5 Coolest Things On-Line 2007 -- so far

Published on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 By Brad Wardell In Personal Computing

I don't know about you but I hate having to wait until the end of the year to read those "best of" lists.
This is doubly true because those lists almost always favor things released near the end of the year. Well, we're half-way through 2007 already and so here's our list of the top 5 coolest things we've seen
so far this year!


	#1 Erector Spykee Robot. A brilliant idea made real. This is a remote control robot that has a microphone and camera on it that will transmits what it sees and hears to you no matter where you are. You can control it from remote and have it drive around your home or office while you are somewhere else talking to other people and listening to what they say back. My only complaint is that it looks a bit too much like a toy when in reality it could be a decent little tool.


	#2 Art Rage. This is easily the most amazing paint application I've ever seen and it's only $20! If you have a tablet PC of any kind, quit reading this and get this program. It will absolutely blow you away. No seriously, it's incredible.


	#3 iPhone. Yea yea I know, the most overhyped thing in the universe. But the iPhone really has lived up to much of the hype. While the lack of 3G is a bit of a put off and the non-removable battery is a downer, the iPhone is the coolest phone I've ever seen.


	#4 Liquid Desktop. For users who have Windows Vista Ultimate, you can download the free program DeskScapes and then get Liquid Desktop. It does an insanely good water effect on any desktop wallpaper. Think of the best video game water effect you've ever seen and now imagine in on your desktop. It has tons of different options and settings to custom-tailor it to your own preference. If you have Windows Vista Ultimate, get this.


	#5 Windows Home Server. With more and more people having multiple computers in their household, Microsoft's Windows Home Server really is the right product at the right time. Right now, my wife, kids and I shuttle a USB drive around the house for family pictures, video, and other files depending on who's using the computer. True, we have network shares but they're not a friendly interface for my wife and kids to deal with. It just automates and simplifies having multiple computers in the house.