Busy families can always use help with organization, communication, and convenient access to the Internet for news, weather, shopping, and Web surfing. Enter the 3Com Ergo Audrey ($500 street), 3Com's new eye-catching Internet appliance. The Audrey connects to most ISPs (but not AOL) through an analog phone line or a broadband connection -- a breakthrough for an Internet appliance -- so you can use your existing ISP or broadband connection. Audrey supports a single ISP for an e-mail account and Internet access. You can synchronize the Audrey's PIM with two Palm PDAs running Palm OS 1.0 and higher. Printing is optional with compatible Canon USB printers (BJC-85, BJC-85W, and BJC-2100). After a few days of use, you might wonder how your family managed without the Audrey. The Audrey is designed to coordinate with home décor in high-traffic locations, such as a kitchen or family room. It measures 9 by 11.8 by 3 inches (HWD), weighs 4.1 pounds, and can be used either in an upright position or when laid flat. The Audrey's 7.6-inch diagonal, 640- by 480-dpi VGA resolution, 12-bit color touch-screen is legible from a distance of several feet, with a side viewing angle of about 45 degrees. A 5-inch translucent stylus mounts prominently in a top-panel slot and flashes bright green along with the e-mail button when a message is received or to signal an appointment recorded in the PIM. The infrared keyboard has reasonably ample 17-mm key spacing (versus 19-mm on desktop keyboards), but at 9.6 ounces (including two double-A batteries) it is so light that it bounces a bit if you have a heavy typing hand. The keyboard isn't immersible, but it can be cleaned with window cleaner and a damp cloth. Internet appliances don't compete with regular PCs, but for the record, the Audrey's innards include a 200-MHz Geode GX1 processor, 16MB of ROM, 32MB of RAM (1MB reserved for e-mail), and an upgradable version of the QNX 2000 operating system with HotSync capability. There are two stereo speakers on the top panel, an external speaker jack, a microphone, and a 56K v.90 modem. On the back, Attaching cables was tough with the shield on-so take it off during setup. ISP setup via the Audrey wizard is quick with either a phone line or broadband connection. For a broadband connection, you need an Ethernet cable and an Audrey compatible USB Ethernet adapter ($60 MSRP). Audrey functions great with dial-up or broadband, but you can enjoy faster response with a broadband connection than with a telephone modem connection. In addition to the original functions of Audrey, the professionally upgraded 333mhz Audrey is already hacked to get shell terminal and includes the following applications already installed and ready to use... Caller ID Audrey automaticly powers on and displays the name and phone number of the caller when the phone rings. *Requires CallerID service from your phone company. Note Taker No need for a notepad and pen near Audrey, just push a button, and a scribble pad appears on the screen complete with light up reminder! Audio Recorder Record and monitor audio with Audreys built in mic. Even record at different sample rates! Baby Monitor Using the Audio Monitor and speaker output, put Audrey in the babies room and monitor all the sounds from anywhere you choose. VNC Viewer Control other computers from Audrey! Alarm Clock Set the alarm clock to wake you up in the morning or remind you of that appointment! Even has a snooze control! Calculator Multi-Function with decimal, hexadecimal, octal and binary modes and memory functions File Explorer Much like the Windows File Explorer-Explore files and folders for moving, copying, pasting, deleting, etc. Onscreen Keyboard No need to use the included IR keyboard if you don't want to. This Onscreen Keyboard is accessable through the shelf menu or the Audrey Options menu. text AIM A text based instant messanger. Real Player Play Real Player streams and listen to internet radio stations! MP3 Player Play MP3s from Audrey directly from your PC through your LAN! Task Manager Keep track of running programs, CPU and memory usage, with Neutrino Sin! Electronic Random Picture Frame Randomly display pictures of your family, friends, whatever you'd like, right on Audrey's great little screen. File Editor Edit files right on Audrey, complete with copy, cut, paste, and search/replace functions. Image Viewer View and edit gif, jpg, bmp, pcx, tga, xbm, phi, and raw images! Use Audrey as a Home Automation control unit! Using X10 type devices and Homeseer, you can control your house lights, appliances and monitor motion sensors and cameras directly from Audrey! Our image is comprised of modifications we have done to make Audrey more useable, and from many great programs and utilities that are freely available for download from the web, and as such we do not sell our image. We do however offer our image for free on any of the Audreys we sell, or with any service we provide. Many thanks go to great contributors to Audrey hacking like Jukebox, Infinity, Davinci, James Mazrimas and many others without whom Audrey would not be as useful as she is.