PS3 levels up: StreamMyGame.com has released, for free, its Linux Player, which allows any game created for use on a PC to be played on a PlayStation 3 running the Linux system. You need to have Linux installed on a PS3 (versions such as Ubuntu and Yellow Dog Linux will do the trick). It works by feeding the game from one computer via the StreamMyGame server back to a second computer, PS3 or other Linux device. The server is compatible with Windows XP and Vista, and the second computer or PS3 doesn't have to have the game loaded on it. StreamMyGame is available for free by registering at www.streammygame.com.

Wave goodbye: Sony Ericsson has crafted a shiny new toy with hidden character in the Z555a mobile phone. When the phone rings, the caller's name appears on the glossy silver exterior. If you don't want to take the call, you literally shake it off — sensors in the phone pick up the motion, a la Nintendo's Wii, and the would-be partner in communication is rejected, all without having to open the clamshell phone. Alas, it's basically a one-trick pony with a fancy saddle, lacking a decent camera and with no MP3-playing ability. The handset will be released in the first quarter of 2008 on an as-yet unannounced network. More details can be found at www.sonyericsson.com.

Chilling out: What's missing from any worthy laptop is a decent cooling system — it's part of the bill for traveling light, and the bane of many an overheated lap. Of course, there are many external fans available, typically built into a small platform for the laptop to sit on and running off the computer's USB port. Digital Cowboy is cranking down the heat with its CRF-102 Notebook Cooler (www.digitalcowboy.jp) The gadget sports a 22-cm fan working at 600 rpm and a relatively quiet noise level of 18 to 20 dB, and the platform can tilt between 15 and 32 degrees. It measures 300x270x25 mm with the one downside being that it weighs in at 750 grams. Priced ¥4,980, it is out now.

No lights out: Batteries are all about life span, and Panasonic's new Evolta power cell looks set to outlive them all. Panasonic claims gadgets will run 20 percent longer on Evolta, thanks to a clever new discharge method, with a shelf life of 10 years. Set for release in a variety of sizes, a pack of four LR03 or LR6 (known abroad as AA and AAA) batteries is expected to retail at around ¥590 when Evolta hits the stores in April.

Fluffed up: Set to reduce the life span of your chompers is the Ame de Watame cotton-candy maker from Royal Company. You feed the little luxury gadget, which looks rather like a brightly colored mixer, a solid diet of regular candy, of any flavor, and it turns out candy of the fluffy cotton variety. The machine is out already, priced ¥15,750 from www.royal-kk.co.jp.