Fun Gadget Gifts

Archive for the ‘Gadgets for Women’ Category

Novatel MiFi 2200 Mobile Wi-Fi Hotspot Modem (Verizon Wireless) has been around since May of 2009. The 2 ounce black square is a portable wi-fi hotspot. You can connect 5 devices to it. The one I use is from Verizon. It requires a 2 year plan ($39.99 for 250MB/mo; $59.99 for 5GB/mo; $15/day with no contract). When you buy MiFi 2200 you will be hit with a $35 activation fee.

Why MiFi 2200?

Here are some features that set this device apart:

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Picking a digital camera as a gift for a teenager is not too complicated. All the camera needs to do is to fit the lifestyle of your favorite teen. For girls, it is all about ease of use, cuteness, and ability to share. All the videos and pictures will be appearing on Facebook, no doubt. The camera has to be small and fit in a girl’s purse or pocket. And it has to be cute. That’s why the cameras we suggest are in red and pink.

Below is the at-a-glance breakdown to help you decide what camera to buy. The models we suggest have good image quality and shoot decent video. Each link will take you to the Amazon page with reviews and more detailed information.

Nikon Coolpix L20
Pros: 10 mpx resolution; large LCD screen; red-eye fix;
Cons: images are good, not great; no auto-off feature; slow in low light conditions
Price: $99.88
More Information
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This new 10-megapixel camera with High Sensitivity System is a very impressive little point-and-shoot gadget. The new model is slimmer and lighter. A spacious image sensor is packed in a small point-and-shoot camera body. It is perfect for people who are serious about photography and would like a worthy pocket substitute for a professional camera. Despite its size, the camera feels solid in your hand.

PowerShot S90IS has new High Sensitivity System and higher ISO speeds to ensure great image quality. It has Canon’s famous DIGIC 4 Image Processor paired with a bright f/2.0 lens and produces superior quality images even in low-light conditions (noise is not really visible until ISO 800). The S90 lens is very fast and you do not have to rely on ISO so much. Blur and camera shake are notably reduced for the ultimate in sharpness and clarity.

At the base of the lens barrel, there is a new control ring allowing for a manual control. By turning the ring, you adjust the main setting in each mode, for example, shutter speed in shutter priority. The ring function button at the top of the camera will allow you to adjust almost any parameter. Adjusting itself takes some time to get used to because of the small size of the camera, but the ability to control so many parameters is remarkable.

PowerShot S90 has 25 Shooting Modes. It features Canon’s precision 28mm Wide-Angle Lens that allows you to shoot any scene from wide-angle to telephoto. The camera has 3.8x optical zoom with Canon Optical Image Stabilizer. S90 sports an f/2.0 aperture, perfect for creating enticing portraits, by drawing attention to the face and blurring the background with its impressively shallow depth-of-field. For close-up photography use Macro setting.

PowerShot S90 has no viewfinder, but the 3 inch LCD screen makes up for it. You can shoot in JPEG or RAW modes – simultaneously. Small battery allows you to take over 200 shots on a single charge.

The camera price is $430. It is a little more expensive than most cameras in its category. However, it is worth it for the compact size packed with features and the picture quality you are getting. PowerShot S90IS is available now. Order from Amazon.

Breville makes high end appliances. This tea kettle is no exception. The Variable Temperature kettle looks modern and stylish. It is made of brushed aluminum and feels sturdy. There is no plastic in the boiling area.

The kettle has 5 temperature pre-sets for serious tea lovers. Heat your water to 175F for Green Tea; 185F for White Tea; 195F for Oolong Tea; 200F for French Press and 212F for boiling and black tea. It takes 5 minutes to bring a full pot to a boil. When the water reaches the desirable temperature, the kettle beeps and will keep the water at that temperature for 20 minutes.

Price: $148.90

CNET editors unveiled a list of top 5 MP3 players. Here it is in all its glory.

5. Sony X-Series Walkman

   This MP3 player supports MP3, WMA, ACC and L-PCM audio formats; AVC(H.264/AVC), MPEG-4, and WMV DRM video formats; JPEG image files. The sound is very good. You can operate the Walkman using both “touch panel” and buttons. The button design makes it easy to navigate without even looking at your player. The user interface is easy and intuitive. It works with Rhapsody To Go subscription or Napster. It sports a wi-fi connection, integration with YouTube, etc.

   Sony X-Series Walkman is an excellent choice for audio files, 3 inch OLED touch screen and loads of features. It comes in 32GB and 16GB versions.

4. SanDisk Sansa Clip Plus

   SanDisk Sansa Cip Plus has five colors to choose from. It is lightweight with good sound. And with its smart design, you can clip your Sansa Clip player to your bag, pants or sleeves. It has built-in microphone for spontaneous recording. Transfer your files to your PC later through a USB connection. The Sansa Clip player plays MP3, WMA, secure WMA and Audible file formats.

   Overall, this small capacity durable take-it-everywhere music player is a good choice for a mobile user. And, unlike others in its category, it has good sound quality and a screen.

3. Zune HD

   We have reviewed Zune HD on this blog. Our verdict: the best music player out there. The bottom line, Zune HD design is beautiful. The player has an OLED display, HD raido and outputs HD video to your TV. It lacks apps and games, but it is one of the best music and video experiences you can buy.
   

2. Apple iPod Nano

   iPod Nano is a portable player with a larger screen. Nano is packed with features. It includes an FM radio player, a video camera, and a pedometer. Video camera is more of a toy, however. There are two new features – iTunes Tagging and Live Pause. The new Genius Mixes feature acts as your personal DJ.

1. Apple iPod Touch

   Apple iPod Touch is the 3rd generation of its kind. 3.5-inch widescreen Multi-Touch display with 480 x 320 pixel resolution makes watching videos a great experience. It has integrated bluetooth, shake-to shuffle, Genius playlists, wi-fi, voice control, and is easy to use. One absolutely unique feature that no other mp3 player has – iTunes app store.

When you wear this headset (literally), be prepared for some humiliation from your friends, family and co-workers. The “pendant” in the name should give you a big hint – it is a “wearable” headset. It goes around your neck. The microphone and the battery hang off of it like a pendant. There is a big button you can use to answer or reject calls. Magic, you ask? Bluetooth, I answer. From the pendant come in-the-ear headphones.

If you are listening to music and an incoming call comes, the music fades and you can decide to take the call or reject it. After you are done with your call, the music resumes from where you left off. This is a pretty nice feature, especially when you were listening to your favorite song, when your mom called to tell you that uncle John is on Twitter now. You might want to go back to that favorite song of yours after telling your mother that you are not going to follow uncle John even if she pays you.

iQua Pendant headset (BHS-702) is light and ,some say, has a trendy design. You can consider it if you are a biker and do not want over-the-ear headphones because it is hard to hear traffic noise in them. The sound isolation is good, but not great. The dangling microphone is well-positioned, but is not ideal. Overall, it is a decent gadget, but if you are a guy, consider getting it as a gift for your girlfriend.

Price: $99.99. Get it on Amazon for $77.05. They seem to keep selling out.

If you are a fan of mobile computing but picky. You find a notebook to be too small and a full size laptop – too big. You want a thin computer that has great battery power to do basic stuff, nothing like creating or editing video. You are in luck – check out Asus UL30A thin and light laptop.

Thin & Lights are between notebooks and full-size laptops. They run ultra-low voltage processors and often have compromised performance in exchange for a slim form. But that is not true in the case of UL30A which delivers what you are looking for in thin and light.

UL30A comes with a 500G SATA Hard Drive and 4G of RAM. The processor inside is 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Ultra Low Voltage processor. UL30A measures 12.9 x 9.3 x 1 inches and weighs 3.7 pounds. It is a little less than 1 inch thin and feels really solid and compact. The back of the laptop is covered with aluminum. The keyboard has a little bit of flex, but feels nice and comfortable to type on.

The 13.3 HD LED LCD backlit display is nice and bright. HD video looks great on it. Like in all thin and light laptops, there is no optical drive. But there are plenty of ports and connections for your periferals: HDMI, USB, SD card slot, 802.11n as well as bluetooth..

The multi-gesture touchpad is made of the same glossy plastic material as the rest of the palm rest. Even though it is a little dimpled for your fingers, it does not provide as much traction as other touchpads.

The battery life is fantastic: allows for 6-7 hours of playing videos. Asus claims you can get up to 11 hours. UL30A comes with Vista Home Premium (32 bit) but you can upgrade to Windows 7.

Get Asus UL30A on Amazon for $889.99

If you do not have patience for slow electronics, you might want to check out the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 camera. It is one of the fastest point-and-shoot cameras on the market. The camera is very compact, has 10.2 megapixel back-illuminated CMOS sensor and takes great photos in low light conditions. When using its Twilight mode, the camera fires off 6 shots and then compiles them together to make one photo. Result – impressive photo quality. And yes, Sony f/2.4 G Lens might have something to do with that quality too. Don’t expect it to take pictures in “no light” conditions howerver. In good lighting conditions, the camera is good, but not spectacular.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 has several shooting options including burst mode (10 frames per second). The feature works as advertised, but the impatient among us should know that after the burst, you will wait for 2 to 3 seconds for every picture to be saved on your memory stick. Better put this camera down and do something else, like taking wide angle panorama shots next time or admiring the camera’s anti-motion blur mode. You can see the results of your handy work on a 2.7-inch LCD Plus screen which is plenty clear.

Parents are always struggling to capture their kids (especially babies) in the process of smiling. No such frustrations using this Cyber-shot DSC-WX1. It will take a picture only during the “smiling moment” if you press the Smile Shutter button. You can select adult and child priority and indicate the degree of Smile Detection Sensitivity. Freaky! If only this camera had an ability to read children’s minds, it would have been completely perfect. This camera even has a Pet Mode. Overall, there are several “intelligent modes” available on the camera and they can be used together or separately.

5x optical zoom will work when you take pictures or capture HD quality video. I am not sure how useful video capturing is on a point-and-shoot camera, but if it matters to you, you’ve got it. 720p high definition MPEG4 format video will look pretty good on large-screen television. Your 2GB card will fit about 29 minutes of video.

DSC-WX1 has in-camera retouching tools to enhance your photos, trim them, correct red eyes, etc. In just seconds you can add music to your pictures and produce slide shows with standard visual effects. Why do you need a computer? Maybe, to share your pictures and video online? Sony has Picture Motion Browser that will keep you entertained for hours sorting your creations, organizing them by face, place, etc.

Despite all the intelligent features and impressive technology, some customers are not impressed with movie quality in low light conditions. There is no compression control on the camera. You get a proprietary USB/Composite cable with your camera – no surprise with Sony products. There is no USB charging and no HDMI.

All in all, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX1 is a great, fast-performing snapshot camera that falters in picture quality. It is better than most cameras in its category. Get yours on Amazon for $320.25.

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.

The Altec Lansing iMT620 inMotion Classic is a very attractive portable stereo system. It is iPod and iPhone compatible and also includes digital FM radio (no AM radio). It has a battery that will give you 5 hours of music if you take the system on the road.

The angular design of the speakers is quite modern. Silver plastic runs around the edges. The quality is very good – there is no flexing or creaking. There are large buttons on top of the system to control playback, volume, and for chosing audio source. High-contrast LCD shows the song and artist information. It is clear enough to read from afar. However, you might find that you don’t use the LCD display very often.

The system comes with a remote control which is very well-designed. It repeats the controls from the top of the speaker and has additional buttons to navigate your iPod and for 4 radio presets. Unfortunately, there is no button to jump to the next album/artist. Do not try to use the remote from too far away – does not work very well. The remote itself is quite small and might not be very comfortable to use for some people with bigger hands.

Kick-stand folds up or down and will work as a handle. It is quite sturdy, but don’t use it with your iPod: there is nothing to prevent it falling out of the dock. When you swing the handle under the speakers, it will prevent the system from turning on accidentally.

The iMT620 system utilizes Expanded Sound Stage technology. At the touch of a button you can widen the sound field. The sound is clear and rich. Don’t look for a strong baseline however. It is a portable system, after all. The good news is that there is a wide range of volume. Radio pickup is quite good too. Interestingly, when you put your iPod into the speakers, it immediately starts playing a random song. I am not a big fan of this spontaneous entertainment.

All in all, it is a great system. But its power and sonic range makes it better for a bedroom or a kitchen, not a family room. Rechargable battery makes it easy to take the speakers anywhere you want to go and get 5 hours of music. Customers complained that the performance is spotty with iPod Touch. Another oddity is that if you are using your iPhone with the speakers and your iPhone auto locks, you will not be able to use the remote to navigate through menus: the remote is not all-powerful afterall, and will not unock your iPhone. I’d call it a work-out feature because you have to get up and manually unlock your iPhone to empower the remote control to navigate your iPhone. It does not look like that iPods got this work-out feature.

Get yours for $112.39 on Amazon.

HTC Hero is another great-looking Android phone coming to the neighborhood near you in a couple of days. It is very sleek-looking; made of metal. Like many other phones, it has touch screen and virtual keyboard. The absence of real keyboard makes it thinner than the predecessor. The phone is 0.57 inches thick. The virtual keyboard itself is pretty intuitive. The phone display has the usual 320×480 HVGA resolution.

What is exciting about HTC Hero is customization on steroids. You can customize your home screen with all kinds of widgets which you can see at a glance. Good bye bulky menus. But don’t stop there! Personalize the widgets themselves selecting size and design that fits your personality. If you are giving it as a gift, personalize it to fit the person you are giving it to and be sarcastic or romantic.

The phone has a new profile feature – Scenes. With Scenes, you can create personalized profiles and switch between them depending on your mood. Who needs a mood ring if you can have a mood phone, which also can ring depending on your mood?

Change the perspective you look at things. In your inbox view all your conversations, collections of notes and documents (including email attachments). Your photo album connects to Facebook and Flickr.

All your social networking connections are integrated, of course. It plays music (dah!), and has a web browser. The feature integration is seemless and simple. HTC Hero consolidates all different ways you communicate into one display when you view people: you see different ways to get in touch as well as all your interactions. It is a breeze to check for social network updates and event notices as well as the latest pictures your friends uploaded to a photo sharing sites.

Dialing is simplified. Dial a number or first few letters of their name. Search will look through everything – even your Twitter posts. The phone has stereo Bluetooth, Windows Mobile, built-in Google maps, GPS, wi-fi.

The camera is a little underpowered – 5mpx. The trackball in the middle of the phone serves like the sutter. When using a phone camera, you have to have a finger on the trackball to take a picture. It is a little uncomfortable and results in camera shakes.

All in all, the phone is very modern-looking and fast. User interface is fantastic. The phone is packed with great features. It is pricey unlocked: $669.91 in black and $621.10 in white on Amazon. It looks like it will be $179 on Sprint with a contract.

HTC Hero Android G3 A6262 Smartphone will be available on October 11.

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.

New Zune HD has beautiful design. It is virtually weightless, has a beautiful OLED screen and comes in black and platinum. The battery life is great. It holds up to 10 hours of 720p high definition video; 48 hours of standard definition video; 8,000 songs; or 25,000 pictures.

Video looks fantastic on a 3.3-inch OLED screen with 480 x 272 resolution and 16:9 display. OLED screens have gorgeous deep blacks and the Zune HD screen is noticeably better compared to other devices like Blackberry Storm or Touch. In direct sunlight the screen does look washed out, but indoors it looks spectacular.

Videos on the player are downscaled to fit the screen at 480 x 272–not HD resolution. Buy videos once and watch on multiple screens: on your Xbox 360, Zune player, and PC. The convenience of on-demand, only on Xbox 360. Shortcuts will take you directly to favorites, recently downloaded or played music, videos, and more. Quickplay cuts through the clutter and brings up front the content that you care about most.

The built in accelerometer (which allows whatever is displayed on your screen to rotate according to the devices orientation) is excellent, allowing 3 directions of usability. The rotating is incredibly smooth.

Like other devices, Zune HD has an FM tuner. Unlike other devices, it is HD radio. Better sound for sure. Of course, not all stations are HD yet, but we will get there. It also works with Audible and will download your favorite podcasts. If you like a song on the radio – tag it, and buy it instantly through Zune store over wi-fi. Unlike Apple products, you can sync your Zune with your PC over wi-fi too. Another syncing option is by using Zune Sync Dock Connect (sold separately).

Microsoft offers a cool feature – Zune Pass subscription. You pay $14.99 a month for all you can download music. And every month you can download 10 songs which you will own forever (no DRM). To make sure you do not forget to download your free songs, you get a reminder every month from Microsoft to make sure you take advantage of this deal. If you don’t, they do not carry over to the next month. It can work with Smart DJ to make a playlist with some of your music and some music off the Zune Marketplace. The Marketplace selection is a little lacking, but you can get music at Amazon or anywhere else too. If you subscribe to playlists, they are updated every week.

I think, it is an excellent device. However, if you prefer apps, get an iPod Touch. But if you are into music, this is the best music player out there, in my opinion (given, you subscribe to Zune Pass).

Unfortunately, Zune HD is available in US only.

Buy on Amazon:

• Zune HD 32 GB Video MP3 Player (Platinum) for $289.97
• Zune HD 16 GB Video MP3 Player (Black) for $219.97

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 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