Sunday, 2 December 2012

The 10 best greatest, weirdest bits of kit revealed

Gadget Show Live at Christmas: The 10 best greatest, weirdest bits of kit revealed!

The Gadget Show Live @Christmas is going down at London’s Excel centre all this weekend, with a smorgasbord of gear on show from the biggest names (Microsoft, Sony, HTC) to the minnows of the tech world. We’ve been checking it all out all day: here are the ten best bits of kit we’ve seen today – and they’re not what you might expect.
LG’s 84-inch TV


It may not be the only gigantic, ultra sharp 4K TV headed to the UK, but it’s the only one you’ll be able to feast your eyes on on the show floor – and its seven foot screen is truly, truly sumptuous.
Neurosky Necomini

We’ve seen brain-powered toys before, but never mind-operated cat ears that waggle with nothing but the power of your grey matter. Both brilliant, and slightly disturbing.
Parax Paper

Sure, it doesn’t have a screen, or Wi-Fu built in. But Parax Paper completely up-ends the concept of hard copies as we know them: it’s durable, water proof paper that’s waterproof. How? By being made of stone. Stone.
Virifi Titan Watch Phone

Watch phones have never really taken off, but this one’s truly worthy of its Knight Rider-esque design. It can make calls, connect over Bluetooth, even playback videos. And with a show price of just £169, it doesn’t break the bank either.
LG’s Dual-Play full-screen split-screen multiplayer

Active 3D TVs work by showing one image then flicking to the other in very quick succession: that means that with sepcs one, two of you can play a full-screen multiplayer racing game at the same time. Sure, Samsung’s done something similar by letting you watch TV channels at once this way, but split-screen multiplayer where everyone gets the full benefit of the flatscreen is much more fun.

Attacknid Combat Creatures

These newly launched arthropods from Wow! Stuff are the coolest remote control toys we’ve ever seen – and perhaps the most violent too. Not only do they totter along like crabs, but they fire plastic discs up to 30 feet from a spinning 360 degree cannon. Brilliant fun, especially if you can get more than one in the room at the same time.
Kurio 10 family Android tablet

While the Archos FamilyPad Android tablet is designed with family board gaming sessions in mind, the cheap and cheery Kurio 10 slate is about security. It’s an Android tablet that’s completely locked down, so you can limit what your children have access to online, and even how long they can use it for. For £199, it’s quite the low-price 10-inch iPad rival even if you don’t have kids.
Cesare clothes protector

This colourful little Morph-alike is actually a fragrant smelling character designed to cling on to clothes hooks and keep your clothes smelling nice. But here’s the twist: it’s also a moth repellant, so you can make sure your favourite fabrics don’t end up with holes in. They’re just £6 each, but they’re only available at The Gadget Show Live, so if you’re heading down there, be sure to drop by The Colourful Family stand to nab one.
WheeMe massage robot

Meet the intelligent stress reliever: this paddled robot roves all over your back, soothing you after a long day, and its clever sensors mean it never, ever falls off. It’s not on sale in shops until January, but you can pick it up at the show for £49.99 – a cool twenty quid discount on RRP.
Remote Control Android

Yup, this inflatable, adorable Android mascot is also a remote control one, so you can drive your friends quite literally around the bend with your smartphone brand loyalty. It’s going on sale at google-store.com very soon, but you can get one at the show for £35. You’re welcome!

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