Some Odd Tech Gadget Gift Ideas
We look at the Ostrich pillow, RhinoShield Screen Protector, the iKettle, a wireless dice, the Zapi toothbrush holder and the new Fitbit Force.
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Listen to FrequencyCast Show 93 - Oddly Seasonal Gadgets Explored
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Transcript continues from VuTV TV Service Interview
 Ostrict Pillow |
 Rhino Shield Screen Protector |
 The iKettle |
 Dice+ Electronic Dice |
 Zapi Toothbrush Steriliser |
 Fitbit Force Tracker |
Pete:
OK, it's nearly the season to be jolly, isn't it?
Kelly:
It is! – ding dong, merrily on high!
Pete:
Oh please, do you have to?
Kelly:
Yes, absolutely.
Pete:
Well, I've been looking at some seasonal gift ideas to tempt our dear listeners with. I'm going to give you a little test, but first of all, I'm going to give you a rundown of some of the ones that I've found that you might be interested in for Christmas. There's the Zombie Cribbage game.
Kelly:
I might pass on that one.
Pete:
Yellow Snow Cupcake Kit?
Kelly:
Eeuww! – again, no!
Pete:
This is my favourite one – let me just call up the screen here on the iPad. This little thing here that sits on your head, what's that?
Kelly:
I've seen this, and this is absolutely ridiculous. It looks like an alien head, but it's for sleeping. It's just odd.
Pete:
It's called an Ostrich Pillow. You put it on your head, and it looks a bit ridiculous, as you say, and the two little holes there are for your arms. Ostrich Pillow – interested?
Kelly:
No.
Pete:
No, a picture up on our website, though. £65, if you fancy getting one of these cocoons to sleep in. You can sleep at your desk with it, block out the world.
Kelly:
It would be nice, if the world wouldn't come and then probably knock you on the head to wake you up, and take it off you.
Pete:
OK, the other one here, let me just open the other tab here – what are we looking at there?
Kelly:
Well, technically it's an iPhone that is being bashed with a hammer, quite hard.
Pete:
Yes, and what you're looking at there is something called the Rhino Shield. It is a custom-formulated polymer screen protector that absorbs five times the amount of impact as the standard glass on one of these things would do, and it's no bubbles, so you put it on your iPhone, and you can bash it, drop it, smash it, and it will protect your screen, £18 – one for the Christmas list?
Kelly:
I think so, that's quite good. Have they tried it in the blender yet?
Pete:
Oh, have you seen the video clips of them blending technology? – oh, yes! OK, well these do get slightly harder now. I'm going to give you a spec of an upcoming product, and I want to see if you can tell me what the product is. So, this is Wi-Fi enabled; you can control it from your smartphone, or your tablet, anywhere in the world; and it has a wake-up and a welcome home timer mode. Now, you're looking puzzled. It has four temperature settings.
Kelly:
OK, is it an app to control your heating?
Pete:
You're on the right lines, but not your heating.
Kelly:
The kettle?
Pete:
Yes! – well done! The other clues were, it has an LED backlight control panel, and it is easy-to-clean stainless steel, with a soft-touch handle, and can hold 1.8 litres of water. Yes, the iKettle is out at the end of November, £99, you can turn your kettle on from your iPhone – how cool!
Kelly:
I know a lot of people that would love that. The amount of arguments in houses about who is going to go and switch the kettle on will now be over.
Pete:
Without breaking the fourth wall of radio, before we started recording, somebody else in our office demanded you made them a cup of tea, and it wasn't me, was it?
Kelly:
No, it wasn't. They actually came in, were very upset that I was making you a cup of tea, and therefore I had to do a full round.
Pete:
OK, well well done on getting that one. This one's slightly more tricky. This is compatible with iPad, Mini, iPhone, Android devices, tablets and smartphones, and supports Bluetooth 2.1 and 4.0. It has a battery that lasts for 20 hours, and is charged from a micro USB charging port.
Kelly:
No, I don't have a clue.
Pete:
OK, it has an anti-cheat algorithm, so it's gaming-related.
Kelly:
Okay ...
Pete:
It uses an accelerometer, and a gyroscope.
Kelly:
I don't have a clue.
Pete:
It is guaranteed full randomness.
Kelly:
It's not something like a Scrabble?
Pete:
No, it is an electronic dice.
Kelly:
An electronic dice? – that seems very pointless, but OK.
Pete:
Yes, the iDice, it's a little cube, you roll it, and it wirelessly sends the numbers to your iPad, so you can hold up your iPad with a dice number on.
Kelly:
Would it not just make sense to have an app of a dice, so that you don't lose the dice?
Pete:
No, but this gives you the experience of actually rolling something, not just pressing a button to get it to auto-roll. You're rolling a thing, but it's so that, if it lands on its side, or goes on the floor, it will actually record what it would have been, had it not done it.
Kelly:
No, I'm sorry – that is ridiculous! The only logical reason I can see for replacing a dice is because you always lose the dice in a box, in your game. So to have an app that is a dice makes sense, but to go to the effort of creating something that then links to an app, that you're going to lose anyway – no, I'm not convinced. That's not on my list.
Pete:
How much do you reckon, for one of these iDice?
Kelly:
I would hope it's no more than a fiver, but I'm going to guess that it's probably closer to the £20 - £30 mark.
Pete:
£35!
Kelly:
Well yeah, that's one of those ones for if you really do have everything.
Pete:
OK, one more little test for you. This one removes 99.9% of bacteria and viruses, including H1N1, and has a removable drip cup.
Kelly:
I've no idea.
Pete:
It uses ultraviolet light, and when you switch it on, it runs for six minutes, killing all these bacteria and viruses.
Kelly:
The OCD's favourite cleaning bowl?
Pete:
OK, look at the screen here – let me just move to this tab here. It looks like a little cute owl, with a button.
Kelly:
It does. This is something that removes germs.
Pete:
A toothbrush cleaner.
Kelly:
A toothbrush cleaner!
Pete:
So you put the head of the toothbrush in there, press the little button there, and it takes six minutes to use UV light to sterilise your toothbrush.
Kelly:
I'm shocked that that ever made it into retail.
Pete:
So £30 for a UV light-cleaning toothbrush steriliser.
Kelly:
£30? The problem is, there are people that will buy this.
Pete:
You probably never clean your toothbrush, and sterilise it, but it goes in your mouth every day.
Kelly:
No, my teeth are perfectly fine. There is no need for that. If you get rid of all of the germs, and everything that you need in your mouth to make sure that the bad things don't harbour, then it's dangerous.
Pete:
As you saw in the Big Bang Theory, you should sneeze into your food every now and then.
Kelly:
Sheldon would buy this!
Pete:
Sheldon would buy that, you're absolutely right. So I can't tempt you with any of those Christmas gadgets, then?
Kelly:
Well, I quite like the kettle. I think they're onto a winner with the kettle.
Pete:
£100 though?
Kelly:
Yeah, but eventually it's going to go down, and it'll be such a great novelty item, and households will really, really love it.
Pete:
Ah well, there you go. One other little tab I want to show you, have a look at that picture there on that screen there. Let's just switch the tab over, there we go – what are we looking at there?
Kelly:
It looks like a watch, a smartwatch possibly?
Pete:
It is the latest Fitbit. Now, you know we're always talking about the Fitbit trackers. This is their new one – it comes out in January next year, and it's called the Fitbit Force. The beauty of that is, they're clearly competing with the Nike Fuelband there. It has a watch display on it, and does all the usual step tracking, and sleep tracking, and everything else, but they've rather cunningly set it up so it compares with your phone via Bluetooth, so it will tell you about your missed calls, as well as tracking your fitness, which wipes the floor with the competition. So this should be out January next year, estimated price is sort of in the 90 quid thing, but if you like this pedometers, this is the first one that actually pairs up with your phone, and does all your steps in your sleep and everything else, as well as being a not unattractive watch strap.
Kelly:
No, I quite like it actually, and what a great way to have a quick look at your watch, at the same time check if you've got a call. To be honest, I could do with that at work.
Pete:
Very, very cool.
Alice: It just looks very smart – I like it.
Pete:
There you go, so I'll have one of those for Christmas please, Kelly.
Kelly:
Well, bear in mind it's not out till next year, you might struggle.
Pete:
And of course, we're going to put some links to all of those little products up on our website, so go and take a look, if you fancy a wireless kettle, or a toothbrush cleaner.
Kelly:
I don't think you're going to get many clicks on that page.
Transcript continues: Asda 3D People Printing
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 93 - Oddly Seasonal Gadgets Explored |
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