The Passenger picks the best at CES - Jan. 8, 1999

The curse of Skeeter

Now in the working prototype stage, Shell Oil's SmartPump (http://www.countonshell.com/) promises to ease the burden of every pump jockey in the USA. This true innovation does with optical readers and robotics what Skeeter used to do for 30 cents per gallon more: it reads the vehicle information number off a small transponder stuck to your windshield, determines where your fuel door is, unscrews your gas cap with a robotic arm and pumps in the gas of your choosing. You don't have to leave your car - and more importantly - you don't have to wake Skeeter, or interrupt his viewing of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer." Also in development: the Shell Tire Checker, which uses ground-based sensors to check for underinflated tires. Hear Skeeter weep.

Calling Dick Tracy

Though I threw my last pager down a well, I'd gladly shift myself out of incommunicado with Timex/Motorola's Beepwear pager watch (http://www.beepwear.com/SPLASH.html). Part self-setting timepiece, part alphanumeric pager and part desktop organizer, these big, bad voodoo daddies are beyond cool. Knowing my mind, I'd probably get one and never use the pager - I don't want you to find me - but at a base price of just $129 (the organizer model is higher-priced), I'd likely never give my lack of connectivity a second thought. You should, though - you probably have actual important stuff to do.

Where the hell am I?

The above question is, admittedly, one of many questions the Avstar Navigator (http://www.avstar.ivs.com/product/) can't answer for you. Having said that, if you don't know where you are, you hardly deserve the help of this snazzy voice-actuated automobile navigator. Find street addresses, expressway connections, shortest possible routes - even proper-name locations like Disneyland, Mobil or the White House - without once pushing a button. The Avstar will even correct your awful spelling - if you can't spell Broadway, fear not, the Navigator can. It can also save your 20 most frequently used destinations. If only it would take the wheel for a spell; perhaps the next version will come thusly equipped. I'll wait.

Calling the net

Burn your PC! Drop-kick your G3! Alcatel's Internet Screenphone (http://www.alcatel.com/) allows you to check your e-mail messages in one place, shop, research, and utilize other internet resources from a telephone unit that will fit on any bedtable. If you know someone who hasn't joined the webjam yet - of course you don't, but just pretend you do - this innovative hybrid will put them in the ring. It's easy to use - it works "just like a phone." If this supposed friend of yours can't use a phone - good gravy, kid, get better friends.

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