Stuff Geeks Want

If your car is a frequent business-trip companion, consider the Autonet Mobile router. Installed into the trunk, it creates a personal Wi-Fi, 3G hot spot anywhere.

Multiple devices can share the Internet without slowing its speed. You connect wirelessly to the Autonet access point in exactly the same way you would for a stationary access point. Speeds will depend on the data size as well as the strength of your cellular signal, but reports are its competitive with portable, handheld devices like an iPhone.

Autonet Mobile is about to become much more common: It’s now an add-on option for Cadillac, Chrysler, and VW. The monthly subscription fee is $29 a month.

Buy for $390 from Amazon

Here’s a different looking Bluetooth headset…the Jabra Stone. The earpiece is just a slim curve that escapes the bulky look of most headsets and even eliminates buttons, opting instead for touch-sensitive controls. It earns its name from a distinctive charging dock that exactly matches the earpiece’s shape and creates the effect of a smooth stone when the two are together.

Although simple in looks, the Stone has noise ‘Blackout Extreme’ cancellation technology that uses dual mics to reduce background noise. There’s an option of working in A2DP mode for music in addition to the usual hands-free mode.

Featuring a terrific new shape, the Stone curves around the back of your ear, the small size dictates a low battery life of just two hours per charge, but the charger itself can work without a power cord for as many as three charges.

Talk time: 8 hours. Standby time: 12 days. It won’t be available until December 1st, but you can get your Christmas orders in now.

Buy for $100 from Mobile City Online

With new studies showing those who text while driving are 23 times more likely to cause a crash than a non-texting driver and rumblings that a federal law banning the practice is imminent, the demand for Bluetooth in-car speakerphones will no doubt pick up. But there are two problems: (1) most of them sound like crap and (2) well, YOU sound like crap to the person you’re talking to.

Maybe, just maybe, Jabra’s new offering – the Cruiser – might be the answer to everything. It’s the first speakerphone to use ‘Dual Microphone’ technology that Jabra claims eliminates background noise and cancels out any echo (really?!). There’s also ‘Voice Announcements’ where the speakerphone will access the address book to speak the name of the caller, or read the number aloud if it’s not in your contacts.



The Jabra Cruiser can also play MP3s stored on a mobile through the speakerphone, and through the car stereo using its built-in FM transmitter. When a call comes in, it will auto fade then mute the music.

Jabra says battery life is about 14 hours of talk time and up to 300 hours of standby time.

Oh, read elsewhere it’s not available in the states and no one knows when? Stick with us folks. It’s available.

Buy for $100 from Amazon

The smart phone landscape continues to grow from a trickle to a flood. But as with any electronic product, the cream rises to the top and the HTC Hero is doing just that.

Based on Google’s Android OS, it’s winning accolades for its simplicity and customization, to name a few. Respected Wall Street Journal technology columnist Walt Mossberg recently wrote that the Hero stands out because of its touch-screen keyboard (much like the iPhone), synchronization with Microsoft’s Exchange service, and its manufacturers “own signature software layer” called ‘Sense’ that sits atop Android giving the Hero additional and much-needed functionality.

Sense also offers something called Scenes, which is a collection of screens and apps that can change the phones look and feel. You can switch from a work-oriented scene with apps like a stock tracker and work e-mail on the weekdays to a music-oriented scene on the weekends with a music player, photo album and personal e-mail.

“I found the HTC Hero to be the best Android phone I’ve tested, and a worthy competitor to the iPhone, the BlackBerry and the Pre,” Mossberg wrote. His pluses: the growing library of Android apps (now over 8,000), a much higher resolution camera than the iPhone or Pre at five megapixels, and a “clear and strong” speaker phone. His minuses: Poor battery life at well below the promised five hours, and a sometimes unresponsive touch screen.

It will be available from Sprint in the U.S. on October 11 for $180 after a $100 rebate with a new two-year service agreement, but is also available in an international, unlocked version from Amazon at the links below.

Buy the international white version for $682 from Amazon

Buy the international black version for $660 from Amazon

Another year, another new Jawbone model. Nicer and smaller than ever, mind you.

The new Jawbone Prime features Personal NoiseAssassin 2.0 technology, for even better noise-reduction than its predecessors. Now you can carry on a conversation even with a fire truck wailing in the background.

And it’s dead sexy, so you won’t look like a cyborg or a blinking lighthouse.

Buy for $99.99 via Amazon
or $94.99 from NewEgg

You’re on a lonely road in the middle of Kansas with no iPhone reception (Been there. Done that). Plug in the iBooster from Wilson Electronics into your cigarette lighter and you’ll see a difference. It amplifies weak cell signals with a high-powered antenna and then rebroadcasts them – “Up to 20 times more output power,” the company says. Oh, and as it’s doing that, it’s charging your iPhone’s battery on first generation, 3G and 3GS.

Go read some of the in-depth reviews of this product. Depsite it’s high price, if you drive in areas with poor cell phone reception, this little baby is impressive.

Buy for $230 from Amazon

Here’s a doozy…the perfect way to get noticed while using a cell phone.

The YUBZ Talk Mobile retro-styled phone. Hook it up to your iPhone or whatever and while it may look clunky, the company says it “designed for comfort, not convenience…not everyone wants to wear a headset.” Good point.

The handset comes in lots of colors and comes with a wide range of adapters and connectors. So if you’re missing the old days and the felling of a handset on our shoulder, check it out.

Buy for $30 from Amazon

Klipsch (like Mercedes Benz) has always tried to stay ahead of the competition with innovation and quality. The Image s4i continues that tradition.

The s4i is the first third-party headset to work with Apple’s VoiceOver feature that lets you control the iPhone through a gesture-based screen reader as well as the third-gen iPod shuffle, second-gen iPod touch, fourth-gen iPod nano and the 120GB iPod classic.

In addition, they now come with an in-line microphone and remote control for iPhones and iPod touch users to call or record audio. As with the original S4 models, the S4i set has the unusual oval ear tips that we’ve found to be more comfortable than circular tips found on other earphones.

But what might be most interesting is their new ‘360-degree design’ that suppose to cancel out background noise. If it works as advertised, 99 bucks is worth it.

Buy for $99.00 from Amazon

Verizon today announced that it’s bringing 4G wireless networking to between 25 and 30 U.S. markets next year. Why do you care? Because Verizon claims peak download speeds of 50-60Mbps in its trials… which is about 10x faster than most cable modems (and about 50x faster than 3G).

If you can’t wait for that and happen to live in Baltimore, Sprint already offers 4G broadband in that city, with plans to roll it out in many more over the next 12 months.

The only issue with Sprint is that their 4G network is relying on WiMax, not LTE (like Verizon). What’s this alphabet soup mean? It means that Sprint’s 4G speeds top out at 2-4Mbps, not quite as fast as Verizon will be able to provide, but still a decent boost over 3G.

Of course, I’ll believe Verizon’s 50Mbps 4G speeds when I see it and it doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars a month (Sprint’s 4G plan is around $80/mo.).

We found this story about how the 3GJuice founder got his start pretty awesome (who knew LinkedIn had any real benefits?)

Featured on Gizmodo, and in the NYTimes, the 3GJUICE can take your iPhone 3G from 0% charge to 100% charge in just 2.5 hours, and even better, you can use your phone while it’s charging. And you will need this if you get an iPhone 3G. The battery sucks that bad.

Get it from Amazon for around $60.