The shirt keeps the beat
— -- This weekly roundup takes a look at the practical and sometimes quirky aspects of tech products.
The shirt keeps the beat
Go ahead and pound on your chest like Tarzan. If you do so while wearing the Electronic Drum Machine Shirt, your chest beating will sound like a drum solo.
Created by ThinkGeek, the interactive shirt has a drum console with seven effect pads that play different sounds. It also has nine built-in drum kits for creating different sounds, including "Rock Drums,'' "Techno Punk," and "Classic Jazz." Its built-in amp lets you pump up the volume while a record button lets you create loops to accompany your freestyle drumming.
When it's time to wash the shirt, the musical components can be removed. The shirt costs about $30.
iPad stand goes soft
You can give your iPad 2 a soft landing with Targus' Lap Lounge. The bean bag-filled cushion rests comfortably on your lap while holding a built-in stand for your iPad.
The bag's design lets you view the screen from various angles and redirects the sound toward you. A zippered pocket holds small accessories. The Lap Lounge costs about $50.
Web radio makes connections
You can listen to your favorite online stations from any room in the house with an Android-based Web radio from Archos.
Small enough to carry from room to room, the Archos 35 Home Connect streams radio and music via your home's wireless network. It also can be set to wake you each morning to the sounds of nature, your MP3 playlist or a Web radio station.
Using its various Android apps, you can customize the display to show the latest weather, news, sport or other info. Equipped with two built-in speakers and a headphone jack, it costs about $150.
Drive provides peace of mind
Nervous about all the music and photos you've stored on your MacBook or MacBook Air? You can back up your files, burn DVDs and charge your gadgets on the Mac Edition of Apricorn's Aegis NetDock.
The compact USB Docking Station features a four-port USB hub, a dual-layer DVD burner and a hard drive. With its four hubs, you can charge four different devices with one USB port on your Mac. A model with a 500- gigabyte hard drive costs about $200 while a version with a 1 TB hard drive is $230.
Don't need a hard drive? Apricorn makes one without a hard drive for $70.
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