Fun Gadget Gifts

Archive for the ‘Christmas Gift Ideas’ Category

B&W Zeppelin devices are known for the sound quality, award-winning design and advanced technology. Say hello to the new Zeppelin Mini iPod sound system. It has a very compact and attractive design – perfect for smaller spaces. Attach any iPod or iPhone to the dock and you are ready to rock. A docking arm rotates 90 degrees and is handy for watching videos. If past performance is any indicator, the sound should be pretty spectacular. Zeppelin Mini has DSP (Digital Signal Processing) technology to thank for it. Two digital amplifiers provide plenty of power.

You don’t need to use iPod with the sound system – you can easily stream music from your PC through the USB socket. The sound system comes with dual full-range, 3-inch glass fiber drivers, aux input jack, and a 2.0 USB port. Use a remote to change tracks, volume, and mode. Sync your iTunes and the docked iPod. You even get firmware upgrades. And if you take it to another country, it automatically adjusts to a different voltages. What can I say – B&W Zeppelin Mini is an ultimate gift for an audiophile.

The new Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Mini iPod sound system is rumored to be released in early November. Available for pre-order from Amazon for $399.95.

Bebook Electronic Book Reader is currently sold out on Amazon. The 5 inch Bebook Mini just became available in the US, priced at $199. It has the same features as the original Bebook, but smaller display. No worries – the display is crystal clear and uses e-ink technollgy. The screen refreshes quickly and menus are user-friendly. Bebook Mini lacks WiFi but still will work if you download content from you PC through a USB port.
Bebook Mini had attractive price before Amazon reduced their Kindle price to $259. Another attractive option is Sony’s $199 Reader Pocket Edition.

Skiers, boarders and bikers – all your dreams come true with this wearable camera. Shooting video on the slopes, capturing wow! moments in the terrain park or documenting a trip will be easy as pie if you use ContourHD. And did I mention, it is HD? Yes, it is the only full HD wearable camera on the market. It features four HD settings (1080p, 960p, and two at 720p) with two frame rates (30fps and 60fps) and four configurable settings (metering, contrast, exposure, and microphone sensitivity). You can upload your videos to VholdR.com and share them with your friends and family. The camera comes with video edit software.

CoutourHD camera fits nicely in the palm of your head. The body is made of aluminum keeping overall weight at 4.3 ounces. It also makes the camera water resistant. I would not attempt to use it while diving, however. ContourHD fits onto a series of mounts for your goggles, helmet, handle bars, vehicle or anywhere else you want.

The lens has a wide angle and dual lasers for alignment. Lasers! The lens itself rotates 180 degrees to accommodate different mounting positions. And the lasers will let you know where the camera is pointing and how it is oriented, since it is mounted on your head and all. Turn on the lasers and rotate the lens until they are horizontal. That’s it! You have lined up your shot.

Using the camera cannot be easier. All you need is a single (huge!) button on top of it. Slide it forward and begin recording. Slide it back when you are done. The video is captured to an internal MicroSD memory card (compatible up to a 16GB card) – 8 hours of video.

Connect your camera to the PC (or Mac) using a USB cord. Estimated battery life is about 3 hours. Re-charging takes about 4 hours.

Well, skiers and fellow enthusiasts? Are you excited? The camera will be available on November 16 for $329.99 You can pre-order it on Amazon right now.

Forerunner 305 is an ultimate gift for an outdoor person, biker, gym-goer or a runner. It is a fusion of GPS and heart rate monitor and the design is pretty nice. It looks like a watch and it fits like a watch on your wrist. It tracks you by GPS (quite accurately, I might add for a small device like that), and monitors your heart rate. It will even alert you to maximize the effectiveness of your workouts. It is bigger than a watch, but it is not for just telling time. And it would be better if the device was monitoring the heart rate, not a chest strap that then transmits the data to the device. But the strap is very flexible, quite comfortable and offers more reliable data.

According to reviewers, this is the best GPS tracking device of this size yet: takes 3 minutes to lock on your location after power up. It will not let you get lost in the trees either – tested and confirmed. And it is very easy to use. Forerunner is waterproof in case you enjoy a run in the rain. The display is smaller than previous models, but resolution is much better. The buttons are easy to use even while excercising.

Forerunner’s Training Assistant tells your precise speed, distance and pace. Choose from 3 workout modes to fit your goals. You can even excercise with the Virtual Partner to make your workouts more competitive. During your workout, Forerunner 305 will display an array of data, like calories burned, distance, elevation, grade, and heading, as well as multiple lap and pace modes. Reviewers mentioned, that pace readout varies a lot.

The 305 adds the ability to track heartrate, lap heartrate, average heartrate, and heartrate zones via the included coded heartrate chest strap. With the purchase of a separate wireless cadence and speed meter, you can also track bike performance data. Set your target zones and Forerunner 305 will monitor your workout. But don’t worry – you will not get overloaded with information. You control how much or how little data you see on your Forerunner’s display.

After your workout, download the data to your computer through a USB port and analyze it. You can use the data for route mapping and route sharing too. Use Garmin’s MotionBased service to share courses, maps, workouts. If that’s not enough, consider using Garmin Training Center software to set up your workouts the way you like them and upload them to the device. Forerunner 305 will combine Training Center data and your uploaded data to guide you through your workout for maximum results. It will tell you where to turn, which path to take because, hey, it knows which hill you need to get best results. Forerunner 305 is compatible with TrainingPeaks.com – a web service to help athletes train for an event.

A map will display current direction and path. Zoom in and out, mark locations along your route, use “go to location” feature and get routed back to the location of your choice.

Garmin Forerunner 305 is a fantastic hi-tech gift for someone who enjoys running and takes it serously. Buy it for yourself – you will never have as much fun working out as when wearing Forerunner 305. Get yours on Amazon for $139.99.

There are literally hundreds of digital frames out there. Why this one? Well, storage size and functions. It has 1GB of memory, it can read 6 different SD card formats, and it plays avi video files. Those are the biggies for me. It has little speakers and will play music if you would like along with your picture slideshow. The picture resolution is 800×600 px (4×3 ratio). It has a touch screen. You can have a date and clocks displayed too. If you do not want to touch the screen, there is a remote control. Pretty cool frame.

This photo frame replaces the 512MB model. Get yours on Amazon for $99.48.

This is an awesome present for a person who enjoys watching movies. Roku Player is a tiny box. It works with any TV, unless it is a family earloom. Installation is very simple – connect it to your television via cable (HDMI or component) or wi-fi and you are good to go. You have to have an internet connection too, of course, because Roku box will use it to stream video directly to your television.

You need at least 1.2 Mbps to watch movies instantly on the Roku digital video player with decent quality. The faster your connection, the better the quality (although this rule-of-thumb peaks out at about 5mbps). Roku will automatically detect your bandwidth speed and adjust the streaming so there are no interruptions. The experience is like watching a DVD: you can watch, play, fast-forward, rewind, pause and resume play later.

Roku Player integrates with Amazon Video on Demand as well as Netflix. If you have a Netflix account you can watch Instant View movies. Any movie you can buy or rent on Amazon, you can buy or rent on Roku. If you buy a movie on Amazon, it is always in your library and you can watch it at any time on your Roku. Selection? 50,000+ movies and TV shows.

You have 3 buttons: Netflix, Amazon, and Major League Baseball. Yes, for $20 (currently) you can watch any game, even when the game is over. You can fastforward, rewind, or watch the game live. The unique feature though is that you can pick play-by-play announcers too – home team or away team. That is something a true fan can appreciate. And if you have enough bandwidth on your internet, you can watch games in high definition. Roku supports all HD formats except 1080.

The Wall Street Journal, CNET, WIRED, and other publications rave about Roku player. Roku plans to add video podcasts in the future. The box is PC and Mac compatible, but you knew that already becase you do not need to connect it to a computer at all. And they have great customer service, from what I hear.

If you have a Netflix account, it is no-brainer.
You can get one on Amazon for $99.00. There is $118 package that includes cables

Specifications

• Networking: Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) with WEP, WPA, and WPA2 support; 10/100 Ethernet (RJ-45)
• Video Outputs: Composite video, S-Video, Component video (Y/Pb/Pr), HDMI
• Video Modes: 16:9 HD (720p), 16:9 anamorphic (480p), 4:3 standard (480i)
• Audio Output: Stereo (L/R RCA), Digital Optical (Toslink), Digital over HDMI
• Remote Control: NEC protocol, supported by various universal remotes
• Power Input: 5V, 1.5A provided by included AC adapter
• Power Consumption: 5 watts peak, 3 watts in standby
• Size: 5 x 5 x 1.75 inches (130 x 130 x 41 mm)
• Weight: 11 oz (300 grams)

This gadget is very inventive and cool. It makes your house look occupied when you are out of town. Fake TV creates an illusion that someone is home watching a high-def television. The gadget creates effects of scene changes, fades, swells, flicks, on-screen motion, and color changes. So, the illusion is very real even though the size of this gadget is very small.

It is a series of flashing LEDs. You aim it at the window. Best to pick one that is not near a street light. Fake TV has a built-in light sensor and timer, it automatically turns on at dusk. Most televisions do not work with timers– they turn on with push buttons. Burglars know this, making FakeTV very effective.

This might be a good gadget for you or for someone you know if:

• If you are selling your house and it is vacant, you might want to make it look lived in.
• If you have a vacation home
• If you are a frequent traveler
• If you live alone and come home late
• If you want to give safety-minded someone a fun gift

Of course, if someone thinks you have a high-def television in your house and break in later, you are out of luck. Better think this whole thing through. If you want to get yours on Amazon, it will cost you $34.99.

This is a very modern-looking hard drive. It has piano black glossy finish. The LCD is always on and displays a personalized drive name and available free space – even when disconnected. You can rename the drive easily from your computer. All info is updated every time you connect or disconnect it from a PC or Mac.

Simple to install, simple to use, an eye candy. Comes in 500GB ($118.99) and 320GB ($98.24) versions.

InSight hard drive is small enough to carry around in your brief case. It is also faster than a lot of similar drives and supports both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 at 5400 RPM. You have to be proficient in Drag-and-Drop technology to use it. Nero backup software is pre-installed and easy to use if you plan to back up files. Of course, you don’t really need it for backup, but it is nice to have if you prefer simplicity.

Get yours on Amazon.com:

• 500GB Portable External Hard Drive
• 320GB Portable External Hard Drive

Jabra Halo Headset is a pretty cool new gadget from Jabra. It is very modern-looking and folds to save space and to turn it off. When you unfold the headset, push on the hinge on each side to secure the headset and turn it on. The headset does not have on/off switch.
The headphones are over-the-ear and very comfortable. Some reviews mentioned that the base could be better. But if you do not care for a lot of base, you will like them because the sound quality is excellent. The best part is that they also have dual microphones on both sides. And you can pair the headset with 2 bluetooth devices at the same time. Listen to your music and when a call comes in, the music fades and you can take the call. There are controls on the sides of the headset – you can not only adjust the volume, but control forward/back functions. Yes, it supports both A2DP and AVRCP.
Buy Jabra Halo Headset. Price: $129.99.

Sony unveiled 3 new ebook readers last month: Reader Touch Edition, Reader Pocket Edition, and Reader Daily Edition (available later this year). These products are considered to be direct competitors to Amazon Kindle – you will be able to buy books directly on the device from Sony Book Store. Daily Edition will have 3G from AT&T (available in the US only). All new ebook readers from Sony will be available for purchase worldwide.

Sony claims that it will have better book selection. They are partnering with libraries and allow library members to borrow books directly from their ebook reader. These library partnerships can make every single book available for download to the device in the partner libraries.

Sony is also partnering with Google to get public domain books. Those books are already available on the internet free of charge, but the convenience factor is huge.

The main question, however, remains – can you get the books you want? It does not matter, how many books are available as long as you can bet best sellers and popular titles.

Currently, the Sony Book Store is impressive. The prices are quite reasonable. Borrowing books is definitely a great feature that would differentiate Sony Reader from Kindle. Another Reader feature that is not available on Kindle, is touch screen. Sony uses it to change pages with a flick.

Of course, true to the tradition, Sony is unveiling their new proprietary epub format. It would be interesting to see if Amazon will start selling epub ebooks in their store.

Sony® Reader Pocket Edition Digital Book
E Ink® Vizplex paper-like screen technology makes reading easy, even in direct sunlight. Reader Pocket has elegant, lightweight design with 5″ display. Carry up to 350 of your favorite books at a time.
This model does not have touch screen. Comes in blue, grey, and pink.

Price: $199.99

Sony® Reader Touch Edition Digital Book
Reader Touch Edition™ lets you access up to 350 (or more with memory expansion card slots) of your favorite books from anywhere. It has 6″ display with touch screen navigation, freehand highlighting and annotation.
Get books from Sony eBook Store and over one million free public domain titles from Google Books.
This model comes in black, grey, and red.

Price: $299.99

Kindle: Amazon’s 6″ Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)
Thin and light, Kindle is as easy to hold and use as a book. Kindles page-turning buttons are located on both sides, allowing you to read and turn pages comfortably with one hand. Kindle has a new easy-to-use 5-way controller, enabling precise on-screen navigation for selecting text to highlight or looking up words. Kindle is completely wireless and ready to use right out of the box–no setup, no cables, no computer required. You can read on a single charge for up to 4 days with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to 2 weeks. Battery life will vary based on wireless usage, such as shopping the Kindle Store and downloading content. Whispernet utilizes Amazons optimized technology plus Sprints national high-speed (3G) data network to enable you to wirelessly search, discover, and download content on the go. Your books and periodicals are delivered via Whispernet in less than 60 seconds. And unlike WiFi, you never have to hunt for a hotspot.

Price: $299.00

Kindle DX: Amazon’s 9.7″ Wireless Reading Device (Latest Generation)
Auto-Rotating Screen: Display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages.
Built-In PDF Reader: Native PDF support allows you to carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go.

Price: $489.00

credit Timbuk2

credit Timbuk2

Timbuk2 T-Pack Laptop Case is pretty nice if you want to carry just your netbook around. It is small, will fit in any bag, and has backpack straps. Zip pocket at the bottom can be used for your power adapter. The bag will fit notebooks up to 10″ and sells for $30.

Reviews mention cons: not enough pockets, too small for some notebooks, fits only essentials (usb sticks, power cable). Pros: small, practical, great for travel.

For some who appreciate new technology and high quality video, Blu-ray players became a reality. CNet editors report that the fastest players they’ve tested are the LG BD390, Sony PlayStation 3, and the Samsung BD-P3600. And the CNet award for the fastest Blu-ray player went to the Samsung BDP-1600.

Unfortunately, the video selection is still not great. But if you are already looking for Christmas ideas, check out CNet Top 30 must-have Blu-ray Discs list. Below are the top 5.

Baraka
This movie was filmed in 24 countries and in high definition which is suited so well for Blu-ray. The soundtrack encompasses the cultures of those countries and creates the feel of belonging. The movie connects various peoples and the spaces they inhabit, drawing unexpected parallels.

Black Hawk Down
Perfect movie for a Blu-ray showcase. The detail is so much more vivid. Like other war movies, you are put in the middle of events and high-def video intensifies the experience. Great soundtrack too.

Blade Runner
Remastered from the original, this disc has bonus features and all new 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio. Five DVDs are included in the box set. The low light scenes have better details.

Braveheart
1080p High Definition with English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles. Epic soundtrack compliments the grand scoping shots of Scottish highlands. Watching this movie in high-def is a breathtaking experience.

Bolt
Great family entertainment now available in high-def. It looks 3D. With better video quality this movie becomes somehow more engaging. The disc is packed with bonus features.

View the rest of the list.