Annoying and Effective: Surefire Alarm Clocks

For those who have trouble waking up in the morning, the Flying Alarm Clock may be the answer. When the shrill alarm (think Star Trek red alert siren) goes off the propeller on top flies off landing randomly in the room. The only way to shut the alarm is to find the propeller and put it back on the base. Talk about getting up on the wrong side of the bed... but, hey, at least you're up.

[Sympatico MSN]

Here's another effective (and annoying) way to get up in the morning: the Sonic Boom Alarm Clock. This clock comes with a powerful 12-volt bed shaker and a loud 113db adjustable tone with volume control.

Nokia Takes Aim at iPod touch: Nokia N810 vs iPod touch

vs

The Nokia N810 Internet Tablet is intended for users who use the Internet extensively. It connects via Wi-Fi hotspots or Bluetooth connections. What I find a little daunting is the "Internet Tablet" moniker but it's really not much larger than the iPod touch. Here's how they compare (click on the table to view full size).


[SMH]

Here Come the Clones: Samsung K3 vs Shenzhen Triple Gold T4

vs

Can you tell the difference? I can't. The Shenzhen Triple Gold’s T4 looks a lot like the Samsung K3. This comparison chart shows how alike they really are:


[PMP Today]

From Techno-Geek to Techno-Chic: myvu Eyewear

Myvu Corporation introduced a new line of personal media viewers at CES 2008. Dubbed myvu shades and myvu crystal, the personal media viewers turn portable media players into hands-free, private cinemas – all in a trendy pair of sunglasses.

Myvu shades features a glance down design that allows the user to maintain situational awareness. Myvu crystal features increased resolution from QVGA to VGA and has an increased field of view over existing myvu models which provides true DVD quality. Both include a rechargeable battery with up to 10 hours of viewing time for shades and up to 4 hours of viewing time for crystal.

The personal media viewers work with portable media players, including iPod touch, Sansa-View, Microsoft Zune, mobile phones (Nokia N95 and select Samsung models), portable DVD players and various game consoles.

I think they look great but, alas, you have to wear them like granny glasses.

Check out myvu personal media viewers at the webstore.

[myvu Corporation]

The Ultimate iPod Accessory: iBeanbag

The iBeanbag Audio Beanbag Chair is the ultimate accessory for your iPod, mp3 player, portable DVD, gaming system or laptop. Plug your player into the side of the iBeanbag with the appropriate cables (included), turn up the volume and bass levels to a desired volume, then kick back to listen to the tunes through the integrated 2.1 speaker system (totaling 20 watts of total power).

Two built-in speakers provide clear sound right at head level. A sub-woofer, with amplifiers, positioned at the back of the chair offers maximum bass. You control the volume and the bass from the chair's control panel. An audio extension cord is included in case you want to hook it up to your television for video games, movies or TV shows.

It comes in a number of styles and colors. Pretty neat!

[Sympatico MSN]

Blurring the Lines: MP3/MP4 Watches

Here are two more watches that blur the lines between gadgets.

The Thanko FMP3 Watch looks like an ordinary watch but it also has mp3 player, voice recorder, line-in recording, and FM transmitter functions built-in. The watch displays the time, date (at 3 o’clock), seconds (at 6 o’clock), and day (at 9 o’clock).

When connected to a PC via USB, the flash memory in the watch is displayed as a removable drive. Simply drag mp3 files to copy them to the drive. The watch comes with 512MB, 1GB, or 2GB of memory. Operations such as volume up/down, previous/next track, etc are located around the watch sides.

The Thanko MP4 Watch (Metal) is an all-in-one multi-function media player with a color 160 x 128 pixel resolution 1.5” OLED display. It features an mp3 player, a video player, image viewer, and voice recorder. Watch functions are easily selectable via the five buttons located on the watch sides.

Music file transfer is simple - just connect the watch to a PC via the USB cable and drag-and-drop the files to the watch. Music playback options include single/all/folder and once/repeat/random. AVI, MPEG and WMV video files can be converted (with the included software) to play on the MP4 Metal Watch. Voice files are stored as WAV files. Supported image formats include BMP and JPG. The watch comes with 1GB or 2GB of memory.

[Sympatico MSN]

miShare: iPod to iPod Transfer *Update*

Related to my previous entry, I posted about the miShare (in November) – a pocket Linux device that allows you to connect two iPods to copy songs, photos, videos and any other data you might want to share.

Here’s a video demoing data transfer between two iPods.

Check out the miShare site for more information.

More CES 2008: Aerielle i2i Stream

At CES 2008, Aerielle introduced the i2i Stream – a device that allows users to share music wirelessly to anyone within 30 feet provided they choose to listen in. Broadcasting over the 2.4 GHz frequency, the i2i Stream guarantees one-to-hundreds broadcasts, with as many as three channels broadcast in the same location without interference. Apparently, it may not work if you're in a Wi-Fi hotspot.

[Crave via Engadget]

More CES 2008: BlueAction Bluetooth Watch

Spotted at CES 2008 is the Bluetooth Watch by BlueAction which combines watch functionality with a Bluetooth headset. According to the BlueAction site the watches are Bluetooth 2.0 compliant and work with any Bluetooth device. They come in two styles and feature built-in Wireless call handling and phone music player control. The watches support two profiles – handsfree and headset profiles. Talking time/standby time is up to 10 hours/200 hours, respectively.

The Healing Player: Victor XA-AW33-W

The Victor XA-AW33-W digital audio player floats like a jellyfish illuminated softly with blue LEDs and plays your favorite tracks in the bathroom tub or swimming pool. It's also great on a desk or counter. Just transfer tunes from your computer for up to 15 hours of playback.

[Source: Sympatico MSN and Victor]

MP3/MP4 Wristwatch: Epoq EMP-CVWD-2

This is a preview video of the Epoq EMP-CVWD-2 watch. It features a 1.8" color LCD, an audio and video player, picture viewer, 2GB of memory, an FM tuner, and a microSD port. It supports MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV audio formats; MP4 video format; and JPEG image format. I definitely prefer the Turtle TWP-800.

[Source: Engadget]

For the Hearing Impaired: The AlarMe Watch

Now here's an idea whose time has come (no pun intended). The Nikita Golovlev AlarMe watch is designed to give a visible warning to hearing-impaired users if something threatening is going on nearby. The watch uses a set of omnidirectional microphones and does some signal processing to determine if an alarm is detected. It alerts the user both visually and by vibrating, sending only "caution" alerts when something less threatening happens.

[Source: Gizmodo]

For the Music Inspired: Vestal Watches

The artists at Vestal took cues from vintage radios to design the Shortwave Jr. watch. It’s made of stainless steel with leather band and is water resistant to 50 meters. Check out the selection of Vestal Shortwave watches in the webstore.






The Vestal Emery watch is heavily inspired by old radios and stereos of the 1960s. It comes in black/black/white, brown/brown/white and brown/gold/white. It’s water resistant to 50 meters.







Like the Emery watch, the Vestal Bendex watch is inspired by old clock radios of the 1960s. The watch comes in Sabbath and silver/silver and is water resistant to 30 meters.




Check out other Vestal watches at the webstore.

Check out the Vestal Watches site. Now that's original!

Blurring the Lines: Timex PDA Watches

The Timex Data Link USB PDA Ironman watch combines the convenience of a personal organizer with the performance of a full-function, digital watch. It connects to a PC (running Windows) for synchronization of schedules as well as timing workout data.

Other features include 3-time zones, a 200-lap chronograph with multiple session memory, multiple countdown timers with labels, multi-event interval timers, and dual setting options. The software (included) works with Microsoft Outlook. The watch is water resistant to 100 meters.

More CES 2008: Audiovox "RCA" Lyra A6008

I'm a bit late with this but I had to mention it as my first mp3 player was an RCA Lyra. Audiovox launched the Lyra A6008 Slider at CES 2008. Audiovox pointed out that RCA is the company that "started the mp3 revolution".

The player features 8GB of storage and a 2.4-inch LCD screen. The slider function reveals a scroll wheel. PMP Today surmises that when the slider is hidden, the user can interact with the unit via a touchscreen. I think that's a great idea but wouldn't it defeat the purpose of the slider?

[Source: PMP Today and Engadget]

Back to the Future: Matrix M6001 Retro-Watch

The Matrix M6001 watch reminds me of a retro-styled Tokyoflash watch - the perfect blend of modern and retro styling. Unlike most Tokyoflash watches, it's not difficult to decipher. The watch features a black LCD display that displays the time as a set of columns. The leather watch strap comes in black, white, pink, tan, or brown.

[Source: Gizmodo and Technologies, Gadgets and Curiosities]

Blurring the Lines: Unusual Watches

After the excitement of CES 2008, I looked for more unusual watches that blur the lines between functionalities.

The Generic MP4/MP3 USB watch, as the name implies, is a watch and a 1GB mp3/mp4 player in one. The watch has a 1.5-inch OLED true color screen with 128 x 128 pixel resolution. It features five equalizer modes and Super Bass 3D Sound Effect playback modes. It supports MP3 and WMA audio formats; MP4 video format; JPEG image format; and it displays lyrics and picture. It provides up to 8 hours of music playback. Oh, yes... it shows the time and date too!

Never miss important shows, sporting events or news with the NHJ Wristwatch Television by NHJ USA, Inc. The 1.5-inch TFT color screen provides a crisp, clear picture. Fully charged rechargeable battery delivers up to one hour of viewing time, and the included docking station provides up to three hours of viewing. The TV captures all UHF and VHF channels (broadcast channels). When the unit is low on power, just plug in the AC adapter for unlimited viewing. Docking station, stereo headphones with built-in antenna and AC adapter are included.

Rollin' on the iRiver: iRiver Past and Future

The Past: This is a comparison chart of the iRiver Clix pmps (click to view actual size).



The Future: iRiver introduced three new pmps that caught my eye at CES 2008 this week.

The iRiver LPlayer appears poised to compete with the iPod nano. It's a tiny device with a 2 inch TFT screen that includes a video player, a music player, a photo viewer, an FM Tuner, a text viewer, recording and D-Click user interface. The iRiver LPlayer will come with 2GB, 4GB or 8GB.

The iRiver Spinn features a Spinn System Toggle Wheel and plays music and videos, displays photos, and has an FM Tuner, recording capability, DMB, Flash 2.0, a Text Viewer, and an e-Dictionary. The Spinn features a 3.2 inch TFT-LCD screen, Bluetooth 2.0. It will come with 4GB, 8GB or 16GB.

The iRiver P20 pmp has a 4.1-inch AMOLED screen and comes with 120GB or 160GB storage capacity. The P20 features a T-DMB TV, a video player, a music player, a text viewer, an FM radio and video recorder and it features iRiver's new SPINN interface.

Check out iRiver products in the webstore.

For the Geek in All of Us: Tokyoflash Watches 4

This is the Pimpin Ain’t Easy watch by Tokyoflash. Like all Tokyoflash watches, it takes some getting used to. When the time button is pressed, the lights spiral on, then off and the time is displayed. Pressing the button again displays the day and date. What sets this watch apart, and gives it its name, is that from 6PM to 1AM the lights spiral on and then spiral off – very flashy.


The leftmost column lights display the hours, the remaining lights display the minutes. The watch on the left reads 9:21.

Pimpin Ain’t Easy is available in stainless steel or in black ion plated with blue or orange LEDs.

The Tokyoflash Star Performer watch displays the functions by lighting up the number in the column that is needed. The watch lights up one number in each column to tell the time. The watch on the right reads 14:25.

The 4 icons on top light up when the mode is selected, from left to right, the icons are Clock, Sun, $, and a Martini Glass.

The Clock icon represents the time and if it is in 12 hour mode and PM, the Martini Glass will light up also as drinking is usually done in the PM.

The Sun icon represents the Day and Date. The digits 1 to 7 on the left side are for the days.

The $ icon, represents the year. The $ sign means making more money year after year.

The Pimp mode light up function lights up all the lights in a fireworks like manner which automatically turns on at 7:00 PM and turns off at 1:00 AM.

The Star Performer is available in stainless steel or in black ion plated with white, blue or orange LEDs.

Random fact: According to the Tokyoflash site the blue LEDs are the second most expensive color, with white being the most expensive.

The blue LED was invented in Japan. The inventor was given approximately $200.00 USD for his invention. Just recently the inventor sued the company he was working for and won $200,000,000.00 USD. The company is appealing the case.

Watches and...: Neutrano Watches

More blurring of gadget functionality at CES 2008. New from Neutrano is the Photowatch which blends the wristwatch with a digital frame. The Photowatch features a 128 x 128 LCD display, room for 100 images, time/date, slideshow, auto off, and includes software to zoom and crop images. It provides 8-hours of viewing time and works with Mac and PCs. Hopefully, the watch doubles as a USB flash drive, too.

Neutrano also offers the Watchlight on their site. As the name implies, the Watchlight blends the wristwatch with a light. The beam can be turned on for 30 seconds or 5 minutes. The dial is illuminated by a blue night night. There are three men's and women's models to choose from.

Check out the watches on the Neutrano site.

More Than Hogs: Harley Davidson Bulova Watches

I have a thing for motorcycles... well, miniatures anyway. Pictured below are two 1/6th scale Harley Davidson motorcycles.

This Harley Davidson Bulova watch features a 3D raised Harley Eagle and Bar & Shield dial. It is the most popular Harley watch on Amazon. It is water resistant to 50 meters.


New for 2008 is this Harley Davidson Bulova watch which features the Harley Davidson logo on the dial, a date window at 3 o’clock, luminous hands and hour markers. It has a stainless steel bracelet with black ribbed inserts and is water resistant to 50 meters.

The ultimate collectors watch: The Harley Davidson 100th anniversary watch by Bulova features a date window, sweep second, and seventeen jeweled oscillating movement (visible from the back) that converts arm motion to a continual power source eliminating the need for a battery replacement. It comes in a limited edition of 2003 pieces; each is individually serialized. The watch dial and case features Harley Davidson’s famous wings 2003 Logo.

The watch is water resistant to 100 meters.

Check out other Harley Davidson watches at the webstore.

For the Travel Connoisseur: HP iPAQ 310 Widescreen GPS

HP has taken their knowledge of PCs and pocket PCs (yeah, I have an iPAQ pocket PC) and come up with the HP iPAQ 310 Widescreen Portable GPS Navigator. Check out the specifications of this portable GPS navigator. It uses a SiRFtitan 600MHz dual core processor with 128MB of onboard RAM. Compare that to the 400MHz SIRF III and 64MB of RAM in other high-end portable GPS navigators. With the added power for the graphics display, iPAQ-310's advanced 3D navigation system provides stunning visuals. For select cities, you get actual 3-D models of buildings in space.

The 4.3 x 3.4 x 0.7 device has a 4.3 inch (diagonal) screen with 800 x 480 pixel resolution. The iPAQ 310 is based on Windows Mobile 5.0 and comes with text-to-speech capability, which allows it to offer directions with real street names, as well as Bluetooth for hands-free phone calling. It also has a SD card slot.

It comes pre-loaded with complete TeleAtlas maps for the United States and Canada, and 12 million points of interest.

It’s also a multimedia device with a video player, MP3 music player, photo viewer, 5 pre-installed games from GameboxClassics.

The HP website allows access to map updates, travel reviews, reservation information, and more. You can even sync up with your Microsoft Outlook address book.

Check out the video:

Not Just for Telling Time: Turtle Wireless TWP-800 Wristwatch Phone

*** Update: Hoax?! I think so. ***

Turtle Wireless, new to CES, introduced the TWP-800 - a revolutionary tri-band GSM phone designed to be worn like a wristwatch. This electronic device comes with a stereo Bluetooth headset, MP3/MP4 capabilities, touch screen, WAP/GPRS compatibility, and more. The TWP-800 will be available to the Latin American market starting mid-January.

[Source: CES 2008]

Check out this YouTube video - the watch phone is a dead ringer (sorry, bad pun) for the TWP-800. The video is dated December 6, 2007.

More Affordable, Less Gadgety: Sony Ericsson Walkman W350

In my previous post I ran through the multitude of features of the Sony Ericsson Walkman W760 Phone. For completeness, this is the Sony Ericsson Walkman W350 phone. It is more affordable but also lacks many of the features of the W760. The W350 flip handset comes with a Memory Stick Micro media card slot and Bluetooth connectivity. There is no 3G just tri-band EDGE. With Walkman on Top, key MP3 functions including play, pause and scroll are outside the phone’s flip cover so it can used just like a standalone MP3 player. Like the W760, it features Media Manager software and TrackID. A 1.3 megapixel camera and an integrated FM radio rounds off the list of features.

[Source: CES 2008]

A first look at the W350:

More Than a Phone: Sony Ericsson W760 Walkman Phone

The Sony Ericsson W760 further blurs the line between gadgets. The Sony Ericsson W760 Walkman is a UMTS/HSDPA 850/19002100 and GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 phone. It’s the first truly global Walkman phone with tri-band HSDPA, enabling broadband speed downloads of the latest music and content wherever in the world it is used. It features built-in GPS with Wayfinder Navigator and a GPS-supported fitness application called Tracker that can tell you how fast, for how long and how far you ran or walked.

It also features powerful built-in stereo speakers. When outdoors, use the phone with the Active Speaker MAS-100 case that protects your Walkman phone at the same time as being a built-in speaker and FM radio antenna for enjoying music with friends.

The W760 Walkman Phone has SensMe & TrackID. Use SensMe to quickly select music and tracks or navigate through a playlist with Shake Control - shuffle and skip through tracks, or adjust the volume, with just a shake of the phone.

The Media User Interface rotates depending on how you’re holding the phone, so you can see everything you need at a glance. Auto rotate works for images, videos and games too.

The phone allows you to play games in landscape mode, with sound from stereo speakers and use dedicated gaming buttons like a gaming console. It is preloaded with the latest games, including Need for Speed ProStreet. The Sony Ericsson W760 features a 2.2” screen for great game play and Motion Sensor Gaming that allows you to play top games on your phone in 3D quality, using the motion of the phone to control the game.

A quality 3.2 megapixel camera is built in to the phone. Just slide open the phone, press the camera button and capture the moment! Pictures can be stored on a 1GB Memory Stick or transferred to a PC using Media Manager.

The Sony Ericsson phone will be available in select markets starting Q2 2008.

[Source: CES 2008]

More Than a Camera: Samsung i8

Wow. The Samsung i8 blurs the line between camera and portable media player (pmp). It features an 8 megapixel camera with 3x digital zoom, 2.7" LCD display with auto-brightness technology, Samsung Digital Image Stabilization, Face Detection, Auto Red Eye Fix and Multi-Slide Show.

As a pmp it features MP3 and WAV audio playback, support for MPEG, AVI, MOV, WMV and ASF files, a 2.5mm headphone port, an external speaker with SRS 3D acoustic technology, and a World Tour Guide function.

It comes in blue, white and pink and will be available in February.

A more detailed description can be found at CES 2008.

[Source: Ubergizmo]

More Than a Watch: The LG Watch Phone

I admit to being easily distracted by gadgets. This little CES 2008 gadget by LG is a watch phone. It's a tad big and would have been awesome with a touch screen but... it's a watch phone! It isn't shown in the video but I assume it uses a Bluetooth headset for actual communication. Pretty neat!

[Source: Engadget]

For the Stylish Fitness Conscious: Garmin Forerunner 405

A few weeks ago I wrote about the Garmin Forerunner 205 and 305. Well, the newest GPS-enabled fitness device from Garmin was introduced at CES 2008.


The Forerunner 405 has something for everyone. It can track a runner's speed, distance, heart rate and location accurately and effortlessly, while the revolutionary patent-pending touch bezel on the face of the watch makes navigation a snap. Tap, hold or run a finger along the bezel to begin a new workout, access the training history or challenge a Virtual Partner. The Virtual Partner’s pace can be adjusted without having to interrupt your workout by stopping. The Forerunner 405 is water-resistant and can be used outdoors or indoors (with an optional foot pod).

Using ANT+Sport technology, the Forerunner 405 sends workout data to the user's computer via automatic wireless data transfer. There's no need to take off the watch or bother with cables as the computer automatically syncs with the Forerunner 405 as soon as the user enters the room. And the data transfer is two-way. Runners, joggers, cyclists and hikers can send courses, goals and workouts to their Forerunner 405 before they begin, and then the data gets sent back to the user's computer when the workout is over.

The Forerunner 405 does all that and it's a stylish watch. Nice.

[Source: Ubergizmo]

More than a PMP: Cowon N3

Once again Cowon takes the pmp one step further. The N3 is the newest portable media player from Cowon. While the N3 doesn’t have the connectivity of the Q5W, it features the same Alchemy AU 1250 600MHz processor running Windows CE 5.0. It has a 7 inch 800 x 480 pixel resolution screen and measures 7.5 x 4.7 x 1.0 inches.

It has 32MB Flash and 128MB RAM and has SD/SDHC ports. It features a built-in DMB TV tuner which can be run simultaneously with navigation software thanks to the Picture-in-Picture frame. It features a SiRF Star III GPS, an FM tuner and A/V out.

Supported video formats: DivX, Xvid, AVI, MPEG-4, OGM, and WMV
Supported audio formats: MP3, WMA, AAC, OGG and FLAC
Supported image formats: JPEG, BMP, PNG, and RAW images.

The N3 is scheduled to ship in early 2008.

[Source: PMP Today and Ubergizmo]

Check out other Cowon products in the webstore.

Three Fake iPod touch: Shiro VJ, Shiro MR, and Shiro MD

Still more iPod touch clones this time from Shiro. A comparison chart with the iPod touch is shown below (click to display actual size):


[Source: PMP Today]