Immortal Video Sunglasses

Hmmm, summer’s out already with fall kicking in – does that mean it is time to shed that pair of sunnies? We think not, especially when you own a pair of Immortal Video Sunglasses that are going for £249. They won’t lengthen your life on this earth in any way, but are capable of recording high quality videos at whatever you look at when wearing them, courtesy of a tiny pinhole camera that is located right out in front. Of course, singles won’t mind wearing this daily, but those with spouses might want to be more careful with what they look at next time – don’t let your eyes linger on a particular subject for too long! Videos recorded are in 736 x 480 resolution, and can be transferred over to your computer via USB. With 4GB of internal memory, it ought to be able to store a good range of memories before you need to perform a transfer. Each full battery charge offers up to 2.5 hours of recording capability.

Kaleidescape unveils M300 and M500 Blu-ray players

Kaleidescape is a name that is associated with movie servers, and today they take a slightly different route with the M300 and M500 Blu-ray players hitting the market. Of course, reading on further will reveal that they are not just Blu-ray players per se, but are media players of a higher level. Both models will be based on the company’s proprietary M-Class architecture, where this next generation of players are more than capable of delivering a new and improved onscreen user interface alongside Blu-ray support. To up the ante, the M500 Player is capable of copying Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and CDs onto a server, while both models enable imported content to be played back instantly, making this more or less the first multi-zone movie server for Blu-ray in the world.


Copying Blu-ray Discs would definitely be a concern to movie studios who are wondering whether Kaleidescape is on their side, or on the side of pirates. Well, they definitely are with the former, since it requires the original disc to be present when playing Blu-ray content from the server. Basically, you would still need to make sure the Blu-ray Disc is in the tray of an M500 Player, which doesn’t really make much sense logically though (assuming this is an Utopian world and everyone who owns a server copy has the original stashed away somewhere), as you might as well watch the movie straight from the disc itself, eh? To make sure one experiences the full Kaleidescape experience for Blu-ray, the company is working on a disc loader that will keep a large number of discs present within the Kaleidescape system. It will also offer bulk import that makes life a whole lot easier when it comes to finding and retrieving a disc.

Kaleidescape has also enhanced its onscreen user interface, where the Kaleidescape Movie Guide is touted to be the largest and most comprehensive of its type with over 135,000 titles, including more than 3,300 Blu-ray Disc titles. Patent pending video bookmarks as well as control triggers that automatically adjust screen masking, lighting and curtains during playback are also thrown in for good measure. The Kaleidescape M500 and M300 Players will ship from next Tuesday onwards for $3,995 and $2,495, respectively.

Press Release

TVHat makes your portable video watching private

Every time I review video goggles like the myvu or the Vuzix, I can’t help but wonder why this doesn’t catch on.

After all, I love to watch videos, and if I can watch them on a Portable Media Player (PMP) in private, why shouldn’t I? Perhaps it is because many of these video goggles make you look really geeky, like Cyclops from X-men. In other words, they are not something most people would feel comfortable wearing in public without feeling like they are actively committing a serious fashion faux-pas.

Of course, if you really want to talk about silly video goggles, let’s talk the TV Hat. This oversized baseball hat is made to hold an iPod, iPhone, or any other portable media player with a small screen. The 2.5x magnification screen coupled with the flaps around the hat create an effect not unlike being in a movie theater. I’m guessing that the headphones will be sold separately.

So, if you want to watch some videos with some degree of portable privacy, than the TV Hat is probably your PMP accessory. If you don’t mind looking a little weird, of course.

You should be able to pick up the TV Hat at the Things You Never Knew Existed site for about $29.98.

Ion Tailgater iPod Portable Speaker

For those of you that enjoy both listening to and creating music, this Ion Tailgater could have multiple uses. It offers an attractive and large, yet still portable iPod speaker. The large speaker has a very strong resemblance to a guitar amp and there’s reason for that. If you’re not in the mood to listen to music anymore, you can plug in your guitar and start creating your own.


The amp can function for 8 hours on the rechargeable battery for when you’re in the mood to take it around with you. The case is heavy duty with metallic accents and a sturdy handle to make it easier to carry around. It has a built-in iPod dock that will work with most iPods with the exception of 1st, 2nd and 3rd generations of the iPod. It has an input for a guitar/bass, a battery level indicator and even an included microphone. If you’re tired of using up those rechargeable batteries you can also use the included power cable. All of it will cost you $225 through Urban Outfitters.

Archerfish Solo – the thinking camera

We would say that most cameras are dumb and require intelligent input to be of any use, but the Archerfish Solo aims to buck the trend by being the first “thinking” camera in the world. Having been introduced at CES earlier this January, the
Cernium-developed Archerfish Solo is actually a compact, wireless, IP video camera that was specially designed for homes and small business, boasting the brains to look out for stuff that matters to you. It is smart enough to differentiate between events that matter to you, including your merry bunch of kids arriving home from school safely, as well as identifying potential break-ins, where all these will be sent to your cellphone or email account. Best of all is, the Archerfish Solo is cloud-based and hence doesn’t need a PC connection since it can be managed entirely through a Web portal.