Technology

School Tools For The 'Gadget Geeks'

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) ― It wasn't so long ago that students who had the reputation of a techy might have also been called a gadget geek!

Those days are long gone, because today technology is considered "cool."

Just ask Philadelphia University student Serena Martin, "Everybody wants tech stuff. It's what's in. It's easy."

She's right; today's students are looking for ways to stay connected in and out of class. Even every day calculators need USB cables now. It's important to be plugged in.

Here are some techy tools that'll help your student get hooked up with the "in crowd."

Hybrid Solio Charger $79.99:
This is a solar charger that runs on sunlight! It also has every connection that'll match all MP3 players and phones. Check it out, and never go without a fully charged phone or iPod again!

For more information go to www.solio.com.

The Smart Pen by LiveScribe sold at Target for 199.99:
This pen is a mini computer complete with a camera and recording device. It saves everything it writes and hears and then you can upload your notes with audio to your computer and share them on the web with your classmates! It's also smart enough to do language translations and calculations.

For a full demonstration you can go to www.livescribe.com.

Super Small Laptops that way just over 2 pounds:

The Acer Aspire One costs $349 at Best Buy, and packs 120 gigabytes, but it's almost impossible to get your hands on because it's always out of stock.

The Asus EE PC is a good small computer too, but it costs $100 and has much less storage.

Flash Drives:

You don't have to bring a laptop with you if you just grab a tiny flash drive. You can now buy an 8 gigabyte flash drive at Best Buy for only 34.99. The price has come down quite a bit!

You can get those laptops and flash drives at a variety of different stores, but the ones we looked at were at Best Buy.

Their Web site is www.bestbuy.com.

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