The hottest new gadgets of the week.

Kensington SlimBlade Trackball

$129.99; us.kensington.com

While it may look like one of those executive desktop water fountains, Kensington’s new trackball mouse is more than just decoration. The Mac and PC compatible peripheral has three modes – navigation, media and view – which let you control your cursor position, volume, playback, zoom and image pans, all without having to take your hand off the ball. (A heads-up display clues you in to which of the modes you’re using.) Pre-order it now, available in stores March 16.

Ten One Design SoundClip

$7.95; tenonedesign.com

The iPhone might be a marvelous device, but its built-in speakers can leave something to be desired in the volume department. Plug one of these gadgets into the dock connector though, and it’ll boost the iPhone 3G’s volume (and clarity) by as much as 10 decibels, thanks to a conical deflection chamber that reflects sound waves towards you instead of dispersing them all around like the speakers normally do.

HP Mini 2140

Starting at $499; hp.com

The latest addition to HP’s Mini line of laptops might be lightweight – starting at 2.6 pounds – but that doesn’t mean it’s short on features. Like other netbooks, it comes with integrated WiFi and VGA webcam, and the option of sticking a solid state drive (over a SATA drive) in it. While this Mini’s keyboard is only 92 percent the size of a standard keyboard, it does come with a 10.1-inch widescreen Illumi-Lite LED display, featuring a 16:9 aspect ratio (the same as your high-def TV). HP’s DuraKeys and 3D DriveGuard, alongside magnesium alloy supports and an all-aluminum case, means that it can withstand a bit of abuse too. And, it comes pre-loaded with Windows Vista or XP, so there’s no need to figure out how to use Linux or Ubuntu.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-LS85

$119.95; panasonic.com

If you’re the type of person who can never remember to charge a battery, this is the digital camera for you: Two AA batteries produce more than 270 photos. If disposable batteries seem distinctly low tech, you’ll be happy to know that it’s actually a 8.1 megapixel camera with a 4x optical zoom, optical image stabilizer and face detection (up to 15 mugs can be recognized at any one time). The 2.5-inch LCD screen comes equipped with “intelligent” functions that automatically boosts backlighting while shooting in bright sunshine and it also has a “high angle” mode that makes it easier to see what you’re shooting when you’re holding the camera high, as in a crowd situation. Pre-order it now on amazon.com, available in stores in April.