Firsthand

1. On-Air Schedule:

Four computers (two on each side of the room) display play lists as they're chosen by the DJs.

2. Repeater Status Map:

More than 800 repeaters amplify XM's signals, ensuring you don't lose reception under bridges or
in tunnels. A green dot means the repeater is fine, red means it needs maintenance.




3. Parabolic Speaker:

Broadcasts any of XM's stations into the room.




4. Satellite Projection Screen:

PS RATING: B




As a licensed massage therapist, I get a lot of "could you rub my shoulders for just a minute?" But sadly, offers to reciprocate are infrequent. So I was more than happy to try Inada's new H.9 Shiatsu Massage Chair, a top-seller in Japan that is now available in America.



Shiatsu involves applying pressure to specific points on the body; the key spots vary by person. As such, I was skeptical as to how the chair would find mine.

PS TECHNOLOGY QUOTIENT: 37 (OUT OF 50)

Enthusiasts have their hot hatchback back! Honda's Civic Si reigned for 15 years as the affordable hot rod, then disappeared two years ago when the Japanese automaker embarked on a major remodel of its entry-level sedan.

During that time, front-drive street machines that were inspired by the Si gained in popularity, and new production cars like Volkswagen's Golf GTI and Ford's Focus SVT quickly drew a following. Reintroduced this year, the Civic Si is playing catch-up.

It was a plum assignment, one I'd dreamed about since my teenage days at the local arcade: test the latest game systems -- the all-new Microsoft Xbox and Nintendo GameCube, plus Sony's year-old PlayStation 2 -- and, in the end, pick the best.

When I was a boy, my dad told me that three things are inevitable in our family: death, taxes, and male pattern baldness. Like most sons, I'm forever trying to prove him wrong. That's why, 30 years later, I decided to get a hair transplant.

But not any old hair transplant. Certainly not one like my buddy Brad's -- he wound up with unsightly clumps sprouting from his scalp. Nor one like friend John's, which led to days of suffering: "The anesthesia made my face swell up like Quasimodo," he says.

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, in theaters December 22, begins with the question: What would happen if kids could make their parents disappear? Jimmy gets his wish but doesn't like it. But he is a boy scientist, and fashions all manner of outlandish inventions to defeat aliens, rescue his parents, and generally save the planet from evil. Reality isn't there yet, but it's close. A comparison.

Our test location couldn't have been more fitting -- barely 30 minutes south of San Francisco's international airport, right along the coast in a tiny hamlet called Half Moon Bay. You can be in downtown San Francisco in less than an hour from here, yet -- as we put the all-new Lexus ES 300 through its paces on curvy two-lane roads -- I notice a surprising lack of cars on the road. Not what I expected from suburban San Francisco.

The 2002 Altima is a much larger vehicle than its predecessor -- almost 6 inches longer, 2 inches taller, and more than an inch wider. And its wheelbase has grown by more than 7 inches. Yet Altima´s weight has barely increased, partly because designers replaced the steel hood and trunk panels with lighter aluminum ones -- a first for Nissan.