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By now everyone has been impressed by the Wii but until now I've felt the the advertising was a bit ho-hum. Check out this YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/experiencewii and then if, like me, you focused too much on the video watch what is going on with the web page.
Thanks Erich S. for sending this along.
 Okay, as all of you know, Father’s Day is fast approaching. The trumpets shall sound! The dead shall be raised! Sure, Father’s Day may have started out as another bogus Hallmark-kind of holiday, but in my house, “we” (well, “I”) treat this as a National Day of Celebration (requiring all stock markets be closed and that alternate-side-of-the-street parking rules be suspended.)
To that end, knowing where her bread is buttered, my so-called “daughter” sat down and went through the Think Geek catalogue. She informed me that I already had everything they sell and she’s plum out of Father’s Day gift ideas. My despair turned to delight when I received the following press release, excerpted below:
The Identigene DNA Paternity Test Kit continues to gain momentum in the marketplace. Starting today, the over-the-counter DNA paternity test kit is available in 5,500 CVS/pharmacy locations across the country.
With the addition of CVS/pharmacy, the DNA paternity test kit is now available in more than 10,300 stores in 45 states. It will not be offered in New York because a state law requires a doctor's prescription or a court order to initiate a DNA test. The test kit is also being offered online through CVS.com.
In fewer than eight months since test marketing, Identigene has made convenient, affordable DNA paternity testing available to almost everyone at their local drug store alongside pregnancy tests in the family planning aisle. More than 40,000 people have already taken advantage of this opportunity to get definitive answers to their paternity questions.
This would also be a unique story angle during this week before Father's Day.
The Identigene DNA Paternity Test press room is available online at www.dnatesting.com/presskit. The site provides past releases, high resolution images, b-roll footage and a store locator.
Yes, indeed! If there’s only one present a fellow should get for Father’s Day, this paternity test kit must be it. It adds a whole new perspective to “Nurture” vs. “Nature” vs. “Looks Nothing Like Ya.” The DNA  Paternity Test collection kit costs $29.99 but the laboratory processing fee is $119.00. Still, for less than $150, think of the liberation so many alleged-Dad’s will feel… especially when gazing upon those teenage lump-o’-acnes who slouch on your couch but who could not possibly have sprung from your loins.
So, for this Father’s Day, I’ll probably be getting two kits as gifts: one from myself and another from some misbegotten children I’ve long been contending with ever since our mail delivery service dramatically improved.
Groucho Marx said it best (when he sang Harry Ruby’s song):
Today, Father, is Father's Day
And we're giving you a tie
It's not much we know
It is just our way of showing you
We think you're a regular guy
You say that it was nice of us to bother
But it really was a pleasure to fuss
For according to our mother
You're our father
And that's good enough for us
Yes, that's good enough for us
 Burying the lead, as I am prone to do, one of the best ways one can celebrate a parent is to send them a custom-made “Gizmoz” Movie Creation. From a single head-shot, you can make a 3D animation that is absolutely eye-popping. The site is still in “beta” but you have to check out the Gizmoz technology. Send yourself (or your reputed Father) an hysterical customized video-greeting at the best-of-all possible costs: free. The Gizmoz design team is headed by the incomparable artist and polymath Eyal Gever who is Israel’s answer to Michelangelo. Check out GIZMOZ!
 Actually, in this case, it's downright dangerous.
Red lasers are fun. Green lasers are more fun - they appear much brighter because our eyes are more sensitive to green. Most green laser pointers are below 5 milliwatts (mw) in power. My new pointer is a whopping 200mw - capable of burning plastic, paper, rubber - almost anything that is dark. It can pop balloons and light matches. While popping a balloon can be done with a pin and lighting matches is, um, what matches already do this is really about having fun and learning.
And what could be more fun that burning things all by yourself? Burning things with Marvin Minsky, of course! You never realize how many things are flamable until you go over to someone elses house with a laser in hand.
The laser pointers cost roughly $120 at DealExtreme (which also has some other wonderful toys). I would also buy a pair of Bono-looking shades for about $60 bucks from Wicked Lasers. Just remember, any laser capable of burning things is definitely not a safe thing to have so - don't point, it's rude!
At our most recent Gadgetoff, Jay Cohen, head of the Department of Homeland Security’s Science &  Technology Directorate promised to make me sick. Admiral Jay Cohen was formerly skipper of the nuclear submarine USS Hyman Rickover and recently headed the Office of Naval Research so, despite his avuncular style, is a man to be taken very seriously. Cohen brought along one of the new non-lethal devices DHS is developing: the Dazzler, a handheld LED incapacitator. Despite my entreaties to “Daze Me, Bro”, the good Under Secretary wouldn’t go so far as to make me puke but he did show us this light-saber strobe designed to nauseate. The idea of using a flashlight-shaped object to incapacitate a suspect is hardly new to law enforcement. For decades, streetwise officers carried the brawny black Maglite (preferably the four D-celled aircraft aluminum version) to potentially bash subjects in the head. (It also doubles as a handy flashlight!) Perhaps there could be a more effective and humane way to detain a suspect than a nice knock in the noggin? That’s the idea behind the Dazzler. Designed by Intelligent Optical Systems in Torrance, CA, the Dazzler takes down subjects with a pulsating array of ultra-bright multicolored light emitting diodes. This flashlight-shaped device will not only temporarily blind and disorient a subject: it also makes ‘em sick for a while. Precisely why it temporarily scrambles brain functioning is not well understood but plenty of test subjects have become true believers.
 There’s more here than flashing lights. A rangefinder determines the distance to the subject to optimize the color and pulses needed to disable. Now, scientists developing this non-lethal weapon are working to make it the Dazzler smaller and more portable than the prototype Undersecretary Cohen demonstrated. After decades in the Navy, Cohen joked he wanted us to experience his many years of sea sickness in just a few seconds. Always a gentleman (notwithstanding his new status as a government bureaucrat) he flashed it instead at the ceiling, away from the audience, so we could see the Dazzler without puking from it. (See video of the Gadgetoff demonstration here.) Despite my bravado in wishing to be subjected to the Dazzler’s nauseating charms, I must confess that having recently been “Tased” has somewhat diminished by zeal for remaining a human guinea-pig. Dared to “try” the experience by our good friend Colin Angle at CES 2007, I let the Taser folks wire me up, and with brother Mickey happily videotaping, was instantly knocked down and immobilized. Three seconds of Taser-zapping was  all I could take as every synapse and nerve-ending seemed individually targeted and overwhelmed. I remember rolling around in agony but Mickey says I was stiff as a board and could only curse uncontrollably on the floor. (You’ll be able to click here to see video of me whimpering during tasering when we post it soon.) Thank you, Jay Cohen, for sharing the Dazzler without reducing any of us to a heap of nauseate on the floor. But, dear Admiral, may I recommend a good test subject? Colin Angle tells me he really needs to be dazed.
 With his recent camera innovations,Steve Silverman is poised to inherit Doc Edgerton's mantle. Steve, at his company Advanced Scientific Concepts, has created a camera that is capable of taking pictures at the speed of light.
By using a single lens and a sophisticated array of photon detectors, signal processors and computers he is able to freeze a 6 nanosecond pulse of laser light (roughly 6 feet long) and do this feat 30 times a second. Steve takes individual photos or a complete sequence over a very short period of time to create a movie. The movie can be processed to create a 3 dimensional model of the scene - each picture is illuminated at a subsequently different time, and hence, a farther distance.
 What can you do with such a camera? The camera, since it operates at the speed of light, provides blur and distortion free readings of distance from many sources simultaneously. So the first applications that comes to mind is for collision and obstacle avoidance for both manned and autonomous vehicles.
Another set of uses that Steve touches on is surveillance and battlefield or conflict area intelligence. He shows a series of images taken through a window with venetian blinds drawn. The light illuminates the window and the blinds first, then a person sitting in a chair behind the window and finally, the back wall.
Check out Advanced Scientific Concepts to see more of their work. You can view Steve talking about the system at Gadgetoff 2007.
 One of the most inspired and dynamic presentations at Gadgetoff 2007 featured Josh Klein’s “Crow Vending Machine.” Klein, a graduate student at NYU and long-time creative hacker, is training crows to gather loose change in exchange for peanuts. Crows, part of the family of Corvids (which include ravens, jays, and other highly-adaptable passerine birds) are largely reviled as flying rodents. But Klein envisions a new symbiotic relationship between these intelligent birds and the humans that encroach on their habitat. Klein has designed a method of training crows to pick up found coins and exchange them in a box-like device for a peanut reward.  The splendor of the concept unifies two facts: crows like shiny objects and more than $215 million dollars in coins are lost each year in the U.S. Why not turn a long-standing rivalry between man and crow into something that profits both species? Klein’s Crow Vending Machine device uses a four-step behavior modification training technique to get crows to ultimately find and deliver coins for a reward of peanuts. It is entertaining to imagine a scene from Hitchcock in which swarms of ravens descend en masse aggressively wrestling coins from the hands of panic-stricken city-dwellers. But Klein has a more exquisite vision of inter-species cooperation: before coin-collecting, he envisioned having crows gather trash instead. Klein’s research and thought-process in creating the Crow Vending machine is wonderful. For more information, read his thesis and view his Gadgetoff presentation.
 During the summer I learned to fly a number of cool radio controlled vehicles - from tiny helicopters to little indoor planes to the oh-so-fun Wowwee Dragonfly which flaps its wings; but the one I spend the most time with has to be the AH-64 Apache helicopter from Hobbytron.
I've flown RC helicopters in the past- everything from 2 channel (easy to take off and land yet difficult to direct) to 4 channel choppers with multiple gyros (versatile yet hard to control). None of these experiences prepared me for the AH-64 - this heli is amazing, it can hover, it moves easily to where you point it and, best of all, it hasn't broken yet!
The AH-64 costs about $120 which is a quarter of the cost of my other 4 channel heli that I got from Japan a few years ago; it performs better, costs less and is substantially more fun. Even though the Apache is the easiest 4 channel heli I've ever touched, 4 channels are not for everyone - balancing pitch, bank, yaw and power takes time and patience. I recommend this bird to anyone who has tried the little 2 channel toys and yearns for something more.
Our friend and world-class photographer Peter Menzel introduced everyone at Gadgetoff to "Hungry Planet", his book about what people around the world eat. He also went and surreptitiously took a super-hi-res image of the covered outdoor area of our event using a robotic mount attached to small digital camera. The result is this fascinating GigaPan of Gadgetoff.
GigaPan, developed by NASA and Carnegie Mellon, is the mother of all panoramas. It uses many low or medium resolution photos to create one incredibly high resolution photo. This process is obviously useful on other planets and moons to create stunning pictures but it is also quite handy here on Earth.
The process doesn't work too well for motion since the photos are taken sequentially but it does produce some wonderfully artistic effects when someone's head floats in the ether sans their body.
 EG 2007 (Entertainment Gathering) is roughly a month away and if it is anything like last year, it will be an event that shouldn't be missed. EG was created and launched by Richard Saul Wurman (founder of TED and producer of more than 80 books) and is now directed by our good friend, Michael Hawley.
EG brings together interesting people from the entertainment business along with philosophers, artists, humourists and, many of the people and ideals that we, at Gadgetoff, also court - inventors, technologists and visionaries.
Last year we were delighted to participate in EG and we appreciate what Michael says - "Knowing that your most valuable idea is the one you haven't had yet. You will probably uncover more than one at EG. This conference is routinely life-changing."
There is still time to register and we hope to see you there this year.
A favorite tradition of the Gadgetoff is giving away great technology. Since all our friends participate, everybody carries off literally tons of loot. This year, we upped the ante with the laudatory goal of giving our friends high-tech hernias. Instead of passing out gift-wrapped cinderblocks (which was tempting) we decided to create the ultimate Gadgetbag.™
The Gadgetbag actually consisted of two overstuffed bags plus a Gadgetoff t-shirt and -- to carry with your fourth hand -- a large box with a radio-controlled Dragonfly. Here is a partial list of what was in this year’s Gadgetbag:
A Liter of LEGO, in a handy plastic martini-shaker, and information about the $5,000 annual LEGO Creativity Award competition, from LEGO Creation Nation , for those inspired by Nathan Sawaya’s life-size sculpture of Stephen Colbert at Gadgetof
Sandisk’s Cruzer Contour : 8 GB Premium USB 2.0 Flash Drive, in a stylish sliding protective case.
Griffin’s Elevator: a handsome space –saving laptop stand that raises your laptop to a more comfortable viewing level
Griffin’s iTrip Auto: Charge and play your iPod through your car stereo in one elegant power and play cable connector. I love the backlit display screen so I can see what the heck’s going on adjusting channels while driving at night. Special thanks to Paul Griffin who not only runs a great company but is an astonishingly decent guy.
MagicJack: A USB system that lets you “never pay a monthly phone bill again.” Plug your phone into the MagicJack which is connected to your computer and begin making and receiving local, domestic, and international calls. You get a free phone number to receive calls from anywhere in the world plus (Comes with a free one-year subscription, but there’s a $19.95 fee each year afterwards.)
Spore T-Shirt: “Composed of Matter , Anti-Matter, and It Doesn’t Matter” from Maxis. Love having the exclusive t-shirt… but after Will Wright’s amazing new demo, we NEED the game!
Make Magazine: Tim O’Reilly’s amazing play-space for the rest of us… folks who like to make stuff, poke an eye out, with smart ideas from this do-it-yourself technology compendium. Special thanks to Gadgetoff pals Phil Torrone, Limor Fried, Saul Griffith and the rest of the Makezine and Makerfaire folks who share our love to Make Trouble.
Think Geek’s Annoy-a-tron: What to give someone who has everything but deserves nothing? The Annoy-a-tron is just the thing. This tiny erratic beeping, buzzing, noisy menace is a convenient gag to drive your nemesis bonkers. Three mind-numbing sound patterns and a magnet for easy hiding help make the Annoy-a-tron the perfect human “equalizer.” We won’t reveal who donated them because he (or she) doesn’t want them back!
Steaz Energy Organic Fuel Drink: Lightly carbonated but heavily, ludicrously (80 mg worth!) caffeinated. We gave out cans of this stuff because we like watching our friends run around like hamsters in a wheel.
Lenovo Laptop Bag (plus 2 GB USB Laptop Memory Key): Celebrating the Thinkpad’s 15-th anniversary, our friends at Lenovo kindly provided the tough Messenger Max bag to protect your notebook in style. Green and black with all kinds of pockets, straps, and places for peripherals. Love the bag… and love the added micro-mini 2-GB USB Memory Key Lenovo included just to show off.
Free Blimp Ride: Gadgetoff attendees get to ride free on Dan Nachbar’s Airship Alberto, the first Personal Blimp, a truly unique airship design. Hot air (not helium) is used for lift and the unique tail design offers unprecedented maneuverability. Dan Nachbar’s radical design has pumped-up the blimp world: a breed of economical airships that can turn on a dime and be deployed in many new ways.
Speed of Light Imaging: Advanced Scientific Concepts demoed an astonishing Portable 3D Video camera that takes pictures at the speed of light. They included a marvelous lenticular postcard showing a single 6 nanosecond pulse of light travelling across an airplane in-flight. A true 3D image is derived from the light captured in real-time, showing the airplane from several different perspectives from a single snapshot. (I liked the looking-through-venetian-blinds demo but they would let us have that… )
Robert Sabuda/ Matthew Reinhart Pop-Up Books: Everyone received a copy of one of the amazing 3-D pop-up books designed and created by the astonishing team Sabuda and Reinhart. Their books are a visual tour-de-force and the discussion on how they create them is captivating (so watch it on-line). GadgetBags contained one of four different books: Mega Beasts; Maurice Sendak’s first pop-up book Mommy? ; Twelve Days of Christmas; and America the Beautiful. Everyone should get all four!
Flytech’s Dragonfly: When Wow Wee toys gave us a sneak peek of the first remote controlled flying insect, the Dragonfly, we wanted one for everybody at Gadgetoff. This ultra-light dual wing design seems a tad flimsy at first, but flight after flight, the Dragonfly is a mighty craft. Even for the spatially challenged (moi), the flying bug is easy to control. We provided them in two different frequencies so friends can fly together.
iRobot Pen: When our pals at iRobot offered us the newly redesigned floor cleaning Roomba or the floor washing Scooba, we figured everyone at Gadgetoff surely must have purchased at least one of these amazing machines already, so we insisted they give us a pen instead. It’s a cool “acrobat” pen that shoots out like rocket when the button is pushed… but it doesn’t even clean the gutters or watch my children remotely. Oh, iRobot just made robots for that as well. And to clean the pool… to Taser gunmen… to carry water to soldiers in the field… and to disarm thousands of IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) better than anybody else. But, ever shrewd, we went for the pen!
DARPA Playing Cards: Perhaps it is a sad statement of our nation’s values that in the 50 years since DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency) was founded it has done more to revolutionize America’s technological leadership position than any other public or private initiative. But DARPA’s contribution has been extraordinary and many of the best innovations are detailed in this low-tech deck of playing cards.
Kaltura Wooden Puzzle: Shay David demonstrated his cool new video collaboration technology that allows collaborative video projects they call “Kalturas.” Since they couldn’t give everyone video-cameras, they gave them some painted wood blocks with elastic inside…
Piezo Popper Kit: Easily one of the most popular display tables at Gadgetoff was the fun science projects, kits, and materials stacked a mile-high from Educational Innovations. They provided a simple-to-assemble kit that includes a Piezo electric igniter and a simple empty plastic film canister. Simple assembly, a drop or two of alcohol, and the press of a button sends the film canister flying hundreds of feet. Oh, and the nice “BANG!” wakes up the folks at the other end of the room.
101 Outer Space Projects for the Evil Genius: Dave Prochnow : Our friend Dave is a not-so-evil but rather inspired educator and inventor. A magical book of do-it-yourself gentle mayhem you can create with a soldering iron. Thanks to McGraw- Hill, who we also must thank for the outrageously strong book bags that held much of the loot.
The latest issues of magazines from our friends at WIRED, and SEED, plus catalogs from the amazing folks from Think Geek (who provided t-shirts and tons of other support for Gadgetoff) and Educational Innovations (who gave us the piezo poppers and brought their wonderful science educational material to the event.)
Milgo-Lalvani: A collectors set of “Systems” postcards of their “Morphics Projects” by our pals who created the amazing sculptural centerpiece at Gadgetoff. Milgo-Lalvani designed unique and stunning expandable and morphable surfaces made from single sheets of metal.
Radioactive Marble: Let “Pablos the Hacker” describe the “gift” he donated: “These marbles contain trace amounts of uranium dioxide. Just enough radiation to get a reading off a Geiger counter like the cool yellow one I brought to Gadgetoff. These marbles will glow green like alien eyeballs under a black light. The radiation levels are considered "safe" - you know, like everything else at Gadgetoff.”
Poolside: Melcher Media provided the latest in their series of absolutely waterproof books. Take this book poolside, into the bathtub, or even scuba-diving (if you just can’t put this page-turner down.) Poolside features short stories by Ernest Hemingway, John Updike, and Joyce Carol Oates, and many others. Charlie Melcher has re-invented the entire nature of what a book can be and this is a fine example. The patented Durabook technology contains no wood pulp or cotton fiber; comprised instead of a synthetic paper constructed of plastic resins and inorganic fillers. It is also stain and tear resistant.
Tesla pin: We tried to get our hands on the hottest 100% electric car, the Tesla roadster (accelerating zero to 60 in under 4 seconds), with a staggering 245 miles per charge. We did get Martin Eberhard , co-founder and President of Technology of Tesla Motors, to give a tremendous presentation, and they were kind enough to give us pins which I suppose can be traded in for a Roadster one day. Sadly, reservations for all the 2008 vehicles are already filled, so get on the waiting list for next year!
Gadgetoff T-Shirt: Last, but not least, we hope you got the world’s most exclusive t-shirt (courtesy of ThinkGeek.) Our breathtaking logo on black heavyweight cotton… with our motto “Bringing the Smart and Useless Together” on the back.
 Saul Griffith (a Gadgetoff alum) and his un-indicted co-conspirators Nick Gragotta and Joost Bonsen have just published the ultimate "science-meets-adventure-and-mischief comic book" called "HOWTOONS! The Possibilities are Endless."
You have probably seen their work in MAKE Magazine which ranges from building your own zoetrope to kids getting out of hairy situations using MacGyver-like applications of real scientific principles.
Perhaps it is because of comic books that are really fun and packed with learnin' that Saul just won a MacArthur "Genius" award. I wish I had spent more of my youth reading comic books instead of wasting my time just building things...
 New Jersey understands the value of Gadgetoff - Governor Jon Corzine signed a proclamation that declared the date of our infamous event as "Gadget and Innovation Day". Here are some exerpts from his proclamation -
"WHEREAS, the 7th Annual Gadgetoff event, known as 'Gadget and Innovation Day,' was held on September 28, 2007 at Liberty State park and Liberty Science Center..."
"WHEREAS, the goal of the event is to celebrate scientific education and recognize technological breakthroughs that inspire future growth..."
"Now, THEREFORE, I, JON S. CORZINE, Governor of the State of New Jersey, do hereby proclaim SEPTEMBER 28, 2007 AS GADGET AND INNOVATION DAY"
 When we started our planning process for this year's Gadgetoff we found all kinds of photos and videos from previous years that demanded our attention. These, of course, required a total redesign of our website. Please view our Presentations and our new Past Gadgetoffs sections.
This year's event is shaping up and is scheduled for September 28th. As always, Gadgetoff is an invitation-only event. If we haven't contacted you and you feel "worthy" then please contact us.
 I have always loved playing with radio control toys. Living in New York City has made it difficult to learn how to fly a plane - until now. The Air Hogs Aero Ace is an inexpensive electric plane that is easy to fly indoors. The plane has a resilient foam body and propellers that are mounted behind the wing, this allows the plane to crash over and over again (in my case add a few more "overs") without any damage at all.
By simply adjusting the speed of each of the two propellers it is easy to control the lift and direction of the plane. Charging is quickly accomplished by connecting the plane to the controller for a few minutes and then back into the air you go.
 Most people won't have a living room big enough to fly in but the plane will work outdoors (low wind) and in gyms and other large spaces. This is truly a wonderful little toy and for roughly $40 it can't be beat.
You should also check out the Havoc helicopter. It is easy to fly and handles crashes well but the controls are rather limited and steering requires a bit of luck. The heli costs about $30.
Look ma I'm flying!
 Virtually invisible and flying a mere 75 feet overhead is the new "Phantom Sentinel" from VeraTech Aero.
The Phantom uses a unique "Y" shape which features 2 propellers and 3 asymmetric blades to soar overhead and transmit real-time panoramas to a viewer wearing VR glasses.
VeraTech Aero is primarily targeting the Phantom for military and law enforcement but we can't imagine that something this cool won't find other uses like - photographing Gadgetoff from the air!
 I have a new friend, and his name is Chumby. While only in alpha release, the cute little wireless Flash player is going to be big. The device sports two speakers, an LCD color touch screen, accelerometers, a bend sensor and WIFI.
The Flash widgets look and feel like the "gadgets" and "widgets" on Vista and Mac OS-X. The current widget menu consists of the standard diet of weather, news and stock prices along with some great new treats like flickr photos, PandaCam and Shamu Cam.
The best part is that the platform is open - everything from widget creation to the hardware to the soft beanbag case is encouraged to be hacked. My hacks will integrate the Chumby into my home automation system. Other hacks being discussed have touched on VOIP and video playback. My unit doesn't have the MP3 player yet but I hear that it will be available soon.
I haven't heard what the price point is going to be, so that is still up in the air. While the alpha unit is a little bit clunky, I still love my Chumby. Ooh, I think I just saw Shamu swim by...
Wired Magazine's Nick Thompson borrowed some gadgets from us for the Live with Regis and Kelly tech week that aired on Feb 2, 2007. Here is what we gave him and why.
 First shown was one of my personal favorites the Samsung YP- K5 music player. Similar in size (but a lot thicker) than the iPod Nano this unit does all the same things the nano does with one major difference. It opens in the middle to reveal a tiny set of surprisingly good stereo speakers. Placed on a flat surface the volume and sound quality is very respectable. The unit also has an FM radio and a built-in alarm clock. It comes with different memory configurations; the one we loaned Nick was a 4GB version. It retails for approximately $250.00.
 Next up was the SanDisk Sansa Rhapsody E280. This Nano clone works with the Rhapsody music service. While you can load MP3’s on it, the real advantage is that a Rhapsody subscription will keep the unit filled with music for a fixed monthly fee of $14.95 a month. This way you can choose from millions of songs and change them out everyday if you like. The player has 8GB of flash memory and also has a voice recorder and FM radio. Battery life is respectable at 20 hours and you can even add more capacity through micro SD cards. You can even record off of the FM radio on the fly. It has a bright 1.8” TFT display and a user replaceable battery. This also costs about $250.00.
 Nick then showed the Microsoft Zune. This new entry from Microsoft has had a lot of press written about it questioning Microsoft’s strategy and product design. Indeed the unit is bigger than the iPod it is competing with but the larger screen is nice, it comes in multiple colors, you can customize the wallpaper on the screen and best of all you can share your music (with limitations) to other Zune users who are nearby. As Microsoft continues to build up it’s Xbox Live service the WiFi capability of this player will likely become very useful. The unit comes with 30GB of storage and also costs $250.00.
Finally Nick showed off the new Apple iPod Shuffle, it holds a gig of music is amazingly small and costs a mere $79.00. I was asked at the Churchill Club event last December what I was giving as tech Christmas presents and this was on top of my list! Now the shuffle comes in 5 different colors – and since you basically wear this on your shirt, having different colors makes accessorizing your clothes a snap.
We were over at our friend's house last night and the center of attention was their 2 year old's shiny new PlasmaCar. Simply sit on the ample seat, put your legs up and turn the steering wheel back and forth. The car easily moves eerily forward and handles amazingly well.
The PlasmaCar seems to violate the laws of physics - wiggling the wheel makes it go forward? Why? Well, offset drive wheels use their sides to magically pull the car forward. The result is a beatifully simple, clever and inexpensive design. I won't be surprised when I see these popping up at Internet startups everywhere.
But why should the kids have all the fun? The PlasmaCar supports a rider up to 220 pounds. Unlike most ridable kid toys, it is easy for a 6 foot adult to sit on and control. This toy makes me feel like having another child...
 Wired Magazines Nick Thompson, a Gadgetoff participant, was recently asked to show off cool gadgets as part of the Live with Regis and Kelly tech week. Nick did what a lot of knowing folks do - he contacted Gadgetoff to find out what was cool. Nick left our “labs” with a large bag of goodies.
First up was the smart phone category. We showed the Motorola Q, the Palm Treo 700P and the Nokia E61/62. The Q runs Windows Mobile software, the 700P runs Palm software and the E61/62 the open-source popular Nokia software. All three have their advantages and downsides which is why I have all three!
The Motorola Q, a CDMA phone, is the least expensive full featured smart phone out there today. It is very small yet has a full QWERTY keyboard and with its EVDO high speed modem can easily connect to web pages and email. The phone takes memory cards for additional storage and if you add a free program like Shozu you can not only take pictures and store them on the phone but automatically upload them as soon as they are taken to your favorite website like Flickr. The phone is available from both Verizon and Sprint.
The Nokia E61/62 is a GSM phone that is capable of running on the new HSPDA high speed service that is similar to the CDM EVDO. The Nokia has the unique advantage of being one of the few phones that works in the US, Europe and Japan. The E61 is the version available from outside the US and has the added advantage of working on WiFi networks. Dynamism has it in the US. The E62 is sold in the US by Cingular, which is the only US carrier to offer the HSPDA data service. These phones can also connect to a Blackberry server for mail as well as many third party applications including Skype. The phone has a full QWERTY keyboard. If you travel overseas this is a very interesting smart phone.
The Treo 700P is very popular because of the Palm operating system which in many ways is easier and more intuitive than the windows mobile software on the Motorola Q and Samsung Blackjack. One very nice feature of the 700P is the Bluetooth connection to a remote GPS receiver. The unit I loaned to Nick had the Telenav navigation software on it that turned the 700p into a full navigation device. The advantage of an external GPS antenna receiver is that when it used in the car the receiver can be placed in position so it always sees the satellite while the phone can be kept on the seat or in the ashtray. Why is this important you may ask? Well, since Nick had my phone I had to rely on the still very good Verizon VZnav software on the Samsung A990. The problem is that the phone couldn't always see the satellites so it relied on a combination of GPS and triangulation from different cell towers. The result was less accurate navigation and a constantly recalculated route. One major advantage of cellphone based navigation over standard GPS is that you don't have to carry multiple devices; you also don't have to worry about loading maps when you change areas, it knows about traffic and can reroute you. The cellular connected GPS has many other features as well like local business search and locating the lowest cost gas. The downside is that if you happen to be in an area without decent cellular data capability the navigation will not work at all. A solution is to load Pharos software on your phone and use a remote Bluetooth receiver then you can venture where there is no data service but you have to load the appropriate maps! ( now you see why I carry multiple devices!)
As for non smart phones one that caught Nick’s eye was the new Helio Drift. Helio is a joint venture between SK Telecom, South Koreas major telecom provider and Earthlink. Helio is a an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) which means that the actual network it works on is provided by others. In this case the network is Verizon and Sprint. Helio is designed to bring the cool Korean phone capabilities to the US market (Korean cell phones make most US models look like old time crank phones!) The excellent Verizon and Sprint networks give the phone all the capabilities of high speed data and cool features. The drift is EVDO has GPS plays music plays video including ripped DVD’s take external storage has a multi mega pixel camera that takes stills and movies and can support stereo Bluetooth headphones like the Plantronics that Nick demoed on the show. If that were not enough the Helio phone has a cool feature called buddy beacon . Using the phone’s GPS capabilities it finds any of your buddies that have their beacon on who are close to you. So if you are at the cool night spot and want to know which of your friends are nearby the Drift lets you know. Once located you can send then text or IM messages or if you are old fashioned actually speak to them using voice as it is a full featured phone as well. The phone is available at retail stores like the FYE music chain and at some Helio branded stores in NY and LA.
Also catching Nick’s eye was the Linksys wireless Skype phone. It looks like a regular candy bar phone except it works via WiFi and allows you to make free (or very low cost) calls without a PC. The concept is great if you are on your own wireless network but most public WiFi sites require you to log on to a signup page and the phone’s lack of a web browser makes that virtually impossible. Nevertheless we will see many more models coming out in the future that hopefully will solve this issue. In the meantime the E61 might be a better bet. The Linksys Skype phone can be had a numerous online sites like Amazon.com
Phones that I like a lot but that I did not let Nick take (because I was on a trip and needed them) are the HTC TYTN another HSPDA phone that like the E61 works around the world, runs on the Microsoft Mobile platform, has WiFi, quad band GSM, GPRS and Bluetooth. It has a full QWERTY slide out keyboard and has two cameras- one low resolution on the front for video conferencing and the other high resolution on the back for video and photography. The phone can run Shozu and can be used with the Slingbox to watch remote TV and auto syncs with a corporate exchange server with full push email. The TYTN can be had online again available at Dynamisim.
Another phone we did not give him is the Vcast enabled Samsung A990 on Verizon. In addition to the GPS features the phone has a 3.2 megapixel camera with flash, a unique swivel screen and supports the high speed EVDO network. Finally the phone has an audio/ video jack so you can connect the phone to a TV set and watch content stored on it - from video taken with the camcorder to a slide show of photos.
That said the device I use the most is none of the above but rather a Blackberry 8700c which is still the best email device out there. Even the very cool Apple iPhone cannot knock the Blackberry from its perch as the king of email. The phone is easy to use and through its thumb wheel, can be operated by one hand. The keyboard is the best in any portable device with the right compromise between size and functionality. Applications like Google Local, Siteline (which aggregates blogs) and Impactia (which allows the phone to be used as a source for PowerPoint presentations) just add to its utility. The Blackberry is the one phone all three of the Gadgetoff founders use. Buy the 8700C from Cingular if you want to use it outside the US, or get the 8703E from Verizon if you prefer their high speed network and only need it in the US.
 Everyone who travels with electronics knows what a pain it is to carry different power adaptors and finding outlets to plug them into makes matters even worse. There is an obvious need for a low-power standard. The ubiquitous USB interface is the closest thing we have to solving the problem.
Certainly, useful devices like cell phones, headsets, memory sticks and cameras use USB now for power, but this smart standard has spawned an impressive array of useless devices as well.
The folks at EverythingUSB list gadgets like the Seat Heating Pad, Ghost Radar, Noodle Strainer, Vacuum Cleaner, and Ashtray. ThinkGeek is selling Rocket Launcher, Snowman, Holiday Tree, Aquarium, Mug Warmer, and Lava Lamp. We've used our CoolIT USB beer coolers in the past with great success.
 The silliest use of USB has to be the humping dog, it uses up your batteries and what do you have to show for it - dirty pants and a dead laptop battery?
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