Reviews by Tim Boxer, Senior PET

This Baby’s All You Need
When You Need Everything

EXMARK has the only all-in-one you need for home or office. It’s a beauty! And what a relief for my desk! Until now I had a scanner, a fax and a printer taking up the bulk of the top of my desk. That left little room for my monitor and computer.

All that clutter is now gone. In its place is one machine, the Lexmark X6170 All-In-One Office Center. It does the work of four: print, scan, copy, fax.

Color scanning is easy. As it is a flatbed it conveniently takes on books and magazines. With the Lexmark Photo Editor Software on CD, you edit your images before scanning them.

With one touch you may copy 1-99 copies at a time. Printing is speedy—up to 19 ppm black and 15 ppm color. The fax capability lets you send and receive color and B&W documents.

The machine comes with Abbyy FineReader 5.0 Sprint Plus OCR with which you convert scanned documents into editable text.

The 50-sheet automatic document feeder allows for multiple pages in copying and faxing. This unit costs $249. You can save $50 if you don’t need multiple printing. In that case, go for the X6150, which has the same features but minus the automatic document feeder, and is priced at $199.

One thing, though, the X6170, which we highly recommend, doesn’t come with a USB cable to connect to your computer. You can buy the cable separately from your local computer store.

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First-Rate Fashions From
Crossing Pointe Catalog

HE Jane Seymour Signature Collection, a superb section of the new Crossing Pointe catalog, is perfect to wear to the office followed immediately by a dinner engagement.

The fall catalog offers a wide range of stylish clothes at comfortable prices. You’ll find beautiful selections of blouses, sweaters, skirts, jeans, pantsuits, turtlenecks, boots, toe thongs and much more in fully illustrated pages.

After perusing the Jane Seymour section, Nina chose a pink silk shirt. With cascading ruffles, hidden button front, priced at $52.

It looked fabulous on the model in the catalog. I must say, it looked better on Nina. (I better say that.)

Another item that is a definite hit is the ultra-soft nappa lambskin jacket from the same Essentially Jane Collection.

Nina looked smashing in this classic leather jacket. Besom pockets, fully lined in signature black jacquard, at $199.

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Telling Time And Weather

REGON SCIENTIFIC, always coming out with cool electronic products to enhance our comfort zone, offers Projection Barometer, a time and temperature projection display that beams its information in soft glowing red numbers on your bedroom’s ceiling or wall, so you don’t have to turn over in bed to see whether it’s time to get up.

Forget about turning on the radio and ruining your sleep with unnecessary noise, this ExactSet Projection Clock (model BAR338PA) will forecast outdoor conditions for next 12 to 24 hours with weather icons: cloudy, partly cloudy or rainy.

For continuous projection you’ll use the included AC/DC power adapter. Contains alarm with snooze function.

The unit is available at $99.95 from www.oregonscientific.com.

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It’s Great And You
May Quote Me

ERE’S an enjoyable diversion from north of the border that’s just great for the holiday season. Wiggles 3D, a game and entertainment development company in London, Ontario, offers a wonderful board game that tests your knowledge of famous quotations. Don’t Quote Me is a fun game of skill and knowledge in the areas of the arts, leaders, sports, literature and pop culture.

It’s targeted at players aged 14 to adult, who may play as individuals (2 to 5 players) or in teams of any size. The game contains 1,875 quotes, 375 color-coded card, 25 strategy cards, 5 custom game pieces and a unique pentagon board.

You score in three ways. You get three points if you correctly identify the speaker from the quote alone, two points of you need two hints, and one point if you use three multiple choice options.

Besides learning who spoke the quote, you get a brief biography of each person.

Try it now. Identify the owner of these gems:

”Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”

”’tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

”I never forget a face, but in your case I’ll make an exception.”

”Live long and prosper.”

”Here’s looking at you, kid.”

I know the answers to all except one. Priced at $34.95. For more visit www.dontquoteme.com.

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HE second version of the highly popular ZipZaps from Radio Shack is the SE (Special Edition) line which offered an industry first – six selectable 27 MHz frequencies, allowing up to six people to race simultaneously. The cars have headlights and tail lights, perfect for nighttime play. The Ford Mustang GT ZipZaps SE Starter Kit is priced at $24.99.

Now comes a further enhancement of this wildly exciting remote controlled line of vehicles.

To get your motor running, Radio Shack offers its latest version—the XMODS custom radio-controlled car.

My starter kit ($49.99) contains the 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R. It’s a two-wheel drive upgradeable to all wheel drive. It comes in a groovy case in which you’ll find a handy Super Street guide to all the XMOD cars.

Starter kits are available in six frequencies. Using all the starter kit cars, twelve people can simultaneously race twelve vehicles all over the tarmac. Recommended for everyone above age 11. See more at www.xmodsRC.com.

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Xbox Football Fever

HE third installment of Microsoft’s football franchise for the Xbox console, NFL Fever 2004, lets you to organize teams, leagues and schedules from a centralized website, XSNsports.com. You can take out your rival over Xbox Live and track up-to-date stats on your PC throughout the season.

This title is the first one of the new XSN Sports brand, poised to redefine the console football gaming experience.

It includes a new coaches feature and improved defensive AI. A read and lead passing feature allows you to deliver the ball to your receiver on the run.

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Intergalactic Warfare

OT content to fight each other on earth, man has evolved to a point in time where they’re battling each other throughout the galaxy. And you’re right in the midst if the action with Galactic Civilizations, a strategy game in which you use economic might, technological prowess, cultural enlightenment and military enhancements to over power hostile forces.

At the dawn of the 23rd century you are the leader of United Earth with a mandate to explore and colonize as many suitable planets as you can. If you succeed without getting yourself nuked in the process, consider yourself a winner. But don’t go away; there’s more, lots more.

Stardock Entertainment developed the game with a price tag of $39.99. See more at www.galciv.com.

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Get A Grip

OES your cell phone or any handheld device slide out of your hand, off your dashboard or out of your purse? An item called egrips may resolve the problem. Applying these adhesive backed strips of stylized material will prevent your cell phones from slipping from your grip. You can easily remove these strips and apply new ones with different colors and styles. They come in a variety of designs custom cut to the shape of any cell phone, MP3 player and other handhelds. Priced at $9.95 from Flexible Innovations.

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ALUTE the builders of America—our working class heroes—with a set of action figures from Link Innovations. Each of these 12-inch figures, part of the company’s Great American Tradesmen Collection, represent all the major building trades.

The Construction Jack and Construction Jill series includes such tradespersons as the carpenter, plumber, electrician and painter. For kids 5-9, they are a non-violent alternative to other action figures on the market. They could promote positive, constructive behavior.

Each figure comes equipped with the tools of the trade. For instance, Construction Jack the Carpenter is outfitted with safety glasses, hard hat, steel-toe work boots, tool belt, tool box, tape measure, hammer, handsaw, work shirt, overalls and jacket.

Availabe at www.constructionjack.com.

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