Gadgetoid

There aren’t many shopping days left until Christmas is upon us, and if you’re struggling to choose something for the gadget love in your life, Expansys has come to your rescue with their

Roger Butterworth, CEO at eXpansys said: “Christmas can sometimes feel overwhelming. To simplify the shopping experience, eXpansys is offering a helping hand financially with money off vouchers” - for £5 off when spending over £20 enter voucher code: XMASPRESS09.

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I’m sure there’s an army of mums and dads out there who I simply don’t need to tell just how good the V-Tech First Steps Baby Walker is. It’s an explosion of baby entertainment built into a portable, detachable unit on the front of a robust, easy to collapse walker that has been the apple of my 2.5 year olds eye ever since she saw one at playgroup.

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Christmas is closing in, so why not sit back and partake of a few shameless toy reviews alongside your usual diet of games and technology?

If you’re not familiar with the series, kicked off with the Thomas Post Office Loader then let me introduce you to Thomas and Cranky. This is the second, I think, of the Thomas “non-stop-action” toys, which use an ingenious mechanism for sending a little motorised vehicle shooting around the track and adopting interchangeable covers- taking on the guise of Thomas and Lor1 to transport little plastic balls around the play set.

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Every now and then I’ve hopefully picked up a toy camera from a store shelf, intrigued by the whole concept of nurturing my daughters early interest in Gadgets. Unfortunately, these always turn out to be simplistic toys which “simulate” the functionality of digital cameras with the basic sounds and aesthetic of the real deal.

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Swann, makers of security monitoring solutions and IT peripherals have a product in their range of home/small business security devices that might interest those of you with a need for discrete and covert espionage. The PenCam DVR offers video and audio recording capability, neatly tucked away within the workings of a slightly chunky ballpoint pen.

If you’re curious who the office thief is that has been stealing everyones hobnobs, want to capture images of highly sensitive documents or merely film up a Scotsmans kilt, the range of possibilities the PenCam can be used for is extensive and limited only by the users capacity to hide the fact they are waving a pen around that emits a small blue/orange light from it’s rear.

More after the jump…

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The dark, cold nights are settling in and the number of shopping days left until December 25th grows smaller. If you’re unsure of what to get the gadget-lover in your household then why not take a look at these:

Sandberg Wireless Touchpad Keyboard

If you have a media centre pc or are just looking for a greater degree of flexibility in your interface options then this wireless keyboard with mousepad may prove useful. It has a row of shortcut keys for standard Windows applications as well as special keys that make navigating Windows Vista Media Center a breeze and will operate up to 10 metres.

The Sandberg Wireless Touchpad Keyboard retails at £49.99 and is available from most stockists, including amazon.co.uk.

Read our review of it here.

Swann PenCam DVR

Made by security specialists Swann, this seemingly innocent ballpoint pen is in fact a covert colour video and audio recording device. It’s ideal for discreet undercover surveillance, useful if you’re making a documentary about fraudsters or just trying to find out who’s been stealing your post it notes. It has plug and play USB connectability and can also transmit to a connected tv or monitor up to 100m away.

The Swann PenCam DVR retails at £99.99, but for a limited time is available at Maplin for £69.99.

Hopefully we’ll be reviewing the PenCam in the near future…

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To bring a little variety to Gadgetoid I’ve decided to start adding coverage of low-end gadgets including toys and all manner of things that you’re likely to find at stores like Firebox. Variety, they say, is the spice of life; so take a break from drooling over things you’re never going to buy and start getting those Christmas gift ideas flowing!

To mark the start of this new coverage I’ll be looking at the Salvation 9 Radio Controlled Helicopter. It’s a small indoor toy with an nominal price and is a lot of fun to fly. It’s also markedly better than the smaller Picoz, affording proper degrees of control and radio control rather than infra-red, without being that much more expensive.

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Combining a wrist-rest, pressure sensitivity, lights and stickiness in the same gadget sounds completely insane… and it is. “Ur. Frog” and “Ur Super High Light Frog” (right) have set out to push the limits of just what craziness we can hook up to our free USB ports to keep out the dust.

To their credit they look cute and quirky enough to make great gifts and the ability to play a few games using the “Ur. Frog” pressure sensor adds the icing to the cake. Stress relief, anyone? Okay, I’m getting funny looks across the desk from just thinking about plonking one of these down and proceeding to thump it periodically.

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Admit it, you love remote control toys. No matter how old I get I still jump at the chance to play with anything that runs on batteries, makes lots of noise and probably shouldn’t really be used indoors.

The Salvation 9 would be no exception, only recently I got my hands upon a polystyrene-bodied Infra-red controlled helicopter for about £20 that was impossible to control and even more impossible not to break. The Salvation 9 is bigger, boasts more precise control and certainly looks the part. Of course it’s also a shade more expensive at about £40 but it’s still not bad for something that promises to be so much fun.

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