TOP TECHNOLOGY NEWS

Computer peripherals manufacturer Keyspan has announced its new Skype-compatible Cordless VoIP phone for Macs and PCs.The phone allows you to use Skype while your computer is connected to the Internet and in range of the phone (it doesn’t feature WiFi), making it suitable for home or office use. The phone supports PC-to-PC and PC-to-Phone calling, Caller ID and Speed Dial for both Skype and Skype Out numbers and has a 15-hour talk time. Surely not the fanciest Skype phone available, but at $79 the price is about right. It’s avaiable through Keyspan’s Web site and other sellers.

Think you’ve got a "universal" remote just because you can control your TV, cable box and DVD player with one unit? Think again. This remote can control up to 16 devices, including satellites, cable TV, radio, CD player, VCR, DVD, MP3 players, digital recorders and more. It features an LCD touchscreen with changeable icon layout, and allows for 48 buttons/commands per device and the programming of macros up to 60 commands long. The remote is available for $79.95, and if you actually have enough devices to warrant it, our hats off to you.

Even if you have caller ID, you still have to either get up to check it or carry your handset with you everywhere. The Color-Call Caller ID System lets you stay on your couch by letting you assign colors to your callers. The device lets you pair four hues — red, green, purple or blue — to individual phone numbers or groups. Unassigned or blocked callers are denoted by scrolling colors. It can hold up to 100 callers and 30 missed-call numbers.

It seems dictionaries are no longer the back-breaking volumes from our childhood. This 256MB flash drive ($49.95) contains the Webster's digital dictionary with 300,000 words and a 500,000-word thesaurus. The drive also contains a phonetic spell correction, a grammar guide and confusable function alerts that detect possible misuses of similar sounding words like "there" and "their." You even get a crossword puzzle solver, and memory not allocated to the above software can be used for storage.

We’re seeing more and more products that take the guesswork out of determining your exposure to skin damaging UV rays. The Solestrom SmartSwim UV Meter Bikini has a waterproof digital UV meter built into its waistband that will give you the current UV reading at the touch of a button. It sells for $190, but there’s no word if there’ll be a similar swim trunk available for men.

Baseball players watching videos of opposing players to study their tendencies is nothing new. Nor is the ubiquity of the iPod in Major League clubhouses. But the Colorado Rockies use of the video iPod to watch those videos is downright pioneering in a sport known for its staid adherence to tradition. Rockies staff load 60GB iPods with the content then return them to each players lockers for pre-game preparation. The team’s scouts are also incorporating the video players in their evaluations of baseball talent.

It’s a pretty sure bet that you can’t please everybody, but that’s not stopping Gigabyte from trying. Its Windows 5.0-powered g-Smart i Pocket PC smartphone offers direct push e-mail, a 2.1-megapixel camera, WiFi connectivity, the ability to play audio and video files and a PAL/NTSC TV tuner for viewing television worldwide. If that’s not enough, Bluetooth connectivity lets you sync to all manner of peripherals. Currently it’s set for release only in Tawian.

Summer is here and it’s time to scrape the scum off your hull and spend some time on the water. And while you’re at it, you might try upgrading your marine propulsion system with a Volvo Penta IPS. With dual steerable drive units, the IPS (inboard performance system) gives your boat a level of manueverability previously seen only on the most advanced yacht designs, making it a no-brainer to perform tight turns within your craft’s own length.