The Peek

If the BlackBerry is too techie or pricey for you, check out the Peek. It does one thing and one thing only: e-mail. This slender little device gives you BlackBerry-like portable access to e-mail (it’s not a phone, organizer or anything else), but without the hefty fees; monthly service costs about $20 for unlimited access to your messages. The Peek doesn’t work with corporate e-mail yet, so for now, it’s primarily for Web-based mail. Still, for anyone who wants to keep in touch when they’re away from a computer, it’s a smart, handy tool.

Flip Mino

Like the iPod and the BlackBerry before it, the Flip Mino exploded into the mainstream, quickly becoming the most popular video camera in the country in its first year. It stores up to an hour of video clips on its internal drive, meaning you don’t have to buy videotapes or memory cards, or even batteries (you charge it through your PC). The Flip is super simple to use: Press the big red button to start and stop recording. Then pop out the camera’s USB connector, plug it directly into your computer and e-mail your videos or upload them to YouTube. You can personalize the Flip’s external design for no extra charge. The company is upgrading its editing software and in mid-November, Flip will add an HD model to its lineup.

Wii Fit

Weight loss has never been easier. Nintendo’s Wii Fit, which is more a fitness tool than a video game, is an interactive training program that guides you through strength-building, yoga, aerobics and balance exercises. Many of the workouts are cleverly disguised as fun activities, like virtual skiing and ski-jumping, step dancing, even heading a virtual soccer ball, enticing the most stubborn slackers to get off the couch. Players simulate the game’s pursuits by using wireless Wii controllers and a digital balance board (which doubles as a scale) that tracks movements and distribution of weight. To evaluate your progress, the Wii Fit measures your weight, body mass index and sense of balance at regular intervals, and charts your results.

Eye-Fi Explore SD Card

This 2 GB wireless SD card uploads photos automatically from your camera to whatever online photo service you like, whether that’s Snapfish, Picasa, Flickr or anything else. The card can also beam pictures to your home computer’s hard drive, which means you won’t have to connect your camera physically to a computer to transfer images. Eye-Fi can even upload your images from hotspots while you’re traveling, so you don’t have to wait to get back home to save and back-up your pictures. The photos you upload can also be geotagged – automatically marked with longitude and latitude data – so, later on, you can retrace your snap-happy steps, if you forgot to input location info in your digital files. On some photo services, you’ll be able to see your photos on a map according to their geotags. Millions of digital pictures are taken every day and 80% are never shared, but with Eye-Fi, you’ll have no excuse not to send photos home to Mom.

Dash Express

Unlike other dashboard GPS devices, Dash gathers real-time information from the Internet and assesses local traffic information using a network of drivers. So, instead of the static information typically stored on navigation gadgets, Dash’s data is continually updated online, which means that if you’re looking for a good restaurant on your way home, you won’t end up at one that’s gone out of business. Dash can also search for nearby movie theaters, show you reviews, then take you to the flick you want to see. Another handy Dash feature lets you compare prices at nearby gas stations and find the cheapest spot. Other cool add-ons allows users to customize: One tool guides you to area homes for sale; another keeps an eye out for local speed traps to help you avoid getting a ticket.

Via Time