The last desktop PC I bought had a LightScribe CD/DVD writer. This is really a neat idea. I was never really one for printing labels for CDs and just wrote on them with a permanent marker pen. A colleague who used to print labels for backup CDs eventually gave up when the labels begun peeling off after several months. Since I’ve had this LightScribe writer I’ve printed a number of labels.

The way LightScribe works is that instead of having to print paper labels for your CDs or DVDs, once you have burned the CD or DVD, you just turn the disk over, pop it back into the writer and burn a label on the special surface area on the label side of the disk. Of course, you need special LightScribe writable media to do this, as well as a LightScribe compatible writer. The CD and DVD media have been coming down in price and are often on sale.

If you do not have a LightScribe Writer, internal or external ones are easy to come by, like the internal LG Electronics LG 20X DVDR DVD Burner with LightScribe or the External LaCie d2 External Dual Layer DVD±RW Writer with LightScribe.

I admit it. I’m a slob around my desk. If I’m not chowing down on a bagel and steamed cocoa, I’m sucking back a Diet Coke or slurping my beloved travel mug of green tea. And, yes, I realize that sesame seeds in between the keys of my keyboard aren’t an attractive addition to my personal workspace. (But it does keep others from borrowing my system when I’m not using it…)

So maybe it’s time to clean up my act and stop consuming food items and libations above my notebook. Or better yet, so that I don’t have to change one cell of my being, perhaps I could simply apply technology to the problem

Here’s a new device that hasn’t yet hit the market, but will any day now! The Belkin Washable Mouse. Retail price: $29.99. Belkin knows mice. These are the folks who sell a slew of mice: wireless mice, mice with retractable cords, Bluetooth mice, mini mice, mice with five buttons. And now they’re about to start selling a mouse that you can spill on, get wet, and wipe clean. That’s a smart application of technology — one that any mother of a kindergartner will appreciate.

Of course, I’m already so in love with my Microsoft wireless notebook optical mouse that it’ll have to be truly trashed for me give it up. But, given my current state of consumption at the workstation, how far off can that day really be?

Here’s a gizmo I’d like to try: the Yoggie Pico, a USB key-sized computer with 12 security applications. The device just received a Best of Innovations - Computer Accessories award from the Consumer Electronics Show.

The Pico connects to your PC or notebook, blocking Internet threats outside the host computer. Here’s the gimmick: Even though it’s the size of your thumb, it’s a full-fledged computer with its own processor, memory and operating system (based on Linux).

According to the company, people running the Pico no longer need to run software-based security suites, which supposedly increases performance for the computer because you’ve offloaded those bottleneck applications. Plus, it isolates your PC from public networks.

If you’re looking for a way to impose parental control over where online your kids can surf, you can configure the device such that if it’s yanked by somebody wanting access to off-limit websites, Internet access will be totally denied.

The security functions provided by the Pico include:

• Anti-virus
• Anti-spyware
• Anti-phishing
• Anti-spam
• Intrusion detection
• Firewall
• Web filtering
• Transparent email proxies
• Transparent web proxies

There’s more, but you get the idea.

 Devices run between $100 and $160 through PriceGrabber, though it lists for $179 from Yoggie itself. Plus, you’ll need to add in the cost of subscriptions for those security applications, which seems to run about $30 a year (first year free!).

If easy security is what you’re looking for, tomorrow, I’ll share the details of a new product that I hope to start seeing become standard issue for touchpads.

In my last post, I promised to share a solution to my iPod speaker challenge that I wished I’d followed.

Thanks to my friend Neal, who introduced to me to the Accurian Wireless FM Transmitter (and bought me one too!).

He found it at Radio Shack (the same place I picked up my iSymphony speaker), and the sale price was exactly the same: $19.99. But the Accurian model, which looks like a computer mouse, uses your car speakers to broadcast the audio. Just plug in the jack (which hides inside the device when you’re not using it) to whatever you’re playing from — iPod, CD player, laptop, or satellite radio receiver. Then choose one of the eight available frequencies not already in use where you are, set your car tuner to the same frequency and rock out! (Or, in my case, listen to Annie Proulx’s Bad Dirt.)

The Accurian runs on two AAA batteries — or you can use the car power adapter and eliminate the waste.

I wasn’t familiar with this little gizmo before, but, of course, now I’ve found a slew of alternatives, the cutest of which is probably the Mito AudioBUG 350.

Can’t wait for my next road trip.