What's New? What's Cool?

Perhaps the thought of a wireless data projector showing your PowerPoint presentations intrigues you, or the idea of toting your PC's desktop and documents with you wherever you go makes you smile. If you're in search of the latest in innovative high tech, this past June's National Educational

Computing Conference (NECC), in New Orleans, and the American Library Association's (ALA) annual conference, in Orlando, were the places to be. Here are some of the highlights from the exhibit floors of both shows:

Inspiration (www.inspiration.com), the software company that specializes in programs that help students and educators organize their ideas in flowchart form, has announced a new version of its product that's perfect for Palms and other handheld devices, like the AlphaSmart Dana (see below). The new software makes it simple for students to draw diagrams using a Palm stylus and zoom in and out easily on their handhelds' small screens.

AlphaSmart (www.alphasmart.com), the creator of small, inexpensive keyboards that are ideal for students' word-processing needs, takes another step forward with the introduction of the Neo. Priced at only $229 (with educational discounts available), the Neo has a 5.75" x 1.5" LCD screen that's 50 percent larger than AlphaSmart's other value-priced keyboards, and it manages to wring 700 hours of battery life out of three AAs. AlphaSmart's also recently released Dana Wireless ($429, with discounts available), an addition to its deluxe line of keyboards. The new wireless version can run more than 20,000 programs designed especially for the Palm operating system.

Thomson Gale (www.gale.com) has announced that it will launch a new student database this fall. The Science Resource Center will feature articles and other resources that have been correlated with national and state science curriculum standards. Its resources will include the Gale Encyclopedia of Science, UXL Encyclopedia of Science, and links to more than 500 free Web sites on an array of topics, including earth science, life science, and physical science, for students in grades five through 12.

Epson (www.epson.com) has a wonderful new poster printer. Epson's new Foto Zoomer printing system turns any standard digital photo into a beautiful poster that looks like it was printed by a pro. The new printer isn't cheap—it's $8,995 with training and support services—but it's perfect for transforming photos of students, teachers, and local celebs into "Read" posters, printing game rules or award announcements, and creating striking large-sized signs and banners. Every school district or library system should have one.

Encyclopaedia Britannica is releasing a radical upgrade of its School Edition this fall. The new versions—for elementary, middle, and high school students—promise to be better looking and easier to search, particularly for young children in grades three through five. School Edition subscribers will be able to customize online content to match students' cognitive abilities and the articles are tailored to meet national and state curriculum standards. An annual subscription is $350 a year for schools with 500 or fewer students.