An alarm clock that hears you and talks back

One of the irksome things about voice-recognition technology is that it often doesn't recognize voices very well. That makes Moshi's line of voice-controlled clocks particularly attractive.

In only one instance out of 10 did its travel alarm clock fail to understand a spoken command. You speak a few simple phrases, like "set time" and "set alarm," and the clock responds by asking you for the times you want. The company says its voice recognition works because it has combined two separate voice-recognition technologies and sampled 1,000 voices across the northern hemisphere.

Who'd want a voice-activated clock? If you've ever tried to set the alarm on a hotel's clock radio as you prepare to fall asleep, you could appreciate this product. And if you're blind or have limited sight, setting a clock by speaking commands (and then having the time read to you) could be a godsend.

Moshi's clocks range in price from $25 to $40. Features include indoor temperature readings, multiple wake-up sounds and the ability to change background colors. It says it has voice-recognition clock applications for mobile devices on the way.

Google Goggles, a new free app for smart phones using the Android operating system, is a bit hard to define. Goggles uses a phone's camera for data entry, Web searching and shopping, with a bit of augmented reality thrown in.

Here's how it works. You use your phone to take a photo of a building, artwork, a bar code or some text and Goggles identifies it and brings back Google search results. A photo of a book cover brought back links to where the book is sold online, reviews, a Wikipedia entry on the author and more. A picture of the exterior of a restaurant brings back reviews, links to the restaurant's website and a link to call the place with one click.

When the phone is held parallel to the ground, nearby points of interest, such as businesses and restaurants, float by on the bottom of the screen in what is called augmented reality.