Struggling for a gift idea for the
techie in your family? We have a selection of gadgets that could be ideal,
including a steam-powered PC case and a selection of the latest eBook readers,
including the Kindle Paperwhite
Ducky DK9008 Shine
Price: $193.5
Supplier: www.tigerimports.net
Ducky
DK9008 Shine
The Ducky DK9008 shine might have a draft
name and rather distracting blue LED lighting to go with it, but it’s a fine
thing to type on. The key, if you’ll pardon the pun, is it uses mechanical
Cherry MX Blue switches, precision engineered in Germany. These provide an
almost perfect combination of spring, click and feedback that makes writing for
long periods painless, and the stiff plastic chassis gives it a super-solid
base. We can’t promise it will solve writer’s block, though.
Lian Li PC-CK101
Price: $397.5
Lian
Li PC-CK101
It isn’t the most practical of cases, but
Lian Li’s catchily named PC-CK101 has to be the most unusual PC chassis we’ve
ever seen: it’s shaped like a train, has a vaporiser that blows “smoke” through
its funnel, comes with a motor and track to run it up and down, and costs a
cool $397.5. The motherboard fits in the rear carriage (mini-ITX only), and
there’s also room for an SSD and even a slimline optical drive, with the latter
loading at the very front of the engine. You’ll have to build the motor yourself,
but it isn’t the or a luggage rack. In truth, it’s about as convenient as
engineering works, but we have a soft spot for Lian Li’s demented desktop
locomotive. With most PCs sold as boring black boxes, It’s good to see a
company trying something genuinely different.
Focusrite iTrack Solo
Price: $195
Supplier: www.dv247.com
Focusrite
iTrack Solo
The iTrack Solo is a digital audio
interface aimed primarily at iPad users. It works seamlessly with GarageBand,
and should support all third-party music apps too. It offers one XLR microphone
connector (with switchable 48V phantom power) and one unbalanced 6.35mm
instrument jack, each with its own trim control. A headphone socket with
optional direct monitoring completes the front panel; stereo phono outputs at
the back let you hook up an external amplifier. We found sound quality to be
superb, with no discernible noise and very clean audio capture thanks to a
24-bit, 96kHz ADC. The onboard amplifiers are beefy units too, with adjustable
gain up to +55dB at both input and output stages. Although Focusrite emphasises
the iTrack Solo’s iPad compatibility, the device will also connect to a Mac or
PC (Ableton Live Lite comes in the box), adding an extra dimension of
versatility. Compared to desktop-only interfaces, the price is steep, and the
6in iPad connector cable is inconveniently short, but if you’re
a keen iPad composer the iTrack Solo offers everything you need to give
recordings a professional edge.
Livescribe Sky
Price: $240 (2GB)
Livescribe
Sky
Livescribe’s “smartpens” can capture
handwriting and audio at the same time and digitise both, allowing audio
recordings to be navigated by simply tapping the pen to the page. This new
model introduces Wi-Fi and seamless Evernote synchronisation to the mix. Once
the pen has been connected to a Wi-Fi network and a Livescribe account, notes upload
directly to Evernote, without the need for a PC. If you’ve recorded audio while
taking notes, linked text appears in green, and clicking this launches
Livescribe’s new HTML player in a separate tab. One word of warning, though:
using the Wi-Fi has a negative impact on battery life, more than halving it
from 11 hours to 4hrs 30mins of audio recording, so unless you really need the
near-instant sync it’s best to switch it off until you need it. Other than
that, though, it all works as advertised, and makes the ideal techie gift for
students, or anyone else whose note-taking skills leave a little to be desired.
Microsoft Sculpt Touch Mouse
Price: $54
Supplier: www.ebuyer.com
Microsoft
Sculpt Touch Mouse
A tempting little stocking-filler, the
Microsoft Sculpt Touch Mouse delivers gesture controls for Windows 8 as well as
MacBooks and even selected Android tablets. The full-sized mouse offers both
vertical and horizontal scrolling for the Windows 8 Start screen, although the
latter still feels desperately counter-intuitive. It’s a sturdy blighter, with
a rubberized strip running around the circumference of the base, where your
thumb naturally rests, and the two AA batteries adding the necessary heft.
We’re left entirely cold by the haptic feedback delivered by the central scroll
strip, which makes it feel as if there’s a dust clogged ball trapped beneath
its glossy surface, but this can be switched off in the driver settings. The
software also allows you to reassign buttons in specific applications: a press
of the central scroll strip to go back in your browser, for instance.
Koubachi Wi-Fi Plant Sensor
Price: $150
Supplier: www.firebox.com
Koubachi
Wi-Fi Plant Sensor
If your horticultural exploits often end up
withered in the compost bin, help is at hand. Koubachi is a free iOS app
designed to help keep your plants thriving. Simply select your flora from the
app’s Plant Cyclopedia, and Koubachi does the rest, reminding you how often to
water, mist or fertilise each one. Splash out on the $150 Wi-Fi Plant Sensor,
and it goes a step further: the streamlined sensor monitors the ambient light
and temperature, and accurately measures soil moisture too. You can tailor
alarms or plant care reminders to be sent via email, or through push
notifications to an iOS device. The sensor is currently limited to indoor use
(an outdoor version is in the works), but move it between plants in a
fortnightly rota and it will build up an accurate picture of their care needs.
The Koubachi’s Wi-Fi Plant Sensor is pricey, but it’s a green fingered gadget
like no other.
