company laptops, which is a problem for workers on the road, and therefore outside the company network. Kensington's USB key resolves the problem by providing protection without installing software.

MemoText reminder service

$4.99 per month
All the written reminders in the world won't help if you're walking around blissfully unaware that you're due in a meeting, or that your spouse expects an anniversary gift. MemoText turns your mobile phone—the device you're most likely to always have on hand—into a beeping alert machine. With a MemoText account, you enter short message reminders to yourself on the Web, then specify a future delivery date and time. You can also beep the phones of family members or colleagues, so everyone stays on track.

Mitsubishi PocketProjector SD

$799
Those fancy and expensive two-pound portable projectors look downright bulbous next to the diminutive PocketProjector SD, weighing a mere 14 ounces. The tiny unit fills a 40-inch diagonal screen with an SVGA (800 by 600 pixels) image and can run for 2.5 hours on batteries, while other projectors are lost without an AC outlet. An SD card slot lets you put on digital picture slide shows and PowerPoint presentations using a memory card instead of a computer.

Swissbit SwissMemory USB Victorinox 1GB pocket knife

$159
Moving the venerable Swiss Army knife into the 21st century, this model includes one gigabyte of USB 2.0 data storage, along with the familiar knife blade, scissors and nail file/screwdriver. There's even a retractable pen and a red LED light. It comes with software for synchronizing the memory module with important files on your computer, and a USB extension cable. The memory module also detaches from the knife for carrying through airport security.

Lapworks Laptop Legs

$19.95
In the good old days, laptop computers had little flip-out feet on the bottom to put the keyboard at a better angle for typing and help keep the underside ventilated. But the plastic feet broke off easily, so manufacturers dropped them. Lapworks brings them back in peel-and-stick form, at a price that's low enough to make it no concern if you accidentally damage them.