my-Vox Digital Voice Recorder
The my-Vox Digital Voice Recorder (at http://www.my-vox.com/ivoxhs1.htm) comes from the elaborately named Singapore Shinei Sangyo Pte. Ltd. It can record up to eight minutes or 99 messages, and features an earphone jack, single button recording, and voice alarm activation. The marketing representative at the show said it'd be good for recording meetings. Provided we lived in a fantasy world where no business meetings stretched beyond eight minutes, I suppose that would be true. However, I think it'd be better suited to the odd personal memo.

Singapore Shinei Sangyo Pte. Ltd. had another module to demonstrate called my-Raydio, the misspelling of which can be accounted for by a smiling sun logo. By plugging the device into your Visor, it transforms your handheld into a portable radio.

CUERadio
CUE Corporation has another radio module for the Visor called CUERadio. You can select from a preprogrammed list of stations and add additional cities to your play list. With the module, you can also get traffic alerts, driving directions, personal messaging, email alerts, and weather forecasts. You can find it at http://www.cue.net.

Bar code scanners
Bar code scanners were popular. Variations were being offered by both Symbol and Momentum. Momentum's representative was touting a complicated sounding home-shopping program that you need to coordinate with your local grocer. Unfortunately, my grocer can't coordinate his own staff well enough to clear the shopping carts out of the parking lot, so I asked if the scanner might be useful for working in a warehouse instead. However, he said the device wasn't designed for such a rough and tumble working environment and would break. He gets points for frankness.

You can find more information at http://www.pscnet.com/html/grocerescan.htm. In Figure A, you can see a woman making use of the Momentum Bar Code Scanner for her home shopping needs.

FIGURE A


This woman apparently managed to decipher Momentum's home-shopping program. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Modems
There were also a number of modems. Xircom was showing off its SpringPort communications module, pictured in Figure B. Once plugged into your Visor, it allows you to access email, the Internet, stock quotes, and Web portals. It's at http://www.xircom.com/cda/page/0,1298,0-0-1_1-704,00.html.

FIGURE B

Xircom's SpringPort gives you Internet access on your Visor.

The guys at CardAccess gave me a demonstration of their Thincom Portable Modem, and I was impressed by the Web images it managed to render on the Visor screen. It connected directly into a normal phone jack. For more information, visit http://www.cardaccess-inc.com.

CitySync
I became of fan of Lonely Planet's line of paperback travel guides while in the Solomon Islands. Now, I've learned, the company is putting out a line of city guides in the form of a Springboard module. See http://www.citysync.com. The guides should provide the same great reviews and information available in their paperback versions, as well as provide street maps and a travel notebook.