Sexy Gadgets, Cool Gadgets and Concept Gadgets

Philips is back in the groove where MP3 players are concerned with the GoGear Luxe from its GoGear portable audio player range. Pay a little bit of attention to this device, because you might be fooled, at a first glance, into thinking that this is a miniature Nokia Prism handset from afar. Upon closer inspection, you’ll eventually realize that you can only use it to playback your favorite MP3 tunes only.

The sparkly, diamond-esque Philips Luxe MP3 player is a tale of contradictions, being something like a double agent. On the one hand, it’s an MP3 player with a mere 2GB of memory, 10 hours of battery life and a one-line LCD screen. On the other hand, it’s a feature-packed Bluetooth 2.1 handset, providing 100 hours of standby time, an FM radio, an excellent sound quality and built-in dual microphone to answer any incoming calls with active noise cancelling.

The music will automatically stop when a call comes in, so be careful about shouting out loud your System of a Down favorite song when your grandfather wants to hear your voice after a long time, because you didn’t bother to give him a call. Lucky you, the one-line LCD allows you to view the caller’s number at a glimpse, so you’ll have the time to stop your performance before answering the phone. In addition, the Luxe packs Philips’s proprietary FullSound for CD-quality of digitally compressed tracks; in other words, the technology cleans up audio compression artifacts.

The jewel-like outside of the player comes in red, silver and a likely future chromed shell, all of which help keep the player discreet when not in immediate use. Singapore will be the first country in Asia Pacific to get the Luxe next month, followed by Thailanda, Malaysia, India, China and Southeast Asia. Prices are set at the equivalent of about $94. No mention has been made of a North American release.

Webcams often come in spherical shapes, and this looks to be the standard for entry-level and mid-range models for now. Every once in a while, designers like to play around with different concepts, which may end up as commercial products if the design is doable, simple and appealing. One such example comes from the Flynn Product Design team that has recently unveiled this hi-resolution Bluetooth Web Camera.

Look! It’s my Webcam creeping around the table, following my every move! This spidery cam is designed with ABS and Polypropylene. It might even be unappealing to those who suffer from arachnophobia. The little creeper design seems to have been already approved by Philips and it comes with interesting features such as improved camera angles. The outstanding flexibility is made possible through the integration of a ball and socket joint connecting the base and body units. It also includes a hi-resolution sensor that can snap photos at 5 MP and stream at 2 MP, if your so-called broadband can support it, that is. Those of you who find the camera a bit awkward, you might consider it useful to take the Bluetooth USB Dongle and connect it with other Bluetooth-enable devices.

Unfortunately, Philips didn’t care to provide any release and price info.

I had no idea that the origins of the famous “smiley face” have nothing to do with the Internet world, nor with the Yahoo! Messenger. Maybe the association I made in my mind is based on the fact that I discovered smiley faces surfing the web and chatting on messenger.

Thus, the designer who came up with the idea of the graphic is Harvey Ball, a commercial artist in Worcester, Massachusetts. He had to improvise something for an insurance company that wanted an internal campaign to increase employee morale. Because Ball had never used, promoted or trademarked the image, so the smiley face became part of the public domain in the United States. Therefore, its inventor never made any profit for the iconic image beyond the initial $45 fee.

The smiley face is attached to almost any kind of products. Joyrider, for example, is a revolutionary accessory that converts a bicycle into a moving light show using just one LED for each wheel. London-based inventor, engineer and designer Moritz Waldemeyer is a true craftsman, mixing design and technology – with lots of LEDs.

Joyrider features two electronic devices (two sterling silver, Swarovski studded components) that clip onto wheel spokes and create the illusion of a fixed smiley face as the wheel rotates. Inbuilt microchips calculate rotational speed of the wheel in such a way that the smiley face remains stationary while the wheel spins.

The devices were attached to two prototype bikes designed by Waldemeyer and were auctioned at the ICA 2008 Gala: Figures of Speech, where they were sold for $3.972 USD.

The presentation of the bicycle from designer’s official website reveals that “The photographed bicycle is custom designed by Waldemeyer in a vintage style to evoke the past when cycling was seen as a glamorous activity. Joyrider looks towards a future where new technology and design may restore lost elegance into modern life”. So, ride the bike and smile back to pedestrians who answer Joyrider’s smile!

Imagination has no boundaries, I’ve said it before, and I could say it over and over again. Whether we’re fully aware of the development of mankind or not, we witness the immeasurable creativity of the human mind on a regular basis. It’s like an explosion that can’t be stopped, whatsoever, the primordial Big Bang that created the universe and reinvents it day by day.

Maybe I wasn’t born to be an inventor, I’m pretty sure about that, but I can’t explain myself how people come up with all sorts of unbelievable concepts. I, for example, have always thought that food has one purpose and one purpose only: to be eaten. It’s the tragic destiny of fruits and vegetables and I’m mildly sympathetic. It’s hard to be one, when you are not left alone and your life comes to an end earlier than expected. But what’s better: a sudden end or a bunch of ingenious people having you sculptured according to their imagination?

In this context, toast printers shouldn’t take us by surprise. They are not something new, but one of the finalists in the design competition run by the appliance manufacturer Electrolux brought a novelty which made everyone talk about it. It’s a scanner designed to print out any graphic or text onto a slice of bread and it’s said to be the first internet-enabled toasting printing appliance. I don’t know where this fascination with burning images into toast comes from, but one thing is for sure: you can read your RSS feeds or the latest headlines at breakfast, from your slices of bread and then eat them.

The Scan Toaster was created by industrial designer Sung Bae Chang, student of Sejong University in South Korea, and submitted it in the 2008 Electrolux Design Lab contest which ends October 9 in Zurich, Switzerland.

The small printer is about the size of a CD case and connects to a computer via USB cable. Once you’ve plugged in the toaster to a free USB port and the slice of bread is in its place, pictures, logos, news and weather are downloaded and the software will start burning what you want.

The toaster features a network of toasting “modules”, meaning hot wires that rotate within a 30 degree radius and help burn the image or text onto the slice of bread. As far as printing elements are concerned, they are small enough to toast pixels at a fairly high resolution and with varying brightness (burnt-ness, in this case) and allow recognizable brownscale images.

The Scan Toaster is undoubtedly a very interesting concept, but it’s still in its design stage, so there are no plans to manufacture it on a mass scale. Although it’s fun to see what level technology can attain, I’m not sure I’d like my boyfriend to eat at breakfast a slice of bread with my face on it. For the only reason that having such a piece of art destroyed would be the greatest sin of them all.

Smartphones are more and more popular nowadays because they offer advanced capabilities beyond a typical mobile phone, often with PC-like functionality. If some people define the smartphone as a phone able to run complete operating system software providing a standardized interface and platform for application developers, others consider it like a simple phone provided with advanced features such as e-mail and Internet capabilities and/or a full keyboard.

But how multi-functional a smartphone can be? Does it cook your breakfast, at dawn, and then politely serves it to you in bed? Is your smartphone capable of making your morning coffee? Because if it’s not, then you should reconsider the choice you’ve made.

The first Android smartphone has lots of features, as does the HTC Touch HD, but I’m sure they can’t make coffee. Designer Francesco Lerro spotted the lack of such a characteristic and make it available on his Mokia 8015 concept phone. I suppose he needed an impressive imagination and he must be addicted to this delicious beverage, in order to come up with such a device. As for us, the rest of the ordinary mortals, we must prove a great sense of humor to imagine that, one day, smartphones will be able to serve espressos.

Francesco Lerro turned out to be a very ingenious guy, as he named his concept “Mokia”, which seems to be a pun intended at mocking Nokia or even all smartphone brands. But who knows? Maybe one day we’ll attend the release of this witty concept phone and it will be possible for smartphones to pour espresso coffees into cups. The Bluetooth headset doubles as a spoon for stirring the coffee.

We have had all sorts of smartphones: multimedia centric, camera-centric and music centric. Therefore, why shouldn’t we have a coffee centric smartphone also?

Even if its designer is the self-proclaimed Italian “espresso junkie”, I wonder if such a concept phone will ever make it on market. Moreover, I’m pretty impatient to see what manufacturer will have the guts to fling Mokia 8015 into the mass production! I’m looking forward for something like this to happen! And I bet it won’t be a bargain, whatsoever!

Hardcore gamers are always searching for new ways to enrich their gaming experience. There are all sorts of device that can immerse you even deeper into the constantly evolving virtual reality, from the first 3D goggles and gloves to the latest racing simulators. One of the newest device form this category is the PC Sound Chair from Pyramat.

With the PC Sound Chair you can hear and feel the immersive sound while listening to music, playing computer games or watching movies. The good thing is that the chair comes in a office format with wheels, so you can easily move it. It comes with comfortable padding, built-in headrest, Gas piston height adjustment and tilt control. The integrated sound system includes two amazingly accurate 8 watt full range speakers, and a 4”, 40 watt subwoofer. Other special features include illuminating blue LEDs, bass control dials and a mouse wheel touch control, plus an earphone jack, in case you don’t want to disturb the others around you.

In addition too the great mobility offered by the office design, the integrated sound system is totally wireless. All you have to do is charge it up and then sit where you want in the room with no worries about cords trailing after you. In this sense, the chair comes with an 8-channel digital wireless transmitter which allows you to go up to 25′ away and still get unrivalled sound quality.

Dell has just announced the release of a new line of laptops, which will be known under the name of Adamo. If you’re curious about the Adamo brand, let me tell you that it will be developed by Dell in the following years, and this is the first product to ever be launched with the Adamo name on it. The company says it’s the “world’s thinnest laptop”, which is understandable, as it measures no more than 0.65 inches, compared to the Envy, which is 0.7 inches thin.

It’s just that the Adamo laptop weighs a little bit too much, approximately 4 pounds, while the Air has only 3 pounds in weight and the Envy 3.4 pounds.

As far as the specifications are concerned, the list includes: Intel Core 2 Duo processors with Intel Centrino technology, a DDR3 system memory, 13.4 inch, 16:9 high definition screen, draft-wireless N, Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, 2 USB ports, 1 USB/eSATA combo port, Display Port, RJ-45 port, high-performance SSD standard (solid state drives), mobile broadband (which is optional) and the Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-bit.

If you’re already interested by Adamo, which is expected to revolutionize the Dell laptop computers, you’ll be given “a unique color matched collection of Adamo by Dell branded peripherals and accessories including, in the U.S. an exclusive line of bags from TUMI”. You’ll be able to choose from an external storage with 250GB or an external hard drive of 500GB, external DVD+/-RW or Blue-ray disc drive, 8GB USB drive, connectors and cables that come with DisplayPort to HDMI, DVI and VGA and Adamo Premium Service which is for the U.S. only.

The name is inspired by the Latin word, which means “to fall in love” and it will be a fashion and style statement for the customers out there. The laptop will be available in Onyx and Pearl colors, retailing at a price of $1999. It will start shipping worldwide on March 26th, 2009. You’ll be able to find it online, if you want to purchase it, in 24 countries, such as: ANZ, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Honk Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Malaysia/Singapore, Mexico, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, U.K. and U.S.

I have never been able to explain myself the fascination I’ve always had for the two World Wars the humanity faced back in the twentieth century. I am so eager to find out what happened to everything people were supposed to believe in precisely because I just can’t understand the concept of war. It’s beyond my comprehension, that’s for sure.

Therefore, I couldn’t be very enthusiastic about the Hand Grenade Mouse. A cold shiver goes down my back when thinking about having such a device to click all day long to my favorite Web sites. There’s no sense in getting accustomed to something that started its life as a device designed to blow off limbs. So how could I put my hand on this mouse and feel comfortable?

On the other hand, it’s not like my computer setup should be intimidating and it sure doesn’t need a hand grenade to make it more intense. Probably for all the online gamers outside, the device is the perfect solution in order to feel like being in the middle of the action and to amplify the sensation of power.

The mouse is actually made out of an old grenade casing, so it gives a slightly more authentic feel. As far as ergonomics are concerned, the guys who designed the mouse didn’t take into consideration that the mouse might actually kill something: your wrist. But it looks cool and that’s enough, right? In addition, the modders didn’t finish their job before going through the trouble of wiring up the trigger to function as the left mouse button.

As I said before, the hand grenade mouse doesn’t look ergonomically friendly, but the last thing you should expect from a hand grenade is to provide comfort and peace, don’t you think?

If what you’re looking for is a super small keyboard for your mobile device or your laptop, then a miniature device would be the perfect solution to your need. Maybe it’s easier for you to take it on the go wherever you travel, and it’s understandable. But show me the crazy man who’d like to torture himself to death by typing on a small keyboard, so small that the typing experience itself seems tinier than ever.

Ok, there’s nothing wrong with the keyboard. It’s a low keycap notebook keyboard with 56 keys including all the ones which are common to a standard keyboard like Caps Lock, Num Lock and function keys. Nothing unusual so far, isn’t it?

But let me tell you that this Super Tiny Keyboard measures 170 x 73 x 15mm and weighs 116 g. Pretty small, right? But it was you who wanted something small, lightweight and portable so that you wouldn’t have to worry about bringing the traditional, big and heavy keyboard when you are traveling.

In addition, the device comes in package with a USB retractable cable and has a mini-USB connector on the back. Therefore, you can plug it into whatever device you have, as long as it’s equipped with a working USB port.

I, for one, wouldn’t appreciate such a device for a day-to-day use, but I suppose it’s just reminiscence of the tiny laptops like the EEE from ASUS that had an impressive effect on the consumer.

I’ve always wanted to have my own throne which would allow me to supervise everything going on in the world. Heh, that would actually make me some kind of supreme being, but hey, that doesn’t stop me from having my impossible dreams. At least one person has similar dreams with mine: the designer of the Emperor chair.

Gizmodo is first with fresh info on the Emperor Chair. When you press a special button, the Emperor’s tail section (the large articulated arm that holds the monitors) rises to allow the user to be seated without destroying his spine, then it immediately lowers back into position, placing the three monitors at the perfect height and angle for added viewing comfort.

The Emperor comes with three large monitors that may be used to display panoramic images or three different things at the same time. It also comes equipped with a THX and Dolby surround sound system , air filtering, light therapy (in case those monitors give you a bit of a headache) webcam, battery backup, and other minor details that could make you build a house around it. It can incorporate both Mac or PC systems, as well as some of the biggest docking stations for laptops. It will be released in July, but don’t expect it to come cheap.

Ultra portable PC haven’t had much of a success up until now, most of the times people avoiding them due to their high prices and lack of features. Basically you have to pay more to get a slightly underpowered laptop which comes in a more compact, portable console-like form. That has its benefits and its downsides, of course, and the big companies understood this, but when an unknown company offers a good UMPC, things are bound to get cranky.

According to Techdigest, Wibrain has recently released their latest UMPC running on Windows XP or Linux. The B1 weighs 526g and packs some nice goodies inside that blocky design. It is powered by a 1.33GHz Atom processor, and integrates 1GB of DDR RAM, a 1024×640 4 8″ TFT touchscreen which may prove a bit too small for that resolution. You can choose between the 30GB and the 60GB HDD models or you can opt for 8GB/16GB/32GB of solid memory as well.

It doesn’t really fit in your pocket, but at least you don’t need a special big laptop bag for this one. It also comes with a full qwerty keyboard, some console-like buttons and even a touchpad in case you’d need something to simulate mouse sensitivity.Want more? A 1.3 MP pop-up webcam and a wi-fi antenna complete the specs.

I know very little about the characteristics a computer mouse should combine in order to provide a higher performance level. I remember the first time I had to replace it. The only things I worried about were the design and the size of the device, visible aspects, as a matter of fact, and at anyone’s hand.

After all, everything I had to know I already knew: how a contemporary computer mouse looks like. The most common standard features are the two buttons and the scroll wheel, so I said to myself that it would be enough for my future mouse device to be provided with these components.

However, I just couldn’t take my eyes off this Dalvey stainless steel mouse when I first saw it. Steel is equivalent by nature with a masculine expression; therefore, particularly stainless steel adds an exceptional elegance when bend to the right shape. The stainless steel mouse is more than just a pretty apparition and brings an infusion of elegance to your desk, straight beside the keyboard.

Designed by the men’s products provider Grands of Dalvey for Windows ’98 and above, through USB port (plug ‘n’ play), the mouse features advanced optical sensors that ensure maintenance free high performance. In addition, the 800dpi resolution makes this mouse very sensitive and responsive to the smallest of movements.

Another interesting advantage is the fact that the mirror polished shell can be easily personalized by engraving your initials or firm’s logo, which makes it even more attractive.

With a diameter of 71mm and a height of just 25 mm, the Stainless Steel Mouse is available on Dalvey’s official website for $89.

I have an HDTV, but I actually use it as a PC monitor because it does not come with an integrated tuner. Most of the times, I don’t feel the need to buy a TV-tuner, just because there is a lack of HD channels in my area. Of course, they say that you won’t be really needing a TV in a couple of years when the Internet will have already merged with the television. Then again, I should get prepared for the HD wave, and Fusion has exactly what I need. The HDTV7 Dual Express tuner from Fusion is said to be the first dual HD (Digital or QAM) reception PCI express card.

This TV tuner is specifically designed to bring digital/analogue terrestrial and digital cable reception to your desktop PC. Fusion ensures compliance with the North America digital terrestrial standard, ATSC, as well as the analogue TV NTSC standard. The PCI-e card integrates dual silicon tuners that enable you to gain access to a series of cool features such as:

• PIP (Picture-in-picture) and multi-view with two different channels
• Real-time-clock (RT) function to support power-on-PC recording
• Lowest heat emission in non operating mode for eco-system
• True HD time-shifting with FF/ REW/ Positioning

The SSD drives are threatening the old HDDs with extinction. Current prices for the SSDs still prohibit a large scale takeover, but in just a couple of years the HDDs could become some sort of obsolete devices. My guess is that SDDs won’t replace all the HDDs on the market that fast. However, if they somehow managed to do that, what would we do with the remaining HDDs? Well, you could use the USB HDD dock for quick file transfers.

The USB HDD Dock from Brando also comes with a USB hub. Not only does it take 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA drives in the top like an old Nintendo console cartridge, there’s an added 4-port USB hub on the front panel. True, it uses one USB 2.0 port from your PC, but you get that back plus three more when you use the hub.

Here’s some more info on the product:

• Temperature and Humidity: 5 ° ~ 35 °, humidity 20 ~ 80% (This machine should be used in the operation range of the connected PC)
• AC Power Adapter input: 100 ~ 240V, 50/60Hz, 1.5A
• AC Power Adapter output: 12V/3A
• Support Windows VISTA, XP and Mac OS
• Dimension: 130 mm (W) x 68 mm (H) x 90 mm (D)
• Weight: 892g (approx)

The $82 price could prove a bit exaggerated, but it could come in handy when SDDs will reign supreme.

Your eyes begin to sparkle brightly when you pronounce Porsche, the name of the world’s most prestigious automobile brand. It’s not me who dares make such a statement, it’s the result of a survey realized by Luxury Institute, New York, back in May 2006. More than 500 households with a gross annual income of at least $200,000 and a net worth of at least$720,000 were questioned. Therefore, it’s the ultimate recognition, so much the more coming from wealthy people who afford to purchase such a high-class product. Yes, indeed, there is no substitute for a Porsche, but only when you spend your vacation in luxurious hotels among other extremely demanding travelers who consider themselves, just like you do, to belong in the elite.

Therefore, the name stands for everything you wish for in a lifetime: sophisticated design, exquisite quality and most importantly extreme speed. Back in June 2007, Porsche Design presented its first mobile phone, the P’9521, made in collaboration with French-based Sagem Communication, which brought the know-how technology as it has expertise in the field of biometrics.

Today it’s P’9522’s turn. Porsche Design Group announced on September 26, 2008 the release of its brand new candybar phone, which was made, of course, together with Sagem. The fashionable cellphone is carved into a single block of brushed aluminum and a glass plate.

As far as the technical section is concerned, P’9522 is provided with enough features to make you fall in love with it at first sight. It has the standard Porsche font and style, a 2.8-inch touchscreen, an integrated GPS system, a 5-megapixel photo camera and a fingerprint reader, which clearly identifies the user and thus ensures secure access to personal data. The phone features also an WiFi connectivity (802.11b/g) rather than a 3G network which is the main disadvantage. On the other hand, P’9522 has only 5-MB of internal memory, but luckily the phone comes in package with a microSD memory card of 2GB and it will be able to read cards with 8GB capacity.

The Porsche P’9522 it’s expected to ship in November for a price of about 600 Euros ($875), half the price of the previous Porsche device.

You could really use a portable computer, but you’re not ready to feed your tower PC rig to the scrap metal dudes? No problem, you can try combining both into a more compact design. No, I’m not hinting at a mini-pc. I’m actually referring to your keyboard.

Yeah, something like a bulkier keyboard which can house an Intel Core 2 Quad CPU with all its features and performance at your fingertips, literally (remember it’s a keyboard). This is the ZPC-GX31 from Cybernet, a true innovation that packs so much power, performance and compatibility inside a normal size keyboard, according to the makers. I say deep enough to hide your cat in there. Highlights for the supported technologies include Dual Display capabilities, 4GB of DDR2/667MHz RAM, gigabit LAN and DVI interface. All you need is a separate monitor and you are good to go.

Take a look at the detailed specs:

• CPU SUPPORT – Intel® Core™ 2 Duo, Intel® Core™ 2 Quad @ 1066MHz FSB LGA775 up to 95W.
Intel® Pentium® D Processors with Hyper-Threading Technology, Intel® Celeron® D
processor, support from 1.3GHz ~ 3.4GHz 800/533/400MHz System Bus. Supporting
9x, 5x & 6x series processors with EM64

• Intel G31 Express Chipset
• MEMORY – 2xDDR2 240-pin sockets, up to 4GB. Supports PC2-5300 667MHz 240 PIN DIMMs.
• HDD SUPPORT – 2X SATA ports
• VIDEO & GRAPHICS – Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 3100.
• NETWORKING – Gigabit (GbE) Fast Ethernet, using Realtek RTL 8168B/8111C.
• REMOVABLE HDD – Optional removable 2.5″ hard disk drive.
• AUDIO – Realtek HD Audio
• I/O PORTS – 4 USB 2.0 Ports with transfer rate up to 480Mbps, 2 RS-232 Serial Ports, 1 Parallel
Port supporting SPP/EPP/ECP, 1 PS/2 mouse port, 1 POS or PS/2keyboard port, 1 DVI.
• TOUCH PAD
• OPTICAL DRIVE – One slim type Optical Drive, CDRW-DVD, or DVD+/-RW.

Cybernet allows buyers to customize their configurations so you could get a supercomputer for as low as $1,099.

Kohjinsha SA Series is a very interesting gadget with multiple features, as:
- 3.5 hours standard enhanced;
- AMD Geode LX 800 CPU;
- 512 MB PC2-3200;
- AMD® GeodeTM CS5536
- Touchscreen liquid crystal passive pen;
- Qwerty Japanese International Keyboard 77 keys;
- And many more.

Once in a while some freelance inventive guy comes with a cool concept, leaves us drooling and jaw-dropping, while the big companies jump around with dubious offers for patent supremacy.

Take for example designer Kyle Cherry who has envisaged a new type of portable computer with creative proficiency in mind. Calling it “Canvas”, Cherry thought of a simple and efficient device that would increase the quality and productivity of designers and artists alike. It even acts as a traditional art canvas, allowing inexperienced users to make the switch from traditional to digital workflows. The “Canvas” concept is even cooler than Wacom’s Cintique LCD graphics Tablet.

This ultra-thin device can be used in three different modes. Artists and designers will be pleased to discover the “pen mode”, which basically transforms the device into a high precision graphics tablet. Then, there is the “touch mode” that allows users to interact freely with the multitude of graphical user interfaces. Last, but not least, is the “mouse mode”, in case you want to heat things up in an FPS game.

As you can see in the provided pictures, the “canvas” or the active surface on which you can draw can be slid and positioned upright, just like a laptop screen. When you pop up the screen, you can use the keyboard and touchpad underneath it. The toolbars and additional information in the actual software can be displayed on the left and right hand side of the device, thus allowing the workspace to be completely blank. You can also use a navigator button, placed under the toolbar area on the left.

This design is simply gorgeous but I wonder which brand name will take over the patent. Maybe the commercial product will appear under an obscure brand, but I doubt it will stay that way for long.

The international woman’s day has passed, but your beloved girlfriend/wife seems a little disappointed in you. Could that be because of that weird present you so thoroughly prepared in advance? What? You gave her flowers and…? Nothing else? You feel somewhat uninspired this spring? HANNspree might save your hind, if you promise to act quickly.

I bet you consider you girl/wife a modern woman and for you, my firend, HANNspree developed the stylish HANNSMilano gadget. Gadgets are for geeks you say? Not necessarily. This one is guaranteed to make a long lasting impression on the one woman you love the most. How so? Check it out, it’s an LCD TV integrated in an Italian style handbag.

The HANNSMilano’s three dimensional design and two tone appearance features both a high-gloss lustrous black finish and 100% genuine imported Italian leather exterior with delicate and intricate detailing. The gadget stays true to its Italian design legacy, integrating a 9.6-inch LCD TV and including a carry strap for easy positioning. It also includes a cable management facility that tucks away cables so as not to distract from the overall designer look of the set, giving at the same time enough storage room for those indispensable girl thingies.

Over the years, microphones haven’t been that much perfected like, say, CPUs. Miniaturization processes may be helpful to some technologies, but to others, those might not bring much of an evolution at all. Sure, miniaturization helped microphones scale down to dust specs for spying and stuff like that, but real quality improvements can’t be achieved through miniaturization. A different approach must somehow be applied, and what other source of inspiration than nature itself? Human nature, to be more specific. This way, we get to see microphones with ears.

he Japanese guys from Otokinoko came up with the Binaural Microphone, which it’s claimed to be a simple way to record the most realistic sounds possible. Binaural recording allows you to record sounds the same way they are heard in real life by us humans. This is achieved by placing two microphones in the same position as human ears are placed on each side of the head. The recording is output in an omnidirectional 3D sound which is more realistic than normal stereo because of the subtle shifts in feeling.

The Binaural Mic can be used by itself for reporter-like escapades, or it could be attached to a video camera to add realistic sound to the captured images. It also includes a 1/8” mini audio out connector. The fact that this is professional equipment with a unique and compact Japanese design might justify the high price of $3,899. To order one of these, check out the Japan Trend Shop site.