New products: The missing keyboard

What's missing from the iPad, Xoom, Galaxy Tab and other tablet computers? On-screen virtual keyboards may be fine for short emails and Web forms. But for letters and reports, your fingers would appreciate a real keyboard with physical keys. The Zippy BT-637 from AVS Gear (http://www.avsgear.com/) is a full-sized keyboard that uses Bluetooth to connect with tablets, PCs, mobile phones and other devices. The Zippy will pair with up to six devices, including Sony's PS3 game console, and has a switch that lets you quickly jump from one gadget to another. Other features include a touchpad with mouse buttons and special keys that will bring up a browser, launch your email program, play or pause media, and adjust volume controls. The BT-637 costs about $75 from Amazon.com and other Internet stores. Boomers who went to too many loud rock concerts may be discovering that their hearing isn't what it used to be. They can miss out on dinner conversation in a noisy restaurant or disagree with family members over the proper volume setting for the TV. Those folks are the target audience for the Songbird Clear (http://www.songbirdclear.com/songbird-clear). It's a battery-powered amplifier with a volume-control dial that fits behind your ear with a tiny speaker at the end of a thin cable for your outer ear canal. While the digital hearing aids sold through medical clinics can be fine-tuned to enhance specific frequencies, the Songbird amplifies all sounds. But that may be all you need to stay in the conversation. The Songbird Clear costs about $120 and is available at CVS stores. For $60, we won't call it a flashlight. Instead it's an EPLI — Executive Precision Lighting Instrument. The EPLI is the latest creation from Brite-Strike (http://www.brite-strike.com/), a company that makes high-grade illumination products like the Tactical Blue Dot, a flashlight favored by police and military personnel. It costs $250. The EPLI is its little brother, targeted to appeal to warriors who wear suits rather than camo. It has a 5.25-inch, black stainless-steel body that houses a high-powered white LED and a pair of AAA batteries. A thumb switch cycles the EPLI through three modes: a low setting of 10 lumens (good for reading a menu in a dark restaurant), 160 lumens (brighter than many large incandescent flashlights), and strobe, which Brite-Strike suggests using to distract an attacker. The flashlight is also waterproof, making it the perfect gadget for those times when you find yourself in the dark, underwater and totally lost.