Gadget Dose

Motorola really went the extra mile on this one, (pun intended). This 2 way radio set can transmit up to 18 miles! 11 Weather channels with weather alert feature - handsfree communication mode and a vibrating alert will page you if someone is trying to reach you.

There are many times when these would come in handy, for instance finding your wife in the mall - (thats my favorite). You could use these hiking or camping, or just to stay in touch while your out walking the dogs.

* Delivers a range of up to 18 miles (under optimum conditions)
* 22 channels, each with 121 privacy codes for 2,662 combinations for clear, uninterrupted connections
* Dual power, works with 3 AA batteries (not included) and rechargeable NiMH batteries (included)
* Approximately 32 hr. alkaline or 11 hr. NiMH estimated talk time
* iVOX for speech-activated, hands-free communication
* 7 NOAA/Environment Canada weather channels and 4 marine weather channels
* QT (Quiet Talk) interruption feature helps eliminate interference
* Backlit display for readability in low lighting conditions
* Companding technology to help filter out static between words
* LCD battery meter for charge indication
* Digital Signal Processing to help provide consistent sound quality
* VibraCall vibrating alert Other features include: audible low battery alert, battery save feature, keypad lock, time-out timer and a choice of 10 unique call tones.

Wow - these are awesome! - Another really nice Christmas gift for the gadget lover in your life.

They retail for $69.99 and the product page is HERE

Ok this has got to be way up there in terms of gadgety holiday decorations. - First off yes, its a snowman. Second - it makes snow! Third - it has a remote control. So you’ve got guests coming over and you want to make an impression - wait till they pull up and hit the remote. The snowman makes up to 5 hours of snow per bottle of solution - and 4 bottles are included. Voila -Festive!
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snowman generates realistic snowflakes that emanate from its upturned tophat and drift up to 20′ away, allowing you to greet guests with your own snow flurries using the included wireless remote. Its patented snow solution is turned into evaporate snow by a quiet fan that works in cold or warm weather. Includes four bottles of snow making solution that each provide five hours of snow making (snow evaporates in 90 seconds), and leaves no residue. Made of durable polyethylene with a nylon cover, the snowman plugs into AC

Woot - on sale now - was $149.95 now $99.95

Product Page

Create your own custom neon sign on the spot with these snap-together 2” X 3” neon letters. You buy the power supply for $29.99 and each letter you order costs $6.99

Basically they all link together and then you plug the power supply into the lot.

You can make whatever message you want, From Toms Room to Eat at Joes. Perfect for your home bar or playroom.

# Sealed blue neon letter blocks
# Low heat generation
# Choose from letters, numbers, and special characters
# Push button control for blinking or steady-on
# Up to 22 neon letters can be connected to a single Power Supply unit

Cheapest neon sign you’ll find! - and you can change it anytime you want.

Product Page

Think of this as a portable screensaver with all sorts of extras. Something you’d put in a room to relax, soothe, or catch the eye of guests.

Featuring a backlit LCD screen (320×240) - and all sorts of digital sounds, from the ocean waves and underwater bubbles, to whale sounds and others.

It comes stocked with more than 100 kinds of marine animals!

Speaker in jack to connects the audio output to another device - Yep, its sound reactive. And as if that weren’t enough, it has a clock and calendar too.

Heres a neat feature - it will remind you of special days ( New Year’s day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, April Fool, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas )

Annnnnd — you can set your own special days as well. Expect the sea creatures to celebrate your special day too.

All in all a pretty neat little device - You can get one HERE for the mildly expensive price of $135.41

Ok, I couldn’t resist. IF you’ve got a spare usb port just burning a hole in your pocket - why not fill it up with something totally useless that lights up, has cylon action, and articulated arms.

And since its getting closer to the holiday season - why not go with a snobot.

The eye that scans in the ever popular cylon raider fashion can turn blue or red on command, and it also has that evil cylon sound. You can also select the speed of the eye - for those days where a faster eye scan might just be necessary.

Does it do anything else - well yes, you can pose the metal arms.

I’d personally set this up on top of my cubicle wall (30′ cord) and set the eye for my mood. If the eye is red don’t even think of bothering me - or the snowman just might take you down.

Available from the always cool ThinkGeek for the ultra low price of $12.99

Also a perfect secret santa gift for the alpha geek in your office.

Just in case you have a USB hub or still have extra usb jacks to fill don’t forget the interactive USB aquarium.

Another possible Christmas idea here - this little nicely priced beauty comes from Discovery.

Its remote controlled - and apparently the remotes are neatly sculptured little dragons. The dragon walks on command, his eyes light up in red. Tell me when you were a kid you didn’t go nuts for sparkly or light up eyes!

With fire breathing effects and of course it sports a big ‘ol dragon growl. You can also turn its head and make it roar. What dragon would be complete without the roar?

Touted as its last feature are its moving dorsal fins.

Just about any kid would love this - I dunno, maybe its more of a boys toy. I could imagine walking this thing into any lego / block city and having it reap terror amongst the lego people.

Yeah, Im still mostly a kid.

You can find this dragon at Amazon for the entirely reasonable price of $39.95

Attempting to combine exercise, video games, and learning - this neat gadget from Fisher Price is an interesting crossover platform. Thinking ahead to Christmas, you might want to look into this for the little tyke on your list.

Smart Cycle plugs right into your TV, ready to take kids on learning adventures.. As they pedal, favorite character friends guide them through learning discoveries, games, and even exciting races. Bring the arcade experience home, with multiple levels of play for different ages and stages.

I don’t know how much of an arcade experience this is - but lets face it, once the little guy gets to ride up and down a mountain on this thing you probably wont be able to peel him/her off.

Another nifty feature is the included joystick - so when the little one gets all tired from driving all over the place they can use the joystick for a bit.

You can also go into race mode for that sheer joy of speed… and I wonder if little Jonny wont be so tired he just might take his nap on time?

It comes with a number of games which plug into a cartridge slot on the side and presumably more are on the way. Sounds like a great gift to me - heck, I wouldn’t mind a grown up version of this.

Originally priced at $100.00 its currently on sale at Amazon for only $89.19 - so get the savings while they last!

I’ve been watching this one for a long time. When it first came out in Japan the price tag not to mention shipping was obscene. Theres a limit to what I’ll spend or link even if the gadget does have cool lights and promises hypnosis.

Hammacher Schlemmer picked this up and is making it available for the mostly reasonable price of $59.95

With three artificial jellyfish that move in the water amid seaweed and coral reefs, while LED backlighting highlights their movements, this aquarium provides mesmerizing ambiance without the maintenance required with typical aquariums. A silent, integrated motor generates gentle currents, causing the jellyfish to rise and fall in the water. You can choose specific light patterns from nine integrated LEDs that provide red, blue, and green highlights within the aquascape. The aquarium can be wall-mounted, set-up on a bookshelf, or displayed on a tabletop.

So there ya go - mostly a soothing eye candy sort of deal - might just lull you to sleep or be that perfect romantic mood light.

Product page is HERE

Protect your stuff from thieves and intruders! Set Trap #1 on top of your valuables. If it’s moved, it sounds the alarm and flashes to startle thieves. Trap #2 is a motion detector that stuns ’em as they run by firing 2 darts . . . Trap #3 is a lazer tripwire that sets off a loud siren and stops ’em in their tracks! BUSTED!

Hoo - fun for the office and an infinite amount more fun in the house annoying the wife!

heres the product page.

Billed as everything from a robotic desk lamp to a room guard - this snakelike remote controlled invention from the folks at Wowwee is an oddity. It not only acts as a r/c toy but it is capable of autonomous movement. Packing an IR radar sensor - light intensity sensor - speakers and boat loads of animated led’s. I;m not sure if its more disco ball or pseudo snake.

It can “see” as far as tracking and following light - so you could whip out that old laser pointer and have it follow the dot. The animated led’s have multiple patterns and sequences that change depending on the things “mood”.

While we’re at it did we mention its also an alarm clock? And you can attach an mp3 player to it and it becomes a speaker. Its also a dessert topping and a floor wax.

ok Im kidding about the floor wax

Supposedly it has mount points so if you set it up to patrol your room - not only will it track and follow intruders - you could mount soft projectile launchers to it and it will shoot the intruder.

Tell me thats not the best way to keep the dogs out of the kitchen eh?
With the remote you can also program up to 40 movements for some motion direction fun.

So what do we have here? I dunno exactly, its a bunch of unrelated technologies tied together in a weird but fascinating toy. I’m certainly interested in its hunt and shoot mode. I’m sure cats everywhere are not looking forward to this thing though.

Pretty fair price at $99.99 - Certainly would make a great Christmas gift ( yeah, I know its already time to start thinking of that )

You can get one from the manufacturers site HERE

This is evil genius - Introducing Echo Bot, the bug-eyed alien with a message. What message? That’s for you to know and passers-by to find out, because this wacky thingamabob is actually a stealth voice messenger that can insult, serenade or freak-out anyone who triggers its motion sensor.

For the office or elsewhere this is sure to freak out and eventually annoy all that come into contact with it.

Simply record your message (up to 10 seconds) in Echo Bot’s rear mic, position the strange little critter wherever you fancy and wait. As soon as an unsuspecting victim passes within a meter of Echo Bot’s eyeball sensor, the recording is activated. ‘Hey, get away from my desk, loser!’

Irresistible ! The folks at Firebox have sold out of the things - you can find ‘em HERE
in singles and packs of 6 - I don’t know if they ship to the states ? If anyone knows of these things carried in the US market - let me know. I’ll bet ThinkGeek will be carrying these before long.

One of my favorite places to go and gaze upon goofy gadgets ( Toys.brando.com.hk ) has just picked up ssomething I’ve been watching since it came out in Japan some time ago. Back then it wasn’t available for shipment in the states. Now everyone can enjoy this desktop space killer.

Its a small aquarium complete with fish (not real ones) that swim around the tank. Its powered by the USB connector on a 4 foot cord. You can also switch the light on via computer control too (blue led). As if this weren’t enough to get you to give away valuable desktop real estate - theres more!

With the enclosed software you can also feed and “play” with your fish - Feed / Medical / Play / Turn Light on /off. You fill it up with real water and a motor generates a real current.

Now thats probably enough for the goofy desktop toy enthusiast, but I’d actually take it a step further… You could hack the thing and put in real fish! - yeah sure - get that top off and put in a freshwater goldfish - or crayfish - or a small blue shrimp. All those do great in cold freshwater tanks. Here are the specs….

# Swimming fish with hinged tails and life-like motion
# Blue LED nightlight and water current
# Able to feed and play with your fish by using the interactive menu
# Plug and play
# No batteries required
# Compatible with Windows 2000/XP
# 4 feet USB cable
# Size: 11.2×11.2×8.8cm
# Weight: 343g

Youll need a usb port - and surprisingly 200 megs of hard drive space for the software …

A you can’t turn this down kinda deal at $23.00 HERE

And while your at it - you might as well hook up the scrolling usb message board to brag about your new fish tank.

Happy Friday!

I was gonna save this for the Friday fun gadget feature but I couldn’t wait - its just too cool.

Before shooting each suction cup-tipped, foam dart, you load a cap into each one. When the dart sticks to your target, the cap explodes with a load crack. Sometimes you can even see a spark.

Check out this video of it in action

You can get one at ThinkGeek for a mere $14.99!

Its been a couple weeks since I found a gadget fun enough to put up for a Friday. This gadget qualifies nicely though. IT was featured on the Today show - and gets rave reviews from every buyer.

Full sized guitar - with 4 buttons on the fretboard to make playing a cinch for even a first timer. You can use it like a regular guitar - OR - hook it up to your mp3 / music player and play to your tunes! You can also have it play background rhythms so you can concentrate on the solo parts.

The pitch and tempo are adjustable for tuning to just about any song.

This is a great way to introduce a child to guitar - or heck just give the thing for the pure joy of playing. I gotta admit - even though my kid and I can play basic acoustic guitar - I’m thinking of getting this purely for its fun value.

Well, that and the excellent price - How could you go wrong for $27.96? Grab one at Discovery before they’re gone!

This is for us goofy Doctor Who fans that aren’t happy just owning a sonic screwdriver

You get a 5″ Doctor Who (the 10th Doctor) and a 2.5″ K9. Both figs are cool enough alone, but the K9 isn’t your normal action figure - it actually has action. It’s remote control!! AND, there’s a button on the remote which will cycle through several K9 phrases and sound effects. “Affirmative, Master” and “Bleep bloop bleep.” You know, all your favorite K9 sayings.

$39.99 at Thinkgeek