Gadgets

We've already seen diamond encrusted iPods and iPod cases covered in Swarovski rhinestones. So why not crystal-studded earbuds?

Chip Chick pointed us to wireless accessory distributor Technocel, which offers just that--crystal earbuds for a suggested price of $19.99.

Deirdre Hutchins, Technocel's director of product management, said her company was initially targeting the crystal earbuds at teenagers. But in a recent focus group, it turned out that women really like them, too. "They saw (them) as a piece of jewelry," she said.

The earbuds are made and branded by Technocel, and can be purchased online at … Read more

Ever found yourself out in the boondocks somewhere lacking an electrical outlet but needing to make an important call and knowing you barely had the power to do so? Not a good situation.

Innovative Solutions and Technologies' SideWinder charger is a nifty little hand-crank gadget you can use to charge your phone anytime and anywhere--without a wall socket. The gizmo's not brand new, but you could say it's one small step toward energy independence: You get about six minutes of talk time for two minutes of manual winding, according to Montana-based IST. The SideWinder also has a small … Read more

Now your head rest can serve as a hands-free headset. Got all that?

Finnish mobile-phone accessory maker Iqua is out with the Iqua Snake, a headset that wraps, snake-like, around the head rest of a car seat, putting the built-in microphone and speaker close to your mouth and ears. The device, made of brushed metal and leather to blend with car interiors, connects to a compatible phone via Bluetooth technology.

The Iqua Snake has a status LED, up to 10 hours of talk time or 300 hours of standby, and six hours of recharge with the included car charger. It … Read more

The little Satugo camera has been bopping around the blogosphere in the last couple of weeks, and it's a pretty unique concept: a 3-megapixel bouncing-ball camera that yields surprising shots by taking a picture whenever it hits a surface. (Note: Trying to snap pics of babies with this thing is probably contraindicated).

Satugo--which stands for See Aim Throw captUre and Go--has 1GB of NAND memory and a timer for delayed snaps so you can toss it into the air and take a picture of birds or other airborne objects. The tennis ball-size gadget can also can serve as a … Read more

Toting a mouse on the road can get frustrating. Full-size desktop mice can feel unwieldy when paired with laptops. Mini-mice can be hard to maneuver. And mice of all sizes can get misplaced and bulge when crammed into computer bags. As for touchpads, well...

Newton Peripherals out of West Newton, Mass., has come up with a catchy little solution to all this potential mice muss--a flat, palm-size Bluetooth-enabled mouse that stores and recharges inside a laptop computer's PC slot when not in use. The $69.95 MoGo MouseBT features patent-pending optics, indentations for left and right clicks and a … Read more

Do you love your iPod? How much? Enough to buy it a sexy red negligee for Valentine's Day?

Apparently committed to promoting domestic harmony between iPods and their owners, Los Angeles-based iPod accessory maker iAttire has come out with a Valentine 2006 line so you can romance your beloved MP3 player with more than just an FM transmitter or a new set of earbuds.

The handcrafted Valentine's Day line--which is available on iAttire's site and ranges in price from $25 to $60--features a sheer red negligee with a black chiffon ruffle; a French satin corset cinched with … Read more

First it was iPods that were smashed, then Xbox 360s and even Dodge Vipers. As this destructive trend continues, it was inevitable that someone would post a gallery of high-speed smash pictures.

The wired lifestyle can mean tangled wires. But it doesn't have to.

Cableyoyo, which last year came out with an award-winning cord management device for reining in cable chaos on the floor or desktop--is coming out with a handy new product aimed at keeping headphone cords in check.

The Cableyoyo Pop, which will be available in April, is a tiny flat plastic cord winder with a suction cup that you can pop onto an MP3 player, cell phone or other device to keep your cords coiled and protected. The product can be kept in your pocket while your gadget … Read more

The IEEE has unanimously approved a draft version of the revised standard for the next generation of Wi-Fi technology, known as 802.11n at the moment.

Representatives at a meeting in Hawaii voted to endorse a preliminary standard proposed by an Intel-backed organization known as the Enhanced Wireless Consortium, which combined aspects of competing proposals from two other groups.

The 802.11n standard could allow notebook and handheld device users to connect to wireless access points at up to four times the speed of current Wi-Fi chips. The technology behind the improved performance is known as MIMO (multiple-in, multiple-out). MIMO … Read more