Hearing aids that are almost invisible
Wearing a pair of hearing aids is definitely a blow to some people, as that means displaying an external sign of ageing (assuming gray hairs or a bald sheen have not made their appearances yet). Phonak Group from the Switzerland aims to make wearing hearing aids a more comfortable idea with it’s new line of Personal Communication Aids that comes in various styles and colors. They’re barely visible (which is good) and works great when amplifying high-pitched sounds like consonants and rustling paper that are typically more difficult to hear. Unfortunately, these hearing aids fall in the price range from $1,500 to $3,500 which pretty much puts them out of range for most people.
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Add comment August 15th, 2007
The USB Robot Webcam that you see here actually looks rather downcast, perhaps it is waiting for you to rescue it from store shelves? It features a 350k pixel webcam and comes with a built-in microphone and is capable of night vision as well. All you need to do is plug it into any available USB port and you’re good to go - images are transmitted at 30fps so you don’t have to worry about jerky images or anything of that sort. No idea on how much it costs though.
I personally find parrots offensive and rather obnoxious, with a mean streak of biting your fingers. For those who think along the same line, there is always the Squawkers McCaw robotic parrot that won’t act pompously on its own. This offering from Hasbro is fully animatronic and already comes with a vocabulary out of the box, with the innate ability to pick up more words along the way. Squawkers McCaw is currently available for pre-orders at $69.95 a pop and comes packaged with its own perch, remote control, and toy cracker. At least you don’t have to feed it nor clean its cage frequently.
Those alarm clocks that let out an irritating ding every morning to get you out of bed often do it in a rude manner, more often than not when you’re still enjoying your dream of living the high life. The Sunrise Serenade aims to gently wake you up without jolting you from your slumber, coming in a translucent orb that appears like a miniature sun, slowly but surely filling up your room with ‘fake’ natural light that fools your body. Unfortunately, the asking price of $150 is rather steep for something as basic as an alarm clock, so I’ll stick to my rude awakenings for the moment.
It is hard enough to make the decision to keep the flab off, but even harder to stick to a diet and exercise plan especially when you don’t have an accountability partner. MIT Media Lab has developed a robot that could help you in the battle of the bulge. This robot is capable of talking and comes with face-tracking and eye-contact technology that actually calculates the optimal method to meet your weight goals once you’ve interacted with it via the touchscreen interface by keying in both daily and long-term exercise patterns and eating habits. I have a feeling if I don’t see any notable results soon after using this robot, I will probably pull the plug on it and gorge myself on a full plate of glazed donuts.
Dynaudio will celebrate its 30th anniversary by unveiling 1,000 pairs of new Sapphire speakers which make up the top tier of speakers from the company. All one thousand will feature one of the most distinctive loudspeaker cabinet designs to date, featuring a satin-gloss lacquer finish that parades the cabinet’s fine wood grain in detail. Choose from Cherry, Mocha, Ivory, and Bordeaux finishes. Each Sapphire speaker comes with a 28mm tweeter, a 15cm sub-woofer, and two 20cm woofers. Be forewarned though - your pockets will be approximately $16,000 lighter when the Sapphire speakers are released this fall.
School is about to resume, and what better way to kickstart the academic year by giving your little ones a backpack? The MyChild Pack is different from the rest, however, as it is bulletproof in the light of the recent spate of school shootings. It won’t burden your young one’s small frame as it is lighter than a 15 pound police vest, yet it is more than capable of stopping bullets. Are you willing to part with $175 for one of these? I’m sure that small investment is well worth every single cent for added peace of mind.
