Gadgets Blog

Although I’d like to get it out of the way that I do not under any circumstances enjoy Hello Kitty products and think that grown women look silly using them, this would be a great gift for a young girl.  After all, kids are becoming far more tech savvy than their parents, so they might as well enjoy technology such as this as well.  Having around a digital picture frame would give them the ability to display a lot of photos without the clutter of a lot of picture frames.  The only downside to this is that someday they may outgrow their Hello Kitty phase.

Actually, make that hopefully someday they’ll outgrow the Hello Kitty madness.  If they did, then there would be a digital picture frame with no one to enjoy it.  The up side with Hello Kitty is that there never seems to be a shortage of fans though, so you could always resell it.  The frame was announced by Sanrio Japan.  There will be two 7” Hello Kitty frames with 6MB of internal memory.  There is also the ability to plug in a SD/SDHC, MMC, CF or a USB drive.  There is no word on pricing just yet or when these are expected to be out, but you can expect to see them around sometime in the future.

Source: Akihabara

It’s funny that I should come across this trashcan now, since I just this morning remembered that I tossed a touch of raw meat into the trashcan two days ago.  Two days old raw meat that sits in room temperature makes for a charming smell in the kitchen.  Even after I took the trash bag out, the damage was done, so now my kitchen has a fairly strong odor to it that will take a little while to go away.  Now, if I had this trashcan around, none of this would have ever happened.  The food wouldn’t have spoiled so quickly and I wouldn’t need a face mask to toss things into the trash.

This odd looking trashcan does all this by utilizing a UV light and keeping your trash cool.  If the trash stays cool and you have a UV light to kill off the bacteria, you wouldn’t have nearly as much of a problem with stinky trash.  Of course this is only a concept design, as most brilliant ideas tend to be.  There is also the snag that adding that much technology to a trashcan means that you’re going to be paying quite a bit for such a small convenience.  For now, we’ll just have to attempt to remember to take out the trash a bit sooner when we toss away something that could spoil.

Source: OhGizmo

When you’re lazing about in the pool, that is the one time you should never ever be lacking music.  Without music, you’re left listening to your own thoughts or even worse, birds.  We all know that’s no fun and not fulfilling in the least.  You need music to play and loudly.  Well with this speaker around you can float it right alongside of you and never have to worry about getting out of the water to crank the volume.  Just add a little alcohol to the mix and you have the perfect at home vacation.

Since it uses Bluetooth, you’ll have to have an MP3 player with Bluetooth or a phone with MP3s on it, such as an iPhone.  As long as you have that handy, it’ll play your music, but be sure to keep it within 30 feet of the speaker.  When a call comes in, it’ll just stop playing music.  One down side to setting your device so far away is that in order to skip a song you would have to get out, unless you get a waterproof case for that as well.  You can pick up the speaker for $40 on Chinavasion.

Source: Technabob

Summer’s here, so why not make the necessary preparations in advance for your kid to enjoy their summer in the great outdoors instead of spending their time cooped up at home right smack in front of the video game console? The Children’s Inflatable 2MPH Speedboat should make for a welcome distraction to Mario and Metal Gear Solid, offering your little one that there is more to life than just achieving a high score or pounding baddies to submission via the video game controller.

This is the inflatable speedboat that provides a safe 2 mph speed on calm water, such as pools or small ponds (play the video). The outboard electric motor is controlled by a child sitting in the inflated hull–a handhold with a finger trigger turns the motor on or off immediately; the boat can accommodate two children at once. The motor drives a shrouded propeller with no exposed blades that provides smooth movement over calm water; the motor can be turned 360°, so even backward movement is possible. Requires eight D batteries that provides up to five hours of operation. Deflates for off-season storage. Hull constructed from 3mm thick PVC. Supports up to two children (or 100 lbs.)

This is one $99.95 toy that is worth considering if you want to get your kid to obtain a tan this summer!

Summer’s here, so why not make the necessary preparations in advance for your kid to enjoy their summer in the great outdoors instead of spending their time cooped up at home right smack in front of the video game console? The Children’s Inflatable 2MPH Speedboat should make for a welcome distraction to Mario and Metal Gear Solid, offering your little one that there is more to life than just achieving a high score or pounding baddies to submission via the video game controller.

This is the inflatable speedboat that provides a safe 2 mph speed on calm water, such as pools or small ponds (play the video). The outboard electric motor is controlled by a child sitting in the inflated hull–a handhold with a finger trigger turns the motor on or off immediately; the boat can accommodate two children at once. The motor drives a shrouded propeller with no exposed blades that provides smooth movement over calm water; the motor can be turned 360°, so even backward movement is possible. Requires eight D batteries that provides up to five hours of operation. Deflates for off-season storage. Hull constructed from 3mm thick PVC. Supports up to two children (or 100 lbs.)

This is one $99.95 toy that is worth considering if you want to get your kid to obtain a tan this summer!

Summer’s here, so why not make the necessary preparations in advance for your kid to enjoy their summer in the great outdoors instead of spending their time cooped up at home right smack in front of the video game console? The Children’s Inflatable 2MPH Speedboat should make for a welcome distraction to Mario and Metal Gear Solid, offering your little one that there is more to life than just achieving a high score or pounding baddies to submission via the video game controller.

This is the inflatable speedboat that provides a safe 2 mph speed on calm water, such as pools or small ponds (play the video). The outboard electric motor is controlled by a child sitting in the inflated hull–a handhold with a finger trigger turns the motor on or off immediately; the boat can accommodate two children at once. The motor drives a shrouded propeller with no exposed blades that provides smooth movement over calm water; the motor can be turned 360°, so even backward movement is possible. Requires eight D batteries that provides up to five hours of operation. Deflates for off-season storage. Hull constructed from 3mm thick PVC. Supports up to two children (or 100 lbs.)

This is one $99.95 toy that is worth considering if you want to get your kid to obtain a tan this summer!

Driving with one hand one the wheel while the other is used to hold a cellphone is a big no-no, as it distracts you greatly from your task, and this is where the Nexus Drive Solar Pro is here to help - it is a Bluetooth solar-powered speakerphone that not only lets you keep both hands on the wheel, it also allows you to carry out a conversation over the cellphone legally.

The Bluetooth Car Kit comprises a sleek black car speakerphone that mounts to your car’s windscreen via suction cups and ensures you stay safe and legal when driving, without ever missing an important phone call. The Bluetooth Car Kit comes with a variety of charging options, including USB and via your car’s cigarette lighter, but the most notable is the powerful built-in solar panel. Just two hours in daylight provides one hour of talk time, which is largely thanks to this environmentally-friendly car speakerphone using less energy than standard devices. With your phonebook transferred to your car speakerphone you can also make use of the handy Text-to-Speech feature which speaks the name/number of any incoming calls so there’s no need to take your eyes off the road. Save energy and talk for longer with the Bluetooth solar powered speakerphone!

This nifty little green device will cost you £44.95 - we love the fact that there is no need to worry about whether the batteries are charged or not before we head out for our destination since the good old sun will do its part in keeping this juiced up.

This is one of the rare USB drive necklaces that I didn’t envision some elderly secretary wearing around her neck.  This one could almost appeal to the glam rocker type instead of the older crowd.  Although it’s definitely not subtle, since it’s yet again covered in crystals, it does at least have a guitar shape to it.  It’s yet again attached to a chain so that you can wear it as a necklace and always have it on hand.

One different thing about this is that the cap of the drive is attached to the chain.  So you don’t have to take off the necklace to use it.  My only issue with that is the concern that over time the drive would stop holding onto the necklace quite as well.  Leaving the risk that you might lose the drive along with all the data stored on it.  If you think it’s worth the risk though, you will be able to store 2GB of data on the drive.  You can purchase it from Gadget4all for $22.

Source: GeekAlerts

Now that it’s warm out, it seems the mosquitoes are everywhere.  Leaving you with the joy of dealing with bug bites.  There are various ways of killing the itch, be it in cream form or a convenient applicator bottle.  If you can’t stand using the creams though, you could always take a slightly more hi-tech approach to killing the sting of those pesky bug bites.

Relieving the itch can be a bit important, since if you cave in and start scratching it can cause an infection.  Which only extends the misery even longer and no one wants to deal with that mess.  This works for all size bug bites, but larger insect bites may take several applications to take away the itch.  To work it just press the head of it onto the bite and hold it there.  It then neutralizes the insect-injected proteins that create that great itching feeling.  It runs on 2 AA batteries and you can purchase it for $16.99 from Improvements.

Source: OhGizmo

Sometimes the all time best accessories for your gadgets are the most simple ones.  Not everything has to be excessively complicated.  Sometimes it’s enough that it just adds a little extra convenience to make your life a bit easier.  Most have probably unplugged their laptop or unplugged a USB cable only to watch it drop behind your desk.  Then you have the joy of digging it out and trying not to hit your head on a keyboard tray.  With these cable clips, it prevents the cord from instantly falling out of your reach.

Just peel the adhesive off of the bottom of the CableDrop and it’ll stick to your desk or any other surface.  There are two different sets, the bright colors include yellow, purple and bright green, the muted colors include white, brown and black.  With these around you could even conveniently attach your earbuds to the side of your monitor.  Keeping them out of the way, but still within grasp.  A three pack of these will cost you $9.95.

Source: Bltd

Cellular South, the nation’s largest privately-owned wireless communications carrier, has just announced the availability of its latest handset - the Motorola Hint QA30. This model will definitely keep all you social butterflies up to speed with the latest happenings among your peers as well as other events happening in town, where the innovative slider design will reveal a full QWERTY keypad when open to make way for easy messaging and natural browsing on-the-go. According to Jim Richmond, director of Corporate Communications for Cellular South, “Staying in touch with friends and family, keeping networks updated and ensuring constant access to social circles are top priorities for many of our customers. “Motorola Hint is a stylish solution for those social networkers who demand quick, reliable access and communication.”

Well, what can the Motorola Hint QA30 offer the layman? It boasts threaded SMS which is a boon to folks who text frequently, since it allows you to have the flow of the conversation right at your fingertips instead of scrolling through tons and tons of messages in your inbox. With Internet connectivity, you can also be on top of your emails wherever you go. Another interesting point would be pre-loaded, one-touch SMS access that enables important information such as weather, stock prices, sports news, maps and directions to be available right at your fingertips. Hardware-wise, you get a 2.5″ widescreen display, MP3 and video playback, a microSD memory card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a 2-megapixel camera and USB 2.0 connectivity.

You won’t find the Motorola Hint QA30 to be too heavy on your finances either despite offering some pretty impressive features and functions. In fact, Cellular South is offering it for just $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate, after being tied down to a new two-year customer agreement, of course. Each purchase will also come with full support from Cellular South’s online and in-store Discover Center, enabling the user to make the most out of the QA30 for folks who are less technologically savvy. If you want web access with the QA30, be prepared to fork out another $9.99 monthly.

Press Release

Most of us would purchase a high definition LCD TV for entertainment purposes, checking out the latest Blu-ray releases on them while drooling at the level of detail such sets offer. Well, JVC takes a different route this time round with their new Xiview LT-42WX70 being a 42″ class 120Hz 1080p LCD TV monitor which caters specifically to digital imaging professionals and enthusiasts who do plenty of shooting using high-end digital SLR cameras. The Xiview LT-42WX70 will make room for shutterbugs to see the subtle colors, details and textures of their images faithfully reproduced for the first time on a HD LCD TV right smack in the middle of your living room.

The monitor will come with expanded color space capacity that encompasses 100% of HDTV broadcasting’s (sRGB.904) color space alongside a coverage rate of 96% for Adobe RGB, which is the color space for still photographs taken on high-definition digital SLR cameras. These capabilities will make room for accurate reproduction of both video and still photographs. In addition, the LT-42WX70 will also come with 52 picture-quality adjustment properties for tweaking both still and video images source-by-source according to the exact colors and tones of your preference. Not only that, JVC’s very own GENESSA Picture Engine is able to churn out video images without blur, color bleed or noise for clear images with smooth movement.

The inclusion of 120HzClear Motion Drive III (100Hz for PAL video signals) in the engine also further reduces the amount of blurring, which is a problem that is normally associated with LCD TVs. Sounds like the perfect thing for sports and action movie enthusiasts since their entertainment of choice tend to have plenty of movement that can be smoothened out. With the 3D real time, motion-estimated Hadamard noise reduction being applied, noise will be further eliminated along with blur suppression. If you’re interested, JVC is offering the JVC LT-42WX70 for $2,399.95.

Press Release