Here’s a recipe for a computer cocktail: Take one desktopcomputer, two monitors, two keyboards, two mouses (mice?), twohumans and one Vega Buddy System. Hook them all together, and youget two users simultaneously running applications, sharingperipherals and surfing the Net from one machine. The Buddy-riggedmonitor can be up to 50 feet away from the shared computer.Included is Vega’s concurrency software, a VGA card, a 15-footcable and a connector box. Windows 95/98, 16MB RAM and minimum 100MHz processor are required.

Buddy system

Vega Technologies

(510) 654-5650

http://www.vegatechnologies.com

Street price: $149

Little Mac

It’s the case of the incredible shrinking iMac. Reduced downto portable tangerine or blueberry glory, Apple’s iBook willprobably clash with every piece of clothing youhave . . . and look good doing it. A 300 MHz G3processor, 32MB RAM, a 3.2GB hard drive and a 24X CD-ROM drive addsome muscle. On the communications end, a 56 Kbps modem and 10/100BASE-T Ethernet are built-in. An optional AirPort card ($99) andAirPort Base Station ($299) make wireless Internet surfing possiblewithin 150 feet of the station. Oh, yeah.

IBook

Apple Computer

(800) 795-1000

http://www.apple.com

Street price: $1,599

Roma-a-lama

More spacious than a floppy, compatible with more PCs than a Zipdisk, recordable CD-ROMs are a flexible storage solution. Each CDholds up to 650MB of data or 74 minutes of music. TEAC’s 8X24CD-Recorder drive gets you burning disks at a mighty fast 8X andreads at 24X. Available in both an internal model that requiresinstallation and a more expensive external model, the SCSIconnection means speedy data transfers. The Windows 95/98/NTsoftware package includes Adaptec Direct CD, Easy CD Creator and CDCopier Deluxe. A 4MB buffer makes for smooth, error-free CDwriting.

8X24 CD-Recorder

Teac America

(323)726-0303

http://www.teac.com

Street price: $449 (internal), $549 (external)

Itchy and Scratchy

It’s bad enough to have a CD skip and drop out in your carstereo. When it’s a CD-ROM in your computer, it’s evenworse. But scratches don’t have to mean the end of the line foryour favorite disk. The Memorex CD Radial Cleaning Kit comes withnonabrasive solutions and wipes to “heal” the scratchesand put your CDs and DVDs back into fighting trim. It’scertainly a lot cheaper than replacing them all.

CD radial cleaning Kit

Memorex

(800) 636-8352

Street price: $9.99

Extra Padding

Notebook computers are so dang handy–except for the lack of anumber pad. If number-crunching on the go has got you down,Genovation makes the Micropad 633 (not shown). The 633 plugs inthrough a serial port interface, but USB (Micropad 631) and PS/2(Micropad 632) models are also available. It’s just like astandard 18-key number pad on a regular full-sized keyboard, butportable. (Lefties might consider putting it to use in a desktopenvironment.)

Micropad 633

Genovation

(800) 822-4333

Street price: $49.99

Roto-Router

Multiple computers and just one cable or ADSL modem are aproblem. Who gets the great Internet speeds? Let’s not fightover it. Arescom offers the EZ Rider Pro to help divvy up the cake.The literature calls it an “Ethernet-to-EthernetRouter-Hub.” That’s a lot of hyphens for such a compactdevice. It allows for unlimited users to share one cable or ADSLmodem line with only one IP address. The included Router Managersoftware requires Windows 95/98/NT 4.0, but Macs can also be hookedup to the system.

EZ Rider Pro

Arescom

(510) 445-3638

http://www.arescom.com

Street price: $400