marketwatch stock screener 3Com Audrey

3Com Audrey Web Appliance

The 3Com Ergo Audrey is part of the new breed of Internet appliances designed to get you connected with e-mail and exploring the Web with as few extraneous hardware features and as little hassle as possible. The Audrey certainly fulfills that end of the bargain, and it adds organization tools that can help a family keep track of busy schedules. But its important to remember that it is a simplified applianceits limited in the scope of tasks it can perform and thus can be frustrating to savvy Web users.

To the credit of 3Com, the Audrey looks unlike any other Internet appliance on the market. It reminded us of magazine articles from the 1950s that imagined what it would be like to live in the 21st century. Its simple, cool curves fan out like a T-bird, and it has a chrome top (with two speakers) and oversize buttons that help you navigate between calendar, Web browser, e-mail, and Audrey channels. It also has a nicely compact body, ready to fit right into the kitchen of tomorrow, today.

The Audrey comes with just a small keyboard (which connects via an infrared port), a power cord, and a clear plastic stylus that sticks out of the top of the device and is used to tap commands and browser buttons on the touch screen. The docked stylus also doubles as an e-mail alert, flashing green whenever the Audrey connects and collects e-mail. You also get a serial port and two USB ports for connecting Palm or Handspring docking cradles (you can synchronize only with Palm OS handhelds). The Audrey is also broadband ready if you use an optional USB-to-Ethernet adapter.

Setting up the Audrey was really quite simple. We entered the user information to our existing dial-up account and connected immediately. Happily, the Audrey is one of the few Web appliances that enable you to choose your own Internet service provider (ISP). If you dont have one, the Audrey defaults to suggesting AT&T WorldNet for $15 per monthbut doesnt force you into the choice.

The Audreys e-mail center isnt very robust, offering only New, Old, and Sent sections. You cant receive attachments, and there is no option of storage folders. But this is part of the Audreys elegant, minimalist philosophy, targeted to users with a full-powered computer to use as their main online communications center (where e-mail can be stored and sorted and attachments viewed). That said, there are some fun features to the e-mail application, allowing you to doodle a message (sent as a GIF image) or a recorded message of up to 3 minutes (sent as a WAV file).

We also found the devices screen frustrating; its small size caused many Web pages to scroll horizontally, and the contrast was too dark unless we sat in a precise position. Even more unnerving was the small keyboard, which inexplicably features punctuation keys half the size of the letter keys. These tiny keys caused us to continuously make typos in our Web addressesstrange, for a device supposedly designed for Internet use, where Web addresses feature many / and . strokes.

The browser isnt stacked with plug-ins, but it does feature Macromedia Flash and RealPlayer for streaming audio, allowing you to use the Audrey as an Internet radio. Unfortunately, you cant surf the Web or use other applications and listen to audio at the same time. We also found that once the Audreys cache memory was filled (after Web browsing and listening to BBC Radio 1), the audio got choppy and we had to restart the unit.

In addition to Web content, the Audrey also features a set of channels that download content at specified times of the day and night (so you dont have to connect each time you want to read news from ABC). To access a channel, we turned the TV-style knob on the front and selected ESPN, which delivered about three of that days top headlines. Unfortunately, only a few channels are available at this timeothers include CBS MarketWatch and Mr. Showbiz.

The other main component of the Audrey is its organizer features, borrowed from the Palm OS. We synchronized our calendar information and e-mail and phone contact information from our Handspring Visor, but thats all thats storedno addresses, no notes (unless attached to calendar items), and no to-do list (a big disappointment for an appliance meant for the kitchen). However, it does allow you to have two tracks of calendar itemsone for the parents and one for the kids.

Of all the Internet appliances available, the Audrey is truly the most appliancelikeand thats a compliment. Its a very functional product for your busy family kitchen. Just dont expect the whiz-bang technology you take for granted on your Pentium-class PC. Still, we hope that future versions of the Audrey do become more robust, with added online and organization features. Agen G.N. Schmitz

Make e-mailing and Web browsing easy and convenient for the whole family with the 3Com Ergo Audrey, an Internet appliance that works with your current ISP to deliver one-touch Internet access.

The Audreys innovative twist dial allows you to flip from Web site to Web site for easy surfing, and the 12 preset sites (or channels) offer everything from weather to news to stocks. The Audrey can be programmed to grab e-mail and Web channel content at specified times.

Use the included wireless keyboard to write e-mail messages and the clear, acrylic stylus to navigate around the color touch screen (6.25 by 4.75 inches). An LED within the stylus cradle lights up the stylus when you have unread e-mail. With the snapshot function, you can capture images from the screen to attach to e-mail messages. You can also attach scribbled notes or drawings (saved as GIFs) and voice messages that can be recorded through the internal microphone (and played back via the Audreys stereo speakers).

Keep your family in touch with the scheduling functions, which allow you to color-code a daily schedule for each family member. Use the serial port or two USB ports to synch with up to two handhelds so every family member can link up. The Audrey works with Palm OS devices including Palm handhelds, Handspring Visors, and the Sony Clié.

The Audrey features a built-in 56 Kbps modem with two standard RJ-11 telephone jacks, a serial port, 2 USB ports, and an audio output for external speakers. It is broadband capable if using the 3Com USB Ethernet adapter.

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