Friendly Web Tools Blog

Move over pens, it’s time to make room for a pocket projector. Yes, projector, not protector. The 3M Pocket Projector is a dinky $359 projector that takes the place of hyper-expensive LCD projectors that can run in the thousands.

Plug the projector into your laptop to access DVDs, presentations and photos, and project them onto your desk or wall or another blank white space. It’s definitely limited to a smaller room application in bright light - it displays around a foot across - but in a dark room, you can use it to project a much larger image on the wall.

Perfect tool for taking on the road for seminars or doing quick displays.

Very nice! Our friends at STAR (Synagogues: Transformation and Renewal) have launched a new YouTube Channel to promote their programs and to aid in their ongoing quest to educate synagogues in the powers of technology.

I believe one of the tools they use to put together their web videos is the Flip camera, which I’ve mentioned here in the past.

Check it out and click Subscribe so you can receive updates from this great organization.

Now you can look forward to Mondays - this week marks the beginning of Gadget Mondays on the Friendly Web Tools blog. We know that the Web stuff doesn’t work unless you have the technology to make it happen, so we’ll start to cover the hardware that will make your computing life less confusing.

On this inaugural Gadget Monday: the Flip video camera.

With this ultra user-friendly gadget, converting lectures, presentations and conversations into YouTube-ready movies is a snap. Keep this little guy handy so you can record any action and turn it into a simple presentation for your constituency or colleagues who can’t be there. One client of ours is already using the Flip to create quick videos and distribute them on YouTube.

The best part? These things start at $129.99 - more manageable than you might have thought.