Test Drive-eWhiz

eWhiz
Integrated DVD player and Internet browser
Ohana Learning, 1099 Alakea Street, 22nd Floor, Honolulu, HI 96813. www.ohanalearning.org. 1-877-331-8233. $299.

What do you call a single machine that is an Internet browser, a DVD player, a CD and MP3 player, and a karaoke machine? An eWhiz from Ohana Learning; connect one to your TV and it becomes all these things in one black box. Add a connection to the Internet, and you have a working Internet browser. The eWhiz is an affordable way to bring DVDs, Internet resources, and music into your media center, library or classroom without personal computers or a host of separate appliances.

Connect the eWhiz, which comes with a wireless keypad about the size of a video cassette, to the Internet through a dial-up phone connection or through a building network connection (LAN) and you are ready to access the Internet. Excellent technical support is just a phone call away. But the true usefulness of any hardware, like the eWhiz, depends on what software is available. Ohana's DVDs, numbering over 250 titles and spanning the K–12 curriculum, each cost $120. Currently, if you buy 10 DVDs, the eWhiz is free. The eWhiz, at $299, costs only a little more than an entry-level DVD player alone. On the downside, the Internet browser is very slow and you can't print from it. The eWhiz will not replace research computers in a media center or classroom, but is more of a presentation tool. It offers a lot for a modest price.