Mike Kobrin and I met with XM yesterday at a swanky penthouse suite in the Royalton Hotel. (One perk of this job is that I get to see the insides of hotels I could never afford to stay in.)

I think XM has hit the sweet spot with personal portable players. Both the Pioneer Inno (left) and Samsung Helix (right) are small and light (4.5 ounces, 3.7 by 2.2 by .6 inches). They have essentially the same functionality and interface, and they look fairly identical except for a few styling differences. 

Each come with a boatload of functions, including built-in receivers, recording capability (with a buffer), a partitionable hard drive to hold MP3 and WMA files as well as recorded XM content, song bookmarking, Artist and TuneSelect, an FM transmitter, and integration with Napster for purchasing songs.

We didn't see an actual Helix, but we did get to try the Inno (Mike brought one back to our Labs for testing). The screen is large and colorful, the interface couldn't be simpler, and it has a well-built heft.

If I had an extra $399 kicking around, I'd own one of these as soon as they ship. They should be available within the next couple weeks; I'll post exact dates when I get them.

I'm really bad with forgetting what I've bought at the grocery store, or even the titles of Mary Higgins Clark's novels I own (29 to date). That's why I love gadgets that do all of the thinking for me. The IntelliScanner Collector Barcode Reader lets you scan all of your items--groceries, wine, books, CDs, etc.--so that you know what you have/don't have. As long as the item has a barcode, you can scan it. Then, you can create a customized shopping or tracking list with the software provided.

There are 2 variations of the IntelliScanner Collector. The first is the Tethered USB Scanner ($179, $249 bundle). It's white, and lets you scan at your desk while connected to your computer utilizing its Plug-and-play USB 1.1 technology.

The second is the Portable Scanner (NEW!) ($279, $349 bundle) with a built-in memory chip. You can use it anywhere--your house, office, store--and you don't have to be connected to the computer. Then when you're ready to download your items, connect it to your computer. The Portable Scanner gives you 2 options. Choose from the detachable serial interface (for Windows PCs; requires one free serial port) or the Bluetooth interface (for Macs and PCs equipped with Bluetooth wireless technology). It requires 3 AAA batteries.

Both IntelliScanners work with Windows 2000/XP and Mac OS X 10.3 or later.

The following software is available for the IntelliScanner:

* Media Collector 2.0 - media organization software
* Kitchen Companion (NEW!)- track groceries, build shopping lists
* Wine Collector - cellar and wine management system
* Home Assets 2.0 - personal asset tracking software
* Auction Automator - sell items on Amazon.com, and more