Fall is gutter cleaning season. It's also fall-off-the-ladder-and-break-your-collar-bone season. Why climb down, move the ladder, and climb back up, when you can reach. Just. A bit. Farther...

The folks who made vacuuming your floors easier with the iRobot Roomba, are making cleaning your gutters easier - and safer - with the Looj, a robotic gutter cleaner that let's you set the ladder up once and clean 80 feet of gutter in about 10 minutes. (Check out the Looj in action in the demo video below.)

The Looj has a three-stage auger that spins at 500 RPM, breaking up clogs, flinging out debris and sweeping the gutter clean. The handle detaches and becomes a wireless remote you use to drive the Looj forward and backward, as well as to control the rotational direction of the auger, so you can make sure everything gets cleaned out. Without repositioning the ladder. Or leaning too far over to get that last clump of leaves.

It's waterproof in up to one foot of water, so you can use it in clogged gutters and rinse it clean with a hose after use. And at $99 for the basic package, it's less than the hospital bill you got last time you cleaned the gutters.

$99-$169
www.irobot.com

Nothing ruins a flight faster than running out of power for your personal in-flight entertainment, and having to spend two hours listening to the elderly woman in the row behind you loudly discussing her medical issues with the person next to her. In stomach-churning detail.

You can avoid this by traveling with a charger, like the Inflight Power Cable.

Since there are no outlets or power jacks on a typical plane, the palm-sized, 3-ounce Inflight captures the small amount of audio energy that's delivered via the seat audio jack and coverts it to usable power. According to Inflight, the louder the music, the more power it provides. They recommend Mariachi bands at maximum volume. And I'm not making that up. They've also supplied the airlines a "charging tone" channel which generates the most power, so check with the flight attendant to see if their airline provides it. (It's also FCC certified and doesn't emit radio noise, so it's safe to charge your stuff below 10,000 feet.) ...There's more

Finding your way from a printed map was fine back in Lewis and Clark's day, but not for you. You're a man of the 21st century. You haven't mailed a letter with a stamp since 1998. You haven't gotten your news from a newspaper in years. So why should you be expected to get directions from a static, paper map? You need cutting-edge technology. You need interactivity. You need a female voice ordering you what to do.

TeleNav GPS Navigator is a full-function navigation system that, instead of coming as an expensive, stand-alone piece of equipment, resides entirely on your mobile phone. I gave it a shot this week, and I was surprised how much was packed into what is essentially a cell phone app.

Once you launch TeleNav, (and agree not to do anything but listen to directions while actually driving), it gives you the option of getting driving directions by searching over 10 million businesses, coffee shops, ATMs, WiFi hotspots, hotels and even gas stations by price. Choose one and you'll get detailed voice and onscreen turn-by-turn directions. In 2D, or in 3D.

If you need to get to a specific address and you're already on the road, typing it in while driving isn't exactly the safest thing to do. TeleNav lets you hit one button and "talk" your destination into their system through a toll free number. Switch back over to the GPS, select the address when it pops up on the list, and you're off. Miss a turn and it'll reroute you.

The TeleNav Traffic function can even color-code the maps to alert you to traffic situations the whole way to your destination. If there's an accident ahead ...There's more

The iPhone gets all the buzz, but a lot of cell phones store and play MP3s. They may not hold nearly as many songs as your regular MP3 player, but they do let you bring a few key tunes along to serve as your own personal soundtrack. The only downside is you have to choose between using the corded stereo earbuds, which deliver the sound the way it was meant to be, or your much more convenient wireless Bluetooth headset, which only lets you listen out of one ear, defeating the whole purpose of having a stereo phone.

The new Plantronics Voyager 855 Bluetooth headset gives you both - stereo sound in a convertible wireless headset. Sharing many of the features of their other headsets - compact, lightweight design, the one-touch buttons that control music and calls, the sliding mic boom and clarity enhancing technology of AudioIQ - the 855 also comes with a detachable stereo ear bud and cable that clips to the headset and doubles as an ear clip.

The 855's earbuds come in three sizes to ensure a personalized fit, and are designed to seal out surrounding noise so you can hear your conversation or music more clearly. (Never mind the approaching fire truck.) A single button lets you switch between calls and music.

When you're not using the extra bud just snap out the cable, converting the 855 back into a mono headset. A single charge gives you 7 hours of talk/listening time and about 200 hours standby time.

$149.95
www.plantronics.com

We love overkill. Bells and whistles. Flashing lights. Features we can't figure out but are impressed by anyway. The new AccuTrac Measuring Tool from Craftsman has all of these. And more.

Like many tools, it's way more than the average guy needs, but you feel more capable and powerful just by wielding it. Like using a sledgehammer when an ordinary hammer will do. Think of the AccuTrac as the sledgehammer of measuring tapes.

Forget having a buddy hold the end of a tape when you need to measure something over eight feet or so. The laser technology on the AccuTrac let's one guy measure up to 150 feet. With accuracy to within 3/16-inch. And the backlit, LCD digital readout means you don't have do the "5-feet and 7 tic marks" thing if you don't know your fractions. Or, you can just have it display in decimals instead. Or in meters and millimeters, should you be using it in Canada.

Beyond just measuring single distance, it can also measure two points to determine area, three points for volume, and will even figure Pythagorean to measure indirect or hard to reach points. (If I had any clue what that meant, I'd elaborate for you.)

If you don't have paper handy, the AccuTrac can store and recall up to ten values, and also let's you add or subtract measurements. (Which is where I usually screw up.) And there's a built-in bubble level for added accuracy.

Again, way more than you'll probably ever need for around the house. But it'll definitely inspire jealousy when your neighbors see you use it. And thats what's important. (Cue Tim Allen grunting in the background.)

$119.99
www.craftsman.com

If you've been putting off buying an iPod to see what the next generation would bring (even while your early-adopter friends busted your balls), your patience has paid off. Today Steve Jobs introduced the new iPod Touch, which features the same multi-touch user interface from the iPhone which lets users "find and enjoy all of their music, videos and more on its gorgeous widescreen display with just the touch of a finger."

Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly), similar to the iPhone, it also has Wi-Fi (a first on an iPod), the it-Safari browser for true computer-like web surfing, and the new iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store allowing you to buy tunes and videos anywhere, anytime. And the 8mm thin Touch boasts a 3.5-inch display that automatically rotates the image into landscape or horizontal, depending on how you turn it... just like the iPhone. (I smell convergence.)

It'll be available later this month and is priced at $299 for the 8GB model and $399 for the 16GB model.

For those of you with huge music collections, Apple is also introducing the iPod Classic, which will come in 80GB ($249) or 160GB ($349), an enhanced user interface, and encased in a new all-metal enclosure.

www.apple.com

A video iPod is pretty much standard road warrior equipment these days. With the selection of in-flight movies ranging in viewability from "Not Interested" to "I Can't Believe a Studio Green-lit This Mess", having your own stash of entertainment makes a long, boring, cross-country flight at least tolerable.

Spending several hours in an airplane seat is uncomfortable enough, but spending several hours in an airplane seat, hunched over a small iPod screen can get downright agonizing. (But is still less painful than watching the latest Robin Williams movie.) Watching while reclining helps, until your arms give out. The ideal viewing position would be to lie back and watch on an overhead screen. And since the airlines don't have them, you'll need to bring your own.

Myvu makes a "portable big-screen" packed into what looks like the glasses LaVar Burton wore on "Star Trek: The Next Generation". Thin and lightweight, the myvu projects video images onto a virtual screen that floats in front of you. (It's about the same as watching a large TV from about six feet away.) ...There's more