Even in this age of digital everything, there’s still a place for good, old-fashioned books you can hold in your hand; you know, real paper, real pages, real ink. After all, it’s hard to bring your laptop with you into the bathroom for some reading material, and it’s equally difficult to prop your desktop on your bed for a little reading before going to sleep.

Amazon, the Internet everything seller (although it got its start just selling books), agrees — to a point. It knows that reading on a computer screen doesn’t equal the experience of reading the printed page — it’s harder on the eyes. That’s why it invented  Kindle, which combines the ease of reading a printed page with many of the benefits of electronic media.

The Kindle, about the size of a paperback novel, has its own wireless network, which can be accessed to download a wide range of e-books, magazines, newspapers and Web pages. It displays everything in black-and-white, and with no backlight. Those were conscious decisions by Amazon, to make the experience as much like reading a book as possible. You push a button to turn the pages, which makes one-handed operation possible.

The internal memory can hold up to 200 books, and external SD memory can be added to hold much, much more information. The wireless access is free, although there is a cost for most of the books, magazines, etc.

On the other hand, it’s pretty cool to have hundreds or thousands of books all stored on one device — that should cut down on the number of bookshelves and book clutter around your place. The Kindle isn’t cheap; not by a longshot. But if you like the idea of combining the experience of reading the old-fashioned way with the convenience of electronic delivery and multiple types of media, you may decide it’s a worthwhile investment.

Happy reading!

As you collect computers in your house, sooner or later you need to consider a router, either wireless or wired. It’s the best way to connect all your computers, giving them shared Internet access, access to files and printers, etc. The central point of that home network is a router, like this Linksys model, that can connect up to four different computers.

I had a router like this for years, and it worked flawlessly. Linksys is a good name in the industry, and has been making routers for a long time. They’re generally easy to set up, too: connect an Ethernet cable to your computer’s network interface card (NIC), plug the other end of the cable into the router, and the router should handle all the setup.

If you go wireless, you’ll need a wireless NIC in every computer. Instructions on how to set up the wireless network are included with the router, but it’s generally not too complicated. Another advantage of routers is that they are also firewalls; basically that means they help keep the bad guys out of your network.

Consider a router like this if you have more than a few computers in your house; you’ll be glad you did.

Children, sit down and make yourselves comfortable. I’m going to tell you a tale of long-ago days of yore when folks wanted to check e-mail, add an item to their calendar or open a spreadsheet — all without a cellphone. In fact, in those past eons, cellphones did one thing — they made phone calls.

So, how did they do the other stuff, you ask? I’ll tell you: they had something called Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs. These were handheld devices, and many of them even looked like today’s cellphones or smartphones. But they didn’t make calls or send text messages.

They did the other cool stuff, though, and did it well. There were many makers of them: two of the biggest were HP and Palm. Palm was the first to really make PDAs popular. And you know what, kids? Palm still makes PDAs, if you can believe it. You can even buy them today! What a concept.

If I’ve stoked your appetite for a PDA, check out this Palm TX handheld. It can do all kinds of non-calling cool stuff: You can check e-mail and surf the Internet. You can listen to your MP3s on it, and even read eBooks. It has wi-fi, meaning you can surf the Web anywhere there’s a wi-fi connection, and built-in Bluetooth for remote connectivity. You can also read and edit your Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents, something that many smartphones still can’t do.

Maybe the best part is it’s not all that expensive, and there’s no monthly bill to pay. Buy it once and stop paying for it right away. I know that’s a strange concept, but with a PDA, it’s the reality.

So if you want one of these gadgets from the past, you’d better get one now, kids; they’re an endangered species, and may not hold out much longer. Before you know it, you’ll only be able to find their fossilized bones.

My 2000 Subaru Outback is a dinosaur of a car. Now, don’t get me wrong — I love it, and it’s been reliable transportation for almost a decade. But it lacks something any gadgeteer needs: a stereo with the ability to play MP3s. It only has a radio and cassette player. You younger readers are probably wondering what this “cassette” thingy is.

So it’s time to go shopping for a new stereo for my car, something that will allow me to plug in various players and hear them through my speakers. Looking for something with a good brand name, a strong mix of features and a reasonable price. I found all those needs met with this Pioneer player.

It can play pretty much any audio disc you can burn on either a Windows PC or Mac. It also has an auxiliary input for plugging in your MP3 player, iPod or even a satellite radio or CD changer. It also includes a special amplifier that provides less distortion at higher power. That means you can blast your Miles Davis or Dave Brubeck with little distortion.

The Pioneer is one of the less expensive models in this category, which means you won’t find as many high-end features as the $200-plus units. But in these recessionary times, getting a strong brand like Pioneer for a little more than a hundred bucks qualifies as a very good deal.

It’s the digital age, and that’s readily apparent in the field of photography, which has been completely transformed by digital cameras and hard drives. You can save and manipulate photos in ways never before imagined.

It goes even beyond taking and altering photos — the way photos are displayed has been revolutionized. Take, for example, this Sony digital picture frame. It’s a 7-inch frame that displays photos as a rotating series of still images (of course, you could show one photo forever, but that would defeat the purpose of this gadget.)

You can insert either a memory card from your camera and show off what’s on that, or transfer pictures from your computer. It accepts flash memory from just about any type of digital camera. You can set up the frame in landscape or portrait mode (i.e. horizontally or vertically.) An included remote control lets you manage various aspects of the viewing experience.

The glossy, all-black finish guarantees that your photos will appear as crisp and sharp as possible. Sony is a name I’ve trusted for years, and should mean that this is a high-quality unit. The 256GB of internal memory should get you about 75 or so photos, if you’re downloading them from a computer (the company says up to 500, but that would only happen if they are small file-size photos, and it’s unlikely you’d be displaying them, since they’d be tiny or grainy).

The frame also includes a clock and calendar. The clock or calendar would take up one side of the display, and the photos would be shown on the other side.

This is a lot more money than you’d spend on a standard Wal-Mart picture frame, so make sure it’s something you’d make use of. But the ability to display multiple photos is enticing, and would add a bit of spice to your life.

Gadget guys and gals need one thing almost more than any other: power. In my case, I need juice for my iPhone and Bluetooth headsets (I have several). My older kids need to power up their cellphones and iPods. My younger kids add PlayStation Portables, Game Boys and various MP3 players.

Whew! That’s a lot of gadgets in my family; yours is probably similar. Well, never fear — here’s a nifty USB charger that does several things at once.

To start with, it’s a Belkin device, and I like Belkin products. Second, it has three surge-protected outlets. This isn’t the kind that will protect your electronic devices against lightning strikes and such, but will protect it against smaller power spikes and brownouts.

What’s really nice is that it has two USB charging ports on the side. This allows you to charge multiple gadgets at once, and keep them right next to your laptop, for instance, which can be charging in the power strip.

Most worthy gadgets these days can be powered via USB, so it’s a good time to look into ways to power them up. Yeah, a gadget like this isn’t the sexiest thing around, but look at it this way: your video Nano isn’t going to be showing much video if it’s sitting dead in your pocket.

A few days ago, Microsoft unveiled the latest version of its operating system for cellphones and smartphones, Windows Mobile 6.5. Normally, a “point” upgrade, which means an upgrade between whole numbers, say from 6.0 to 7.0, is an upgrade of less significance.

Not in this case. Windows Mobile 6.5 is a ginormous improvement over previous mobile versions of Windows, especially from 6.1, the previous version. All phones running Windows, like this Palm Treo Smartphone, should be available for an upgrade later this year.

The best thing about Windows Mobile 6.5 is that it’s so…un-Windows-like. Windows has always been for desktops and laptops — interfaces meant to be large and used with a mouse. Cellphone/smartphone screens aren’t like that. They’re tiny, making navigation a pain. Too many icons means too much clutter; it’s too hard to find anything.

The new version is gleefully clear of clutter; it’s much more sleek and iPhone-like, which is a great improvement. Another tremendous improvement — let the pigeons loose! — is that it sports a new Internet Explorer Web browser that will actually work, and display Web pages the way they should be seen on a phone.

With the new interface comes more touch-screen-ability, if I can invent a new word. With the Google Android phone and the iPhone, users are getting more used to navigating with fingers and thumbs. Windows Mobile 6.5 will allow that, and it will be much easier and more intuitive than presently.

These, and other enhancements, have got me excited. Yeah, Microsoft is taking a page from Apple’s playbook in terms of design, but I’m not against it when it makes phones more usable as communication gadgets. Hey, if you’re going to steal, steal from the best!

Look for Windows Mobile 6.5 to debut sometime in the second half of this year. It’s a ways off, but it will be worth the wait.

I bet you didn’t know that you can use external flash memory to enhance your computer’s performance, did you? Well, you might if you’re a dweeb like me. For the rest of you, check out this 64GB flash drive from Patriot.

If you have a USB 2.0 computer with Windows Vista, you can use this drive in conjunction with Vista to speed up your laptop or desktop. That’s because Vista has a technology called ReadyBoost. ReadyBoost can temporarily store data on the flash drive that would take longer to retrieve elsewhere on your computer’s hard drive disk.

The time saved in rounding up that data can make your computer faster — possibly by a good bit, if you have a large capacity flash drive like this one. Yeah, it’s on the expensive side for flash memory, but when you consider that it can not only store data, but put your computer in the fast lane, it’s worth it.

Note that it has to be a Vista computer; no Macs or Windows XP computers, and it has to be USB 2.0. If your computer fits those specs, though, it could make you a lot more efficient.

One of the greatest inventions of this gadget era is Bluetooth. For the uninitiated, Bluetooth is technology that wirelessly connects one device to another. Why do I love it? Because of the safety factor. I have a Bluetooth headset that I nearly always wear when I’m driving. That way, when I get a call on my iPhone, my eyes never have to leave the road.

Finding other ways to do that is a great idea. For instance, check out these Oakley ROKRs. Oakley, as you probably know, is a premier — maybe the premier — name in sunglasses. They have outfitted a number of different types of sunglasses with their own Bluetooth receiver.

All you need is an adapter that attaches to your MP3 player or cellphone/smartphone, and voila! Your shades become part of your wireless world. Of course, that will be good for more than just driving. Running, biking, hiking, anywhere you wear sunglasses, you’re connected. Buttons on the ROKR allow you to adjust the volume or change songs, freeing you up even more to concentrate on what’s ahead, rather than on fiddling with a gadget.

Oakley claims five hours of talk time and about 100 hours of standby time before needing a recharge. And if their sterling reputation for making sunglasses (I’ve owned several pairs, with no complaints) transfers to the ROKR (which is actually made by Motorola), it looks like a fantastic package.

Somebody was asking me about the main differences between the iPhone and iPod Touch the other day, and I thought it might be a good idea to put that information in blog form for those of you facing a similar dilemma.

The first thing most folks want to know about is price. The Touch (shown at right) offers three different capacities: the 8GB for $229, the $16GB for $299, and the 32GB for $399. There are only two models of the iPhone offered: the $199 8GB, and the $299 16GB.

As for features, the one key difference is that the iPhone is a (duh) phone! The Touch is not a phone, although it has most of the other offerings of the iPhone, including an iPod music player; applications via Apples AppStore; and the ability to watch videos and manage photos.

The Touch, overall, offers less functionality. For instance, data can only be retrieved via a wi-fi network, not through a cell network. What this means is that you have to be in an area that has a wi-fi connection available, like a coffee shop or home network, to be able to wirelessly download songs, videos or applications via the iTunes store. With an iPhone, you can download information anywhere you can use your phone; this is a big advantage over the Touch, in my opinion. Although more and more places are offering wi-fi, it’s not found anywhere near as often as a cellphone signal.

Another thing the iPhone (shown at left) has that the Touch doesn’t have is external speakers. To hear audio on the Touch, you need to use headphones. That can be limiting if, for instance, you want to watch a video or listen to a game’s audio with a friend, or you just don’t have your headphones with you.

The Touch also lacks a camera. While the iPhone’s camera isn’t a knockout, it’s still serviceable, and great for getting impromptu snaps. It’s odd to me that the Touch doesn’t have a camera, even though it has photo management software.

As for the iPhone’s downside, there’s really only a couple that jump to mind: First, you have to have a $30/month data plan with the iPhone, and it’s not optional. It doesn’t cost you anything extra to use your Touch. That can be a deal-breaker for many.

The other downside, at least for those in the U.S., is that iPhones, as sold, work only on the AT&T network. I say “as sold” because iPhones can be hacked and used on other carrier networks. Hacking them has its own issues however, in that it voids your warranty, so if you need to return your phone, you’re out of luck.

In all, the iPhone comes out ahead in most ways over the Touch. That doesn’t mean the Touch is a bad gadget; quite the contrary, it’s a fabulous device. But in comparison with the iPhone, it doesn’t measure up quite as well.

On the other hand, you may not be in the market for a phone right now, or don’t want to switch providers. For those folks, along with the budget-conscious who don’t want to shell out an additional $30 per month, the Touch is a home run.