October Gadgets

We continue our column on fashionable and sometimes useful technical inventions designed to make our lives more convenient, more beautiful and more stylish. We offer a new batch of entertaining trinkets that will find a use in the lives of people who can't imagine their lives without a multitude of devices around them.

Warm summer is over. Rainy, cool autumn has arrived. Without clear sunbeams, waking up in the mornings becomes ever harder. The annoying alarm clock doesn't improve the morning mood one bit. Philips has released a useful gadget for those who struggle to wake up in the mornings. The Wake-up Light is an alarm clock combined with a lamp that switches on half an hour before you need to wake up and gradually increases the intensity of the light, imitating sunrise. In addition, the gadget will emit sounds of nature: frogs croaking, birds singing, the rustle of a forest. This way it's much easier and more natural for the body to wake up. The Wake-up Light can so far only be bought in Europe. The gadget costs around $130.

Want to create a nightclub atmosphere at home? The new Lightwave CS1SPK speakers will be an indispensable helper in this! Each speaker is fitted with several coloured LEDs. Thanks to a built-in frequency sensor, the colours adjust to the beats of the music being played. The speakers produce a fairly powerful and clean sound, and also have more than 200 colour combinations. The backlight can be switched off entirely or set to a static mode. The Lightwave CS1SPK speakers are compatible with the iPod and other MP3 players. At the moment, in the online store www.amazon.com→ the gadget's price is $56.88.

The German company Elac→, a manufacturer of hi-fi-class audio equipment, has presented the MicroSub 2010 BT subwoofer, whose casing is made in the shape of a Rubik's Cube. It's immediately clear that such a gadget can't fail to please the eye! The original colour scheme is a wonderful complement to the subwoofer's decent capabilities. The device can be connected to sound sources not only via wires but also via Bluetooth, so you'll be able to enjoy the bass of your favourite music stored in the memory of your mobile phone or another Bluetooth device. The subwoofer has 4 built-in amplifiers and weighs 4.7 kilograms. The exact cost of the gadget isn't known yet, but it's expected to be a not-cheap pleasure for its owner. The estimated price is $1,800.

The design studio of Artemy Lebedev→ has released the original desk clock 'Verbarius'. It's the world's first clock that writes the time the human way. The time is displayed on the screen as text, and each time differently: now 'sixteen forty-five', now 'four forty-five', now 'a quarter to five'. The clock looks fairly simple, yet stylish at the same time. It will make a wonderful decoration for the interior of your home or office. The gadget knows 5 languages: Russian, English, German, Spanish and French. Through a computer you can load any other language; for this, the clock comes with a USB cable, which also works for power. The gadget's dimensions: width 200 mm, height 70 mm, depth 42 mm. The 'Verbarius' clock will go on sale on October 15 and will cost 5,200 rubles.

The LP 2 CD gadget will help you transfer the music collection stored on your vinyl records into digital form, which will improve its preservation and simplify access to it. To use the device, you just need to insert a blank CD and select the speed at which the record was recorded. After that, all the music from the vinyl will be converted into digital form. The track-recognition system will itself split the music stored on the record into songs. The gadget can be used for listening to records by connecting it to speakers or to a computer via a USB cable. The LP 2 CD delivers high-quality vinyl playback. The cost of the device in the online store→ is £299.95.

The company Brando→ has released a tiny MP3 player with a tasty name — Chocolate. It really does resemble a small bar of white chocolate. The gadget weighs just 12 grams, has 2 GB of memory, 4 coloured LEDs, and plays the MP3 and WMA formats. The player has no screen, so you won't be able to compile a playlist of your favourite songs. You can only listen to the tracks in order or in shuffle mode. The amusing symbols depicted on the player's body make it even more stylish. You can buy the gadget here→ for $39.

Saturday Night Speakers is a portable stereo system that will create a good mood for its owner. It has an original design in the form of two little figures dressed in '70s disco style. The gadget is fitted with a standard 3.5-millimetre jack, so it can easily be connected to any sound source. Power is supplied via a USB port or via batteries. The stereo system can be bought here→, and it costs around $30.