New Products

• LaCie Hub ($80; lacie.com). Prevent a peripheral pileup with this handy hub. The eye-catching gadget enables you to connect as many as six devices simultaneously - such as external hard drive, keyboard, mouse - via four USB and two FireWire ports. It comes bundled with eight flexible cables. Correspondingly, eight glowing LEDs (white, violet, green, red, yellow, orange, blue, and pink) indicate when devices are plugged in. Designed by Ora-Ïto, who has done handiwork for Adidas and Swatch, this glossy white orb also includes a USB fan and a USB light.

• Digital Innovations Power Docking Station ($40; digitalinnovations.com). Cellphones, MP3 players, PDAs, and other portables all seem to have a way of congregating on countertops. Even more annoying, they never seem to have enough juice. This brushed stainless-steel unit organizes and charges up to four devices in one convenient location while hiding all their chargers and cords - except for the one cord needed to plug the unit into a wall. The easy-to-use design makes for fast hookups and disconnections.

• Bushnell ONIX 400 (XMradio.com). This triple-threat handheld device, available this summer at a price to be announced, features XM Satellite Radio, GPS, and personalized real-time weather forecasts, all packed into a waterproof design. The 3.5-inch screen can be split to view information on any of XM's 170 channels while simultaneously displaying the GPS and weather data. The ONIX even layers weather information onscreen along with aerial and satellite photos and topography maps for serious outdoor enthusiasts. Sports fans will appreciate the enhanced scoreboard. It's the ideal gadget for a mountain hike in Maine or a day out on your deck.

• Belkin F5L001 Laptop Cooling Stand ($30; belkin.com). If you don't want your laptop to freeze up from overheating, consider a cooling stand. This one has a distinctive wave design that creates a channel between the laptop and the device so that heat is pushed out and away from the computer. Ergonomic bonuses: the gentle slope for less wrist strain and the raised screen height for reduced neck fatigue. The stand conveniently fits into a laptop bag and is powered by the USB port, so there's no need to cart around a bulky power adapter.

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