The Podcasts Are Coming

Plus: Shrinking storage, and slimmer phones.

Contact PC World Contributing Editor Steve Fox at steve_fox@pcworld.com.

Listening to the Pod People

The Buzz: Steel yourself for the attack of the podcasters. Podcasts--free programming (talk, music, and some hybrid formats) delivered to a portable MP3 player or desktop--are sprouting up like, well, alien pods in a horror flick. The Diffusion Group, a consultancy specializing in the connected home, estimates the number of podcast consumers at about 5 million this year, with 55 million expected by 2010. A slew of sites have popped up, all competing to be the podcast portal of choice. Apple has jumped to the lead, while Odeo, Podcast Alley, Podcast.net, The Podcast Network, and others are jockeying for position. And don't forget Google and Yahoo, which have multimedia search functionality.

Bottom Line: Hype aside, there's a genuine flowering of creativity out there, especially from private citizens with interesting (and often downright weird) things to say. Enjoy it now before Clear Channel finds some way to ruin it.

4 Gigs on a Quarter

The Buzz: The guts of Imation's USB-powered Micro Hard Drive are incredibly small--less than the size of a quarter, making it the smallest drive around. But the diminutive package is protected by a lightweight, shock-resistant casing that resembles a sturdy combination lock and includes a built-in USB tether that forms a loop when it's not in use. The 2GB model ($159) is available for purchase now, with a 4GB model ($189) due in retail stores later this year.

Bottom Line: Storage that makes a fashion statement. Next time someone tries to tell you geeks have no style, just pull one these babies out from behind your pocket protector.

Take Avenue Q

The Buzz: What do you get when you meld the ultrathin build of the Razr phone with the functionality of the BlackBerry? Answer: The Q, as in the Motorola Q, destined to be a must-have device when it arrives in the first quarter of 2006. A Windows Mobile 5 smart phone, the Q has a full QWERTY keyboard, a thumbwheel, a 1.3-megapixel camera (with flash), an audio player, and Bluetooth connectivity. It should run thousands of Windows applications and handle mail by way of Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.

Bottom Line: Makes the Palm Treo look like it needs Weight Watchers. But the phone's price tag--probably somewhere north of $600--will put your wallet on a diet as well.

Future Tech: Super Video Recorders

Promise TV's personal video recorder is like TiVo's big brother. Instead of having you pick programs to record, the English startup's PVR just records them all on a whopping 3.2-terabyte hard disk array. Users can index, search, and even offload programs to external storage. Promise recently demonstrated its prototype box recording an entire week's worth of programming (over 2000 hours) from Britain's 12 TV channels. Promise has yet to announce commercial plans, but Sony has; its VAIO X PC video server can record seven programs at once using dual video server boards and three analog TV tuners. It should go on sale in Japan this November for around $5000.

HERE\NOW

1. Oxyride Panasonic's batteries with twice the lifetime of conventional AA and AAAs. Get 'em at your local store.

2. Computer-On-a-Stick Bootable USB flash drive with on-board Linux, browser, and Microsoft Office-compatible apps for $149. (fingergear.com)

3. Peerflix.com P-to-P with a twist: Share your DVDs via snail mail. (peerflix.com)

4. XMHD Use Google's Gmail as a "portable virtual hard drive"--for free. (XmailHardDrive.com)

5. Real U.S. postage with your digital pictures on them. It's all legal, too. (zazzle.com, cafepress.com, and stamps.com)