Tuesday, June 24, 2008

5 Quirky Gadgets You’re Bound to Love

The following is an interesting guest post by Sarah Scrafford. Thanks Sarah.

Gadgets are taking the world by storm – they’re getting smaller, more sophisticated, and indispensable to daily life. While some are useful, others come with sheer entertainment value. They’re not must-haves for the serious gadget freaks, but for those who enjoy a good laugh now and then, here’s my list of five quirky yet charming gadgets in descending order of importance to me:

  • E-Cigarette: An electronic nicotine patch? A cigarette-shaped placebo that hoodwinks you into ditching the nasty and unhealthy habit? Whatever it is, the E-Cigarette Anti Cigarette Nicotine Replacement Therapy cartridge promises to cure you of your smoking habit by simulating the smell and feel of smoking a cigarette, sans the harmful effects of tar and other cancer-causing chemicals. What it does have though is nicotine – each cartridge has supposedly less and less of the noxious substance to help you wean yourself gradually from the pleasures of smoking.
  • Wi-Fi Detector T-Shirt: Be prepared for the stares all around with this contraption. An instant Wi-Fi detector, this piece of clothing senses the strength of the Wireless Fidelity signal in the area around you and glows accordingly. The shirt is washable once you remove the animated decal and the hidden battery pack that powers the detector.
  • LED Faucet Lights: Like the idea of water that glows, both blue and red according to the temperature? If so, then this gadget is your cup of tea. Fix it to your faucet and light up your bathrooms, literally. While the blue LED gives your water a bluish shade, the blue/red LED makes the water turn red once the temperature touches 89 degrees.
  • Phone Excuses Key Ring: The perfect gadget to get you off the phone and away from the pest on the other end of the line – this nifty key ring has a whole range of sound effects that you can use to good effect to offer the most genuine excuses when you want to hang up the phone without being overtly rude.
  • Clocky: Though the moniker makes me feel all warm and snug inside, Clocky is one mean SOB when it comes to dragging you out of bed each morning. If you thought the snooze button was your best friend, Clocky the Runaway Alarm Clock is here to cause friction between the two of you – by running away from you as soon as the alarm rings. This means that you’re forced to get out of bed if only to shut up that dratted clock when the alarm rings after a snooze period. Clocky allows you between 0 to 9 minutes before it starts its morning jog, and a setting of 0 means you don’t get any snooze time at all.

By-line:

Sarah Scrafford is an industry critic, as well as a regular contributor on the subject of Capella University Reviews. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.