Your Technology

By Roy B. White

MUSCLE POWER Here's a low-tech solution to the high-tech problem of the cell-phone battery that dies without a car or a wall plug in sight. Motorola's FreeCharge windup charger ($80; available this summer) lets you generate electricity with your upper-body strength. Just crank the handle for 30 sec., and the charger converts that mechanical energy into enough juice to power a cell phone for five minutes. Special adapters that fit other popular phones are sold separately.

TALKING BLUES The Bluetooth wireless data standard is being incorporated into more and more gadgets, from laptops and printers to cell phones and Palm Pilots. What does it let you do? A cool example: Sony Ericsson Bluetooth Headset HBH-30 ($150) is a lightweight earpiece-microphone that lets you speak unobtrusively through a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone sitting in a backpack, a briefcase or even another room as far as 30 ft. away.

SHOW ON THE ROAD Next time you are away on a business trip, don't use the boring old telephone to check in with friends and family. Logitech's QuickCam Web camera ($60) is designed especially for laptops; hook one up at home and another on the road, and you will be able to see as well as hear your loved ones. QuickCams also make setting up on-the-road videoconferences as easy as accepting a first-class upgrade.

--By Roy B. White