Festival goers rejoice – no longer do you have to spend the first several hours of your week struggling to master the jigsaw that is tent-pitching!
Quechua are selling this cool tent that springs out of its carrying bag and pops up fully formed – 2 seconds is the claim and looking at the video I can believe it.
Now re-packing it… that’s another story! Still, it looks like a neat idea for the occasional camper.
More details (and cool videos) at Quechua.com
Sony are bringing back the “Walkman” brand quite aggressively with various new models at different price points and capabilities. Today we take a look at one of the entry level models, the Walkman B series.
Anybody who cycles a lot will have had the experience of a flat tyre – it’s inevitable given the condition of our roads and cycle paths. So after you’ve repaired the hole you could:
a) spend 10 minutes with a hand pump trying to put a decent amount of pressure back in the tyre, or
b) Use one of these handy CO2 inflators from Topeak to blast gas back into the tyre without the effort.
The cartridges are strictly single use but they should last forever in storage and it seems like a far simpler way of getting the job done to me.
Sony Ericsson launched their new Windows Mobile powered X2 smart phone at the London Design Museum this evening. It runs on Windows Mobile 6.5, has a 3.5” resistive touch screen and is available exclusively on Vodafone from the end of November.
SE have a range of home screens available preloaded on the phone as well as more that are downloadable. Take a look at the pictures above to see two of the panels and the panel picker. Panels range from the typical Windows Mobile look through to something that looks very much like Sim City complete with animated trains and boats. You can add widgets to these panels to further customise the phone to suit your personality.
The X2 has a side slide full QWERTY keyboard to compliment its touch screen and this will probably be the text input method of choice for most people as it feels very stable in use. Having said that if the handwriting recognition is up to the job that might be an even better option. A stylus is neatly stored in the body of the phone to help if you choose the handwriting route.
The screen is clear and bright with video looking quite impressive and I’m glad to see that a 3.5mm standard headphone socket is provided. The X2 has an optical mouse pad allowing you to move around the screen and select functions with ease. Sony Ericsson have made this even better by using icons in place of menu options where possible.
Here’s an interesting idea – rent a virtual desktop on the internet and use that instead of a PC. Nivio are selling exactly that – for under £10/month you get a Windows PC with MS Office. A range of other applications can be installed for a nominal monthly fee.
Flat-pack tableware – useful for camping, not so much for your everyday evening meal. If you do like the outdoor life though, the Orikaso range of self-assembly bowls, mugs and plates should be on your shopping list.
The idea is simple but well executed – using pre-folded and cut plastic sheets you can carry around a set of eating and drinking accessories for next to no weight and because they fold flat you can tuck them into a corner of your rucksack and forget about them.
No need to worry about fragile plastic hinges either – you get a 10 year guarantee against failure. Prices seem to vary, so look on Amazon to see what they’re currently doing.
Vodafone have announced the launch of a number of phones recently. Obviously the Apple iPhone 3GS has got the majority of the publicity but they’ve also announced; the Nokia N97 mini, the 360 Samsung H1 and the HTC Tattoo all for October/November 2009.
The Nokia N97 Mini has many of the features of the original N97 including the slide-out Qwerty keyboard, 5 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens and built in GPS navigation.
On the down side the internal memory has been slashed from 32GB to a paltry 8GB which seems pretty mean with the current cost of memory. You can add a further 16GB with a Micro SD card for a total of 24GB which still isn’t as much as an unexpanded N97.
Interestingly the mini is mere millimetres smaller than the original N97, has the same resolution resistive touch screen and is only £20 cheaper on the Nokia website.
Available free from Vodafone on pay monthly plans of £35 and over from the end of October.
Dutch company Lemnis Lighting have launched a light bulb based on LED technology. Available in screw or bayonet mounts, the E300 uses just 6 watts of power but has a comparable output to a conventional 60 watt bulb. It’s also dimmable, making it a perfect drop-in replacement for many lights around the home.
The good part is that Lemnis estimate a lifespan of around 25 years. The not so good part is the price, you’re looking at around £30 each (although hopefully that will come down in time)
You can get them now at Ryness.co.uk
[via Which news]
The LG 22” LU7000 released back in September has just arrived for review. We’ll take a good look at it and report back fully in a few weeks but in the meantime here are our first impressions of the TV.
The LG is quite a looker with a DVD player built into its sloping stand and a nifty pair of sliding doors for the DVD. This makes a nice change from the more conventional slot loading mechanism and gives the LG a very sleek and stylish look. Unfortunately it doesn’t share the gorgeous Borderless design of it’s larger siblings.
The LU7000 has a full set of inputs including a USB 2.0 port that can be used to display your digital camera pictures as well as play your MP3s.
Expect to pay around £300 for the 22” and a little less for the 19” version.
LU 7000:
Well known laptop bag manufacturer Skooba design have launched a novel new competition – they want to find the “Master of the digital universe”. In their words:
Skooba Design is searching for the person who exemplifies the gadget-crazy, wired-to-the-gills, power-hungry lifestyle.
The winner will get the chance to have Skooba create a personalised, one-of-a-kind laptop bag to their very own design.
Do you think you can compete with cool kids in Silicon Valley? Unusually for a US based company the competition is worldwide and open to all so if you can’t leave the house without your gadget belt then check out the competition homepage and get writing your story!
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