Twice as fast. Half the price. That’s the tagline for Apple’s iPhone 3G. The new device will be surfacing a month from tomorrow — on July 11. Pricing will start at $199.

No doubt you’ve already read something — a news article, blog entry or the back of a cereal box — extolling the virtues of this new mobile offering. So I’m going to focus a little bit on 3G and what that brings users, then extol virtues.

3G stands for third generation of mobile phone standards, and the networks that support it are wide area. Think fast and full of capacity. These networks can deliver more services. For the iPhone, that includes faster web surfing, faster email and better video delivery.

These have existed practically forever in Asia, but finally found their way to the United States on a slow boat piloted by Verizon in 2003. (An earlier implementation withered on the vine — or should I say, wire?)

3G phones already exist. The AT&T Tilt 8925 Smartphone, the Nokia N91, the Sony Ericsson K800i are just three examples.

What sets the iPhone apart from these others? It’s not price. The Motorola RAZR V3xx ranges from $39.99 to $99.99 — with a two-year service contract. The Palm Treo 750 SmartPhone, a $500-$600 phone, is only $149.99 with a two-year service plan.

But, as Treo reviewer y2kinfos points out when talking about his or her phone: “…Most of you guys know when u have a PHONE + PDA + CAMERA + BLUETOOTH + WINDOWS MOBILE + UPGRADABLE MEMORY, there is nothing else you would need more apart from GPS…”

Mr. Jobs has delivered the GPS. Plus, the iPhone now supports Exchange, which makes it much more enterprise-friendly. And you get an iPod built in. That’s a sweet package.

But service is still restricted to AT&T. And AT&T’s 3G coverage doesn’t exist in my part of California. In fact, if you look at AT&T’s service coverage viewer, you’ll discover that 3G is mostly a big-city feature in the United States. That means your iPhone will revert to poky old 2G in the byways of Sante Fe, Lubbock, Wichita, Lansing and hundreds of other small and mid-sized communities. It’s like having a really great toy and not being able to get the batteries to run it. Steve, can you hear me now? That’s the problem I want you to solve next, please!

Now that at least one major airline is charging for checked bags, we’re going to start seeing more creative solutions this summer to getting your stuff through security when you fly. The Targus 17” Flare Backpack fits into this category because it will let you haul your computer more comfortably on your back so that you can use your arms to manage your other luggage.

It’s designed to fit laptop computers up to 17-inches — like my favorite notebook, which is a horse of a machine and just as heavy. The interior of the pack has slots for ID, cellphone, keys, pens and mobile accessories. But here’s the magic: It has mesh padded shoulder straps and a back panel to help distribute the weight.

Water bottles — empty, of course — go into side pockets. Plus, it has cool rubber cords lacing the backside so you can tuck in extra gear — a paperback edition of Into the Darkness, your flytime bunny slippers – you know, the travel essentials.

It’s made of nylon, which could be a drawback. I’ve gone through three knapsacks in the last year that have started pulling at the straps. Not good when you’re hauling precious cargo. But only time will tell how well this one will wear, pass after pass through the X-ray machines.

As Crankshaft recently said a few days ago, “We’re lucky the shoe bomber didn’t hide the bomb in his underwear.”

Oh, oh. We’re in that mode again — purging anything that isn’t nailed down or moving out of the way fast enough. My beloved is in her spring cleaning mode and that means eliminating objects we haven’t touched in a year.

But what to do about all of those videos stacking up and gathering dust? Sure, the ones that are pre-recorded can go off to the public library and my son’s schools since video still has meaning for them. But what about the ones we recorded ourselves? Our commitment ceremony, family gatherings, a copy of a video about midget racing that featured a brief tribute to a grandfather. Pretty precious stuff that I don’t want to hand off to the over-sized garbage bag.

Here’s an interesting offering: VHS to DVD 3.0 Deluxe from Honestech.

The package, which includes hardware and software, allows you to take the data contained on those VHS videos and convert them to DVD, MPEG-4, even PDA or mobile device format. Or, you can convert audio from cassettes, LPs and videotapes.

The software is easy enough to install, the “VidBox” slightly more complicated to use. About the size of a tin of Altoids, it has five ports or connections. You plug the USB cable in the box into the VidBox. You plug the other end into your computer. Then you take the composite and audio cables from your VCR or camcorder and connect those to the back of your VidBox. (A handy start guide with color photos shows you how to do this.) If you’re doing audio, you need to get a 3.5mm audio cable that links the two devices — the VidBox and the boombox or whatever you’re playing from. It plugs into the headset jack.

That’s it. Then you crank up the software, choose audio or video and go through the paces: capture, edit, burn. If you’re a novice, you can choose the wizard, which will walk you through the steps of conversion.

This is a pretty slick device that’s reasonably priced. Adios, brown tape!

Sorry, Casio, but you’re just not at the top of my list when it comes to thinking about digital cameras. I mean, aren’t you the folks who specialize in creating cheap digital watches?

Yet something gives me pause. The Casio Exilim EX-S880 appears to have won a following.

Comparable to the Canon PowerShot A470 I wrote about last time, this one can be found for a fairly low price (starting at $119.99), weighs less than five ounces (sans batteries and media card) and has a 3x optical zoom. It actually beats the PowerShot in the resolutionary war — 8.29 vs. 7.4 megapixels.

What I like about this camera — without having held it in my hands — is what one reviewer says on PriceGrabber: skidlin writes: “I got this camera for my father, who is a devoted follower of Casio. At first, I thought I should get him a Canon but decided to let him have what he wanted. I never expected the Casio to turn out so great…” That’s great writing. Why? Because it so captures my initial opinion. skidlin goes on to say, “The design is slick and clean, the presentation of the menus is very nice. The great playback option especially with the musical background captures my heart.” Plus, apparently, the pictures are “great.”

Ramkib likes the big LCD screen (2.8 inches vs. 2.5 for the PowerShot).

And mspute from GA appreciates the widescreen video format, which is 848x 480 at 30 frames per second. With a four gigabyte SDHC memory card, it can record up to two hours of video. Plus, says mspute, there’s a dedicated video recording button.

Julian3399 from MA considers one weakness the fact that you have to recharge this in the docking station. Since I’m used to that with my current camera, an old PowerShot, that’s not such a burden to me.

OK, Casio, maybe it’s time I took a new picture of you.

A recent article in Forbes, “Digital Cameras for the Road,” got me thinking about another strategy for selecting just the right digital camera for a family that can be hard on its gadgets: Don’t spend a lot. Then, should it need replacing, we won’t have to eat macaroni for a month. In fact, author Michael Patrick Brady recommends a specific model: The Canon PowerShot A470.

The A470 is fairly small — 4.2 inches by 2.2 inches by 1.6 inches and weighs less than six ounces without the battery or media card. It runs on two AA batteries. It shoots up to 7.4 megapixel resolution and has a 3.4 optical zoom.

You can choose from four colors, gray, blue, red and orange. And it includes something called the “Print/Share” button, which makes for easy printing and downloading. The software runs on Windows and Mac computers.

Two reviewers call the camera a bit “bulky” or “clunky.” But wcorman bought it for a 10-year-old who is having “a great time with it.” Bhagwan from CA says the picture quality is “very good” outdoors and the LCD is “bright and sharp.”

All in all, a nice little camera in a fairly modest price range ($109.50 to $163.99). Next time I’ll check out another comparably priced camera to see if this one can be beat.