HOT GIFT ALERT: Laser Virtual Keyboard

One of the really cool things about our Gift Picker is it shows us what gadgets and gizmos people are most interested in. Top of the list at the moment (not really surprising as it’s so cool) is the Cube Laser Virtual Keyboard. It wasn’t long ago that this would of been a conceptual gadget, now it’s a reality, so what more can we tell you about it…

The laser keyboard wirelessly connects to your tablet, phone, laptop (or any other compatible gadget that could benefit from a keyboard) via bluetooth. It then projects a full size 63 key QWERTY keyboard onto any flat service which you can then tap on like a regular keyboard. It has a detection rate of 400 characters per minute which will be more than adequate for the majority of us. It can also be used as a mouse replacement, in this mode you swipe your finger on the virtual mouse pad, kind of like touch screen. You charge the virtual keyboard via USB, a full charge will give you 150 minutes typing charge.

The laser virtualkeyboard is currently on sale at ThinkGeek for $149.99.

Second Sight Argus II Retinal Prosthesis

Out of the five senses that you have, which is the one that you would deem to be most important? It would be an extremely difficult question for me to answer, as I treasure my sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing equally – and lacking in one is more than enough to make life difficult. Having said that, I salute the indomitable human spirit and those who have achieved so much more than normal able-bodied folks even when missing one (or more) of the five senses. Having said that, there is some hope for the blind thanks to the efforts of Second Sight who came up with the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis.

This rather unique piece of technology will basically allow a blind user to “see” objects, as well as colors and movement within their environment. Just how is this achieved? Normally, it is done thanks to the assistance of a video-camera-equipped pair of glasses that is worn by the user. However, a recent experiment saw researchers do away with the camera, and they instead transmitted visual Braille patterns straight to a blind test subject’s retina.

The Argus II works this way – the prosthesis will be implanted in a blind user’s eye, where it will be placed with an array of 60 electrodes against the surface of the retina. The accompanying video glasses will be able to take in the view in front of the user, where it will then convert the video signal into electrical pulses. These pulses are sent to the implanted electrodes wirelessly, which in turn respond by selectively stimulating retinal nerve cells.

You won’t end up with normal vision, but they are more than capable of letting some users make out individual printed letters, now how about that? Imagine letting a user see braille right there with their eyes – since they are already so used to braille characters, it makes perfect sense to continue reading in that language, even though they can make out regular letters and numbers.

Mouse and Presenter in Your Palm

Have you used a presenter tool before? You know, you stand up in front of the group to pitch your proposal or give your explanation. PowerPoint is queued up and someone hands you that remote looking thing. Your finger grazes the top and BAM! You are suddenly at the last page of your presentation. Then you have to walk to the computer, exit out of presenter mode, start it again. Sort of gets you out of the mood to give your pitch.

Logitech has a perfect portable solution to combine the needs of mousing with presenting. The Logitech Cube, $69.99 at Amazon.com, combines style with functionality. Designed as a travel mouse, it is easy to throw in the computer bag. Built into the button free mouse are left and right clicks plus scroll capability. No more ‘click click click’ of the wheel. Scrolling becomes more like smartphone swiping. Flip the device over to advance slides in presenter mode. The Cube has a power switch built in and uses Logitech’s Unifying® receiver meaning it is small in the USB port and can be synced with other compatible devices. Heads up that there is no laser pointer on the unit though. So it may not be exactly what you need for presenting. But from a portability perspective and with Logitech’s reputation in accessories rest assured you will get a product that performs.

OLED glasses are controlled by your eyes

Google’s Project Glass is certainly one consumer electronics idea that might just take off in a big way – assuming that the price is right, of course, and the use of it resonates among the masses. Well, here we are with a pair of futuristic looking glasses to boot – I’m referring to the OLED glasses that hail from the Fraunhofer Center for Organics, Materials and Electronic Devices Dresden (COMEDD). Scientists at COMEDD have managed to successfully develop glasses which enable the wearer to virtually flip pages on a digital document – without the need for the actual movement of one’s hands. Yes sir, non-physical manipulation of a digital book does sound like a decent idea, especially for mechanics referring to a highly technical manual while ensuring their greasy hands do not stain anything else, concentrating instead on loosening or tightening that one particular bolt.

This particular pair of glasses, however, is not intended just for mechanics alone, but also targets technicians, surgeons, and basically anyone else who require a hands-free document navigation experience. Within the lenses lie a combination of photodiodes and OLED pixels, where the former will function as a camera, helping register the direction of the wearer’s eye movements, while the OLED pixels will work together in order to form a display which is overlaid on the view via the glasses.

While you are busy occupied with a particular task at hand, you will still be able to read up on the next step without any worries. Assuming you look up “as if at the horizon,” your eyes will be greeted by the document which is displayed as though it is being projected at a size of about one meter (3.3 feet) right in front of you. Just to turn pages, all you need to do is just glance at an arrow within the display itself. This is different compared to the Project Glass from Google that require you to tilt your head to control the display. Not only that, the chip inside the Fraunhofer glasses lets you send and receive information simultaneously, in a wireless manner to boot.

Dual-SIM iPhone Case

If you want to jive with a dual SIM phone and yet do not want to take a pick from the ugly designs out there from Samsung in particular, perhaps it is time to use your iPhone. Wait a minute here, you say, the iPhone does not come with a dual SIM carriage, so what on earth are you rambling about? Ah, this is where the cue for the £29.99 Dual-SIM iPhone Case comes in, where this particular iPhone case is special enough that it allows you to switch between either one of two SIM cards at the touch of a button.

Even better news is this – you are not required to install additional software on your iPhone in order to wield dual SIM cards. All you need to do is insert your SIM cards into the case, followed by clipping the case onto the iPhone 4/4S. This is a particularly brilliant design that lets you alternate between them using a mere switch flick. At least you need not tote around a couple of handsets, and you can choose to keep one number for work while the other is meant for leisure, hence allowing you to enjoy a work-free evening once the clock hits 5pm with a change of SIM cards.

Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen

We have smart cars, smartphones, smart TVs, and even smart homes, but how about the humble pen? It seems as though someone has overlooked this humble writing instrument that has served mankind well throughout the ages, but this time around, we have something different for you. The Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen is touted to be the first digital pen of its kind that will integrate WiFi technology as well as cloud services within a single device. The Livescribe Sky is capable of digitizing everything that one writes and hears, sending those automatically over to your personal Evernote accounts which is stored safely and can be readily accessed should the need arise. You will be able to search, play back, organize and share, making the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen ideal for today’s on-the-go world.

It does not matter if you are a busy executive or a student, you will be able to conveniently access your written notes as well as recorded audio straight from a piece of paper, in addition to those on all the tablets, smartphones and computers that one uses.

Gilles Bouchard, Livescribe chairman and CEO, saod, “Thanks to our unique partnership and joint development efforts with Evernote, we have created an amazingly simple and exciting new experience for our customers. With the Sky wifi smartpen, they can easily capture important ideas, presentations and conversations in the most natural way, on paper, and they automatically appear right where they want them – on their mobile devices and personal computers.”

You need no longer tarry between the painful choice of choosing between writing on paper and writing on a tablet, as the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen delivers the best of both worlds – making it the ideal companion to a tablet, delivering the ease, flexibility and precision of writing on paper.

Anyone willing to give the Livescribe Sky WiFi smartpen a go?

Loud Mouth Telephone

Somehow, taking a look at the £24.95 Loud Mouth Telephone reminds me of the evergreen rockers, the Rolling Stones. How about you? You can say that retro designs tend to be in vogue from time to time, as though there was an unspoken rule that dictates it to be so. The Loud Mouth Telephone is pretty much self explanatory, and would make for a great living room ornament whenever you have guests over, especially when you do not have a fine bone china collection to show off unlike the Joneses. This will still be able to generate plenty of conversation around the room, I’m quite sure about that.

The Loud Mouth Telephone will feature a huge mouth that carries the key pad, while what looks like the tongue is actually the receiver itself. It does look rather strange at first glance, but use it for a week and you would be chatting away into this crazily designed, fully functioning telephone like before. If you want to gross things out this Halloween, just add some non-abrasive gooey liquid to it to fool folks into thinking that it is drool or saliva.