New Gadgets Review Includes Glow-in-the-Dark Toilet

What’s new on the gadget scene? Here are 15 new gadgets that will warm your heart and make you the envy of all the neighbors, your family and friends. What would we do without technology!

Check out the:

RIDE-ON-CARRY-ON TRAVEL STROLLER

This stroller, designed for toddlers up to 40 lbs., attaches to the back of your wheeled suitcase. Once you and your child are on the plane, it folds up for easy storage in the overhead compartment. Can be installed or removed in a few seconds. The seat is made of sturdy, washable polyester and is made to fit 18″ to 22″ carry-on bags. It doesn’t look too sturdy to me, but check it out for yourself, at
http://www.beachcomber.com/Gadget/Help/roleez.html.

AQUAPUB SWIM-UP POOL BAR

Now you can sit in your pool and drink. Even eat! Snacks are special when eaten at this floating bar. The bar is 84″ around, 32.5″ tall and weighs 85 lbs. Drink holders (6) and ice tray containers with lids (2) built in. Resistant to pool chemicals, they say. The seats (6) fill with water to stabilize. Supposedly constructed to provide a high level of insulation to keep food and drinks cool. Enough drinks and it won’t matter. http://www.beachcomber.com/Gadget/Help/roleez.html.

ELECTRO-STUN SWATTER 1

Here’s a fun way to zap those pesky insects on contact. Use like a tennis racket. There’s a thumb switch that activates a pulsing electric field. Kill mosquitoes, houseflies, bees, wasps, hornets, gnats – keep the button pressed and hold them over the disposal site, then release. They’ll fall right off. No bodies to dispose of, no mess! Don’t use on children, in fact, keep it away from them altogether. Uses two AA batteries.

JONNY GLOW

Here’s something you can’t live the good life without. Glow-in-the-dark strips applied to the rim of your toilet bowl serve as a night light. You’ll want one for every bathroom in your house. The seller helpfully gives 10 reasons to buy:

10. Never have to feel for the bowl during a power outage!
9. Fabulous wedding or baby shower gift!
8. Help your guys perfect their aim!
7. Save Electricity! Who needs a bathroom light… follow the glow!
6. Great retirement or Over the Hill gift for friends and family!
5. Get the kids in the game ~ great for night time potty training.
4. No more painful bright lights when you are “worshipping the porcelain god!”
3. Great Father’s Day or Birthday Gift!
2. Great for Camping, wrap Jonny around a tree!
1. “You won’t go back to bed with two wet feet!”

This useful thingy charges itself in normal light – 15 minutes gets you a 10-hour glow. It’s easy to clean and inconspicuous, no batteries or electricity needed. You can tell if the seat is down before you sit down on it – calls for a celebration!

TV TECHNOLOGY TO ELIMINATE SWEEPS:

As we approach the time for “television sweeps,” local stations are hustling to boost their audience – the results of the sweeps set the ad rates for the rest of the year. In February, May, and November TV companies compete to see who can find the most sensational programs to attract watcher during those months. But that’s on its way out. Something called a Local People Meter (LPM) it is said will be in all the major markets by the end of 2006; allowing stations to track what you are watching. The benefit to the watcher, according to its sales blurbs, will be “good television programs throughout the year.”

FLY TO WORK

How would you like to get into your own personal aircraft and go to work like George Jetson does, flying high above gridlock at 60 m.p.h.? This sort of flight has long been a dream, but seemingly unachievable – several attempts have been made to build a successful prototype, but somehow, it just never caught on. But clean out the garage, the new Air Scooter II will soon have you hovering six feet over the stopped cars, plus two or three metal ladder lengths, if you wish. It steers like a bicycle. If it’s raining, you’ll get wet, as there is no weather protection, and the thing costs around $50,000. This is not for the quaking masses, nor the faint-hearted, but if you have always wanted to get high enough to look down on everybody, the Air Scooter may be for you.

TALKING GOLF HEAD COVERS

Cover your golf club heads with the colorful Three Stooges-style covers. Most amusing, and they even talk. The manufacturers hired impersonators to record a line of golf one-liners in the Stooges’ various voices, to add to the realism. The next time your golf partner makes a lousy play, give him a shot of the Stooges. Makes a great gift for the golfer in your life.

POWERSEED MEAL PACEKEEPER

Forget Atkins, the cortical and those nasty diet drinks – here’s the way to lose weight fast! The Powerseed Meal Pacekeeper consists of a little egg that sits in front of your plate and zaps you if you eat too fast or too much. Actually, it beeps, at regular intervals to tell you when to take a bite. Every five minutes it flashes a signal to remind you to stop and assess whether you’ve had enough. This gadget is expensive: $50 plus shipping, but if you’re the type who obeys orders mindlessly, you may like this.

STREETS AND TRIPS 2005

Microsoft’s new Streets & Trips 2005 is a consummate mapping software for the travelers among us. The program has long been popular but the 2005 version offers a GPS receiver. NO MORE GETTING LOST! Just plug the little receiver into your pocket PC or laptop, and you’re on your way. The software uses satellite positioning to locate you, and, best of all: it shows a image of your car, traveling!

Now, if we could just get it to steer the car�

Here’s another neat thing from Microsoft:

THE PRINT READER

If you are having problems remembering the 28,392 usernames and passwords you have created, relax. The solution is here. The Microsoft Print Reader recognizes fingerprints for Windows XP. According to Microsoft:

“Easy-to-use software makes replacing passwords with your fingerprint a snap. First, the Registration Wizard opens and helps you register your fingerprints. Then, when you visit a site that requires a password, just touch the Fingerprint Reader with any registered finger, enter your data, and then click OK-it’s the last time you need to enter that information. Now, you can browse to the Web site, and then log in with a swipe of the finger or log in with a click of the mouse via Quick Links.” Good news for the arrested – no more ink-stained fingers! And they’ve put it into a keyboard and a wireless mouse.

CELLBOOST

So you’re being held up by bandits, and your cell phone is dead. The bandits laugh at your efforts to summon help, abduct you and take you away. But no more! Now there’s Cellboost, a battery with a plug that fits into your phone for instant power. It’s small: 2-1/2″ by 1-1/2″ by Ã?¼”. And best of all, this thing has a decent price – $5.99 at amazon.com.

DOCUPEN

This little 8″ gadget is a portable scanner, about the size of a fountain pen. You can save your scans and download to your computer. Get other people’s license plate numbers, record your latest eyebrow pluck. Other pen-sized scanners scan a few lines at a time but the DocuPen scans a full page at a time. The seller claims you can scan a full page of text and graphics in four seconds. It’s a bit pricey: $199.

AUTOXRAY EZ-SCAN 6000

Here’s another scanner, only this one will help you if your car breaks down. It comes in a briefcase-sized kit and is said to be easy to use even for the mechanically inept. It checks your car’s computer and reports on the results. It, too, is costly: $699, but may save you thousands in repairs over time.

BRACELET

Cute USB bracelet. Your teenager will love this! Suitable for any gender. Check it out at www.gizmodo.com.

I MUST BE CRAZY! MY PLANTS ARE TALKING!

No price is quoted for thisâÂ?¦event, which is probably a good thing, else you might be tempted to purchase it. A Japanese company called Let’s Corp is offering a gadget called the “Ca-on” that “turns plants into audio speakers.” There’s a donut-shaped magnet and a coil at the bottom of a vase that hooks up to your stereo or TV. The sound “moves up the stems of the plant through its water tubes” and comes out the flowers or foliage. Sunflowers are said to work especially well.

Now. Tell me, how did you ever get along without these things?