Dash Express GPS ($599 for device; subscription plans vary; dash.net)

While most GPS systems come stocked with a preset database of points of interest along your route, the Dash Express is the first navigation system with two-way internet connectivity, so you can use Yahoo! Local Search and other internet sources to find the right pit stop for you. The Express also relies on its web link to obtain up-tothe- minute traffic updates. While offering drivers up to three possible routes at a time on its 3.81” x 2.25” glare-resistant screen, the system automatically alerts you when traffic conditions change and a faster route is available. To avoid typing on the road, you can also use the Send2Car feature to shoot an address directly to your Dash from any computer. The device is dashboard mountable and, for added convenience, downloads software updates automatically.

Nabaztag Wi-Fi Smart Rabbit ($180; nabaztag.com)

If you can’t afford a personal assistant with an actual pulse, consider investing in a Nabaztag Wi-Fi rabbit. The device, rendered as a bunny because bunnies are presumably cuter than, say, donkeys, detects and connects to your Wi-Fi, acting as a go-between for you and the web. Through either speech (Nabaztag speaks five languages and reads 16) or patterns of flashing lights inside his belly, your bunny can tell you when you have a new e-mail, read you the day’s headlines, report time and weather, and pull RSS feeds off the web. If you’d rather have your favorite blog read aloud to you, Nabaztag handles that as well. You can name and configure your rabbit through the Nabaztag web site, not to mention marry one bunny to another—bunnies in civil unions mimic each other’s movements. Nabaztag also plays the radio and practices Tai Chi every morning with his ears. You’re still on your own for coffee.

WildCharger Wireless Charging Pad ($89.99 with adapter bundle; $59.99 without; wildcharge.com)

Socket space is at a premium these days. Rather than unplugging the TV to make room for your cell phone charger, try the one device that charges all your batteries without plugging up every outlet in the house. Named one of Time Magazine’s Best Inventions of 2007, The WildCharger is a flat conductive surface that charges your cell phone or other electronic device on contact, at any angle or orientation. A WildCharge adapter connects to, or, in some cases, replaces a device’s back cover and transmits a charge from the WildCharger to your gadget at the same speed as if it were plugged into the wall. Adapters are currently available for Motorola phones and plans to market adapters for other leading mobile phones, smart phones, and music devices are underway

Mandylion Password Manager ($50; mandylionlabs.com)

The Internet, along with ATMs, voicemail systems, and newfangled locks that rely on keypads instead of deadbolts, has filled daily life with more passwords than even the most capacious memory could hope to hold. Instead of relying on a complicated system of pneumonic devices, or a folded sticky note, let Mandylion Labs’ Password Manager do the remembering for you. Designed to fit on your keychain, the Password Manager not only stores, but also helps you generate, up to 50 PINs, combinations, and security codes to suit any login policy. Tested and developed for three years by the U.S. Military, the Password Manager is activated by entering a user-chosen button sequence, so you won’t need yet another password to use it (just don’t write the sequence down on the sticky note). The device also features an LCD display with a limited viewing angle to prevent over-the-shoulder peeking, a program that indicates when a failed access attempt has been made, and a James Bond-worthy self-destruct feature for “high-risk situations.”

MacBook Air ($1799; apple.com/macbookair)

Nearly as thin as your index finger—it measures just three quarters of an inch at its thickest point—the MacBook Air bills itself as the world’s thinnest notebook computer. In the interest of slimming down, Apple chose to forgo an optical drive, and offers just 2GB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive, but a port hatch flips down to reveal a USB 2.0 port and a micro-DVI port, so expandability is available. But Apple is gambling that the wireless revolution will make all those clunky hard drives obsolete anyway as users take advantage of the Air’s built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 to download movies, music, and, of course, documents from the office. The MacBook Air features a 13.3” backlit LED screen, a built-in iSight camera, and comes pre-loaded with Apple’s eyecatching new operating system, Leopard.