Women Gadgets Shopping Guide

Turning iPod Nano 6G into Wristwatch

tulank — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 09:28:45 +0000

I was quite surprised of my findings when I googled about turning iPod Nano into a wristwatch. I thought the Hex watchband was the only band you can wear the iPod Nano with, but later I found out that there are quite many bands had been invented to turn the iPod into an actual wristwatch, starting from just plain bands to the serious ones with bolt and screw to safely store the iPod. These are some of my findings:

Maratac Zulu Watch Straps, $17.00
I think this is the simplest straps to wear the iPod Nano with. Well from the look I guess you can say that this isn’t specifically design to hold iPod. It’s just the 22mm nylon bands to go with other kinds of watches.

The NanoWatch, $11.99
I didn’t know why this one is called the NanoWatch; first it’s only the strap, not include the nano or a watch, and second it wasn’t released by Apple either. But when I took a look at the picture again I read the lines ‘Designed in Copenhagen by NanoWatch’. So, I guess it’s the name of the company that produced or designed it. This one is 100% made of eco-friendly materials, and comes with 3 fun colors: Blue, Grey, and Pink.

iPod Nano Leather and Steel Watchband, $49.90
Well, this one is made of leather, but the steel only work as a place where you can clip your Nano to, and to open a bottle.

NGP by Incipio, $35
Just like the name, this iPod Nano case is made of Next Generation Polymer (NGP) while you can wear it around your wrist with the nylon and Velcro interchangeable strap. This one was truly designed for the iPod Nano, you can see that from the shape and size which is carefully measured to secure the fragile iPod.

iWatchz Nanoclipz®, $24.95
This one can be found at Apple retail stores and available in 8 colors, all you have to do with it is ‘Press, Slide, and Click’ and you can have the Nano wrapped around your wrist. It is very simple and secure.

TikTok+LunaTik, $39.95 & 69.95
Both of them are similar in design, but LunaTik will seriously keep your iPod safe and secure since its completed with bolts and screws. These items cannot be found in the market yet, but they can be pre-ordered from the official website.

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Solas, the Glowing Bags

tulank — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:12:36 +0000

I was a little confused in deciding which category this article should belong to, fashion or gadget. Because the idea of lights within the bag makes it a gadget, while the item itself is a part of fashion items. But well, I guess I will leave the problem behind because the most important thing to do right now is to give you a brief explanation about this clever product.
So what does a Solas bag do? Like I told you before the bag has a light inside to help you finding certain items you put there. This is actually a very simple but clever and effective idea. And why haven’t we thought of that before? I mean how many times we have the trouble in finding our keys or any small items we put inside our bag, especially at night, or when we are in a movie theatre? Most people perhaps will do what I do, that is using the cell phone as flashlight to search inside the bag. That was also what Kara Kurcz did to find her keys in her handbag on a warm Hollywood night, which made her boyfriend teased her by saying that she needed a light in her purse.
The tease was soon turned into a creative idea. With the help of her boyfriend, Brian, the television producer started to design a fashionable and functional purse, while Brian focused on the light. Kara’s idea of glowing bags was not just a bag with light, but she wants a bag that would brighten a woman’s day, and the light should be inspired by the power of color. She finally came with the name of Solas, a Gaelic word that means ‘light’, for her company.
Each of Solas bag is powered with 2 AA batteries. The light will automatically turn on and off when you open and close the purse, since the magnetic switches will allow it to do so. If the switches are obstructed, the light will stay on and wear your batteries down, but it will not harm your purse.
Solas bags are available in various designs from clutches to totes and can be grabbed in Solas Fashion, with the cost starting from $125.

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HP Laptop Concept Design by Nikita Buyanov

tulank — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 08:11:38 +0000

I found these cool laptop concepts designed by an industrial designer, Nikita Buyanov, for HP. The concepts are really clever and ladylike. Even though there is no news on when these are going to be real laptops, as we girls love anything smart and girly (especially for gadgets), I think you all deserve to know about these concepts.

HP Make-Up
What can be more girly than a pink laptop? Especially when it has a make-up palette tray attached at one side, and that the screen can be turned into mirror for you to do your make-up or when you need a little touch-up. Not only that, you can also have your nails polished by inserting your fingers one by one to a small hole on the other side of the laptop and have your favorite nail art design on each finger. Yep, because this clever laptop is also completed with a built-in on-nail printing device.

HP Perfume
This laptop allows you to change your laptop to a lamp as well as air-freshener, and it has an ability to download smell samples and mix it with smell matrix of HP Perfume laptop. Honestly, I don’t know whether it is possible to download certain smell or not. Because I don’t know how a smell can be stored in virtual database. But I love this transparent looking laptop, especially when they glow into different colors.

HP Nobag
It will be truly amazing if this concept can come into real gadget. A roll-able screen and keyboard , which have touch sensor with hard OLED technology, can really allow you not to give so much room in your bag for a laptop. You can save budget for laptop bag as well. I think the concept was taken from the idea of rolled paper, but as paper’s surface can be quite wavy when it’s unrolled, can we keep the screen or keyboard from being unwavy?

HP Chameleon
There aren’t much information said about this concept, the only thing that makes it special is the adaptive microcell coverage which enables the laptop to be transformed in its surround background.

HP Fitness
From the cover, we might think this concept is made for weight control purposes, but will it require stepping on the laptop to know our weight? This laptop also has a similar bangle for sport sessions. Looks like it will tell how long or far you have run or walked.

HP Mama
Well this one is specially made for Moms. I never knew a laptop specially designed for mothers, so I was quite surprised with this one. The laptop has 3D-free monitor section design and two Bluetooth cameras with amplifier for video-tracking your kids. Well I would rather call this one as ‘the Spy Mama’ since the features are sort of telling you to monitor the kids for 24/7. Unless, the kids are still babies or toddlers, and you need to work with your laptop in another room while the kids are playing or sleeping in their room. It is also completed with a bangle with a beacon, which I don’t know the function yet.

HP Eco
HP Eco has been designed for persons who really concern about the eco issue. This green laptop includes bar-code reader, solar charge cells and a bracelet for controlling blood pressure, pulse, and many more.

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Chatimals, They Say What You Say

tulank — Tue, 25 Jan 2011 09:23:12 +0000

Chatimals actually inspired by the inventor’s son who had a soft toy to which he used to talk to. The son was later asked his father, “Why don’t you try to talk to him?” and offering him the toy. That moment, the father started to create Chatimals.
The idea is basically to have a toy that records and repeats what you have said before. This is probably not the first toy with sound recording and repeating capability, but what makes Chatimals unique is that they repeat your words with their own voice while their mouth will move to the words, so it feels like you have a toy-friend to chat to.
You only need to press the paw, wait for the indicator light, and record your voice with a 30 seconds long message. Your Chatimal will later repeat back your words either with a high-pitched voice or a deep adult manly voice. The chipmunk-like voice will simply make you laugh, especially when you record a giggling sound. Chatimal will automatically turns off if there is no voice for 30 seconds.
Chatimals have an on/off switch, and are operated by using 3 AAA batteries. These 8-inch tall plush toys are available in the forms of three hamsters (Oscar, Sophie, and Max) and one meerkat (Norris). When I checked the official website, it seems like some other animal forms will be available soon.
Chatimals will certainly keep kids and even adults everywhere entertained for hours, as they speak any language you speak, and will say any message you wish to say to your special ones or even sing for them. So compliment your friend, or tell your loved ones how you really feel or think with Chatimals. This will certainly make a very special as well as personal gift for birthday or perhaps Valentine ’s Day which is only a few weeks away.
Each Chatimal is sold separately for £12.00.

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Jewel Buds, Style Your Sound

tulank — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 08:10:09 +0000

We all love our music gadgets and bring them anywhere we go. But what’s a music player without earphones or earbuds? We will normally bring them as well or let them stay attached to our players. So as the pair has become a part of our life (without meaning to be hyperbolic), have you ever thought of making your earphones an accessory? Well Elizabeth Miller and Katherine Haggard do think of it, that is why they created Jewel Buds.

Jewel Buds is the most uniquely styled earbud in the world. It was designed in New York and made with the highest quality components and materials. Not only they look chic and stylish, they also deliver high quality noise isolating sound to the most discerning listeners. This is the right item you would want to have, especially if you are a hip, trend and conscious iPod or other music players’ user.

Jewel Buds was created by E Star Designs, a company which was started in 2007 with the dream of recreating the earbud market to include fashionable jewelry options. The company is comprised of sister team Elizabeth Miller and Katherine Haggard, who saw a gap in the male dominated electronic industry. Both of them really wanted to make a product that catered to women, and Elizabeth started it by switching up white wires into a design on a blank canvas.

The products are categorized into three types; they are Necklaces, School Colors, and Crystal. The Necklaces has three kinds of styles, they are: rosary strand, turquoise and brown beads, and the simple silver balls strand. While the School Colors are made of colorful beads with two color combination on each strand, such as: the Black-Silver, Red-Black, Blue-Orange, Orange-White, Red-White, Garnet-Gold, and Red-Silver. The last type is my favorite, the Crystal, which made of crystal beads that really give bling to the earbud and without a doubt, we will certainly agree to treat our earbud just like other jewelries. The Crystal consists of three color selections: turquoise, gold and pink.

Each of the Jewel Buds costs $29.95. Since the design is still patent pending, you might want to check the websites often and find the new and exciting limited edition designs, as well as supporting the company by purchasing their products.

Rumours of Second Generation iPad

tulank — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:07:15 +0000

We all love Apple and the company’s brilliant products, and after the release of iPad we are quite curious about the second generation of iPad, which according to rumours will soon be released. So, how will it be?

Here are some of the latest iPad 2nd Generation rumours, as adapted from Techradar.

Cameras and a Gysroscope
As complied from several gadget websites, it is suggested that the new iPad should have a front-facing camera like the iPhone 4, or twin cameras instead. It is also suggested that there will be a three-axis gyroscope like in the iPhone , but another source said that after doing a gyroscope testing, Apple decided not to put one in the original iPad.

USB Port and SD Card Slot
There has been a suggestion that iPad 2 will have a USB port, as the users normally love to upload movies, documents and photos. But as Apple is moving increasingly to wireless (as the iPad prints and streams media wirelessly), perhaps such port will not be needed. Instead of having USB port, it is more likely to consider the device having a MicroUSB port or adapter, so the iPad meets the new EU regulations on mobile device chargers.

As for the SD Card Slot, we always need expandable memory no matter what gadget we use. And since we think iPad 2 is a clever gadget, we expect a clever external memory as well.

GSM and CDMA
As quoted from AllThingsDigital, Brian Blair, an analyst says that Apple may be readying a “world iPad” that uses both GSM and CDMA networks, so that the users would be able to get online anywhere in the world.

Thinner Case, More like a MacBook
Still according to Brian Blair, the new iPad will be thinner than the existing model, that it will made from one piece of metal with no pins needed. And just like MacBooks, it will require a new type of manufacturing process.

Retina Display
As the iPhone 4 completed with a gorgeous screen, somehow similar screen will be wanted on iPad 2, and the Apple’s Retina Display is perhaps the answer to that.

We still can’t be sure about that yet, since such screen would massively increase the number of pixels and that would mean increasing the demands on both the iPad’s processor and its battery. So, retina display on iPad 2 is still a challenge for Apple.

Smaller Screen Size
All of Apple’s rivals have lighter tablets and 7-inch displays the most. Some sources predicted that the size of iPad 2 will be 5.6-inch, the size which targets e-books rather than multimedia entertainment. But there are still doubts about it, because it will be such a waste to have gorgeous display such as the retina if we can’t enjoy multimedia entertainment to the fullest.

There are still many rumours about the new iPad, such as about the processor, memory, etc. I just think we should not make too much speculation about the specs, because the more important thing for the Apple’s big fans is when it will be released and how much the price will be.

So to end these rumours, iPad2 is expected to release in the Spring this year. As for the price, it probably won’t change much because we are talking about Apple tablet, which are never disappointing, unlike some other cheapo rubbish tablets.

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Video Watch with OLED Screen

tulank — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:33:33 +0000

Watching video on wristwatch? Well, I can’t decide whether it will be a good idea or not, considering the watch’s screen size, but beside of playing audio, this watch does play video as well.

OLED Video Watch, is the watch which displays videos and images very nicely with a 128 x 128 pixel resolution. The full color OLED screen gives an impressive crisp and bright display with a very well proportioned 1.5 inch size which is not thick or bulky for your wrist. You can play your favorite videos by converting the ASF, AVI, MPEG, WMV, DAT and ASX files into MTV with the included software. The software will help you compressing as well as resizing the video that it will fit to be viewed with the watch.

It also accommodates audio files with the format of MP3/WMA playback complete with 6 equalizer modes. The built-in microphone will allow you to record notes to yourself as meeting reminders, conversations or various ramblings for you to playback later. Your voice will be recorded with the transfer speed of 32 kbps and saved in MP3 format.

The watch is battery powered and USB rechargeable, and it will accompany you watching videos for 4 hours playback, with the whole 7 hours play time. You can store many video and audio files because it has an 8GB storage capacity. It will be easy for you to change the tracks of music or video and to adjust the volume, because the volume, play-pause, track, and menu buttons are provided at the sides of the watch.

This video watch is sold for $89.99, each package includes earphones, mini CD with video conversion software, user guide, USB cable, and Wall AC-to-USB charger. You will need to take a good care of your watch once you purchase it, because it is not waterproof.

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iBangle, the MP3 Player Bracelet Concept for Apple

tulank — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:00:09 +0000

Like the title, this product is still a concept and has not been released yet. Even though this concept has been widely spreaded since 2008, we still can’t see the music player designed by Gopinath Prasana in the market yet.

I made the review of this product because I have previously made the reviews of other wrist-wearable products, such as the iPod Shuffle Bracelet concept by Isamu Sanada and the iPod Nano Gen 6, which because of the size, it can be wrapped around your wrist by attaching it to the additional wristbands. The iBangle concept, however, came before those two products, that is why I feel I have to made the review as well.
So the concept is unique, as well as ground breaking, and it comes with a very fashionable thin aluminum design too. One for the cool features of iBangle is that the band has inflatable cushion at the inner side; this allows you to have it snug to your wrist or dangling like a regular bracelet. Just press the blue button on the band to inflate and deflate the cushion.

You wouldn’t want to be bothered by any cords when listening to your favorite music with iBangle, so the device is completed with wireless earphones. This product comes with no screen, but to control your music track, you can use the multi-touch track pad. Just slide your finger for menu navigation, tap once to select the menu, or tap the Apple logo for home.

I tried to browse several more information about this gadget, such as the memory capacity, and how to transfer the music files into the device, is it USB transferable or bluetooth, and how to recharge the gadget if it has ran out of power. Unfortunately, I still cannot find such information mentioned in the world wide web. Anyway, I think the concept is brilliant and will definitely make a hit when it’s released.

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Earphone Speaker Keychain

tulank — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 09:48:00 +0000

Anytime you need music you can simply turn on your MP3 players or those fancy phones you have and use earphones or earbuds to listen to your favorite music. But, what if you want to share it with your friends right away? If it’s only one friend, maybe you can share your one of your earphones either left or right, but what if you have let’s say a group of friends whom you wish to share the music with? And in this case, your phone is not the speaker-phone type and your MP3 is definitely only has one small hole to plug in the earphones/buds. Of course I’m not suggesting you to carry a bulky speaker system around just to share a single track of music (well, not even for sharing the whole album either). We always want something portable, don’t we? Even for this purpose. So forget about a big speaker box or the troubling wires and cords that come with it, because what you need is this Earphone Speaker Keychain.

This little gem can come along with your other keys because wherever you take your keys to, there your speaker will be since it is attached on your keyring. The Earphone Speaker Keychain looks like an oversized earbud, it fits into any standard 1/8” headphone jack, and comes with quite crisp and clear sounds. You don’t need batteries to use this speaker because it’s just a plug and play speaker. So plug it into any 1/8” jack, and enjoy the important music moments.

The size of this Earphone Speaker Keychain is approximately 1.25” speaker diameter, and 1.75” long from the end of speaker to the base of plug. The speaker will not work with the 1st gen iPhone, but it will work with all other gens.

This great little speaker is sold for only $8.99. This is just the right item you need when the mood of music strikes you. With the small size, you can just keep it on your keyring, backpack, the zipper of your favorite jacket, or anywhere you might want it when listening to music. Just pop it in and out of the keychain part for easy use.

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Thanko’s Micro Sport MP3 Player

tulank — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 08:05:48 +0000

We have always wanted to have mini MP3 players, and in our time, we have seen some. Such as the iPod Shuffle, which size is relegated to a gum-stick. The best thing about tiny gadgets is they can be carried easily and can be used at anytime and in anywhere we want. So here’s another tiny MP3 player which will force us to revise the definition of ‘tiny’.

Thanko Micro Sport MP3 player is a very tiny Japanese MP3 player which comes with the size of ONLY two sugar cubes. With its tiny size you can store your favorite music for up to 4 GB, and you can hear them in full stereo sound. The main unit of this player is attached directly to the side of one of the earbuds, while the other earbud trails on a cord around the back of your head, just reaching the opposite ear.

It is incredibly easy to load the music into this gadget. You can simply plug the player into the USB port of your computer, and copy over any MP3 files you want to play. It mounts just like a USB thumb drive. The player is also completed with built-in Li battery which can be recharged by connecting it to computer with the included USB cable.

Since the player is imported from Japan, all the directions in the manual are written in Japanese. So, in case you purchased this item and find difficulties in understanding the instructions, just read the information below.

- Connect the Micro Sport to computer with the included USB cable, and simply copy your MP3 files just like copying files to a USB hard drive. You will not require to install any driver, because the device works with any OS.
- With the included USB cable, you can charge the player by connecting it to computer as well.
- To turn on the device, hold down the circular button on the side for 5 seconds, when the blue LED flicker and flash on and off, then the power is on.
- On the top of the unit, you will find: ‘Next’ and ‘Previous’ buttons to change the music track, and the volume buttons.
- Push and hold the volume button to change the volume, and release your finger when the desired volume has been reached.
- To power off the player, hold down the circular button on the side for 5 seconds, and when the blue LED go out, your unit will stop playing.

Thanko’s Micro Sport MP3 Player sold with an affordable price, starting from $39.99.