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The 5:01 to Gizmoville is now ready for boarding

Gadgets to grab

Tech Digest

iPod Accessory of the Week: PodGear PocketParty speakers for iPod Nano

Gizmoville PodGear SpeakersBarely two weeks after the iPod Nano's launch and accessories are starting to emerge. The PodGear for the Nano is a mini hi-fi system that doubles as recharger. The <a href="http://www.podgear.net/products.html" target="_blank" company assures us that it's the very first Nano speaker set out there. The company also claims that the PocketParty for iPod Nano offers improved sound appreciation on its predecessors and comes complete with LED indicator light and angled speaker grills for superior stereo sound. At 38g it's super-portable and can be operated either by the mains or from a single AA battery. It is on sale next month for £25.

OTT Home Entertainment kit: InFocus' £11,000 HD projector

The trouble with three-chip DLP HD-friendly projectors is that they tend to be a bit pricey. So there's good news from InFocus which has just unveiled a new version of the InFocus ScreenPlay 777 and priced it at just under €15,000, or around £11,000. OK, so that hardly counts as pocket-money pricing, but it's a start. The projector, which recently scooped the 2004-2005 EISA award for European High-End Projector, is apparently the only projector in its class to support both HDTV 1080p and InFocus' unique 48Hz film-mode conversion. Apparently optimised for home cinema installations, the projector boasts a high contrast 0.8in 720p DarkChip3 by Texas Instruments and Faroudja DCDi video processing. It's capable of displaying 2000 video-optimised lumens has a 5000:1 contrast ratio and features a motorised zoom. Also on board are eight video inputs, including DVI with HDCP, two direct component inputs, two S-Video, RS232 for integrated control, input for an IR repeater and two screen triggers.

Gizmoville InFocus ScreenPlay 777

Vaguely useful Gadget of the week: TV-friendly MPEG4 video recorder

Gizmoville Neuros MPEG4 RecorderHere's an interesting take on the video recorder. Peripherals specialist Pinpoint Consumer Electronics has begun selling the Neuros MPEG4 Video Recorder in the UK. As you'd expect, it records TV, camcorder, DVD player or satellite footage and then converts it to MPEG 4 (see The Register's review here). The recorder has no hard drive - you store the footage on to Compact Flash or SD memory cards. It's also been tweaked to support MemoryStick Pro Duo cards, which makes it a very easy solution for Sony PSP owners who want to view video on their device.

The unit itself is approximately the size of a PDA, weighs 140g, comes with software that enables video clips to be edited, and has a USB 2.0 connection and remote control. It goes on sale shortly for £150. Expect to see a lot more of these devices soon.

Blinging gadget of the week: Baby Phat gold-plated PSP case

Sony's been doing a good bit of self-promotion with a selection of custom-made, designer PSP cases created by the latest trendy young things in the fashion world. The gold and jewel-encrusted cover designed by Baby Phat label-owner Kimora Lee Simmons is probably the most outrageous of the lot and now UK gaming fans have the chance to grab one for themselves. The £20,000 (no really) cover is going on display in Harrods where you'll be able to place your order for one of your very own. Made from 1lb of gold, and encrusted with eight carats of yellow and black diamonds, the case is being flown in exclusively from America for one week only. It'll be in the toys department on the fourth floor until the 29 September.

Gizmoville gold PSP case

Quick Picks

There's loads more of this stuff at Tech Digest, Shiny Shiny, Green consumer blog HippyShopper, gaming site Games Digest and Bayraider which highlights the best and worst of online auction sites.

Joining the crew are HDTVUK, the first high-definition TV news site for the UK, and PopJunkie, bringing music coverage that takes in everything from Frank Sinatra's odd concept album from 1969, Watertown to Cathy Dennis' Brit Pop album Am I that kind of Girl? Each day PopJunkie offers a mini review of a great lost pop album.

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