Pleo Dinosaur Review

Have you ever longed to be transported back to a simpler time when dinosaurs ruled the earth? Unfortunately this isn’t a review for a time machine to achieve that aim, sorry for raising your hopes! But you can be consoled by the offer of the next best thing; Pleo the dinosaur! This animatronic toy is designed to mimic the appearance and behaviour of a Camarasaurus at the age of one week old. Obviously the lack of the aforementioned time machine makes it somewhat difficult to actually establish what that behaviour may have been like, but Ugobe, makers of the Furby, have made an educated guess. Ugobe tell us that Pleo will develop its own personality based on the experiences that it is subjected to. Its vast array of sensors and motors allow the baby dinosaur to notice its environment and react accordingly. It sounds great but the question remains as to whether this artificial intelligence is really able to create a unique personality.

Your Pleo dinosaur is equipped with a sophisticated sensory system that facilitates sight, touch and movement. There are nearly 40 individual devices buried under its green skin, alongside its 100 custom gears and 14 specially designed motors. Some of the devices included in each Pleo are a camera-based vision system to allow navigation and light detection, two microphones to provide more realism in the dinosaur’s hearing and four foot switches for surface detection. An orientation tilt sensor will inevitably have your Pleo complaining if you tip it upside down, and eight separate touch sensors will have it responding to any contact. There’s even an infra-red sensor in the mouth to let your new friend know that you’re attempting to feed it.

The Pleo’s strength is in the linking of this technology to creating what is essentially a unique personality. As an example, when the battery begins to get low so does the energy level of the dinosaur; you’ll notice the tail begin to droop and a slowing in any actions. Special sensors on the skin, chin, neck, legs, tail and torso will notice any violent jerks that you apply to Pleo which allow him to “feel” the mistreatment. You can rest assured that he will react to your action, perhaps with the exhibition of a limp. A mistreated Pleo may recover with enough love and nurture, depending on the life they’ve already experienced. Reactions to events such as these are what contribute to the unique personality of each individual Pleo.

Just as with any living creature your Pleo will develop through several different phases. Initially he’ll be quite content to be petted by you and sleepiness will be the overriding factor that keeps him from being as entertaining as when he gets a little older. The things that he encounters as he grows and develops will alter his personality in the long term and his mood in the short term. From an initial journey of discovery and acclimatisation to the outside world to a more intelligent being with enough Artificial Intelligence to enable him to act in accordance with whatever environment he may be faced with, you can be sure there will be plenty of entertainment along the way.

Pleo will let you know if he is hungry with a demanding hoot and forlorn appearance. He will respond to being petted and will make noise when jostled. What’s more if you insert something into his mouth and attempt to remove it he’ll even play tug-of-war with you!

Infra-red communication allows one Pleo to interact with another (or several others). With USB and SD ports it is also easy to update the dinosaur with the online downloads available for it.

Everything that you need for the care of your brand new dinosaur is included with the purchase. You’ll receive a companion’s guide telling you how to look after it, a training leaf, an identity card, a rechargeable battery and an AC power cable.

If you’re looking for a top of the range Artificial Intelligence toy then Pleo could well be for you. Its ability to learn and develop in the environment it is provided with will entertain both children and the inner child in every adult. The principle drawback seems to be the very poor life of the NiMH rechargeable battery. Three to four hours of charging will power the dinosaur for just one hour, which could quickly become frustrating. However if you can look past the delay to the inevitable fun to be had with your own cute little dinosaur then Pleo still seems more than a reasonable investment.

New Samsung Tocco Review

The glut of smartphones being released at the moment means that there is a truly competitive and diverse market from which the well informed consumer can pick a splendid handset to suit their needs. Samsung are a top quality electronics manufacturer and their talents are well respected in the mobile phone market. That’s why the new Samsung Tocco ultra, the follow up to the very successful Tocco F480 of 2008, is such an exciting handset for those in the know, and should be high ranking on most people’s must have handsets list. But what is it about the new Samsung Tocco Ultra that makes it such a great buy? Let’s break down the most pertinent information to help you make an informed decision.

Samsung Tocco Technical Specs
The Tocco Ultra, like many of its smartphone competitors, is a phone with a touch screen interface. The screen itself is 2.8″ in size and is pleasant and responsive to the touch, using a haptic interface which gives you a little buzz of force feedback when you depress an on screen icon. This means that it feels like you’re actually pressing a real button and makes using the screen a lot easier. Though it lacks the multi-touch capabilities of some competitors this isn’t something that will really put most people off. The Tocco Ultra has one more trick up its sleeve in terms of interface that might put to bed the fears of touch-sensitive sceptics. The screen can be slid upwards with a flick of your thumb to reveal a traditional alphanumeric keypad that you’d expect to find on traditional mobiles, which means that you can either stick with the touch interface or when dialling you can use the physical keypad for extra precision. This means that there’s the best of both world in terms of user interaction. In terms of the display quality the new Samsung Tocco is close to the top of its class thanks to the cutting edge screen technology. To cut out the technical mumbo jumbo, it’s simpler to say that the Tocco is capable of displaying detailed images at a decent resolution and with 16 million colours available in its pallet, all very impressive stuff. On top of the decent screen there’s a very limited 75MB of internal memory, but this problem is quickly rectified as up to 16GB of storage can be added if you purchase an SDHC memory card.

Samsung Tocco Software and Multimedia
The new Samsung Tocco is packed to the brim with innovative software. Like the original handset there are the handy widgets which are essentially mini applications or shortcuts that you can arrange on the home screen as you see fit. This makes the new Samsung Tocco a customisable handset that puts you in charge, so whether it’s up to date weather reports, a calendar or times from around the globe you want at your finger tips, it’s up to you. The new Samsung Tocco Ultra is also a very well equipped phone when it comes to media playback. All of the most common and popular file types are supported including DivX, Windows Media Video and of course audio formats like MP3 and AAC. This means watching video clips or listening to your favourite music can be done whilst you’re on the go.

Samsung Tocco Photo and Video
Another area in which the new Samsung Tocco excels is when it comes to digital photography. Though it’s not marketed as a dedicated camera phone it does have an 8 mega pixel camera mounted on the back which can also shoot video at a decent 30fps. The wealth of adjustable photography options are extensive and things like face recognition and auto-focus make shooting easy for beginners.

Samsung Tocco Smart Features
Like all good smart phones the Tocco has GPS satellite navigation built in which also means you can go around geo-tagging all of the snaps you take so that you never have to argue about where you were when you took the photo. This also means you won’t get lost when you’re out and about either. With HSDPA and 3G network connectivity it’s also easy to upload your photos and videos to a social networking site or your blog with speeds of up to 7.2Mbps download speeds. Isn’t technology fabulous? Stereo Bluetooth tops off the connectivity, though it would have been nice to see the inclusion of a full sized headphone jack which is one area in which the Tocco is left behind by the competition. It’s also a pity that Wi-Fi connectivity wasn’t added in, but in a handset that’s a little over 1cm thick there’s already tons packed in, so you shouldn’t be left wanting.

Samsung Tocco Conclusion
The new Samsung Tocco Ultra is one of the sexiest, slimmest smart phones on the market that squeezes every last drop of available hardware into its petite frame. Though it is lacking in some areas you’ll not find such a well featured phone that is so elegant to use and to look at.

The GPS Golf Guru 4 GPS does everything except make the tea

As golf gadgets go the latest GPS Golf Guru 4 GPS has got to be one of those gadgets that most golfers would consider an object of desire. Golf gadgets are unfortunately pretty much ten a penny and most golfers are thoroughly bored with the endless useless ‘new’ idea to improve their game. The regular player’s golf trolley is now mostly bogged down with all the must have gadgets that end up being dragged around for the ride and not much else.

The GPS Golf Guru 4 GPS is something else entirely, yes it is true that it is a GPS similar to others on the market, but this is all singing and all dancing in fact you have to ask yourself, why didn’t someone think of all these extras before? For a start the GPS Golf Guru 4 GPS has a much bigger screen and at 3.5” it makes this GPS much easier to read than most of the competitors out there. The larger screen allows for a better display of the full colour golf maps, with aerial view and a distance tool that provides useful information on the distance to hazards and of course that all important pin! Golfers are able to calculate easily distance to different points on the course and also will allow for the best selection of club to play the hole. There is the ability to listen to music, view pictures and an auto mode that allows for all the vital information to be displayed without having to use the touchscreen during a round.

The GPS Golf Guru 4 GPS provides access to a huge database of golf courses totalling in excess of 20,000 as well as the option to download vital information entered during play to determine how improvement can be made or alternatively have been made. There is one application that is felt to be completely unnecessary, this is the option to view movies on the GPS Golf Guru 4 GPS – let’s face it not many golfers would have the time to watch a movie whilst on the golf course without of course upsetting the other players! The GPS Golf Guru 4 GPS is priced at around the £220 to £250 range, which for such a great golf gadget is cheap at half the price.

Creative’s new earphones range, elegant colour styling as standard!

There are more important things to worry about than the colour of your MP3 player earphones but sometimes there are certain items that are wants and not needs. Just like selecting the most attractive cover for your beloved media player or MP3 there is something to be said for getting a little bit of extra colour and style for the earphones. The Creative EP-630 or Creative EP-650 earphones deliver just that a splash of colour, that provides that extra bit of elegant styling which is undoubtedly as individual and different as you are.

The Creative EP-630 or Creative EP-650 earphones says so much more about you than just the plain everyday white or black in-ear earphones, it screams attention to detail, individuality and ok some might say it also screams more money than sense but we don’t think that is necessarily true. If these were just very basic like the bog standard earphones that most personal audio players come with then there might be a point of fact with that, but the Creative EP-630 or Creative EP-650 earphones are manufactured to deliver a fantastic sound quality, clear crisp audio, sound isolation, rich bass with a high quality music playback via the gold-plated 1.2m Copper Oxygen-Free cable no matter what your music tastes are.

Yes it’s true you could manage without spending in between £19.99 to £24.99 on the Creative EP-630 or Creative EP-650 depending on the style selected, but what you get is a range of exciting colours that will compliment your personal MP3 or audio player perfectly and if you are particularly bothered by small details you could in fact have a different colour to suit an outfit or gym clothes but with an excellent sound quality to match the obvious style advantages. The colour range is inspired by the sea and the names reflect this, so you can choose from Mediterranean Red, Pacific Blue, Pearl Black, Arctic White and Atlantic Green and the Creative EP-650 comes in a stylish chrome finish called Mercury Abyss. The Creative EP-630 or Creative EP-650 also comes complete with additional size silicon earbuds so that you have the most comfortable fit for your ear.

Reef Rider Sea Scooter provides maximum summer fun

Wow, have we found the summer gadget that literally everyone is going to want! We are talking about the Reef Rider Sea Scooter, this excellent underwater scooter is able to reach a speed of up to 2.2 miles per hour and will go to a depth of 3 metres (10 feet)and will without doubt be the summer must have. It is James Bond meets 70’s cult children puppet show StingRay, and will provide great family fun, just wait for the arguments though about whose turn is next. This fab and fun gadget will be great to take to the pool or to the sea to get up close and personal to the sealife. The only downside is that the maximum run time is only 50 minutes so you will have to ensure that you don’t have any Reef Rider Sea Scooter hogs or some one could miss out on all the fun.

The Reef Rider Sea Scooter is suitable for ages 12 upwards and has an automatic shut off facility for safety and also a protective grille to minimise the risks of potential injuries. The Reef Rider Sea Scooter is compact at only 70 x 25 cm and weighs a mere 5 kg so won’t take up too much space or overload your holiday luggage. The 7Ah battery requires charging via mains electricity and will take four hours to charge fully. It is recommended that children are fully supervised whilst using this and the manufacturer’s advice that the Reef Rider Sea Scooter should not be used as a buoyancy aid.

For anyone who is as excited as we are and are desperate to get their hands on this fantastic summer essential (well we think it is!) the recommended retail price is £129.99 but Play.com are currently selling for £99.99!

Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3G Review

Since the iPhone 3G was released nearly a year ago, adding the all important 3G connectivity to speed up the previously sluggish mobile internet connection that the handset offered, it’s been virtually untouchable. Though it lacks an FM radio, a decent camera and the ability to send MMS picture messages, in every other respect the iPhone has proven to be the smart phone to beat. Others have attempted to emulate its brilliant multi-touch sensitive screen and failed, and there is no other mobile platform with so much third party software support. This is thanks to the App store which has allowed virtually every kind of program imaginable to be created and made available to the iPhone owning world. With all of this functionality packed in, and the temptation amongst owners to use their iPhone contstantly, the battery life in the short and long term for iPhones hasn’t been too peachy. There have been a number of third party solutions to this problem, but the Juice Pack Air from Mophie aims to be both the most attractive and the best at its job. With the ‘air’ suffix borrowed from Apple’s other light weight electronics, does the Juice Pack Air live up to the hype?

On paper, the Juice Pack Air seems worthy of its name. It is officially the slimmest and lightest of all of the other battery boosting products available for the iPhone. It is both a battery enhancer and a protective case for your iPhone which swaddles the already beautiful device in shiny black plastic. This could run the risk of spoiling the look and feel of the iPhone, but thankfully the Juice Pack Air is well designed and doesn’t distract too much from the iPhone’s good looks. It also provides easy access to most of the external controls like the volume rocker without impediment. However, the mini docking port is compromised so there’s no way you’ll be able to connect this to something that uses this port like an iPhone speaker set without first taking the Juice Pack Air off. Whilst this isn’t the end of the world it does hinder what is an otherwise well designed and thought out product.

Now to the main function of the Juice Pack Air: the increased battery life. Most battery enhancers claim that they will add x amount of talk time, web surfing time and gaming time to the iPhone, and the Juice Pack Air is very much the same. Mophie claim that up to 9 hours of 2G talk time or around 20 hours of media playback will be enabled on the iPhone with their extended battery life, though how this will translate into every day use will depend on the individual. However, as a rule expect that the Juice Pack Air will add at least a day to someone who uses their iPhone on a regular basis to make calls, use applications and make the most of its media capabilities and mobile internet connectivity. In order to tell how much battery you have left in the Juice Pack Air there are four brightly lit LEDs located on the rear of the device which give a reading on the touch of a button, and whilst this isn’t the most high-tech of solutions it does give a bit of a Sci-Fi feel to the Juice Pack Air.

Overall the Juice Pack Air isn’t going to be the right product for every iPhone owner, though this is not the fault of the device itself. If you are someone who uses their iPhone intensively, whether it’s for 3G voice calling, application and media playback or surfing the internet via Wi-Fi then the Juice Pack Air will give you added piece of mind and added use time without needing a recharge. The case itself does integrate as seamlessly as possible with the iPhone, though the slight increase in size may put some people off. For those people who already have a protective case but are interested in the Juice Pack Air, be aware that this will have to replace these previous purchases as it fits flush over the standard iPhone 3G casing.

However, the protective merits of the Juice Pack Air are at least equal to most other iPhone cases out there, and of course there’s the bonus of the increased battery life to boot. Before you commit to a purchase of the Juice Pack Air, consider your own levels of usage and battery drain on the iPhone. The Juice Pack Air will set you back a modest sum depending on where you shop online, and its benefits will be best felt by a power user who feels their iPhone needs a shot in the arm from time to time

New Eco kids web game launched – Save Planet Blue

To ease your conscience a little when the kids are parked in front of the PC or games station, you can now encourage them to play a new 3D interactive virtual environmental world. The web based Planet Blue game has been released just in time for the long summer holidays which for parents who struggle to find things to occupy their inquisitive minds it will be a boon. The web based Planet Blue game allows young people to play an exciting game whilst learning about crucial environmental issues that will affect their lives as they grow older.

The Planet Blue website is aimed at the 4 to 14 age group, and provides a safe environment for them to explore, play and learn about the environment we live in, and the issues that affect all the inhabitants of the world from the smallest to the biggest. Planet Blue allows children to travel a virtual world enjoying various eco-systems, playing all the exciting games such as a recycling game and a memory game as well as learning and socialising. Players earn merit badges along the way as an incentive to complete the tasks and these merit badges provide players with that little bit of kudos with the other players when they have earned them.

The safety of the children playing is paramount and so there are strict restrictions on subjects that the children can chat about and certainly there is no possibility of exchanging sensitive personal information with other players. Planet Blue’s message is an important one that to save the planet is vital. It is done in such a way that the children are not made to feel they are being preached to. Planet Blue players (called savers) can create a personal avatar, can chat and add friends, providing an ideal first step into the more adult world of social networking but in a safe, and non-threatening way.

Because the site is an American creation it is more than a little cheesy, and although the target audience is 4 to 14 it is probably not going to do much for the older kids in the age range. The sophisticated gaming tastes of the teenager are not likely to enjoy the la-la-la sing song tune in the trailer or the cutesy kids introducing the Planet Blue game. However if your kids love Club Penguin then this site is going to appeal to them, though we would recommend only paying out the 3 months trial price of $4.95 which is about £3.00 before parting with the $22.95 (£14.00 approx) for a six month membership or $38.95 (23.67) for a full year.

iPhone OS 3.0 update, update!

Anyone who made a rush to the Apple site on Wednesday to try to update their iPhone software may have felt a little disappointed, as far from the expected full detailed information on how to update their beloved iPhone, there was a page of information of what the new update has to offer (which doubting Thomas’s have already said most other smartphones already have most of these and more!), and little else.

With further delving the information could eventually be found on how to update to version 3.0, which for anyone who gave up looking is via iTunes. It should have been a simple case of plugging in your iPhone then a message is given that there is an update and ‘Bob’s your Auntie’. Well in an ideal world it would have been a simple process of updating the software but unfortunately Apple servers could not cope with the amount of requests and so a message said basically try later. Read more

New Apple iPhone 3GS, not everyone happy

Pretty much the whole world must be aware that the new Apple iPhone 3GS launches on the 19th June, and unfortunately there are some disappointments for those who already have an iPhone contract. Yes, it is true that there is a free software update available as from the 17th June that will provide a whole stack of new functions for existing iPhone users, and the software update will provide a much improved smartphone experience but the truth of the matter is that some of the best bits of the new Apple iPhone 3GS, will not be available to existing iPhone users.

Read more

Gadgety gift ideas for Father’s day.

Are you stuck for what to get Dad for that all important Father’s Day gift then let Gadgets and Gizmos help you out, as we have scoured the internet trying to find the Dad ‘must-haves’ so that you can give your Dad a day to remember. First stop might be the gifts and gadgets online shop, ‘i want one of those’. This helpful site is full to brimming with ideas for something just that little bit different for Dad, and if he is really difficult to buy for then this site will no doubt have something that will be suitable.

I want one of those, have pages and pages of excellent gift ideas to bring a smile to the ‘difficult’ Dad’s face, including a very good practical idea the Ergo Digital Luggage scale. This would be a really helpful gift as it will be just in time for the summer hols and will alleviate the panic at the airport which is often customary for Dad’s leaving on the annual summer getaway. This excellent gadget will save Dad having to pay excess baggage charges at the airport because he will be able to tell Mum to remove the kitchen sink from her suitcase before the big airport row – definitely a win-win!

Of course if your Dad is less of the practical type then there are a huge range of sill nonsensical gifts such as remote control ducks for the bath, or maybe even for the Dad who has everything a light sabre umbrella? If however your Dad is an altogether more serious type, may be a bit of a closet eco-warrior and very concerned about his carbon footprint then a solar powered charging unit suitable for a phone, iPod or other MP3 player has got to be top of the must have list. This fantastic gadget will allow Dad to charge his mobile phone without being a drain on the earth’s natural resources and will do much to ease Dad’s eco conscience and at around £30 won’t cost the earth in more than one way!

<Next Page » 1 2 3 Next Page »