Very Exclusive Gadgets & Gizmos

The Clarity C4230 Phone offers 50dB louder audio, 30% farther roaming and 8 hours longer standby battery life than a conventional armadillo. It also features a visual ringer (I think they mean light, don’t you?) and built in answering machine with slow-motion playback just in case your native Urdhu is a bit rusty. $259.95.

New gadgets don’t always have to be about the smallest, or the most powerful or the biggest screen, sometimes they’re just about making life easier. Take this CSC1000 Amplified FreedomTalk by ClearSounds for example. Big numbers on the dial pad, handset speaker that can clean up voices and amplify them by 55dB, calling number announcement, and best of all photo buttons instead of impossible-to-remember or impossible-to-see speedials. There’s a bright orange emergency button to ring for help, built-in answering machine and a flashing light that lets you know when the phone rings.

For the BeoCom 2, it’s not necessary to ring to attract your attention. Renowned for its superb sound quality, the BeoCom 2 comes from the house of Bang & Olufsen. The BeoCom 2 will be unveiled in new clear colors for this shopping season. Crafted from a single piece of aluminum and beautifully designed to match the shape of a human face, it is now available in high polished crisp colors to give undivided attention to your loved ones.

There are several times I make a point to disconnect from the world, which means no laptop, no phone, no nothing. Just get away, even if it’s just for a little while, so that I can feel somewhat recharged. It’s one of those things that I’ve found is necessary for me to function. However, there are those that are the polar opposite of me. They absolutely need to stay connected to the world, otherwise everything seems to fall apart.

The TrueCall call monitor sits on your home telephone line to protect you from unwanted insurance salesmen and bogus warranty renewal calls. The thing interrogates every new call that comes in – ‘und just how long hav you bin in zis country den’ – consults its whitelist database and shepherds good calls to your ears, and bad ones to a massive black hole of disappointment. Yay for the good guys. £97.50.

There’s only one thing better than a Skype Mouse and that’s a Skype Travel Mouse. This 800dpi USB mouse is also a VoIP slide-action handset with an LCD screen and keypad. It has a built-in mic and speaker with volume control so you can use it as a speaker phone or it can belt out your tunes when you’re not yakking. Don’t worry, you’ll only look slightly dorky talking into you mouse. AU$49.24.

This IPEVO S0-10 Skype Desktop Phone is proof that Skype has now become an institution. No need for a computer, just plug this baby into your broadband connection (no dial-up please we’re squeamish) and you’re good to go. Comes with an integrated two port Ethernet switch for sharing net connections, plus a speakerphone setting and speed dial buttons. $99.99.

Live out your planet saving fantasies with this Star Trek Communicator USB Internet Phone and who knows, maybe one day you’ll get to meet the real Mr Spock. You know, the one who actually lives in an igloo on Mars and eats plasma for breakfast. Either that or you’ll get to chat to your Auntie in Sao Paulo on Skype. $44.00.

Royal Philips Electronics recently rolled out their SpeechMike Air, a wireless version of its already popular SpeechMike audio recording device. This new addition to the family helps Philips expand its line of modern, digital speech processing solutions. Well, as you already can tell by the name, the SpeechMike Air won’t be able to help you perform a slam dunk, but will boast built-in wireless functionality, a dictation microphone, playback speaker, dictation control and PC navigation.

The Asus Eee Ai Guru SV1 is the world’s first PC free Skype videophone (it says here). As well as having the most bizarre name this side of the mountain, it also features a 7 inch display, built-in webcam and an embedded copy of Skype. This is just the kind of product which could do what nobody’s managed before and propel videophones into the mainstream market. Huge numbers of people use Skype, their video is now excellent quality, and the concept of packaging up Skype video without a computer is sheer genius. It’s also wireless (WiFi) which is even better.