Gadgets. November

We continue to tell you about the most unusual technological novelties and offer you another review of interesting gadgets.

Designer Sebastien Wallet, representing the company Inovaxion→, has developed an interesting gadget — the Woodstation weather station. Just wave your hand in front of the device's body and the built-in motion sensor activates the LEDs, which, through this magical piece of wood (walnut or maple), display data on humidity, air temperature and the weather, as well as the time and date. The weather station's readings remain legible even in very bright light, thanks to the powerful diodes in four different colours built into the device. An amazing combination of nature and high technology has been brought to life in this wonder-gadget. Woodstation will soon go on sale on the French site www.amazon.fr→. It will cost around $135.

Want to change something in your home interior? Start with the lighting! The developers at Chinavasion→ have created a smart LED bulb that fits any standard light fixture. The bulb has 4 primary colours (red, green, blue, white) and 12 shades that will give a room a unique atmosphere! All of the light gadget's functions can be controlled remotely using the remote that comes bundled with the bulb. You can buy the gadget here — www.chinavasion.com→ — for $20.

Designers Annika Ushio, Vanessa Satele and their students from the Design School of the Swedish city of Umeå have created an unusual interior object that can rightfully be considered a gadget! Constant Garden is a speaker with an original design in the shape of a futuristic plant, which can play pleasant music for you or act as an audio-secretary, reminding you of important plans. The developers managed to house an audio system inside a tabletop artificial garden and to fashion mini-speakers out of rubber, brought to life by a magical LED glow! Unfortunately, at the moment the gadget is only a concept.

Lately there have been more and more watches with a built-in phone. Manufacturers never cease to amaze us with their novelties. The company Van Der Led→ has released the WM2 watch-phone, equipped with all sorts of useful functions! The watch features a 1.3-inch screen that reproduces 260,000 colours, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a Micro SD slot, a USB port, a calculator, an alarm clock, 1 GB of built-in memory for storing MP3 and MP4 files, an FM radio, as well as WAP, GPRS, SMS, MMS... The list could go on forever! The watch's built-in battery also has good specs — a single charge lasts 300 minutes of talk time or 240 hours on standby. The gadget is equipped with Bluetooth technology, which considerably simplifies the process of talking on the phone. It comes in black and white. On the manufacturer's official site→ the watch-phone costs 200 euros.

Hello Kitty is attacking! This little cat has become so popular that you can now find not only toys, bags and accessories bearing her image, but also televisions, toasters and many other devices. Hello Kitty has taken up music too. The company ThinkGeek→ has released a marvellous speaker called the Hello Kitty Action DJ Speaker, on the top of which the famous kitty DJs in front of a miniature mixer and turntable. She even nods her head in time with the music! A single speaker is mounted in the lower part. It has no amplifier, so its volume depends on the power of your player. The speaker can be connected to any audio player. The novelty measures 18 x 9 x 9.5 cm. It comes in black and pink. This amusing toy costs $25. You can buy it here→.

In our review of October's gadgets we told you about a device with which music from vinyl can be converted into digital form. But if you have a large record collection and have no need to convert it at all, then this gadget will be to your liking! It's a compact vinyl turntable from the company Hammacher Schlemmer→. Despite its small size (12×36.2×20 cm), the device can play records at the 33 1/3, 45 and 78 rpm standards. The gadget is also equipped with two built-in speakers rated at 5 watts. On the manufacturer's site→ the turntable costs $100.

The Singaporean company Shiro Corporation→ has released the Shiro SQ-S MP3 player, which is a finalist for the Hong Kong Electronic Industries Association (HKEIA) Award in the Outstanding Innovation & Technology Products category. The player's distinctive feature is a solar battery mounted on the back panel. In bright sunlight the battery fully charges in 4 hours. The player can also be charged the standard way via the USB port. The device is equipped with a 1.8-inch display, an FM radio and 16 GB of built-in memory for storing a large amount of music and video. The following formats are supported: MP3, WMA, WAV, FLAC, APE, OGG and video. The player knows 15 languages, including English, Russian, German and French. A single charge of the built-in battery lasts for 10 hours of video playback or 38 hours of music listening. More detailed information can be read on the manufacturer's site→.