We’ve featured baby monitors in the past at Mint Gadgets, but there are so many advancements in wireless and streaming video technology including a host of expanded functionality available in the latest baby monitors, we want to bring you up to date. The Motorola Digital Baby Monitor is a perfect example of the improvements and new features you’ll find in today’s baby monitors.

If you’re new parents or you want to upgrade your existing baby monitor device, the latest baby monitor products make this a perfect time to jump in. Baby Monitors are all about providing the reassurance that your baby is resting comfortably without having to jump up and check on your baby every fifteen minutes. After all, you need to get some rest too!

You’ll be impressed with the design of the Motorola Digital Baby Monitor and all the useful features and functions this advanced baby monitor offers. First, the Motorola MBP33 Digital Baby Monitor is equipped with 2.4GHz FHSS technology to improve the audio capability and provide the clearest sound possible. The 2.4GHz FHSS technology is vastly improved, more reliable wireless technology compared to the previous 900MHz systems.

And how about 2-way remote communication that lets you talk or sing to your baby remotely. You can also use the two-way audio to speak with a partner in the room. Now that’s pretty helpful! The monitor also has 5 LEDs that display the level of sound activity in your baby’s room. This gives you an additional quick “at a glance” view of what’s going on with your baby.

Security is important too. With the wireless devices in your home, that last thing you want to do is start broadcasting a real-time video feed of your baby all over the neighborhood. The Motorola Digital Baby Monitor employs full data encryption to keep your wireless baby monitor signals completely private and secure.

If you have a larger home, you’ll also appreciate the the Motorola MBP33 monitor’s 200 meter range. That’s almost 2 football fields in length, plenty of range for even the largest home. And if that’s not enough distance, the monitor is also equipped with an “out of range” warning so you can move around the house or outside yard and never be concerned that you might be missing or losing the monitor signal.

The Motorola Digital Baby Monitor has a room temperature sensor that displays the temperature in your baby’s room on the monitor’s LCD display. Now it’s easy to check at a glance if it might be too hot or too cold in your child’s room. And the digital baby monitor can also take still digital pictures and that come in handy as well.

Parents really love the the polyphonic audio playback that can play five built-in lullabies to help lull your baby to  sleep. Look, no one is saying you can replace mom’s soothing lullabies, but what if mom doesn’t always feel like singing? Dad’s definitely appreciate the built-in lullabies when mom is trying to get some sleep herself. Pretty cool, don’t you think?

With the Motorola Digital Baby Monitor you’ll be making the best choice to conveniently, easily and securely monitor your baby, the ideal baby monitor solution parents and caregivers.

Available: Amazon

Price: $169.90

The Fireplace HEPA Vacuum Cleaner from Hammacher Schlemmer is the most effective, safest and healthiest way to clean your fireplace. Cleaning your fireplace with a vacuum cleaner is actually a very convenient way to dispose of all the ashes after you enjoy a nice cozy fire in your fireplace. But there are a couple of reasons why you really don’t want to use your household vacuum cleaner to do this job.

First, the ashes and cinders that remain in your fireplace after a fire can smolder for sometime and present quite a fire hazard. Your household vacuum cleaner is not designed to be fireproof and is really not suitable to cleanup a fireplace.

Second, the ash that remains in your fireplace is very fine particulate matter and will almost certainly clog the filters in your household vacuum cleaner. Furthermore, most vacuum cleaners do not deal well the level of micro-fine particles in ash and will typically allow a lot of ash to escape and disburse airborne throughout your house.

The Fireplace HEPA Vacuum Cleaner solves these problems and won’t recirculate the microscopic particles of ash throughout the air in your home.  This vacuum cleaner’s HEPA filter will safely capture as much as 99.97% of all the airborne particulate matter as small as 1/3000 of a millimeter (we’re talking microscopic particles). The HEPA filter is located on the intake side of the vacuum motor which will prevent the micro-fine and abrasive ash particles from damaging the vacuum or from escaping into the air throughout your house.

Breathing ash particles is simply not healthy for you!

The fireplace HEPA vacuum is equipped with a powerful 800-watt motor that provides plenty of suction power. The ashes are rapidly and safely drawn through the five foot fire-retardant aluminum hose and deposited into the 5 1/4 gallon fire-resistant steel tank. The vacuum lid is easy to detach and makes it easy and convenient to dispose of the ash.

Do keep in mind, even though the Fireplace HEPA Vacuum Cleaner has a fireproof design, to be absolutely safe, you should always try to vacuum cold ash whenever possible. The unit weighs 9 pounds, and is 17 inches high, by 13 inches in diameter.

With heightened awareness around identity theft and protecting your personal security, shredding your personal documents has become a reality for millions of people today. However, the typical paper shredders that you can purchase leave a lot to be desired when it comes to durability, capacity and just basic shredding power. Honestly, have you ever been able to get one of these lower priced home paper shredders to ever last more than a season of steady shredding use? It certainly has been my frustrating experience, I’ve gone through 3 or 4 home shredders that simply don’t hold up. It seems that the paper and items I put through the shredders I’ve bought tear up the shredder more than the shredder tears up the paper.

Introducing the Heavy Duty Cross Cut Paper Shredder from Hammacher Schlemmer. First of all, as you’ll notice from the picture, calling this just a “paper shredder” is probably a misnomer. The picture actually shows a CD-ROM disk ready to meet it’s demise. This commercial strength heavy duty shredder can easily shred much more than paper.

The Heavy Duty Coss Cut Paper Shredder has received the highest rating for shredding capacity and ease of use by the Hammacher Schlemmer Institute. And notice the “Lifetime Guarantee” offered by Hammacher Schlemmer. This heavy duty commercial strength shredder has to be durable to meet the lifetime guarantee and that eliminates any worries that the shredder won’t last or hold up.

The lesser quality strip-cut shredder models you’re probably more familiar with only minimally obscure your information, and determined thieves can easily piece your ribbon-cut documents back together if they’re so inclined. This commercial grade cross cut shredder, on the other hand, completely obliterates up to 16 sheets of paper in a single feed and is able to thoroughly destroy and pulverize CDs and credit cards as well.

The heavy duty cross cut shredder is designed with two steel counter-rotating cross-cutting gears that cut paper into parallelogram-shaped unrecognizable shreds. And the shredder has the precision to destroy paper as small an 1/8 inch by 1 inch. The shredder will cut credit cards and CD-ROM disks into minuscule pieces impossible to reassemble. And that’s what you need a proper shredder to do. Not just make you feel better that you’re making an attempt to obscure your documents and information, but rather, truly making your information impossible to decipher!

The Heavy Duty Cross Cut Paper Shredder has some other useful features built in with an LCD display that indicates when the seven gallon container is full. The shredder also has an auto-start, stop and reverse function, and weighs about 30 pounds.

Available: Hammacher

Price: $199.95

With all the concerns about the hazardous effect that environmental pollution imposes on our health, more and more people every day are looking for water purification solutions to ensure safe and healthy drinking water. There are expensive and complex water purification systems for the home, and at the other end of the scale, lots of people simply buy and drink bottled water.

But buying bottled water for all of your water drinking needs is a waste of money when you can achieve the same or better pure water results with your own water purification system. Not to mention all the plastic water bottles that you’re dumping back into the environment that need to be recycled. Truly, bottled water is not very eco-friendly!

One of the most popular and affordable solutions is a water filtration pitcher and the ZeroWater Filtration Pitcher is one of the best water purifiers in this category that you will find.

In fact, the ZeroWater Filtration Pitcher is so good it’s the only filtered water from a pitcher that meets the FDA definition for purified bottled water. The ZeroWater Filtration Pitcher employs a 5-stage filtration process and comes with a convenient push button dispensor. When the filtered water is ready you simply push a button and fill your glass.

The ZeroWater innovative 5-stage ion exchange filter provides far more complete water filtration than ordinary carbon filters. The ZeroWater filter is so effective they even build the superior filtration ability into the name. The “zero” in ZeroWater means a perfect “000″ TDS filtering score by removing 100% of the totally disolved solids (TDS) from your water.

To put this level of water purity in perspective, TDS meter readings for average tap water can range between 075 and 300 total dissolved solids. Conventionally filtered water will typically measure between 030 and 500 TDS. And even bottled water isn’t always 100% pure ranging anywhere between between 000 and 350 TDS.

Watch the ZeroWater Filtration Pitcher Demonstration

The ZeroWater filter is so effective that ZeroWater even includes an independently manufactured battery-powered water testing meter with every pitcher. The meter is powered by two easy to replace 1.5V button cell batteries. Not only can you use the meter to verify that the ZeroWater Filtration Pitcher is actually filtering out the impurities and disolved solids, you can monitor the status of your filter as well and determine when it’s time to replace the filter.

So don’t settle for impure drinking water, putting you and your family’s health and safety at risk. For a very affordable price, you can provide all the safe, purified great-tasting water you’ll need with a ZeroWater Filtration Pitcher.

Available: Amazon

Price: $33.54

Just about every busy family employs some means or another to  communicate messages and reminders to the rest of the household. OK, maybe it’s usually Mom reminding the rest of the family members about the chores, things to  do, the kid’s soccer schedule, and well the list is endless, right? Typically, we like to use a chalkboard, or stick-it notes affixed to the refrigerator, or even a small dry-erase white board that we keep in the  kitchen. Now there’s a better way with the Paperless Scratch Pad from Hammacher Schlemmer.

Forget about the countless stick-it notes that are nothing more than an endless waste of  paper. And dry-erase white boards are really  a mess to deal with. You always have to clean them and replenish your supply of  dry-erase markers, not to mention the markers are always out of dry-erase ink just when you need to write something in a hurry – they really don’t last very long. And let’s not mention those dry-erase ink fumes you probably don’t care to inhale. Chalk-boards aren’t too bad, but they’re a mess too. Lot’s of chalk dust, and constant erasing of the board to keep it clean, as well as keeping track of that eraser – now where did I put the eraser?

OK, managing some form of message board in the kitchen isn’t the most insurmountable problem to contend with, but the Paperless Scratch Pad truly does fulfill the “better mousetrap” promise with new and improved technology. The paperless scratch pad is a completely electronic memo board that erases at the touch of a button. It eliminates the mess and hassle of a dry-erase board. No chalk boards, erasers and chalk dust to deal with. And forget about the endless waste of paper sticky-notes that you chase after every day.

The Paperless Scratch Pad is a durable, scratch-resistant LCD surface that responds to pressure using the included stainless steel stylus to capture whatever you want to write. Text, messages, drawings, diagrams, pictures, etc. You easily create lines of varying thickness, the more pressure you apply, the thicker the line. Less pressure with the stylus produces a thinner line. And you don’t even need the stainless steel stylus, you can simply use your finger to write if you like (but the stylus usually produces cleaner looking text and lines).

And here’s the great convenience. A single press of the erase button and you clear the screen. Now that’s much easier than a dry-erase board, don’t you think? You can even lock the paperless scratch pad to prevent accidental erasure until you have a chance to capture the thought, message, text, list or chart elsewhere for more permanent retention (or just insure that the rest of your household has a chance to see the message pad).

The Paperless Scratch Pad includes two AAAA (quadruple-A) batteries that provide up to 50,000 erases. The electronic scratch pad comes with a durable ABS case, has dimensions of 8 3/4″ H by 5 1/2″ W by 1/4″ D,  and weighs in at 4 1/4 oz.

Available: Hammacher

Price: $59.95

Every now and then you run across an new gadget idea that strikes you and you say “why didn’t I think of that?” In fact, we find these great ideas and new gadget innovations every day. And we really have a lot of fun here at Mint Gadgets bringing you these great gadget ideas.

Today, we have one of these great ideas which you are sure to love. The Pivot Power Power Strip solves one of the most common problems we’ve all encountered trying to fit all the gadgets we have to plugin to our power strips.

So what’s so brilliant about the Pivot Power Power Strip?

Think about it this way. You know the normal long rectangular power strips we’re all familiar with? Have you ever felt that annoying and frustrating feeling when you’re trying to fit two large power adapters right next to each other and they can’t fit because there’s not enough room? Isn’t that the most irritating sensation? You usually end up with one or more free sockets on the power strip which you can’t use unless you can find a tiny adapter to fit in the unused slot. Well, you will probably squeal with delight at the Pivot Power Power Strip. Because of its circular design and rotating power sockets, it’s able to fit all forms, shapes and sizes of adapters.

They call it “just pivot and fit it“.  Finally, someone has solved the “my big over-sized power adapter won’t fit in the power strip” problem!

Due to the fact that the Pivot Power Power Strip is shaped like a semi circle, you’ll be able to fit it into hard to reach places like around furniture. That is definitely something that you couldn’t do before with the inflexible rectangular block shaped power strips. If you think that the Pivot Power Power Strip is just an interesting looking power strip, think again because it also has the ability to stretch for a long reach. Its cord has a length of 6 feet so you can basically place it anywhere even if it’s far away from the main electricity source.

Am I right, don’t you love this gadget? I think it has to be one of the best inventions we’ve  come across recently. And it’s a rather simple idea, it turns out many of the best inventions are actually simple ideas! Here at Mint Gadgets, the Pivot Power Power Strip definitely qualifies as “hey, why didn’t we think of that?”.

Available: ThinkGeek

Price: $29.99 (on sale for less at ThinkGeek – click to see your savings)

The world is not getting safer because criminals are getting smarter. Your doors and locks may not be as secure as you think. Today’s more cunning and brazen burglars are able to jimmy your door and enter your home, wipe your home clean of valuables, and leave within minutes. The company Kwikset has stepped up to offer home owners the latest advancements and improvements in home security with the Kwikset Smart Code Lever. It’s a door handle system that allows you to unlock your door with a configurable electronic key code. This enhanced door entry system makes it many times more difficult for a burglar to break in and gain unlawful entry to your home.

your mobile phone. Therefore, a burglar who does not have your mobile phone and the pre-programmed security code. would not be able to break an entry.

The Kwikset SmartCode Entry Lever has six buttons. Five of those buttons are numbered and it surrounds the sixth button which is located in the center. The sixth button has an image of a padlock. The Smart Code can be purchased at almost any hard ware store but the purchase does not come with free installation. You will need to set up and install the door handle yourself. You can also easily hire a handy man to do the job for you.

The Kwikset SmartCode Entry Lever has many useful features. It blinks to inform you whether the door is locked or unlocked. At the press of each button, you will hear different tones. This is to cater for those who like audible feedback. The most brilliant feature is the auto lock system which automatically locks the door after thirty seconds. This feature is especially helpful for those who consistently forget to look their doors.

With enhanced versions of the Kwikset SmartCode Entry Lever, you can synchronize the lock with your smart phone which will allow you the check on your door status where ever you are. You can even lock and unlock the door remotely at any time via your wireless network. Now that’s cutting edge security with hi-tech convenience.

The Home Connect feature allows the device to communicate through your home network using either the Z-Wave or Zigbee wireless protocols. These protocols are not compatible so you need to make sure your purchasing the right Kwikset SmartCode Entry Lever version that comes with the wireless feature and matches the wireless security protocol that you support in your home (if you do). The nice thing about Kwikset is that they don’t charge any additional fees for this wireless capability, where Schlage actually charges a monthly fee for the same function.

Available: Amazon

Price: $119.00

Here’s a convenient and beautiful item in the spirit of the holidays that not only makes your life a little easier, but will also add beauty to your home. Perhaps not exactly a high-tech gadget, but definitely an aesthetically designed and smartly engineered pop-up artificial Christmas Tree. And besides, what better way to make sure you have the perfect spot underneath the Christmas Tree to place all of those other gadget gifts you’re giving for Christmas.  The Thomas Kinkade Pop-Up Christmas Tree is a 6 foot Christmas tree that easily pops up instantly and comes pre-decorated with beautiful original artwork by the very popular and renowned artist Thomas Kinkade.

The Thomas Kinkade Pop-Up Christmas Tree is very easy to assemble. It rises from a flat position in concentric circles into its full 30″ wide and 76″ high form. The artificial Christmas Tree actually hangs suspended from the included stand, pretty nifty actually. Hanging the tree in this suspended fashion is a little bit of clever engineering that always insures that the Christmas Tree stands (or hangs) perfectly upright (no more funny Christmas trees leaning to one side like the Leaning Tower of Pisa).

The Thomas Kinkade Pop-Up Christmas Tree solves the problem two ways. First and foremost, it’s beautiful. So many people love the popular Thomas Kinkade artwork and this tree certainly embodies this beauty. And it’s convenient and eliminates all the hassle of wrestling with a live tree.

Don’t underestimate how convenient an artificial Christmas Tree can be. No more shuffling off to the Christmas tree farm, cutting down your own tree, and hauling back to your home. Then hours to setup and decorate, and having to deal with the watering to keep the tree from dying and shedding pine needles all over the floor. Not to mention the fire hazard. And finally, the hassle of disposing of the tree after the holidays. Yes, a real tree is romantic and sentimental, and perhaps you feel like it’s just not a true Christmas without a real tree. Perhaps it’s the tradition, right? But have you considered how much work a real tree really entails?

We started a new tradition in our home a few years back when we switched to an artificial Christmas Tree. So much easier, and still just as beautiful and feels just like Christmas. We love it!

The fully decorated Thomas Kinkade Christmas Tree has two satin-like ribbons with gorgeous winter holiday scenes inspired by Thomas Kinkade’s original artwork. And the Christmas Tree lighting is stunning with two hundred shimmering Tivoili-styled lights nestled among the branches. The beautiful lighting casts a cozy warm glow over the 46 globe ornaments that are exquisitely painted in a rich holiday red and gold finish.  In addition, the Thomas Kinkade Pop-Up Christmas Tree has two decorative gold and burgundy ribbons, and fifteen velvet-like poinsettias.

Last but not least, don’t forget the gold-trimmed bow tree topper. You have to have a tree topper, right?  The artificial Christmas tree collapses just as easily as it assembles back to a mere 5 inches in height for easy and convenient storage during the off-season. Dimensions fully assembled are 76″ H x 32″ Diam. (11 lbs.)

If you hurry and order today, you’ll have the Thomas Kinkade Pop-Up Christmas Tree delivered in plenty of time for your perfect Christmas holiday!

Available: Hammacher

Price: $199.95

Ever wish for a bed or sofa that could mould itself to the position that you will feel most comfortable in? Do you face back problems when you’re sitting or lying on your bed to read? The eight position bed lounger might just be able to fix your problems. As the name suggests, the eight position bed lounger is a foam bed lounger that can be adjusted into eight positions.

The eight available positions are sure to provide you with the right comfort and support. All you have to do is adjust the positions to customize it to your liking. The bed lounger consists of three foam wedges that can be folded up (or down) to 180 degrees, and can even be used in a standalone fashion. With such flexibility of function, you can opt to sit up right with great back support and even have an elevated leg support.

Now, who says that reading on the bed or sofa is uncomfortable? The eight position bed lounger’s foam material is of medical graded foam which will adjust the foam contour to the unique shape and the position of your body. And this is the key magic of the foam that can help relieve pressure points. The best part is that there won’t be any permanent depression or disfigurement of the foam (or the bed lounger in general), as the bed lounger will immediately regain its original form when you leave it.

If you’re worried about hygiene, then cast your worries aside as the polyester cover is machine washable and can be removed for cleaning. In its full body setup, the foam bed lounger can support an individual up to 6’3” tall. The eight position bed lounger weighs 10 lbs, and the measurements are 76” in length, 20” in width, and 15 ½” in depth.

You’ll want to consider the quality of the foam material. With a lot of use, an inferior foam material may deteriorate over time and lose its ability to provide good support. Rest assured (sorry, no pun intended), the quality of the foam material in the eight position bed lounger is top notch.  And a great benefit to consider is the “lifetime guarantee” for the eight position bed lounger when you purchase from Hammacher Schlemmer!

Available: Hammacher

Price: $129.95

The Star Wars trilogy was one of the most celebrated movies of all time. After grossing millions in the box office, the movie continues to make profits from the sales of Star Wars memorabilia and souvenirs. There has been Darth Vader’s mask, glowing light sabers for children and plush toys of the Master Yoda. To add to the list of Star Wars merchandise is the Star Wars Lightsaber Candlestick.

The Light Saber Candlestick is eight and a half inches long, including the candle. It is almost the same length as the Light Sabers used in the movie. In a pack that costs $39.99; the Star Wars Lightsaber Candlestick also comes with three red candles. Once those three are burnt out, you could always hit the stores and purchase any regular taper candles. You could also select blue candles instead to create a blue laser sword which Luke Skywalker used.

Besides illuminating your Star Wars themed party, the Star Wars Lightsaber Candlestick is also suitable for romantic dinner with a date that is a Star Wars fan. After the dinner, you could even detach the base from the candlestick and you will have a Light Saber to play with. However, you should be careful not to drop wax all over your carpets and furniture when you engage your date in battle.

The Star Wars Lightsaber Candlestick is due to hit the markets in early December. It would make the perfect holiday gift for the Star Wars fans or those who just enjoy having unique decorative items in their homes.

Available: ThinkGeek

Price: $39.99