20 Products We Love

Even More Products We Love

Everyman's Web Soapbox

Blogger.com (basic version free)

Freedom of the press, A.J. Liebling once wrote, belongs to those who own one. Scratch that--it belongs to anyone with a browser and a Blogger account. Free sign-up gives you the power to create an online journal (aka Web log, or just "blog") in minutes. Blogs won't replace traditional media, but the best ones make the Web vastly more interesting.

Now on the Big Screen

Best Buy VPR Matrix 200A5 notebook ($2400)

With an aspect ratio of 15:10, this notebook's 15.2-inch screen displays beautiful, bright, clear movies as capably as it does memos or spreadsheets. Two FireWire ports--useful for importing video from a digital camcorder--make it suitable for editing. We wish it had a recordable DVD drive for all the video files we'll use it to create, but we still like its combo CD-RW and DVD-ROM drive. Built-in Wi-Fi and Ethernet ports let you connect to the Internet virtually anywhere you go.

Silent and Sharp

Philips LC6231 Home Theatre Projector ($2500)

The first things you'll notice about this projector--its sharp, clear imaging and its exceptional color reproduction--are not its only notable qualities. It's also nearly silent; on other models, fan noise can be a drag when you watch a DVD. Its bulb is rated to last 6000 hours, three times longer than other makers' bulbs.

The Notebook Store of the Future

Dynamism.com

Pssst: Toshiba, Sony, and other laptop giants make amazing notebooks they never sell in the United States--sleek machines that pack innovative features and plenty of power into smaller-than-a-bento-box cases that weigh as little as 1.8 pounds. To buy one, you need to head to Japan--or to Dynamism.com. The store installs the U.S. version of Windows and adds a stateside warranty.

Earphone Love

Shure E5c ($499)

If you're tired of listening to music that sounds like it's being played through a fuzzy sock, Shure's extravagantly pricey E5c headphones are your ticket to exceptional portable audio fidelity. The professional-quality headphones block all ambient noise and provide beautifully clear sound that conveys all the subtleties of your music. Budget-minded audiophiles can opt for the $199 E2c, which lacks the ergonomic molded earpieces. Finally, you can listen to crystal-clear music whenever you want--even on a noisy jet aircraft.

Elegant Bucket of Information

Info Select ($150)

When you think, "Here's something I'd like to store in the computer, but I don't know where to put it," the answer is, "Put it into Info Select ." This one-of-a-kind app almost instantly retrieves just about any stored information: notes, calendars, databases, contact lists, e-mail and newsgroup messages, images, and more. You can also use it to attach reminders to any item and to encrypt sensitive data.