If you’re like me, before you buy a magazine, you first flip through the pages. You couldn’t do that –– virtually ––online until last week, when Barnes & Noble began selling digital downloadable magazine subscriptions with its “See Inside” feature, which enables customers to experience interactive previews of the magazine’s content. I clicked through the May 2008 issue of ELLE, and it was almost like standing in line at the grocery counter flipping through a magazine: I could hardly find the articles for all the ads. “See Inside” allows access only to the first pages of the magazine –– not so good for “back-flippers,” those who flip through magazines from back to front. The good news is you can move your magazine habit to your laptop. Digital downloads are convenient, and the price is all right. Save beaucoup on Saveur, $20 for a one-year subscription, dwell for $20, Reader’s Digest for $10, and Woman’s Day, $10. Who says last month’s magazine is trash? Reading the last six months of a beloved publication can be a wonderful pastime, as anyone who has spent some time in their doctor’s waiting room or at the beauty shop can attest. One of the coolest features of this new B&N service is you can download individual back issues. Missed last December’s Cosmopolitan, which had this juicy perennial on its cover: “Guys Spill: White Lies they Tell Women All the Time”? Or perhaps you’d like to read about 45 things to do before you die, no doubt balanced by Jack Nicholson’s rules for living in the January 2008 issue of Men’s Journal ($5).

The idea that good things are worth waiting for is disappearing in our faster-equals-better culture. Convenience and instant gratification are what we desire, and when it comes to cold wine, we can have it even if we forgot to put the bottle in the fridge. The Ravi instant wine chiller ($50; pictured) transforms room temperature chardonnay, pinot grigio, even vodka as you pour, provided you keep this amazing device in the freezer when not in use. When needed, just insert it into your wine bottle and pour. The wine passes through a frozen steel chamber on its way to your glass, arriving delectably chilled. Of course, there isn’t a whole lot of romance or visual flair with Ravi. While you’re sipping that first delicious glass or two with a friend who just happened by, let them know not everything has to be spur of the moment. Place the rest of the bottle in an illuminated ambiance chilller ($180) or a Nice Ice wine chiller mold ($25). These are perfect for parties. The illuminated chiller uses a rechargeable eight-hour battery or can be plugged in for nonstop action. As your bottle soaks in the bucket of plain old ice — it still works like a charm to make things cold — the bucket glows and slowly changes color from yellow to green to blue to violet to pink to red. The Nice Ice mold will wow your guests and give you a chance to be creative. Just fill it with water and fruit (or other freezables), freeze and voilà: you’ve got a decorative cooler for the next few hours (until the mold melts into the attached base). True, these are really more holder than fast chiller. If you want something worthy of a professional, Sharper Image has the Waring pro double-bottle wine chiller ($150). It accommodates two bottles, each with its own temperature control and features a library of 33 presets for various types of wine. Need a gift for someone who’s serious about wine? Look no further than this baby.

Card players who aren’t content with plain vanilla decks have plenty of options on the Net, from classy art designs to ones adorned with the scenes from James Bond films. They can even go the custom route: Printers all over the place will happily whip up promo decks with your company’s logo, and for quality-minded customers, even the industry-leading United States Playing Card Company has a custom printing service. But the deck of the moment for off-the-beaten-pathers has to be the one from Custom 52. As a consumer object, C52’s deck is great. While most non-standard decks offer an artsy back design with regular faces, these boast a different illustration on the face of every card. As a participatory event, they’re even better. Any artist, anywhere can submit a design — a cuddly eight of hearts, a ninja jack of spades — which is then voted on by anyone who feels like it. At the end of a set period, the winners are chosen, cards are printed and they’re sold for $13.50. The inaugural series has already sold out (pictured are two designs by graphic designer Steph Doyle in the Cycle I deck), but Cycle II is now available; you can see the card faces here. No, they don’t feel as good in your hands as casino-grade cards (I haven’t seen a custom deck that does), and they probably won’t last as long either. Happily, by the time this Cycle II deck wears out, there will be at least one new version, probably a few, waiting to replace it.

Online shopping is tops for convenience, but what about those times when you crave personal attention or even a more manageable way of sifting through the avalanche of online offerings? Turn to the virtual personal shopper. Shop It to Me starts you off by asking you to zip through checklists to specify your interests by designer, size, type of garment, etc. (I had great fun checking Armani, BCBG Max Azria, Prada, Eileen Fisher, etc.) Once signed up, you’ll receive daily e-mail alerts tailored to your choices whenever they show up on sale or discounted –– it’s almost as if your personal store arrives in your inbox every day! At ShopStyle, you can create your own stylebook for almost any brand of clothing, shoes, accessories and cosmetics, build your gift registry and share your stylebook with friends or groups; I saved this purple Norma Kamali dress (pictured) from Nordstrom for $395 in my favorites. You can even set price alerts to receive notifications when the price drops on certain items. At Personal Shopper, once you sign up and fill out a survey of your preferences, you can search for everything from clothes to home décor and sort by price, discounts, stores and brands. StyleFeeder operates in a similar vein, with the difference being that you can rate items brought to your attention and over time, StyleFeeder will be more selective about what is sent to you. You can also “grab” things from other sites to build a personal wishlist and track items of interest. One word of caution: If you thought going to the mall could take all day, these sites can take just as long –– clicking through the array of offerings can be downright addictive! If you’d like the more personal touch, you can select a shopping expert from the list at LivePersonalShoppers for advice and guidance through live chats or e-mail for a small fee per minute, payable through your account with LivePersonalShoppers. Retailers with personal shopping options include Shade Clothing (which will send notices about special promotions and sales and offers 5 percent discounts on orders placed through your personal shopper) and that grande dame of department stores Neiman Marcus.

On May 18, Target will unveil American designer Rogan Gregory’s first limited-edition women’s fashion collection for its “GO. International” program. The 11th designer selected for the honor, Gregory is known for his use of eco-friendly fabrics and for his efforts to foster sustainable employment in developing areas of the world. All cotton used in the “Rogan for Target” collection is 100 percent certified organic. Now, to the collection, which Target describes as promoting “a beach safari vibe” and which The Budget Fashionista finds “totally utterly uninspiring… yawn-inducing, let’s-take-a-nap-on-a-hammock, not-gonna- spend-my-$30s, boring.” To decide for yourself, go to Target’s image gallery. There are wide-leg and skinny pants (both are $40), with bikini tops featured under many of the jerseys instead of a bra. The dresses and skirts are short — see the black halter dress ($40) — and very short, as in the leopard shift dress in black and white ($40). With so much leg exposed, we vote for the short jumper in black ($40), because the “skirt” is actually shorts. And for a shapely over-your-swimsuit look, there’s a very feminine crocheted tunic in black ($35). Don’t want long sleeves when you’re wearing a bathing suit? A sportier look is the sleeveless hooded sweatshirt ($35) in white over the zebra print swimsuit in black and white ($30). Finally, check out Gregory’s layered ensemble consisting of a T-shirt under a short-sleeve button-down shirt over shorts over leggings (pictured). It says, “Summer? What’s that?” Ranging in price from $15 to $45, the line includes staples such as loose tanks, wrap dresses and hoodies created from organic cotton, linen, bamboo and hemp. If you’re curious about the designer’s other pursuits, check out his line of furniture at Rogan Objects.

New DVD releases of Lady and the Tramp, The Bee Movie and Alvin and the Chipmunks make April a movie month for preschoolers and young elementary students. If any of these is a particular favorite of your child, there are many tie-in toys and products available too. In honor of  the film’s 50th anniversary, Disney released a digitally restored version of Lady and the Tramp. The voices of Peggy Lee and Barbara Luddy enhance the story of Lady, a cocker spaniel in a wealthy household, and her romance with Tramp, a witty stray dog. Amazon sells the DVD for $14. This film is most famous for its spaghetti-eating scene, where the two dogs share a winsome plate of pasta with Bella Notte playing in the background. Disneyshopping.com has many products related to this film, including the Lady and the Tramp snowglobe, $60, and the movie album, $7, which includes three songs from the film. The Lenox china figurine of Lady and the Tramp is $95. The Bee Movie, starring the voices of Jerry Seinfeld, Renee Zellweger and Chris Rock, tells the story of a bee named Barry B. Benson. In the movie, Barry sues humans for taking bees’ honey for centuries, and eventually learns the value of the bee work ethic. The DVD is $15 from Amazon. ToysRUs.com sells various Bee Movie toys, including Cuddly Buzzin’ Barry, $10. This stuffed version makes buzzing noises when you squeeze him. Talk Walk and Flutterin’ Barry, $20, moves his wings and talks. The Barry B. Benson radio-controlled flying bee, $50, can zip around the room. The new Alvin and The Chipmunks DVD is $30 and stars Jason Lee as Dave, the songwriter who adopts the chipmunks, and Justin Long as the voice of Alvin. The computer-animated chipmunks interact with live-action humans in this movie, singing and dancing about the holidays as they learn the value of family. You can buy a Chipmunk Hula Hoop Singing Doll from Toywuala.com for $12.89.

Just today, a young woman out walking her dog intercepted me to ask if I’d seen her other dog, who had gone missing. A few minutes later, I passed the house of a second woman, older, waiting for her canine pal to wander back from his unescorted tour of the neighborhood. (He returned while we were talking). “I look after my dogs,” she said, “but they keep getting out.” The distress and heartbreak of being separated from a lost, much-loved pet is one of the worst feelings out there, which is why the new RoamEO Pet Location GPS System ($400) is worth barking about. The same global positioning satellite technology used in cell phones and navigation is put to work here to pinpoint your dog’s location. The dog wears a specially enabled collar that works with a locator device that shows you, via LCD screen, where he is and where he’s heading next. Best of all, you get to set the geographical parameters, or virtual “fence.” This distinguishes your dog’s allowable roaming range from his out-of-bounds territory. As soon as the dog steps out of bounds, an audible alert is emitted by the device and you’re off to retrieve him with the help of your RoamEO screen, which can display your vagabond pup’s whereabouts within one mile in all directions. With the purchase of additional collars ($175), you can track up to three pets simultaneously; they’ll appear in different colors on the screen. This extraordinary invention isn’t cheap, but it comes with a locator screen, one GPS collar and an AC adapter. I know what you’re thinking: If you use it for your small child and your dog, it could be quite a deal.

The multi-touch interface of Apple’s iPhone may have stolen some of the thunder, but Microsoft is still pretty proud of its new Surface technology. The software giant just got done with demos at Las Vegas last week and will keep touting it into spring, when it is scheduled to start popping up in commercial devices. What’s it all about? Surface is a computing interface that replaces familiar PC components — keyboard, mouse, monitor — with a single 30-inch tabletop that performs all three functions. Multiple users can interact with the device by touch, inputting data and changing the display with gestures a bit like those Tom Cruise used in Minority Report. Going farther in this direction than the iPhone, the tabletop will respond not just to fingers but to electronic devices: Surface boosters envision applications in which, say, two friends set their cameras or MP3 players on the screen to instantly access each others’ files (click “Experience Surface,” then “The Possibilities” at the site to see a video), or patrons at a restaurant — a pretty expensive one, we assume — pay their bill by slapping credit cards down where their entrees just sat. There are even rumors, possibly bogus, that MS engineers are planning a version of the tech that takes the form of a touch-screen sphere. Anybody out there need a $10,000 crystal ball?