MP3 player corrects your spelling
(Credit:
TechEBlog)
We came across Merriam-Webster's MWD-480 as part of TechEBlog's feature on must-have gadgets for college kids. It's an electronic dictionary that doubles as an MP3 player. Just think: now you can look up antidisestablishmentarianism while listening to Slayer.
The MWD-480 has 274,000 definitions in its database. A phonetic spell correction feature allows you to enter words the way they sound and get alternatives for misspellings--type in "nolige," for example, and see "knowledge." Another function, called Confusables, alerts you when one word might be mistaken for another (their vs. there)--thus letting you escape the wrath of the copy editors in your life.
The gadget--which sells for $50 at Franklin-- also has five games and a crossword puzzle solver to keep you entertained while you're procrastinating on that term paper. The dictionary features an SD card slot, 119MB of internal memory, USB 2.0 connectivity and a full QWERTY keypad.
Leslie Katz, senior editor of CNET's Crave, covers gadgets, games, and most other digital distractions. As a co-host of the CNET News Daily Podcast, she sometimes tries to channel Terry Gross. E-mail Leslie. 
