Travor Baylis, the inventor of the Free Play wind up radio, is at it again with his latest winding gadget called the Eco Media Player. Being able to play up to 40 minutes of music on one minute of windup time, the EcoMedia Player can also play videos (asv/mpeg4 format), on it’s bright full colour LCD screen, tune into your favourite FM radio station, view photo albums and even read ebooks … all without battery power.

All kinds of media and data can be stored in either the onboard 2gb internal memory or via SD cards. The Media player doesn’t require drivers to use to synch to a computer either. When connected to a PC or MAC, it’s instantly seen as an external disk drive which allows for easy “drag and drop” if all media files.

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The humble USB flash drive has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings, where 64MB back then was considered to be extravagant. How times have changed, and here we have what is probably one of the last great USB flash drives of this generation - the SanDisk Cruzer Contour, that runs off the U3 platform, enabling you to bring about your own desktop programs wherever you go without the need to install them all over again on a new computer. I will approach this review from the layman’s point of view, and hope it will help you arrive at a purchase decision at the end of the day (or not!). Specifications and features are available at the end of the jump, along with more pictures.

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Wearing a tie is a pretty drab affair as most people hate the stifling heat associated with having one around your neck. Gadget maestros Thanko from Japan have come up with a rather wacky solution - the USB-powered necktie. Located at the heart of the faux knot lies a fan that is powered by any available USB port. Of course, this means you can only venture as far as the USB cable allows you to, but at least you can keep your cool while churning through tons and tons of reports. The USB Tie Fan retails for $24.90 a pop and does nothing to buy you brownie points with that hot new secretary.

Product Page via Plastic Bamboo

The original mimobot Core Series were extremely adorable when they were released back in 2005, and this time we have the Core Series 2 that features a new character line up (9 of them in total), designed by illustrator Dino Alberto.

Each character is a limited edition of 2,000 units and is preloaded with exclusive digital content, unveiling life on Planet Blõôh and the mind-erasing flash events that have left the mimobots in a constant state of haze. The mimobot Core Series 2 characters are available in 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities.

Pretty cool to own, no?

Product Page

Seeing that mobility is everything, PNY Technologies is created a 4 in 1 memory module that works with virtually any digital camera, mobile phone, PDA, MP3 player, and smart phones. Even laptops can use this unique combination of SD card and USB drive.

Using a MicroSD flash memory card and adapters for MiniSD, standard SD card, and USB drive, the 4-in-1 Mobile Media Kit comes available in capacities of 1GB and 2GB.

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I’ve been a fan of the game Bop It for years. The game is really simple, there are 5 different actions which you must perform when told; Spin it! Flick it! Twist it! Pull it! Bop it! but the longer you play the game the faster it gets. Trust me it’s more fun than it sounds.

This latest version adds another twist (pun intended), you can connect it your PC and download your own sound effects and commands:

t goes without saying that a game this nutty brings out the worst in players - some of the orders we’ve recorded are unrepeatable. And utterly hilarious. First timers will be flabbergasted. ‘Twist it, you &*^%ing great $*#*!’ Brilliant!

If you don’t own an older version this is a very worthy investment at £29.95 from Firebox.

Recently a number of people have noted the ZeroX. While I can’t typically stand the multiple review of vehicles, this is one of those cases where I feel more than qualified having both designed an electric bike years ago, and having raced a solar car cross country here in the states.

You’ve probably seen the high points and guessed about the low points.

It’s been stated that it does 0-60 “in a flash” and people complained that it was a rather nebulous statement. It does not give concrete numbers and leaves you thinking someone is trying to dupe you. Even if it is a tad slower than a standard bike (which I’m willing to bet it’s not any slower, remember, electric motor torque curves are nearly flat, most likely there is a bundle of wheelspin). In most off-road situations riders typically don’t eclipse 30-40 miles per hour, which most likely this thing is a beast getting to that speed. So what you’re left with is a speedy fun hog. Read the rest of this entry »

No longer will you need to go the local arcade to sharpen up your dance moves, now you can do it in the office courtesy of the USB Dance Mat.

You connect the USB dance mat to your PC and when the music plays you’ve got to finger dance on the flashing lights. For added realism it comes with a finger attachable dancer, class!

You can get the USB Dance Mat from IWOOT for £9.95.