The North Face Jammu Jacket is one of the first few outdoor jackets made with revolutionary PolarTec Neoshell fabric. For decades, Gore-Tex is the benchmark for waterproof, windproof and breathable outdoor gear. But not anymore, it has got competition.

PolarTec Neoshell is a new material said to be even better than Gore-Tex. Neoshell fabric prevents moisture from coming through even when subjected to water force of up to a 10-foot waterfall. But what’s far more impressive is Neoshell membrane’s unprecedented 2-way airflow capability. Warm air escapes through the membrane more easily than any other waterproof materials available today. It does not require your body’s warm air to build up enough pressure to push through the fabric. Moisture and vapor dries faster than ever. PolarTec Neoshell is the best fabric to keep you comfortable and dry, from rain and sweat.

North Face Jammu Jacket was selected for National Geographics and Men’s Journal Gear of the Year 2011 awards.

The North Face Men’s Jammu Jacket, $399.

When running at night, it is very important to make sure drivers can see you. Nike takes apparel reflectivity up several notches with it’s Vapor Flash running jacket. Nike Vapor Flash has micro glass spheres built in it’s fabric which are capable of reflecting light directly back to the source instead of scattering it. The reflection can be as bright as 400-candlepower ensuring 360-degree high visibility in low-light conditions. Increasing your chances of being seen by drivers and makes running at night as safe as possible.

Should you decide to wear it discretely without the glare, you can flip the jacket inside out, which has a non-reflective matte finish surface. With perforated zip vents to maintain air flow, you stay dry and comfortable. Made from 100% polyester, Nike Vapor Flash running jacket is seam-free, lightweight and durable.

Nike Vapor Flash running jacket, $350.

New Trent’s iCruise IMP1000 is an external backup battery pack capable of holding up to 11000mAh (5V). To give an idea how much battery juice a fully-charged iCruiser IMP1000 holds, you can charge your iPhone 4 six times. Watch up to 50 hours of movies from your iPhone 4. Capable of fully charging iPad’s massive battery.

Compact, small and weights no more than 285g, it’s like having a compact electric wall socket in your handbag ready to top up drained batteries anytime anywhere. If you are often on-the-road, hardly have easy access to the wall plug, the iCruise IMP1000 should be on your packing checklist.

Currently in its 4th generation, New Trent iCruise IMP1000 is better and easier to use than ever. It works with most Apple devices, compact media players, gaming consoles, tablet PCs, Android smartphones and more. Comes with 6-months product warraty. iCruise IMP1000 weights 285g (10.2 oz).

Buy New Trent iCruiser IMP1000, $76.

Looking for a thin and fine tipped Apple iPad stylus? Adonit Jot is your answer. Most tablets these days use capacitive touchscreens. Capacitive type screen respond to contact points of a certain diameter, about 3 to 4 milimeters. That is why most tablet styluses have fat rounded tips which is too big for finer writing or sketching.

The Jot stylus has a very fine heavy metal ball-point tip surrounded by a clear and transparent precision disc. The sharp tip allows for very fine and accurate contact. The thin and clear precision disc covers the minimum contact point width for the iPad capacitive touchscreen to respond. That’s how Jot work around the precision limitations of capacitive touchscreen.

Adonit designed the Jot stylus to feel as close as possible to writing with smooth ball-point pen. There is hardly any friction felt between the tip and surface when writing. The precision disc at the tip is very flexible. You can hold and write with the Jot stylus comfortably at any angle.

Made from aluminium and steel, it looks and feels like a fine quality writing instrument. Replaceable precision discs and caps are available for purchase. Compatible with all capacitive touchscreens: iPads, iPhones, MacBook Trackpads, Magic Trackpads, HTC, Samsung, Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry.

Buy Adonit Jot touch capacitive stylus, $19.99.

iRepel Home Chef Apron uses nano-technology to create a revolutionary fabric surface that is extremely resistant to liquid spills and stains. The fabric is eco-friendly and does not contain harmful chemicals and dyes. The advanced nano technology fabric in iRepel Home Chef Apron is durable, breathable and soft. It’s effectiveness lasts up to 5,000 washes.

Buy iRepel Home Chef Apron, $35.

All-in-one USB cables with multiple connection interfaces are common accessories. But what makes Innergie’s solution stand out among the rest is the clever and stylish hinged design integrating 3 connection interfaces – a micro-USB, USB and Apple 30-pin dock – into a single convenient cord. The Magic Cable Trio is all you’ll need to charge and synchronize smartphones, Blackberries and Apple devices (iPhone, iPad and iPod).

Buy Innergie Magic Cable Trio, $19.

Garject is a smart garlic press by Dreamfarm designed to make peeling and pressing garlic as quick and easy as possible. Simply throw unpeeled garlic cloves into the anodized metal chamber, press handle to crush it, scrape off excess garlic as you open the handle and eject the peel into the bin at a press of a button. Quit peeling garlic cloves or getting your hands messy and stinky. Garject rinses off easily under the tap and is top rack dishwasher safe.

Buy Dreamfarm’s Garject garlic press, $33.

Mohu’s Leaf Plus paper thin HDTV indoor antenna is aesthetically minimal but delivers maximum reception capability. Quick and easy to install and setup. Minimalistic and stylish design suits the modern and contemporary interiors. Omnidirectional reception does away with the hassle of carefully adjusting placement and positioning for clear picture. Leaf Plus adds a high gain, low noise state-of-the-art pHEMT to the already popular and successful Leaf antenna, extending range and further improving TV signal reception.

One of the goals was to keep production cost low while delivering crystal clear reception for over-the-air free broadcasts. A fair amount of engineering study and work is put into the development of Mohu Leaf HDTV antenna. Greenwave Scientific Engineers who designed the original Leaf antenna have designed antennas for the US military for many years. They developed the Leaf antenna using a patent-pending process to deliver high performance reception. Users, to their surprise, even picked up previously undetected over-the-air TV channels with the Leaf antenna.

Mohu Leaf is easy to install. It’s paper-thin design and omnidirectional reception, unlike common TV antennas, allows for versatile discreet placement and positioning. You could easily hide it if you feel antennas are an eyesore.

Buy Mohu Leaf Indoor HDTV Antenna. $75

For under $150 per pair, Pioneer SP-BS41-LR bookshelf loudspeaker delivers outstanding value and sound quality. Audio enthusiasts are highly impressed and gave it glowing reviews. Pioneer’s unassuming bookshelf speakers is designed by Andrew Jones, a renowned HiFi audio engineer. Jones insisted on using quality parts for the speaker’s important crossover element. Similarly no effort is spared on the design and construction of other crucial speaker components such as cone profile, coil, magnet right down to the cabinet’s curved design. All come together to make Pioneer SP-BS41-LR one of, if not the best budget value-for-money Hi-Fi bookshelf loudspeakers available today. Truly an impressive feat considering it sells for only $150 a pair, often less than what you pay for inferior desktop speakers.

Buy Pioneer SP-BS41-LR Bookshelf Loudspeakers (per pair). $150

An alarm clock doesn’t discriminate and when it goes off, everyone in the room without a hearing problem wakes up. If you don’t wish to disturb your roommate, try Chirp, the bedroom clock with a detachable vibrating that clips onto your pillowcase. It discretely wakes you up by vibrating your pillow while your roommate sleeps. For heavy sleepers who doubt the vibration is enough to wake you up, the Chirp’s audible backup alarm will go off after a certain time making sure you get out of bed.

Chirp alarm clock is stylishly designed with smooth touch buttons for control and has a curved tray to hold small items. The blacklit display shows an analog clock and scheduled alarm. The rubber coated plastic clip onto pillowcase securely.

Preorder Chirp alarm clock. $39.99