Geo-Bigfoot motorized scooter

Patmont Motor Werks

Price: $635 Coolness score: 10 Ease of use: 5

Rugged, motorized scooter that can zip even a fairly big traveler almost anywhere. While the scooter takes some getting used to for a new driver (working the clutch can be a bit awkward at first) and the motor struggles to take a heavier person up hill, this mode of personal transportation is a blast. Lots of fun to drive, particularly off the beaten path, though the fairly loud motor might irritate your neighbors. - J.T. Gallant

Robotics Invention System 2.0

Lego

Price: $200 Coolness score: 9 Ease of use: 8

As the box sat on my desk waiting for review several co-workers were interested enough to take a look. They said, "What kind of game is this?" "It's NOT a game!", it is a system to build real functioning robots out of special Legos. Not just the pile of rectangular bricks you usually see, but very specialized pieces. There are gears and shafts, pulleys and belts and much more. The big yellow box is the brain they call it 'the brick'. It has a programmable computer inside. The program is transferred to the robot via infrared light. The kit includes a transmitter "tower". Up to three motors plug into black squares on top and sensors plug into three more to gather information from the surroundings. I knew all this before even opening the box because I bought the Version 1.0 of the Robotics Invention System as a Christmas gift to myself when it first came out. I was very interested to see what additions and improvements were included in the version 2.0. Some of the refinements are subtle like the addition of a handful of new parts to the kit. Others seem to have come from customer feedback. The infrared "tower" PC connection was changed from serial to USB. This gives it has more range, does not require a 9volt battery, and is easier to install. The basic starter robots are now designed in a modular way. This makes it easier to build the core of one robot, and then experiment with modular attachments like wheels, legs, or tank tracks. The programs are built with a special computer program where the commands look like Legos. Version 2.0 also makes these virtual Legos more modular. This product is designed for kids from 12 to Adult. My much younger kids were still excited to build a robot with dad. The new modular design helped keep their interest longer. The kit does not need to be restricted to kid's play. It would make a perfect team building exercise for a small organization. Break your team into small groups and give each group part of the overall objective. Then give the groups a limited time to come up with a combined solution to meet the objective. If you limit communication to some of the groups the robot would certainly show interesting characteristics when finished. Overall this is an excellent product. However, it takes patience and organization to keep track of all the small pieces while building the robots. - Tom Kroon

Drive Across the Americas

Oregon Scientific

Price: $59.99 Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: N/A

A game in which you drive around in a variety of realistic cities, while learning their history and playing mini-games to upgrade your car. This children's game lets you take a spin around a handful of American cities, all in attractive cartoon-ish 3-D. Although it won't quench the thirst for destruction of some kids by not letting you flip your car or knock over parking meters, it's still fun and informative. Plus, it comes with an Oregon Scientific steering wheel to make the journey that much more fun. - Alex Weinberg

eBrain

DSI Toys

Price: $29.99 Coolness score: 4 Ease of use: N/A

A childrens' pocket organizer that uses voice to tell you your appointments, the time, etc. It comes with computer software into which you type your data, and then "beams" it to the eBrain. While it may have seemed to be a good idea, the eBrain is less handy than a mule with a spinning wheel. The pre-recorded voice that is supposed to tell you your appointments sounds like it was recorded by a guy with a severe head cold, the computer software that "beams" your information to the eBrain definitely cannot be operated by a child, and the eBrain itself resembles a bulky cell phone fit for, say, Batman. - Alex Weinberg

PC Stitch, Version 6

M&R Technologies, Inc.

Price: $40 Coolness score: 7 Ease of use: 7

This cross-stitch pattern software lets you design your own patterns, using a library of patterns on the CD or, best of all, create patterns out of your favorite photos. The import feature for creating patterns out of photos is cool and easy to use. Has a large library of other patterns to choose from. - Melissa Shaw

FlipAlbum Suite 4.0

Ebook Systems

Price: $70 Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: 7

FlipAlbum is an easy program used to create virtual scrapbooks and albums of your favorite photos. Easy to understand and follow, you import your scanned or digital photos, add backgrounds, text or music and presto, a cool new way to view your pics. A touch of a button turns your pages into a slide show, or you can FTP the album to a Web site. - Melissa Shaw

Photoshop Elements

Adobe

Price: $80 Coolness score: 4 Ease of use: 7

Photoshop Elements is a consumer-focused and -priced version of Adobe's industry-standard Photoshop. You can create great images and graphics with the software, but using it requires some study and practice to understand the many options at your disposal. A good choice if you want to create professional graphics and images without Photoshop 6's $600 price tag. - Melissa Shaw

AfterBurner CD labeling system

Avery Dennison

Price: Free! Coolness score: 7 Ease of use: 8

Walk into any Best Buy or CompUSA these days and you'll see a bunch of CD labelers. If you see AfterBurner, buy it. It looks like a standard CD labeler, where you put the label upside down onto the plastic holder, then push the CD down onto it to create the CD. And the software isn't anything special either. What I like about this labeler is the labels. First off, they have little tabs on them, so you don't smudge your artwork on the label as you're putting it on the plastic holder. After the label is on the CD, the perforated tabs can be torn off. Secondly, Avery-Dennison makes a couple of different label styles, from glossy to shiny metallic, something that beats the standard white label. With the glossy labels and a photograph, my finished CD looked much better than the plain white label that I usually label with a black Sharpie pen.

Gifts 'n Reminders

ProVariant Software

Price: $30 Coolness score: 8 Ease of use: 8

Before you do any holiday shopping this year, go out and spend some money on yourself by getting this software. Like the title says, this software offers you gift list building and also reminders about events. Better than an e-mail or online reminder service, Gifts 'n Reminders can help you organize your holiday lists, and track budgets, etc. If you tend to forget what you got your significant other at previous gift-giving events, this program will help. The "events" part of the software, where you can track things like dentist appointments, etc., may not appeal to you if you already use a personal information manager (PIM) like Outlook. But the gift listing and tracking portion of the software is pretty cool.

Cyberpounce

Double Twenty Productions

Price: $15 Coolness score: 7 Ease of use: 9

Cyberpounce is a Cool Tool for your cats. The software contains 11 different 'toys" for the cats to watch and try to 'attack.' It comes with more than 50 sounds (though after watching for a while, they became repetitive), and about 150 animations. The program also contains a screen saver and some "fun facts" about cats to entertain the cats' owners. We tested Cyberpounce with two Cool Tools Cats, Scratch and Noodles, and they seemed interested for a while, then quickly found something else to do. Granted, our cats are young kittens, and the program itself warns users that cats have an attention span of 1 to 3 minutes, but that most cats will then come back to play with the program later. So if you want your cats to watch your computer screen while you're away (another issue that owners may not want to bring up), check out this software.

Nostromo n50 SpeedPad

Belkin

Price: $36 Coolness score: 8.5 Ease of use: 7.5

If you play a lot of first-person shooting games, there are a lot of keyboard combinations that can be awkward. With the strange-looking Nostromo n50 SpeedPad, you can use the keyboard to move with your left hand while using a regular mouse with your right hand. The SpeedPad comes with many preloaded key combinations for the most popular games, and you can download more from Belkin's Web site. This was especially cool for a laptop that has arrow keys on the right side. The n50 connects via a USB port, so make sure you've got an extra one.

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