If you’ve already got every possible home theatre gizmo in your house, along with leather recliners and a pop corn machine, it’s about time you looked into getting some entertainment for the pool.

The Outdoor Theatre Kit is something you expect to see at a resort on poolside movie night, but why not get it for your own pool? It’s an air-sealed, inflatable screen. The electric air pump is quick: fully inflated in 4-5 minutes.

The projector is a Epson MovieMate 25, which will play DVDs as well as regular TV. All you need is two double A batteries to power the MovieMate. If you ever want to use it indoors, an 80” pull up screen is also included.

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Apple definitely has a successful formula when it comes to their elegant product design and marketing. Simple. Uncluttered. Clean… and very un-Microsoft. But what if Microsoft designed the iPod? What would the packaging look like? This video parody explores those possibilities.

What makes this video even more funny is that it was created by Microsoft. Microsoft spokesman Tom Pilla sent an email to iPod Observer saying that his company initiated the creation of the parody video.

“It was an internal-only video clip commissioned by our packaging [team] to humorously highlight the challenges we have faced RE: packaging and to educate marketers here about the pitfalls of packaging/branding… While MS did not release the video, it’s natural to share funny things with friends. So while we didn’t publicly share the video, it was shared with appropriate teams internally. We’re happy to see others enjoy the laugh as well.”

The music in the background might sound familiar. It’s the song “The Breakfast Machine” from the movie Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

digg story | methodshop

Coolest Gadgets is one year old today. To celebrate our blogiversary (thanks Star) we have launched our own Technology and Gadget forums where members can chat and get advice about the latest in geek toys, gadgets and technology. Every active member in the forums has a chance to win various gadgets with the total prize pool totalling over $1,000.

In order to have a chance of winning a Wicked Laser, an 8″ LCD TV or one of the many other gadgets we have to give away, you’ll need to register in the forums, read the competition rules and drool over the prize list :).

I’m really looking forward to meet some of our readers around the forums and here’s to year 2 of Coolest Gadgets.

I will be doing a few more site news type posts today but normal gadget reporting will resume shortly

If you are running a small office or home business, chances are you have separate phone lines for your fax machine, modem, and hunting line. All these actually add up to a pretty penny at the end of every month - won’t it be nice if there was a device that could allow you to share a single phone line with all these devices? The Stick 1-Line Call Processor is the perfect device for such a job that will route every voice, fax, and modem calls to the designated equipment without fail automatically.
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Mmm, ice cream, it’s terribly unhealthy, but delicious nonetheless. There have been ice cream makers for the home before, but soft serve has always been something you had to go to a real ice cream store for.

Not anymore, the Cuisinart Soft Serve Ice Cream maker produces professional soft serve ice cream, yogurt, sorbet, or sherbet. All you do is add the ingredients. That’s right, no yucky chemicals, salt, or other funky things, just the stuff you put in. You can make 1.5 quarts of sorbet/sherbet/soft serve in as little as 20 minutes.

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I used to have a cat and I remember that it was so much fun to dangle a piece of string around for hours marvelling at how long the cat can stay amused by a piece of string. You then, of course, realize that you’ve been dangling a string in front of a cat for an hour; who’s the easily amused one now ;)?

And since you can do pretty much anything else with gadgets, why not entertain your cat with one? The Remote Control Mouse saves your arm from tiring during the strenuous act of dangling a piece of string, while also giving you a little more enjoyment out of playing with your cat.

The mouse looks like a real mouse, although I’m pretty sure your cat won’t be too fussy what it looks like! It even has a really cool little tail on it which your cat can paw at.
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Worried that your kid may be skipping school to go on road trips, or want to keep track of your kid after school? All of this can be done with the Locate 1, and I agree, it’s a terrible name.

The Locate 1 works via GPS and through MicroTRAKgps to keep track of whatever it is that you’re tracking. All data is transmitted wirelessly back to a server, and then you can go on the internet to see exactly where your kid/car is.

Another neat feature is to be able to set speed limits or zones. If a speed limit is crossed, or a child exits one of the specified zones, you’ll be immediately alerted.

The data is updated every half-hour (up to every 5 minutes with more expensive plans) and you can see summaries of the day’s activities or the whole month’s!

Hiding the Locate 1 is easy. It’s about the size of a deck of card and weighs about as much as a standard cell phone. Stash it in the trunk, glove compartment, under the seat, in the back pocket, anywhere really.

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The Solatube is a great way to bring natural light into a room, in a totally eco friendly manner. They work thanks to LITD:

Solatubes innovative technology makes it possible to capture a maximum amount of sunlight. The Light Intercepting Transfer Device (LITD®) increases the surface area available to intercept direction sunlight no in the direct path of the tube opening, then transfers the light down the tubing. The result is increased light input and increased light output. The Spectralight(R_ Infinity proprietary super-reflective tubing has the highest reflectivity in the world for the brightest purest light. It provides near-perfect color rendition. The Raybender® Technology intercepts light that is not in the direct path of the tube and redirects it down the tube at a steeper angle, minimizing reflection loses

Available from the Enviromental Home Center, with prices starting at $300. [Found via Crib Candy]