MORE COOL GADGETS
Motorola Ojo Personal Videophone
Our friends at Motorola bill the Ojo as a personal videophone, which describes exactly what it is. The Ojo has a built-in video camera to take pictures of you as you talk, and an LCD display to show pictures of whomever it is you're talking to. (Assuming that the person you're calling has their own Ojo, of course.) It's just the type of device they were talking about forty-odd years ago. Now here's the complicating factor, sort of. You see, you can't use the Ojo on regular phone lines. Nope, if you want to videophone your friends, you have to use a VoIP Internet phone service which is all the rage today, anyway. (The Ojo will just make it more so.) Connect the Ojo to your broadband Internet connection and you can dial anyone else with a similar VoIP connection, with full-motion MPEG4 video at 30 frames per second. Let's face it, the Ojo is really just several existing technologies glued together into a single convenient device. You could build your own videophone with a webcam, microphone, and speaker system, all connected to a PC and a broadband modem. Of course, that would be a lot more bulky and a lot less convenient than using the Ojo, but still you get the point. It's all about converging technologies. Enough ranting, let's get back to the Ojo. It's actually a fairly stylish device, centered around a 7'' vertical 16:9 LCD display. (Actually, this would more accurately be described as a 9:16 aspect ratio, wouldn't it?) The vertical display enhances the face-to-face experience you're viewing in portrait mode, instead of the normal TV-like landscape mode. You can monitor what your caller sees with the picture-in-picture mirroring, and close the lens when you need a little privacy. You don't even have to disturb the framing by holding a handset up to the side of your head; the Ojo includes a built-in two-way speakerphone, as well as a hands-free wireless handset, if you choose to go that route. So now that the picture phone has finally become reality, you should rush right out and buy one or two or three, since you'll need to equip all your friends and relatives with compatible devices. But I still want to know where the heck's my flying car?
Sleeptracker WatchWake up at the wrong time and you're grumpy all day. Better to ease yourself awake at the optimal time during your sleep cycle, which is what the Sleeptracker does. It looks like a normal wrist watch, but it actually monitors your sleep cycles for those almost-awake moments and then gently wakes you when you're most alert. It's a neat idea, and helps to keep you on your game in the morning.
ClockBall Rolling TimepieceLook, all I can say about the ClockBall is that it looks pretty neat. It's a clock, sort of (more accurately a "rolling timepiece"), designed by a French firm, which may or may not explain things. You tell the time by how it rolls around the floor, which really isn't very practical at all, but still. It moves at about a centimeter an hour, within a black square frame. It's probably the most unique desk clock you'll come across if you can keep it from rolling off your desk.
Laserpod LightThrow out your lava lamp, something cooler has finally arrived. The Laserpod uses three lasers and three blue and purple LEDs, projected through a crystal diffuser, to create one heck of a light show. Just make sure you're playing a Jimi Hendrix album when you turn it on!
Citizen TASER X26c PistolNeighbors bugging you? Then take them out hard with this portable TASER pistol. As you no doubt know, the TASER is a non-lethal weapon that uses electric bolts to temporarily override the target's central nervous system, reducing him or her to a heap of quivering Jell-O. The X26c is a handheld TASER gun with a range of 15 feet and a laser sight for more accurate targeting. It can even penetrate up to 2'' of clothing, and you don't need a permit to use it. (Why does that frighten me?)
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EAN: 2147483647
Pages: 126