Boston Globe -- Mark Baard columns

Asus’s Skype tool helps connect the travel-weary

Mark Baard — 2009-11-23T03:35:54Z

Videophones We may never get those hover cars we still dream about when we watch “The Jetsons’’ on Boomerang.

iRex pitches 8-inch screen as ideal for periodicals

Mark Baard — 2009-11-16T03:39:40Z

The iRex DR800SG, which will be available at Best Buy and on the iRex website in a few weeks, has an 8.1-inch screen, which iRex says makes it ideal for reading newspapers and magazines, with graphics.

Options abound for the dorm room-bound

Mark Baard — 2009-08-31T03:14:15Z

Dorm dwellers: Are you itching to share your passion for Pan Sonic and Parliament with the rest of your floor?

OLED? Make way for ILED displays

Mark Baard — 2009-08-24T02:36:09Z

Prototype Marketers dream of the day when they can tack moving pictures onto cereal boxes and wheat-paste ads inside bus shelters and the alleys between big city bars and nightclubs.

Microsoft’s Zune is apt to ease the iPhone envy

Mark Baard — 2009-08-17T02:18:01Z

A young hipster should be able to keep his chin up around campus this fall even if he is not sporting an iPhone or an iPod Touch.

Megabucks projector promises magic

Mark Baard — 2009-06-01T02:26:02Z

Home theater I can't imagine who might be in the market for a $10,000 projector these days. But I am thinking "loaded bachelor" or "man cave dweller."

Moto offers near next-generation multitouch tablet

Mark Baard — 2009-05-04T03:14:43Z

Prototypes Since my last iBook went belly up last year, I've been holding out for the perfect mobile computer. But for all of the netbooks I've seen, and the Apple tablet rumors I've read (with as much anticipation as those about "Star Trek XI"), I remain tethered to the iMac, with the busted screen, under my desk.

Satellites beat ID chips for recovering lost pets

Mark Baard — 2009-04-20T03:06:19Z

Global positioning system The more I read the Boston Police Department's tweets and Adam Gaffin's Universal Hub (both are part of the fire hose of RSS feeds I receive), the more I fear that Boston is edging toward apocalypse.

Nothing soft and warm about this $120 bulb

Mark Baard — 2009-04-13T02:43:11Z

Led lighting I appreciate that we are living in a recession and all that, but is a soft, warm light bulb - even if costs a few dollars more to operate than a fluorescent - too much to ask for?

MIT students' system puts card data on your phone

2009-04-06T01:58:55Z

Prototypes As I've suggested in this column and elsewhere, I sometimes worry that crooks might be intercepting my wireless transmissions. (I once explained, in a Wired News article, that tin foil hats really do block radio signals.)

LG Versa's a clever device, but it's hardly sleek

Mark Baard — 2009-03-30T02:18:06Z

I don't have much patience these days for phones that drive you into lengthy contracts and force you to use a carrier's own data plans. But I must admit the LG Versa (about $200 from Verizon Wireless, after rebate, and with a two-year contract) is a clever device, with a fine three-inch haptic (or "vibrotactile") touchscreen.

'Free' Internet TV service promises more

2009-03-23T02:44:18Z

Home entertainment As if our TV viewing habits aren't expensive enough, a new service, ZillionTV (www.zilliontv.tv), will soon offer on-demand content to TVs, via broadband Internet connections. And while ZillionTV dubs itself a free service, because it charges no monthly fee, you need only check your monthly RCN or Comcast bill to see there is no such thing as free ...

The gum's gone, but Topps cards add a Web connection

2009-03-16T02:26:23Z

In the old days, if you wanted to see what a baseball player looked like and how good his numbers were, you had to buy his card at the candy store.

Two new devices brighten the picture

Mark Baard — 2009-02-09T02:45:45Z

organic light-emitting diodes OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) have made a few appearances in recent years, mostly in nerdy watches and one or two touch-screen phones.

A Valentine's Day gift that's worth fighting for

Mark Baard — 2009-02-02T05:00:00Z

If you're in love with a geek, or plan to make a Hail Mary pass at one this Valentine's Day, the Wind Valentine Edition PC might be a gift worth fighting for.

From Japan: luxury gadgets for geeks, despite the recession

Mark Baard — 2009-01-26T05:00:00Z

A warning to my fellow gadget hounds: If you hope to keep a roof over your heads during Great Depression 2.0, you might want to forget I ever told you about Tokyoflash (www.tokyoflash.com).

Digital Paper: a few years late, and not so flexible

Mark Baard — 2009-01-19T05:00:00Z

The first cheap, flexible, full-color device for reading e-ink, originally expected in 2007, is now a stiff grayscale board that will be available in 2010.

Tools for the serious enthusiast

Mark Baard — 2009-01-12T05:00:00Z

podcasting If you're serious about podcasting, take a good look at Samson's USB microphones. I have one of the company's USB studio microphones hovering from a boom over my desk, which I use for Skype-to-Skype Internet radio interviews. The sound quality has been so good you'd think interviewer and interviewee were in the same studio.

Smile, that pen may be recording your actions

Mark Baard — 2009-01-05T05:00:00Z

spy gear If you don't like having your picture taken on the street, at least Boston's orb-shaped Big Brother cameras (think John Carpenter's "They Live") are easy enough to dodge. Just remember to grab your baseball cap as you head out the door.

Samson's Go Mic is ultra-portable, but lacks own storage

Mark Baard — 2008-12-29T05:00:00Z

Samson, already a maker of high-quality, low-cost USB microphones, recently added the ultra-portable Go Mic to its lineup.

Sharp images, not looks, in 'cinema' headset

Mark Baard — 2008-12-15T05:00:00Z

Manufacturers of personal viewing headsets are hitting a wall: They can make their gear only so small before they sacrifice picture quality. (One admitted as much to me earlier this year.) And then there is the hardware you need to connect your headset to the PCs and other toys around the house.

Taking your photos to the next level

Mark Baard — 2008-12-08T05:00:00Z

If you have the itch to take frame-worthy pictures of the Blue Hills' bare trees or of piles of seaweed along Cape Cod's shorelines, you'll need more than that 5-megapixel PowerShot knocking around in your pocketbook.

LG's new phone incites some excitement

Mark Baard — 2008-12-01T05:00:00Z

mobile phones Readers of this column might already know I'm a sucker for the looks of LG's products. Their straight lines and brushed metal finishes and cheery electronic noises get me every time.