TOP TECHNOLOGY NEWS

If you’re going to have gadgets littering your furniture, you might as well have them do something useful.  The Family Communications Center from Sligh Furniture is a charming hutch that can recharge your handsets, dock your music players and provide easy Internet access for your laptops. Due this coming spring, it’ll be available in two styles: neo classic mahogany ($2,945) and in a a weather-beaten black painted finish ($3,395).

It seems there are spa treatments for every aching muscle except the most important one: your brain. The Head Spa Massager aims to remedy that oversight. It uses acupressure to stimulate bloodflow, "like thousands of tiny fingers simultaneously massaging your scalp." It’s powered by a rechargeable battery, so you can use it just about anywhere. We can’t wait to slip one on after a hard day of blogging. It’s available for $49.95.

Christmas is less than eight weeks away, so it’s really time to start buying nasty decorations to get into the spirit of cheap one-upmanship with your co-workers and family. Brando Workshop’s USB christmas lights are portable, inexpensive and thoroughly revolting.

Celebrate the festive season with the 16 lights, free hat and mouse pad, display stand and driver-free operation. But it neither plays tunes nor helps one get drunk, so the $18 is a little iffy for me.

Moixa’s ingenious AA batteries, rechargable by slipping off their contacts and spending a few hours slapped in a USB port, present an interesting dilemma. While innovative and generally super, they’re clearly a poor substitute for the real deal in a real recharger.

Performance is reportedly good for these 1300mA sticks, but at $13 a battery, it’s not cheap.

Trusted Reviews

If you’ve got a thing for hunting down dead celebrities, you’ll want to check out Find A Grave USA. This Earthcomber Spot Guide loads onto your handset and gives you a searchable directory of more than 9,000 famous gravesites. It’ll even alert you when you’re within range of the final repose of someone noteworthy. You can get it now for just $9.85.

The following several posts are photos from DigitalLife in New York. Here are the new copper-colored Treo 680 (left) and the older, bulkier Treo 700p. (photo by Sean Captain)

The Privaris PlusID is touted as the world's first biometric fingerprint fob. It can be used to access up to four secure "applications" — such as buildings, computers and networks — and operation is pretty straightforward. You just hit the button that corresponds to the door or PC you want to unlock, point the fob at the device and swipe your finger over the sensor. According to Privaris, the PlusID works with most existing security systems, and because your biometric information is stored on the fob rather than an external computer, personal privacy isn't compromised.

Next time you have a videoconference, instead of putting on a suit, just put on half of one. The Half Suit is jacket, shirt and tie combined into one bib-length garment that'll have you ready for your close-up with a minimum of fuss. We suspect sports broadcasters and TV-news anchormen have pulling this trick off for years, so why should you do any less? Prices range from $135 to $150.

It's the music that makes the party, and designer Nik Nowak is doing his part to make sure the party never stops with the Music Booster. His creation combines power and convenience by marrying a stereo and speakers to an ATV-like chassis, assuring you can bring the tunes whether your celebration is in a palace or a parking lot.