Join Navigon 5100 on sale for $99
This isn’t the first time we have reported about new Navigon GPS navigation devices, as we covered the Navigon 5100 max about a month ago. Today’s breaking news is that the Navigon 5100 (not the max model) is available at a very low price of $99 (with a mail-in rebate).
Any GPS that is below $100 is a pretty good deal, especially in light of the holiday season. Navigon sweetened the deal even more by removing the subscription charge included with most GPS devices. That’s right, the real-time traffic updates are included for the life of the GPS.
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Mobile phones powered by…speech?
This modern age of cell phones has certainly made communication easier, and the only downside is the necessity of charging our cell phones. This need always keeps us going back to the AC outlet, often at inconvenient times.
Devices like the solar-powered Solio or other AA-battery powered chargers might give a cellular phone a tiny bit of juice that it needs, but what if there was a simpler way? What if charging our phone was as simple as talking to it?
This is what some University of Houston scientists are suggesting is possible with piezoelectricity, when a mechanical force is converted to electricity. For example, a barbeque grill lighter uses piezoelectric forces when you push a button. The button puts pressure on a crystal, the crystal produces a voltage, and the result is a spark that lights your coals.
A specific size of crystal or ceramic material could become a power cell for a mobile device, and the sound waves for our own voice could be the spark that powers it. Some of the power generating crystals would have to be very small, only 23 nanometers wide. To put this into scale, a human hair is about 100,000 nanometers thick.
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Scosche’s ReviveLite charges and doubles as night light
Since iPods and iPhones are so popular, the accessories have gotten a great deal of business. A lot of the companies selling accessories have started to attempt to think outside of the box. Which does mean that there are a lot of bizarre iPod accessories out there. However, this one actually makes sense, at least to me. A lot of people like to have a night light in different places to make wandering the house at night a little safer. Well then why not combine that with a charger?
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R2D2 Alarm Clock wakes you with “Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi!”
Okay, not really. But this R2D2 standup alarm clock is bound to attract the Star Wars faithful who’s bedroom at their parent’s house is filled with thousands of dollars in Lucasian memorabilia (wait, that’s Star Trek fans, Star Wars fans actually have lives). Now that I’ve taken the loving swipe at SciFi fans (I kid with love, you know), how can anyone not think that this R2 Alarm clock isn’t the coolest for anyone even with a passing fancy for the SciFi epic?
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Sonic Nausea Device makes you want to throw up
I realize that the title of this particular article is obvious, to say the least. After all, this tiny device is called the Sonic Nausea because it uses “a unique combination of ultra-high frequency soundwaves” to produce nauseous effects for those in its range.
The Sonic Nausea is also capable of causing “headaches, intense irritation, sweating, imbalance”, as well as making people puke. It is powered by a 9-volt battery that is actually bigger than the device itself. That won’t get you too much power, but it is possible to increase the runtime with six AA batteries with transistor clips.
The device is available at the SHOMER-TEC site for about $29.00, and the description states the possibilities are endless. For example: “hiding this device in your inconsiderate neighbor’s house might put an end to their late-night parties”. It went on to suggest other covert operations, such as hiding the Sonic Nausea in “the abusive bureaucrat’s office or the executive lunchroom”.
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Gift Ideas for the Handyman
Here are a few coolest gadget gift ideas for the handy man or woman.
Ultimate Package Opener – $7.98
Plastic “Clamshell” Package Opener safely cuts through any size or shape product packaging in seconds! Even the awkward plastic “clamshell” curves of electronic, cosmetic and toy packages are no match! No longer use harmful knives, break nails, or chip teeth trying to access contents.
The Ultimate Package Opener is available from Taylor Gifts for $7.98.
These impossibly tiny multi-tools will soon become an indispensable take-everywhere item, alongside your keys, wallet, cell phone and SpongeBob Pez dispenser (what, haven’t you got one?). Because let’s be honest, carrying around a full-size toolbox wherever you may roam is impractical, not to mention pretty weird.
The Swiss Tech Multi-Tool is available from Firebox for $8.95.
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Nightwave helps you sleep using breathing exercises
There have been several attempts to find alternative methods to help you fall asleep. Some seem a little ridiculous, but if you don’t want to take sleeping pills a lot of them are worth a try. This light actually seems to be based on a decent idea, whether or not it works is as always questionable. It basically coaches you through breathing exercises till you fall asleep. Which is no different than what you would do to for meditation, so if nothing else it will likely at least get you to relax and unwind before sleep.
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Gifts for the cool Book Worms
Have a geeky book worm in the family? Check out our geeky and tech book gift recommendations.
Are You a Geek?: 1,000 Ways to Find Out – $8
Let’s face it–we all do geeky things, from checking e-mail obsessively to playing video games to tripping over our own feet. But here’s your chance to find out just how much of a geek you really are. With 1,000 questions for every area of your life–from childhood to lifestyle to entertainment to sex (you met your wife in a Web chat room–3 points), Are You a Geek? helps measure your precise geek quotient. From challenging intelligence quizzes to testing your dating compatibility with “Geekline,” Are You a Geek? lets you in on the secrets that separate the geeks from the grown-ups. Or the nerdmeisters from everyone else…
The Are You a Geek?: 1,000 Ways to Find Out is available from Amazon for $8.
The Sneaky Book for Girls – $9.99
Let’s face it: girls are sneaky. And they have one advantage to being sneaky over boys – they are girls. Girls out there, you know what we mean: your brains are just smarter or something. We want to help ramp up your sneakiness quotient even more, and this book is it. The Sneaky Book for Girls provides complete how-to instructions and diagrams for sneaky gadgets, survival skills, communication codes, science projects, as well as having profiles of more than a dozen famous women. It also explores recycling and conservation techniques.
The The Sneaky Book for Girls is available from Think Geek for $9.99.
The Sneaky Book for Boys – $9.99
A bit like the sneaky book for girls but err for boys 
.
The The Sneaky Book for Boys is available from Think Geek for $9.99.
Continue reading » Gifts for the cool Book Worms
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