If you're a parent, you probably know how much of a pain it is to keep your kids off the Internet and doing whatever it is they're supposed to be doing (that car isn't washing itself, champ). This keyfob from Best Netguard solves all your parenting problems (yes, ALL OF THEM) by letting you turn off the a PC's internet access remotely. That way, you can be sure that your kids aren't IMing or surfing when they're supposed to be doing homework.
Asking them nicely to not use the Internet never works, because they're lying little bastards who will take advantage of you as soon as your back is turned. They learned that from you, after all. – Jason Chen
Product Page [Best Netguard via Coolest Gadgets via Uber Gizmo]
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Someone's figured out a way to combine gadget obsession with chocoholism, and it doesn't bode well for people with self-control issues. A company called "Corporate Gift Showcase" will sell you many pounds of chocolate molded into the shape of iPods, BlackBerries, laptops and HDTVs. They're ostensibly meant to be as gifts from companies purchased in bulk, but there's nothing stopping you from ordering 1,000 chocolate remote controls. That's right, nothing stopping you. So what are you waiting for?! –Adam Frucci
Product Page [via CrunchGear]
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Mitsubishi, Citizen, Sharp, Hitachi and Tanita are working together to create networked exercise equipment, which would track your progress across multiple machines and over time, giving you a detailed report of your time at the gym to go along with your anecdote about that dude who never wipes his sweat off the butterfly machine.
It's an interesting idea, and one that hardcore gym rats are sure to jump all over. It's also something that people with health conditions will probably use to give their doctors more info on just what happens to them when they're physically exerting themselves. Look for the project to pay off sometime next year, at least in Japan, with the results presumably making their way over to the US eventually. –Adam Frucci
Project Page (in Japanese) [via Digital World Tokyo]
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Sat-nav outfit, TomTom knows a thing or two about helping people find their way around or, as some nay-sayers would claim, get hopelessly lost.
The new TomTom Rider is, according to the company, “designed for bikers by bikers”. There are two versions – Rider Europe (£400) and Rider Regional (£300) for the UK & Ireland.
It’s waterproof, naturally, and comes with a new RAM mount that is easy to fit and fits on most motorbikes. The touchscreen boasts large icons for use with gloves and there’s new Bluetooth headset that fits in open and closed helmets. The headset offers noise cancellation so that you can hear directions or take phone calls clearly.
They start shipping at the end of next month. Read more here.-Martin Lynch
sat-nav motorbikes GPS travel tomtom
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Texas Instruments, the creators of the DLP projection technology used in most of the world’s new projectors, think there could a be a quid or two in mini-projectors for mobile phones. That would make it smaller than even the world’s smallest projector.
The company recently previewed a DLP Pico-Projector prototype to a few lucky industry sods, small enough to fit on the tip of your finger. Texas already has a pocket-projection technology out in the market, with products available from Toshiba, Mitsubishi and Samsung.
Researchers, Pacific Media Associates (PMA), thinks the pocket projector category (a bit bigger than this) to hit more than 1 million units by 2010.
The weenie projection tech is being touted for use in phones, digital cameras and MP3/video players. A camcorder with this in-built would be handy. Don’t expect to see anything real though until next year.-Martin Lynch
projector mobile phone video geek
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Evesham is continuing its TV push, following last week’s stylish 9.2in LCD telly, with the introduction of a 26in addition to its Alqemi HDTV range.
Again, price is a major draw here with this good-looking LCD TV, the 26V, coming in at a pocket-friendly £349. It has a native resolution of 1366 x 768 so it's ready for 720p and 1080i video. There’s one HDMI slot and the display boasts a response time of 8ms which should help with a certain amount of image smearing, or ‘ghosting’, during fast action video.
Other connections include twin Scart, S-Video, component and composite, VGA and DVI inputs. There is also a Freeview-ready version, the 26VX, for an extra £50 which sports a CAM (Conditional Access Module) slot for TopUp TV.
Possibly the most impressive feature of this TV – assuming it doesn’t suck on the performance front – is the 3-year, in-home swap out warranty.-Martin Lynch
HDTV LCD TV home
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
