AUSTIN, Texas – High-tech gadgetry and newborn babies seem an unlikely fit.

Babies are soft and droolly. On the other hand, many of the electronics we surround ourselves with are sleek and rechargeable. They only drool if you're doing something very, very wrong.

But I've been brought up to believe there are few areas of life that can't be improved with a little digital tinkering. Who says tried-and-true baby-rearing methods aren't one of them?

I set out to try a few products that could help during the sleep-deprived storm of the first few weeks of parenthood. My wife and I – and our tiny baby-turned-guinea pig, Lilly – found each of them had some utility. How much usefulness they provide will depend on your lifestyle, enthusiasm for technology and how much time and effort you're willing to spend on something that isn't cuddling with baby or sleeping.

For connected, organized parents

Babble Soft LLC's Web-based program Baby Manager – babies can be managed!? – is good for parents who want to track feedings, diaper changes and medicine doses down to the milliliter.

Subscribers to Baby Manager can input the information on the Web site or via a Windows Mobile smart phone such as some Palm Treo models or the Motorola Q.

Company President Aruni Gunasegaram said she developed Baby Manager in 2005 when her daughter was born. She kept a personal digital assistant beside her and was able to quickly look up the last time the baby had eaten.

"If you're home for any length of time, your memory starts to fail because you're sleep-deprived," Gunasegaram said.

Babble Soft recently introduced a second service, "Baby Say Cheese," that allows parents to create a photo album they can pair with baby milestones.

Each service starts at $9.95 a month with discounts for buying the two or subscribing for longer periods. A free trial is available for Baby Manager.

In our test run, we didn't get a lot of use out of Baby Manager. During the critical first two weeks, in which tracking feedings and diaper changes is most important, my wife didn't go near a computer. She also doesn't own a smart phone. I kept my online activity to e-mail with friends and relatives. By the time we felt rested enough to look at Baby Manager, we'd already stopped tracking our baby's intake and output.

For parents who are more organized than we are, Baby Manager presents plenty of options for keeping track of a lot of data.

Advice for dads, from dads

Though there's no shortage of books, Web sites and forums for new moms, information written for and by dads is a bit of a rarity.

Still feeling woefully unprepared a few weeks before the birth, it was a relief to find dadlabs.com and its DVD "Due Dads: The Man's Guide to Labor and Delivery." The company, created by three former Austin teachers, puts out hilarious videos on its site giving dads the lowdown on parenthood in a familiar environment: There's a dartboard, beer and plenty of sports metaphors in the Dadlabs Lounge.

I expected to see amateur comedians take goofy jabs at the birthing process. My wife and I were pleasantly surprised to find that though the DVD is funny, it contained a lot of useful information presented in a straightforward way. The video broaches every major part of the delivery process, from getting to the hospital to postpartum depression with information from doctors, psychologists and parents.

The Web site contains product reviews, punditry on parenting issues and sensible advice for dudes who want to be active dads. The DVD and dadlabs.com are highly recommended.

To nap, perchance to energize

The audio-based sleeping aids offered at pzizz.com aren't specifically targeted to parents of newborns, but we got enough warnings about sleep deprivation before the birth that the program seemed worth trying out.

Available for PC and Mac, the software creates custom audio files to help you sleep or nap. You could, for instance, create a 25-minute "energizer" nap that will lull you into relaxation with narration and ocean sounds and then sound an alarm at the end to bring you back to reality. The audio files can be exported to an iPod, burned to a CD or played directly on the computer.

The crib cam

I was skeptical of AT&T's Remote Monitor Service, which allows you to set up a video camera and security system in your home that can be accessed on the Web or by phone.

That was before I saw my baby in her crib via live streaming video from work.

The package, available to AT&T customers for $9.95 a month in addition to $199 for the hardware starter kit, comes with a base station, a small camera that can be mounted on a tripod or wall, a door/window sensor and two adapters that can extend a network connection to any power outlet in the house.

You also need a broadband Web connection and a router.

Setup is surprisingly quick, and once everything is plugged in, the camera can be accessed online, its moving lens controllable via the Web.