The essential gadgets

15:41 21 February 2007

If you're looking for the gadgets that will change your life then you've come to the right place. Whether they're at the cutting edge of technology, make your life easier or simply give you a cheap laugh these are the essential gadgets available at the moment.

Re-useable Champagne Parachute 3.99

Ideal for when you have something to celebrate but you don't want to clock somebody on the head as you open up the champagne. This device connects to the cork and when the bottle is opened and the cork flies out, a parachute deploys that lets it glide gently to the floor. It's re-useable so never again will a champagne toast be followed up by a trip to A+E.

To see more about the Champagne Parachute visit the I want one of those website.

USB CELL Rechargeable Batteries 12.95

These rechargeable batteries can connected to any USB port to be charged, which means no more shelling out for endless packs of batteries or fiddling about with cumbersome chargers. They glow green while charging and will produce 10%-25% greater capacity than normal NiCD batteries.

To find out more visit the USB CELL website.

Coin Sorter 14.95

Place your loose change into this battery operated coin sorter and it will neatly pile it up into 2, 1, 50p, 20p, 10p, 5p, 2p and 1p piles for you. When the sorter is full it holds 113, enough for a really good night out or whatever takes your fancy. You can always see how much you've saved and because it sorts your shrapnel no more having to dig through an empty jar looking for the big coins.

For more details check out the Gadget Shop website.

Armageddon USB Hub 39.99

For the budding Dr Evils out there this four port USB hub is shaped like a good old fashioned 'end of the world' control panel. It has a key, two switches and a classic red button behind a see through casing. When you push the big red button it emits a loud buzzing noise, perfect for one of those days when the whole world seems against you.

If you fancy threatening the world with annihilation on daily basis then check out the I want one of those website.

Wind Up Rechargeable Devo DAB and FM Radio 100

The Devo is a truly portable radio that can be charged using wind up mechanism if you don't have access to the mains. It has DAB and FM tuners, so you can conserve power if need be. One minute of winding will provide 3-5 minutes of DAB or an hour of FM. It can also be charged using a AC/DC mains adapter or run off the mains supply.

To see more about the Devo look at the Gadget Shop website

ION USB Turntable 120

This is a mix of the old and the new. This USB turntable works like a normal turntable, but it can also be connected to a PC and you can upload all your old music to your digital music library. It even allows you to connect a tape deck and convert your old cassettes. It comes with all the software necessary to clean up scratchy tracks. It is compatible with Macs and PCs but not with Sony Vaio computers.

For more about USB turntables visit ION's website.

Xoro Freeview DVD Tablets 200

There are two models available, the HSD 7500 and 7510; they are both portable multi region DVD players with 16:9 widescreens. They also support VCD, SVCD and Mpeg 1, 2 and 4 video, Mp3 music and can store and JPEG files and Kodak picture CDs. The tablet also has a Freeview tuner so they can show 30 TV channels as well.

The Xoro Freeview tablets are available from Amazon.

WowWee RS Media 225

The latest release from WowWee robotics this has been designed by a NASA engineer. The RS Media has a head mounted camera, a full speaker system and a colour LCD screen in its chest. You view photos, record video and audio and connect him to a PC and edit your footage. It also has four distinct personalities and can detect and avoid obstacles.

For more information visit the WowWee website.