Mileage Tracker

Everyone hates doing their taxes, some of us are lucky enough to have accountants that do it all for us. Nevertheless, the Mileage Tracker is a very clever GPS device that is able to track and record your mileage. The Mileage Tracker provides data in an easily accessible CSV spreadsheet format so business expenses such as fuel tax deductions can be easily calculated. 

Available in three languages, Uniq Innovation’s Mileage Tracker is unavailable to buy at the minute with no pricing details either, although we expect it to be available soon.

Price: Unknown
Available: Uniq Innovations

Panasonic Eco-Lamp

What a bright idea? Sorry I could help it. Today’s Eco friendly gadget is the recently launched energy efficient light called the “Auto-eco Light-control Twin Pa”.  To the naked eye it looks like any other round ceiling light, however on closer inspection this light comes with built in sensors controlled by a microprocessor that can alter the lights luminance. The advantage this has over conventional home lighting is that it can help reduce energy costs by reducing the amount of light when there is no need for it. Claims by the company of up to 60% less power is need which is a considerable saving when placed in multiple locations. 

There are three brightness settings to the light, i.e. 100%, 70%” or 50%.  When the light is switched on the settings the user has selected is monitored by the sensor every second and the light emitted from the bulb is maintained by regularly dimming or brightening which goes unnoticed by the user.

There are two models of the lamps available, the “HHFZ4320″ (89W) and the “HHFZ4220″ (74W) which are priced at $387 and $354 respectively.

Price: $387 and $354
Available: March 2009

Ultrasonic Vegetable Cleaner

I know from first hand experience how good ultrasonic baths are at cleaning stuff, typical example that comes to mind is jewelry. But do you know that there are ultrasonic baths that can be used for cleaning foodstuffs such as vegetables? I didn’t until I came across this product at Hammacher.

The technology behind it is nothing new, i.e. ultrasonic waves are passed through the liquid (water) and dirt is broken off and whatever was placed in comes out clean.  Featuring a 3 3/4 gallon water reservoir the Ultrasonic Vegetable Cleaner can clean 8-12 large potatoes or other items required for cleaning.  The cleaning cycle takes just 10 minutes, although I presume a quick blast of between 2-3 minutes will be sufficient for most items. The vegetable cleaning device does have three settings however labeled, fruit and vegetables, corn, and dishes.  Dishes I hear you ask? Yeah if your unfortunate enough not to own a dishwasher and have some really stubborn dishes that wont get clean with conventional washing up just bung them in the Ultrasonic bath and 10 minutes later they will be as good as new.

The Ultrasonic Vegetable Cleaner looks like another nice addition to the kitchen gadgets wish list, although I can see the price tag putting a lot of people off. What do you think?

Price: $499.95
Available: Hammacher

Heart Rate Monitoring Watch

As people become more aware of their own health I can see gadgets similar to this Heart Rate Monitoring Watch becoming popular.  This elegant analog watch can not only tell the time but it can tell you what your heart rate is at the same time.  The time is displayed in a typical three hand watch format and the heart rate is displayed in a digital display form when the watches heart rate button is depressed. 

How does the watch determine your heart rate? Well the watch, when strapped to your wrist is able to detect pulses in your arteries of the wrist and display the results back to the display screen with and EKG accuracy reading of ± 1 beat-per-minute.  A further feature to the heart rate monitoring watch is that it produces a warning beep when your hear rate falls or exceeds the optimum target range.

Probably most useful for gym enthusisasts the heart rate monitor watch is waterproof and comes with battery included therefore telling the time and determining your heart rate has never been easier.

Price: $99.95
Available: Hammacher

Wacom LCD Tablet

Wacom’s latest LCD display, called the PL-900 doubles up as a Tablet which allows a digital pen to write, annotate, and navigate on to the screen. The high resolution 19″ screen comes with SXGA resolution of 1280 x 1024 pixels featuring an anti-glare screen. Connectivity is achieved via the DVI-I input and DVI-I output for video capability. The Wacom PL-900 is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems.

Functions:
- Perfect hand-eye coordination
- Faster and precise cursor navigation
- 19“ SXGA LCD screen with anti-glare treatment
- Smooth inclination from 18° to 73°
- Pressure-sensitive pen tip with 512 pressure levels
- Freely programmable double side-switch
- DVI-I-input and DVI-I-output connector
- Pen compatibility with most TabletPC models (all TabletPCs using Wacom Penabled technology)
- 2 integrated USB ports (USB 2.0)
- Fully compatible with Windows® and Macintosh® applications
Display
- Type: a-Si TFT active matrix LCD
- Screen size 19.0 in, diagonal
- Resolution (native) 1,280 x 1,024 (SXGA)
- Luminance 270 cd/m2 (typical)
- Contrast ratio 1,300:1 (typical)
- Viewing angle 178° horizontal, 178° vertical
- TabletReading technology Electromagnetic resonance method (UD)
- Active area 378.3 x 303.1 mm (14.91 x 11.94 in)
- Communication interface USB 2.0
- Integrated USB hub USB 2.0 Powered hub with two external ports

The PL-900 pen is a cordless pressure sensitive, and battery free pen with a programmable double switch.

Included:
- PL-900 Interactive Pen Display
- PL-900 Pen
- Driver-CD
- Power-Adaptor (EU/UK)
- USB 2.0 Cable
- DVI-DVI- and analog VGA-Cabels
- Manual (DE/EN/FR)

Price: $1,785
Available: Wacom