combo

Being an Italian designer means you have a lot to live up to, but Brionvega has never shied from the task. This is the company, for instance, that has taken its chances on such designs as a TV that looks like a solid cube of black glass. So it is of little surprise that its latest offering breaks yet another mold.

In fact, this 19-inch Alpha LCD TV with built-in DVD player looks so unusual that we weren't sure what it was at first. Accompanied by the slogan "TV With Love" (it is Italian, after all) this … Read more

There's a reason that all-in-one TVs are always at the very end of the aisle at retailers. They may well be the least-cool media gear around, bearing the scorn of those who complain, among other things, that the individual components can't be tweaked or repaired. But there are at least two reasons that TV-DVD (and--gasp--even VCR) combos will survive for awhile: kids and grandparents.

While these products are designed for ease of use, however, the flat-TV era has presented a complication for the DVD end of the equation. Usually the slot is mounted on the side, an awkward … Read more

As surprising as it may seem, one of the few combo pens we have not written about is an MP3 writing instrument. We were sure it would have been included somewhere in the pantheon of multi-tasking pens, which have been hitched with everything from cameras and DVRs to SD card readers and hot-spot finders.

Chinavasion's "MOQ MP3" is a ballpoint pen that's available with 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB of storage. Its four control buttons include one to tune an FM radio as well, according to Gizmodiva. But until they figure out a way to include aromatherapy, … Read more

It's becoming clear that early adopters of the HD DVD video format will find fewer and fewer products that will play their discs.

Samsung will halt its plans to release the combination HD DVD/Blu-ray player, the BD-UP5500, introduced in January at the Consumer Electronics Show. Samsung issued a statement late Wednesday, saying that though the product "remains a practical solution...the window of opportunity is smaller than it was before. In light of recent announcements, Samsung will not introduce the BD-UP5500 Duo HD Player."

The announcement doesn't come as much of a shock. Even at … Read more

If you thought the irritatingly misspelled "Robo Vacum" was silly, you're in good company. What it needs, of course, is to be combined with another device--like a mouse.

And that's good news for a company like Thanko. It is, after all, the Japanese outfit that prides itself on creations ranging from USB aromatherapy devices to muscle-toning mice. So it came as little surprise that it's responsible for a "USB Vacuum Mouse" that's pretty much self-explanatory.

The combo gadget is an 800-dpi mouse that turns into a mini-vacuum cleaner with the flip of … Read more

For some reason, it seems that some Korean companies are convinced that there's a demand for mice that double as pens. First there was Wow-Pen, which continues to evolve its combos. And now there's a competitor with the inspired name of ISV PenandMouse. (With a moniker like that, we assume there's no need for a mission statement.)

ISV's latest offering is a wireless mouse that works with an accompanying 2.4GHz dongle and mousepad, according to Red Ferret. It has three programmable buttons and even a built-in scroll wheel somewhere.

If this trend continues, things could … Read more

The dubiously named Genius brand occasionally hits upon a good idea like its Bluetooth headphones with touch-sensitive controls, but it always seems to lapse back into its penchant for uselessness with something like a hybrid speaker-camera. Its latest entry, unfortunately, comes closer to the latter category.

Evergreen is distributing the "Genius Navigator 365" mouse, which is really a clamshell that opens up to reveal a tiny game controller, according to Engadget. It almost looks as if Genius had a few spare VoIP phone-mouse cases lying around and didn't want them going to waste.

This is one of those gadgets that has Maxwell Smart written all over it. With all the mouse phones available today--or even keyboard phones, for that matter--it's beyond us why anyone would want this silly-looking model with a microphone sticking out of it like a mutant appendage. Its saving grace, if it can be called that, is that it costs only $16, according to SlashGear. But we'd just as soon use the money to make a regular cell call.

With all the digital pens that are coming to market these days, one might ask whether the world needs yet another smart writing instrument. But unlike some of its competitors, Wow-Pen has a bit of experience on the subject.

Almost exactly a year ago, the Korean company came out with its "Traveler" version, which was really a mouse with an ergonomic design that could be handled like a pen. Now it's releasing its "Digi" model, which also reads and stores what you write through a wireless USB receiver. It can toggle back and forth from … Read more