The Philips photo display (top) can show single photos or scroll through a selection, while the Shoqbox has alarm and timer features.
The ease and economy of digital cameras has made every new owner a frequent photographer, but what do you do with all those electronic images you've been taking? Stack them up on memory cards, CDs or your hard drive? Email one or two and forget about the rest within a
week like most people?
Enter the Philips Digital Photo Display, a very portable 16.5cm monitor that looks just like an stylish silver office desk photo frame - only it plugs in at the wall. It's an electronic photo album that stores up to 70 high-quality pics with a rechargeable battery so you can show your latest snaps around the office for up to 45 minutes.
It has a stand for portrait or landscape use and can display single photos, thumbnails or scroll through a slideshow. Simplicity is the key and photos can be easily transferred from your camera or PC via a USB cable or directly via the memory card slot in the rear.
The $399 price tag does lift it above the birthday/Christmas present status normal picture frames enjoy. Something new and vaguely useful for that person who has everything, maybe.
And in much the same vein is the new Philips ShoqBox, a ghetto blaster that got off the steroids and got on with the digital programme. A cutely compact digital audio player with that lets you - and a room full of friends - enjoy WMA and MP3 songs or FM radio without needing headphones.
The small but surprisingly powerful Neodymium speakers can max out the volume without distortion. Small enough to carry in your hand the ShoqBox stores up to 16 hours of music on its 512MB internal flash memory. Alarm clock and sleep timer features mean you can wake up or drift off to your favourite tunes.
Rechargeable batteries provide up to 10 hours of music playback and the unit comes with a travel pouch for protection. Stylish as it is, trying to balance it on your shoulder will get you nowhere. Costs $299.
