Big Brother
Want to keep track of your employees and the company car? The Trimble TrimTrac Locator GPS surveillance system monitors your car 24 hours a day, and automatically sends SMS and email notifications when the vehicle is being misused, which means you can deter speeding, unauthorised trips and theft. PhantomEye’s newest device tracks cars to the point before they go inside a tunnel or undercover car park, and records are kept for 90 days. Also, monitoring options can be fully customised, and you can unlock car doors, sound the horn, or immobilise the vehicle by using your mobile phone or PC as a remote control.
The device is priced from $600, and ongoing GPS tracking costs start at 32.3 cents per day for a parked car and increase up to 70 cents for a car on the move (costs include SIM card charges).
www.phantomeye.com
Stay On Track
If you need help managing your finances, Spendtracker Advanced may be just what you’re after. The handheld budgeting tool has been redeveloped with the support of Mortgage Choice, and tracks expenses across 10 categories, including bills, grocery, transport, entertainment, personal expenses, and two separate categories that allow you to track one-off costs. A running total of everything spent is also saved, and you can compare expenses to a pre-determined budget—all at the point of purchase.
The size of a credit card and 3.5mm thick, Spendtracker is available for $29.95.
www.spendtracker.com
Tangle Free
You talk, it types—it’s fair to say that speech recognition software makes dictating easier. Now the Dragon NaturallySpeaking 9 Preferred comes bundled with a CS60 wireless headset as well, so you can dictate without getting tangled in cords.
At a cost of $699.95, the CS60 has a range of 100 metres and a talk time of up to nine hours. Besides using the headset to create documents, emails, and spreadsheets with Dragon’s software, you can also pop it on for a chat using Skype and Windows Live Messenger.
www.australia.nuance.com
I Touch Myself
Sleek and Stylish, the HTC Touch Dual 850 has been customised for the Telstra Next G Network’s high speed downloads. Use the phone’s touch screen technology, or bring out the easy-to-type sliding keypad, to access email, messaging and music functions, among others. It is also connected to Telstra’s My Place portal, Sensis Search, Whereis Maps and Foxtel by mobile. This compact device comes with a 2-megapixel camera with autofocus and a second camera for video calls
HTC Touch Dual 850 is available for $929 or on a Telstra post paid $80 plan.
www.htc.com
Print To Go
A new addition to the mobile workers’ toolbox, HP has launched the Officejet H470b Mobile Printer for anyone needing to print on the go with a rugged high-performance printer. Printing laser-quality text documents and high-quality photos, the mobile printer can print from a variety of sources including notebook PCs, PDAs, cameras and memory cards. At speeds of 22 pages per minute in black and 18 pages in colour, you won’t be waiting long.
Weighing 2.22kgs and drop-tested to 0.5 metres, the Mobile Printer is available from $499.
www.hp.com.au
At The Movies
Forget about burning CDs and DVDs, and instead turn your TV into an entertainment centre with the LaCie LaCinema Premier. With 500GB, 750GB and 1000GB storage options, you can transfer hundreds of movies and thousands of photos and songs from your PC or Mac with a simple USB. Plug the body into your TV for instant playback, and use the remote control to navigate easily through the on-screen menu. With an optical output capability, you can enjoy surround sound as well.
Priced from $359, LaCinema Premier comes with backup software and can also be used as an external hard drive.
www.lacie.com.au
Keep Your Eyes Peeled
Aiming to make motion detection security simple, Swann Communications has released a RedAlert Security Kit. The light and portable do-it-yourself video surveillance solution, with wireless CCTV camera, is as easy as plug-and-play and view-and-record.
The security system comes with and records directly to a 128MB SD memory card, though its storage capability can be increased to 2GB. But you won’t use too much memory because the kit only records when it senses motion.
While connectable to as many as four cameras, the multi-view system can only record a single channel at a time.
On sale for $399, the kit is ready to install with an easy setup guide.
www.swann.com.au
