Trust me, it’s a lot less rude than it sounds. This is possibly the smallest Mathmos product yet and if you’ve already had a few Lava lamps in your life, you might think of getting this portable little flasher to carry around.
The idea is that you hook it up to your mobile phone and it flashes when a call comes in. Great for those times in the cinema when you want to receive a call but don’t want to be kicked to death by the other movie goers. Also cool, if you happen to be a teenage girl.
Either way, the Mathmos Light Charms come in two versions: the Astro is a mini-Lava lamp and the Bulb, well, is a bulb. The Astro comes in blue or red/blue and Bulb is available in blue or white.
Both come with batteries included and cost an insignificant £7.50 each.
Jump now for a shot of the Bulb.-Martin Lynch
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Arcam makes quality audio and DVD products at a price that some people can just about afford.
The new Arcam Solo Movie 2.1, at a shade under £1,500, is one of those. It’s a stylish-looking upgrade to the existing audio system, the Solo Music 2.1 that adds quite a bit on the movie side of the equation - just not surround sound.
As the 2.1 in the name depicts, this is a two-speaker stereo system so those looking for surround sound should head elsewhere. Think of it as a system for audio lovers who just happen to watch the odd movie and couldn’t bear to have five speakers and the associated wires draped around the living room.
The video and upscaling technology is taken from Arcam's £1,000 DVD players and supports 1080p HDMI Full HD switching. You can hook it up to all HDTVs, iPods, Sky HD box, PS3, Xbox 360 Elite, room to room systems and more. There are two 50Watt amps driving the sound and the audio processing is described as a major upgrade from the £1,000 Solo Music 2.1. There’s also a DAB/FM radio.
There’s no doubt you get a lot for your money but, at £1,500, you need a lot of money to get it.-Martin Lynch
[Arcam]
music movies hi-fi
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After losing a heap of weight and becoming a true gadget supermodel recently with the introduction of the PSP Slim & Lite, the handheld seems to be going from strength-to-strength in terms of functionality.
The next version of the of the firmware, 3.80, is going to add Internet radio via Wi-Fi to what is becoming one of the most versatile gadgets out there.
In addition to being able to stream Net radio, version 3.80 also brings a few other appreciated tweaks, including video scene searching – instead of just by timeline – and RSS support for photos and OPML feeds. Japanese PSP 2000 owners with 1Seg tuners can use an EPG and turn the PSP into a DVR. The software will even turn the PSP off to save batteries once the recording is down.
The Japanese get the firmware update tomorrow, Dec 18th, so it’ll be a few weeks at most before the update flies this way.-Martin Lynch
PSP sony handheld radio
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There have been more than one or two footie fan scuffles over botched referee and linesmen decisions, many of which have cost teams valuable points.
Adidas has been working on the problem for sometime, and today sees the launch of a new ‘smart’ football, the latest version of the technology it has been working on since 2003 and which it introduced first in 2005.
This is the Teamgeist II football and it’s a whole lot smarter – and more expensive - than your normal air-filled leather sac. This one is filled with technology and uses a magnetic field to track the location of the ball on the field at any given time. This information is fed to a computer and the data is sent directly to the ref. In other words, it can tell him if the ball was over the line or not, regardless of what the linesman thinks, and therefore prevent the odd mash up between the fans as well as lengthen his own lifespan.
“The purpose of the adidas intelligent ball and Goal Line Technology is to provide greater transparency during a match and to assist the referee in making quick decisions that can impact the outcome and quality of the game” said Hans-Peter Nuernberg, Senior Development Engineer, adidas Innovation Team. “We expect the system to perform very well during the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan and we will continue to refine the system so that it is 100% accurate.”
The ball was used first this weekend at the FIFA Club World Cup in Japan and if the tests work out, this clever ball will be the ball of choice for the World Cup in 2010.-Martin Lynch
[Adidas]
football sport adidas
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Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
Contributor | Tamlin Magee
