The Portable Boomtube

The Boomtube (aka, the Stowaway Boomtube H201 Portable Speaker System) by Think Outside is designed to work with nearly any portable music source, including personal MP3 players (read: iPods), Cellular MP3 phones, and laptops.

The anodized aluminum Boomtube comes shaped like, duh, a tube (great for fitting into backpacks, briefcases, and so forth). To use the system, just twist off each end: each end becomes a two-inch speaker, and what remains is a subwoofer-like bass tube.

Costs $199.99 (and you get free shipping until January 31st).

Source: The Gadget Blog.

Deflexion: Laser-tag Board Game

Deflexion is a cool laser-tag board game available at Think Geek:

There are four types of playing pieces, and two of them have mirrors. Game play is simple, and easy to learn, as there are only 3 movement choices. The goal is to eliminate your opponent’s Pharaoh. And, you eliminate the Pharaoh just like they did in olden times – by firing a red laser! Each side of the board is equipped with its own laser, which you press after your turn. The laser bounces from mirror to mirror (always shooting off at a 90 degree angle). If the laser hits any piece on a non-reflective surface, that piece is removed from play. If you eliminate your opponent’s Pharaoh, you win. If you eliminate your own Pharaoh, you will be mocked for all time.

The set comes with the game board, 14 pyramid pieces (7 gold, 7 silver), instructions, and 4 AAA batteries.

Iqua Snake Bluetooth headset

This is the Iqua Snake Bluetooth headset, which is designed to wrap around a car seat headrest for safer vehicular cellphoning.

It features controls for power, volume, answer/end/reject call, last number redial, voice dial, and automatic reconnection. Just 6 hours of charging will provide 300 hours of standby or up to 10 hours of talk time.

It can also be used at the office or at home.

Here’s the product page. Check out the shiny Iqua Snake 2 while you’re there.

Sources: Gizmodo and Gadget Spy.

Ballpark Hot Dog Rotisserie

What better way to make winter feel like summer than to munch on some ballpark hot dogs?

True, there may not be much baseball to watch this time of year… but this nifty device is perfect for the person who likes watching football (or basketball, or hockey, or soccer…) on the boob tube from the comfort of the livingroom La-Z-Boy.

The Ballpark Hot Dog Rotisserie and Bun Warmer gives your wieners that yummy “I’ve been sitting on a greasy grill way too long” taste that every American craves. Cooks your dogs, warms your buns, and even has a detachable oil tray for quick clean up.

Comes in white, black, red, and silver. Costs $50 at Target.

Sources: Gizmodo and Techie Diva.

Samsung SGH i858 gets thumbs up from FCC

The Samsung SGH i858 isn’t on the market just yet (in fact, Samsung has not yet officially announced its release). But it was recently approved by the FCC.

What makes this notable? How about this: the fact that the SGH i858 features a 320×240-pixel, 262,000-color touch screen.

Sweet, eh? Besides the touch screen, the SGH i858 slider phone comes with all the typical features: Bluetooth, expandable memory, infrared, USB, and 2-megapixel auto-focus camera with flash.

No word yet on when it will be made available…

Sources: Gizmodo and Phoney World.

Top Tag Pet ID

A USB thumb drive containing vital information about your pet, in case she gets lost (or, all that simply, is being taken care of by another person, a kennel, vet, etc, while you’re away): this is what the Top Tag Pet ID is all about. Nothing’s easier than to access this information: it only needs to be plugged into an USB port on a desktop computer or laptop, like any other USB drive. Just beware where your dog goes with it–from the FAQ on the website, water doesn’t affect the drive, and it is easy enough to dry in case it gets wet, but salty water is a whole other matter, that will corrode the chip in no time.

Now to hope that the dogs who’ll get this thumb drive aren’t like mine and his sisters, else the Pet ID will end up like most of his toys and colars–removed, then thoroughly chewed!

(Via Engadget)

Launch of the Palm Treo 700w

A rumor has it that the Palm Treo 700w is to launch on January 5th, 2006:

“A person claiming to be a Verizon employee has posted details on the launch and price of the Palm Treo 700w over at HowardForums. The speculation is that the device will be formally announced during the Bill Gates keynote at CES on January 4th. The Palm Windows Mobile smartphone will be available in Verizon’s Business channel on Jan 5th, with retail availability expected shortly after on the 10th.”

The source for this information is on Palm Info Center. The Treo 700w is a CDMA-based phone for the US market, that runs Windows Mobile 5.0 with a 240 x 240 resolution display and 64 MB of memory, and will operate on Verizon Wireless’ BroadbandAccess EV-DO network.

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