Gadget Gifts: The Must-Have Gadgets of 2006 Holida Season

Looking for great tech gear? Check out these magnificent seven.

Santa isn't the only one who's been making a list and checking it twice. Over the last year hundreds of gizmos have passed through Chez Freak, but only a handful inspire sincere gadget lust.

These devices all share certain traits: They serve a real need (read: not yet another iPod accessory). They're innovative. Most important, they're simple to use. Plug them in, turn them on, and they work. The way it should be.

iRobot Dirt Dog
Meet man's new best friend. iRobot's Dirt Dog is a sweeper designed for use in basements and garages. Just push the "Clean" button and stand back. It scuttles about picking up wood shavings, loose screws, and other weekend workshop detritus. The $130 price is worth howling about, too.

MusicGremlin
With the Wi-Fi-enabled MusicGremlin, you can download songs from any hotspot and then legally swap them with your buddies online. Sure, navigating through songs could be easier, and $300 (plus $15 a month for the music service) is pricey for a device with only 8GB of storage. But being able to download virtually any song, anytime, anywhere, is wicked cool.

Pure Digital Point and Shoot Camcorder
This pocket-size digital videocam lets you capture 30 minutes of decent-looking video in its 512MB of flash memory and then transfer the clips to your PC via a clever USB "arm" that swings out from the base of the unit. The camera's built-in software allows you to manage videos, e-mail downsized clips to friends, or share your masterpieces on Google Video with just a few clicks. The features are bare-bones--only 2X zoom, 640-by-480 clips, and minimal playback options on a 1.5-inch LCD--but then again, so is the $130 price.

PowerSquid Surge3000 Calimari
Even I find it odd how excited I am about this $80 power strip. Yes, it really looks like a squid: Six tentaclelike plugs extend to handle power bricks without blocking other sockets, and its surge protection (up to 3240 joules) keeps your pricey gear from getting fried. Two plugs even light up so you can find them in the dark. It's ideal for geeks with too many gadgets and nowhere to plug them.

Sony Reader
This device redefines the electronic book. Sony's glare-free screen and E Ink technology are amazing, the unit is push-button easy to use, and its 7-by-5-inch size strikes the perfect compromise between a PDA and a laptop. The $350 Reader can hold around 80 books in its 64MB of memory, and more when you add a Sony Memory Stick or an SD Card. Sony launched with about 10,000 titles in its proprietary e-book format (the unit also reads text, Acrobat, and Word files). Pricing and availability of titles will vary, but the gizmo itself is terrific. (For details, see our review.)

Zvox 325
One wire--that's all the Zvox 325 ($349) needs to produce booming audio from your TV, MP3 player, or DVD machine. Just plug in this VCR-size speaker unit and connect it to the device's headphone jack. Two knobs let you control volume and switch from stereo to surprisingly good surround sound. It's simplicity itself.

PicoCricket
I got this robotics kit for my 7-year-old daughter, but soon I was fighting her for it. PicoCricket ($250) combines Lego pieces and fuzzy pipe cleaners with sophisticated light, motion, and sound sensors. Kids build their own toys and then program them to respond to stimuli by dragging and dropping "PicoBlocks"--brightly colored shapes that represent different chunks of object-oriented code. So, for example, you can build a flower that plays music when the sun rises, or a birthday cake that lights up when you touch it. You'll need about 30 minutes with Pico's quick-start guide to master the basics, but far longer before you're willing to let your kids have at it.

A Merry Geekmas to all, and to all a good night.

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Back-over Accidents

Moms Put ParkFX to the Test

Steering Wheels Get More and More Buttons

The steering wheel is quickly become the control center for the entire vehicle. Auto manufacturer's are using the steering wheel to add new buttons and controls for everything from controlling the radio to switching gears. USA Today reports that many cars already have 10 to 15 different buttons on the steering wheel:

The fingertip frenzy isn't just about luxury cars, either. Sure, the $73,750 Range Rover SUV offers 10 buttons or toggles, not including the horn. And the $49,100 Acura RL sedan has 16, in addition to two thumb paddles for manually changing gears. But Toyota's humble — albeit fully-loaded — $26,040 Prius gas-electric hybrid sedan includes 15 places to mash a thumb into the steering wheel.

Automakers say the buttons help motorists keep their fingers on the wheel instead of having to fiddle with dials and knobs on the dashboard, making driving safer.

ParkFX is the 360-Degree Backup Solution That's Less Costly Than Backup Sensors, Park Assist and Rearview Cameras

Deaths increase. Ninety-one children were killed in 2003 by drivers who didn’t see them while backing up, according to Kids and Cars ( www.kidsandcars.org ), a nonprofit organization working to improve child safety around vehicles. Those deaths represented a 57 percent increase from 2002. During the first six months of 2004, more than 40 deaths have been attributed to backover accidents, many involving vehicles with large blind spots.

Kids and Cars compiles these statistics; the federal government does not track such incidents. Janette Fennell, president of the organization, believes that backover accidents are underreported and that the actual number of children killed or injured is much higher.

Blind spots grow with vehicle size. A likely reason for the increase in injuries is that minivans, pickups, and SUVs account for more than half of all vehicles sold. Many have large rear-view blind spots.

Last year, Consumer Reports began measuring the blind spot of each vehicle we test, checking the distance for short drivers (5 feet 1 inch tall) and for those of average height (5 feet 8 inches tall). The biggest blind spot: 51 feet for a short driver in a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup. But even small sedans can have blind spots of more than 40 feet. We regularly update vehicle blind-spot information, which is available on this site free of charge in The problem of blind spots.

Systems other than ParkFX combine a camera with sensors, so we tested each system independently; it is listed with camera systems in the Ratings.

All the systems we tested are potentially useful. They’re a good complement to looking around the vehicle before entering, and checking the rear window and rear-view mirror just before and while moving in reverse.

LaneFX Standard Features to Make Every Lane Change Safer

Q. Even though LaneFX is ultra simple concept, you've managed to make LaneFX a very feature rich product. Correct?

A. Absolutely. Let me give you a brief walk through of the features and add-on options of the LaneFX system:

1. First we talked about the universal fit of LaneFX.
2. Second, ease of installation (which you have to remember quick installations mean less cost of ownership to the customer and faster seamless installations mean higher customer satisfaction). The way we were about to simplified installation on hundreds if not thousands of power mirror systems is by using an Intelligent Learn Technology. So all the installer has to do is hook up a set of 3 wires on either side of LaneFX module. And then all the installer has to do is start learn mode and the unit "learns" the wiring setup of the vehicle and configures itself on that basis. No complex wiring diagram, no programming required.
3. Third, all mirror movements are fully customizable at installation. We wanted to make LaneFX as responsive to the driver and tailored to the driver's preferences as possible. So with every LaneFX unit, each driver can customize how far the mirror opens up, how long it pauses when it gets there, and even how fast the mirror should move. You can control your preferences separately for the right and left mirror.
4. LaneFX is intended to be a concealed unit either under the dash or in the trunk. So these adjustments should be made at installation and you can always tweak them or change occasionally after that.
5. Another feature we offer in the system is control of both mirrors. So you control the left and right mirror separately or concurrently.

Q. And all of these features you mentioned are standard in every LaneFX box?

A. Yes. That's correct.

Q. But I also understand that you have a number of optional add-on components that a customer can choose to further enhance his/hers LaneFX system.

A. Our team has worked very diligently to research what consumers would like to have in their complete LaneFX system. Let me share with you a quick list of what some of these options are:

1. First is a very inexpensive add-on component we have that we think is going to be very popular, especially among entry level domestic vehicles is the optional Mirror Speed Boost. With this component owners of vehicles with slow moving power mirrors can safely boost their mirror movement speeds up to 200% of OEM speed. This will provide drivers with a way to ensure that LaneFX movement is responsive to their driving needs. All of the mirror speeds are customizable by the driver from 80% to 200% of OEM speed, and those adjustments can be done separately for left and right mirrors.
2. Second we have a great optional component that's quite frankly is a driver awareness system in and of itself: ParkFX. ParkFX is an active park assist and curb exposure system that uses your side mirrors to expose the parking boundaries around your vehicle as your backing up. Much in the same LaneFX moves your mirror outward to expose the blind spot next to you and behind you, ParkFX tilts the blind spot mirror downward when you put the vehicle in reverse to expose either the parking lines let's say if you were in a mall parking lot, or more importantly to expose the curb in parallel parking situations. When you take the car out of reverse, the mirror comes back to its original position, every single time. Just like LaneFX, ParkFX is universal and fully-customizable to the driver's preferences. The system works on any vehicle, new or old, domestic or import, manual or automatic transmission. And you can choose to have ParkFX control the left, right or both mirrors. And to be complete, you can also configure at installation how much ParkFX should tilt each of these mirrors when the vehicle is backing up. So for a big SUV, you can choose the blind spot mirrors to tilt down farther than say someone who drives a small sedan. Everything is universal and fully-customizable to your needs.
3. Thirdly is an add-on component we are very proud of: our Turn Signal Link integration kit. I put my blinker on and that activates LaneFX to show me my blind spot before I change lanes? Yes exactly. And you can also configure the Turn Signal Link integration kit to activate only when the vehicle is moving above certain speed, like over 55mph to have it only activate on when you're on the highway, or say over 35mph in an urban city setting.
4. The forth in our options list is a plug-and-play wireless controls kit. We've heard time and time again that drivers would ideally like the LaneFX controls at the finger tips, just like your horn or turn signal stalk. this tiny module I am holding is an example of a left-hand wireless control. So we designed this wireless kit so that installers never have to worry about running wires to the steering wheel (which is a no no) and to give the customer to place the controls anywhere. The wireless controls kit includes two controls for left and right and is designed to fit behind one of your steering-wheel spokes. The placement is meant to avoid competing with the increasing number of OEM buttons on the front of the steering wheel. Also the placement behind the top spoke make the LaneFX control within the reach of a finger tip without having to move a hand off the steering wheel regardless in you drive with your hands in the 10-to-2 position or racing style.
5. One more plug-and-play optional component which is our Speed Sensitivity Mode. This is an add-on component that integrates with OBDII port of virtually any vehicle and continuously reads the vehicle speed. The LaneFX module is pre-programmed to take advantage of this option and it then produces more dynamic mirror movement based on the vehicle speed. This ensures an ever greater degree of responsiveness to the driver's needs in real-time. So LaneFX moves the mirror faster at say 70mph than at 55mph? Exactly right, and it also pauses less when it reaches its maximum expansion angle at higher speeds.