Wireless
`
`Zipit wireless
`messenger
`
`www.zipitwireless.com
`Price: around $120 (from US$99)
`If there’s a constant battle in your household between those who
`want to use the PC for work and those who want to use it so they
`can chat with friends, there may be a solution.
`The Zipit is a stand-alone clamshell-style chat device that connects
`to your wireless home network using 802.11b WiFi and allows you to
`make a direct connection to MSN, AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo
`all at the same time. Because the Zipit makes a direct connection,
`the good news is that you can even use it when all of the PCs in the
`house are turned off.
`After the Zipit is connected, all of your online friends appear in a
`window that pops up every time you hit the button with the Zipit
`logo, with small icons denoting the different chat services.
`Unfortunately, you can only chat one-on-one with specific friends;
`the Zipit doesn’t support multi-user chat mode.
`Though the Zipit has a QWERTY-configured keyboard, it’s definitely
`not set up for touch-typing. The rubberized keys wiggle a bit when
`you press them, and you have to be very firm or your letter may not
`register ... it’s best to take your time with the keyboard. And while
`some of the punctuation is one-touch, things like the question mark,
`exclamation point and the numbers require you to shift into alt-
`mode.
`You can easily tell which mode you’re in by looking at the top of the
`screen. There are three letter-icons: A, C and S, for Alt, Control and
`Shift. The Alt and Shift modes both have two steps: tap the Alt or Shift
`key once and only the next character will be affected; tap it twice
`and it goes into Alt-lock or Caps-lock mode. There are a number of
`buttons along the top too; three are dedicated to standard emoti-
`cons, and three can be set up with your own emoticons. The previ-
`ous and next buttons let you flip between your open windows, allow-
`ing you to chat with a number of different people at the same time.
`There’s a headphone jack on the back so you can chat quietly.
`The Zipit uses a built-in rechargeable battery for power. Even though
`it’s only a monochrome LCD display, the WiFi send and receive will
`certainly eat up battery power, so if you’re a marathon chatter, you
`may want to stay close to an outlet.
`While a few things could be improved – a sturdier keyboard and a
`backlit screen, perhaps – the Zipit Wireless Messenger may be just
`the thing for reducing friction in the household.
`
`By Sean Carruthers
`
`14
`
`HUB: Digital Living - March 2005
`
`www.hubcanada.com
`
`ZIPIT EX. 2035, pg.1