The email messages coming in on the watch, however, are read-only. Answer them with your smart phone.The “I’m Watch” sells for $350 from an Italian company of the same name.

– Sony’s “SmartWatch,” appears to be a similar device, scheduled to come out in March; pricing not yet determined. It will communicate with an Android smartphone through the Bluetooth short range wireless system. It too lets you take calls, see email, or play music and games. Don’t dunk it in water, but it’s OK if it gets a little wet. The display is 1.3 inches and like the “I’m Watch,” it looks bulky on slender wrists.

That’s just one more thing you might worry about when traveling abroad, or shopping right here at home. Do you feel OK giving out your credit card number? To play it safe, you can install a free app on your smart phone that creates temporary virtual cards with payment limits and other controls. The app we liked is called “Global V Card,” but it works only with Mastercard accounts. (Visa card users can visit entropay.com, for a similar app.)

To set this up, you start by filling out a form and faxing it to MasterCard. They want a fax or scanned document so they have your signature. You can then create a short-term credit card for yourself or anyone else. The presumed use is for businesses to provide a limited credit card for employees, but it can be set up by and for individuals as well. You can limit the spending to any amount you wish: say, no more than $500.

After creating the virtual card, you can send the details by email or text message. What the email recipient will receive is a picture of a credit card with their name, the expiration date, card number and link to a three-digit “CVC” number. More info at GlobalVcard.com.

They have designed a keyboard that represents all 26 letters of the alphabet with only four keys. The letters are grouped by shape:  Letters that stand on one leg, like “I,” “F”  and “T,” are grouped on one key. Two-leg letters would include “A,” “H,” “W” and “M.” Those with a wide base, like “U,” “C” and “Z” on another key, and letters that are sort of circular, like “O,” “Q” and “R” on another.

Interestingly, this fits with past research on reading that found readers typically identify a word by its shape rather than mentally spelling it out. This approach is commonly used in speed-reading exercises. You will be able to download the app for this kind of four-button keyboard from the Android Market Placeor Apple App Store in coming weeks. More info at Snapkeys.com.

The number of paid apps increased by 4% on Android and 2% on Apple platforms during October. Users are willing to pay for games such as Cut the Rope, Zenonia, Need for Speed, and Asphalt 6.

But “Free” was the top search term. The top five Android apps for October were Dropbox, Google Sky Map, Ebay, Angry Birds and Dolphin Browser HD. The top Apple apps for October were TuneIn Radio, Instagram, Zombie Highway, TuneWiki and Doodle Jump.

If you have an Android phone, you probably use a web browser called “Browser.” But the Dolphin browser is better, and it’s just out in a new version for iPhone and iPad.

The Dolphin is like the web browsers you’re more familiar with Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc. but it lets you swipe a finger to reveal a sidebar with handy links to favorite websites and other menu items. Moving your finger in a pattern, such as a heart, will open your favorite website. You decide what the pattern should be.

Nine million people have downloaded Dolphin to an Android device. (We use it on our Vizio tablet.) Go to dolphin-browser.com for more info.

The new “Izon” from Stem, lets you remotely monitor the baby, the dog or the teenager using a free app for iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch.

The Izon sells for $130 from Best Buy and Apple stores or directly from the web at StemInnovation.com. Once you have that, download the free “Stem Connect” app from iTunes and set up the camera to alert you whenever it detects sound or motion.

The camera sits on a swiveling magnetic base or can be mounted to the ceiling. View live video from anywhere in the world over Edge, 3G or wireless networks, or record automatically to a private YouTube account .

We want to note here that many video cameras can be used for remote surveillance of a home, school or business and most of them can be connected to the Internet and viewed on the worldwide web. Some are able to see in extremely low light and a few can also see in infrared.

There are a number of programs that are triggered by sound or movement and will send phone or text messages to alert you. Some can start recording automatically. We brought up the Izon because it happens to be new, but a web search on the topic of remote surveillance will bring up many alternatives, some of which we’ve written about before.

If you’ve ever been to an Apple store, you might have noticed there is no cash register and no check-out counter. Employees swipe your credit card on their iPod Touch and complete a transaction anywhere in the store.

Other businesses are learning how to do this too. The iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch/Android app getting a lot of buzz lately is called “Square.” It includes a card swiping accessory that plugs into the headset/microphone jack of the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. The app is free, and each user who signs up gets a card reader; Square makes its money by charging 2.75 percent per transaction. The company is currently processing $3 million worth of transactions a day. More info at squareup.com.

“Swipe” is another app that turns an iPhone or iPod Touch into a credit card reader. Their app is 99 cents and they also toss in the card reader for free. They don’t put pricing info on their website, but we asked and they charge 1.74 percent per “qualified” card plus 24 cents per transaction and $25 a month for the service. The fee for a $100 purchase on a standard Visa, Mastercard or Discover card would be $1.98. More info at AppNinjas.com.

TheFind is an iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app that provides 30 catalogs, encouraging you to opt out of the paper kind. Among those are Crate and Barrel, Williams-Sonoma, Sephora, eBags, Stella & Dot, Sundance, and Uggs. Currently, 5.6 million tons of catalogs and direct mail advertisements go into U.S. landfills annually.