TechGear: Never get paper mail again!

Computerworld - Editor's note: This article headlines our TechGear section and newsletter. To see more of Mike's articles and reviews of cool gadgets, go to TechGear. Also, please be sure to subscribe to the TechGear newsletter for hands-on reviews and analysis of the stuff that makes IT fun.

With all the fast and powerful new ways to communicate these days -- e-mail, IM, SMS, VoIP, social networking and more -- it seems amazing that people still put paper into envelopes and have someone physically deliver it to you. But thanks to a new service, you can avoid snail mail altogether.

Starting at $13 per month, a service called Earth Class Mail makes your paper mail electronic and puts it online in your own private "mailbox."

Here's how it works. You file a change of address with the post office and have all your mail sent to the company. Earth Class Mail scans the outside of the envelope, and you view the scans online.

You click on a piece of mail and choose to recycle it, have it scanned so you can later read it online, or even have the physical paper mail forwarded to you at any address. You can then ask the company to "archive" the originals in its massive warehouse for later retrieval.

The service is targeted at people who travel a lot and at companies of all sizes that want more secure, efficient mail handling. But it's also ideal for anyone who thinks paper mail is silly and is looking for a better way.

The company offers different service packages for personal, small business and enterprise users.

New gadget lets you watch HDTV on your PC

A new gadget lets you get high-definition TV on your PC wirelessly. Pinnacle's HD Ultimate, which should ship by the end of October for $130, is a USB device with no software to install.

Simply plug it in and you receive both HD and standard TV signals the old-fashioned way -- over the airwaves. The USB gadget also lets you store up to two hours of programming. You can even convert the video to other standard formats. The company also plans to make a cheaper ($80) PC card version available.

New Bluetooth accessory looks like old-school phone

A new gadget called the Bluetooth Mini Phone works like a wireless Bluetooth headset.

You can use it to talk on the phone while your cell phone is in your pocket. The difference is, the Mini Phone looks like an old-fashioned telephone receiver, but smaller. It might be less convenient than a headset that you hang on your ear, but it's sure to be a conversation starter.