Top Gadgets For Mum this Mothersday
- Nintendo DSI XL (About £150)
- Slanket - its still chilly and a bargain buy under £30
- If she loves a bit of Harry Potter why not a Magic Wand Remote Control
- a Portable Digital Photo Album.
Like a photo album, but digital - can store up to 40,000 images - Let her relax with a sound asleep pillow this squishy pillow has a built-in speaker that can only be heard by the by your mum when she actually gets the time to lie down just plug a music / audio book source (iPod, radio, TV out) into the pillow’s 3.5mm stereo socket and start clocking up the zzzzs
Nintendo DSi XL
Nintendo DSi XL features Two 4.2 inch screens, Longer stylus, 2 digital cameras. Built in SD card / music player, web browser.
It's a nintendo DSi, but the XL makes it BIGGER.
The bods at nintendo looked at the market they were selling their consoles to, and while there competition were making smaller and smaller pocket gaming devices the nintendonians took a step back and see that the big market was not the teenagers (who only have their pocket money) but the older bods out there. The professionals, the mums and dads, grans and grandads (for who the nintendo dsi xl makes a great present).
Not to bothered about putting the console in their pocket and playing in a variety of places, the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DSI was used as a home entertainment system. The worst thing about Nintendos portable games console is the fact it is small. So why not ditch the worry about making it portable, and concentrate on making it a better gaming experience.
Key festures of the DSI XL are:
- Two 4.2 inch screens - 93% bigger than the DS Lite.
- Includes A Little Bit of Brain Training and 5 in 1 Dictionary pre-installed.
- Longer stylus and new touch pen.
- 2 digital cameras.
- Built in SD card slot - use your DSi XL and a music player.
- Built in web browser.
The Nintendo DSi XL is an excelent present for Mothers Day, Fathers Day or any occasion.
Lego Boardgames
Lego's Take on the Classic Board Game - Ramses Pyramid pictured
Pure toy heaven, the best thing since I heard the magic words Lego and Sta Wars combined.
Lego has reinvented the board game, thanks to a resession and the need for a cost effective entry from the lego stable this Christmas the Lego brains have brought a number of Lego Board Games into the mix. Modular, expandable and fun.
For the collectors there has been the Lego Chess Set entry for a few years now, but into the mainstream come the following:
Silverlit: Picoo Z Atom
Small and flys, well
Apparently the PicooZ Atom is The Worlds Smallest Radio Controlled Helicopter as recognised by the Guiness Book of Records. With built-in Li-poly batteries for extended flying time and 3 channel super wide infrared control, coupled with it's special propeller system make for precision speed control and excellent flying stability.
From a solid stable of indoor flying remote control toys the Silverlit PicooZ Atom is a great addition to the airfleet of any kid, no matter how old they are!
Magic Wand Remote Control
You can assign various functions to various moves, flicks and spinc control your tv
Ideal for the Harry Potter fan who already has all the DVDs - a magic wand Tv remote control. Buttons, no remember this is a WAND - more for the wii generation. No buttons, flick to command!
You can use it to control your telly, DVD, Blu Ray, Sky, digibox, stereo or whatever uses infa red remote controls now a days and do it in magical style with flicks of the wrist and turns of the wand.
To add to its supernatural nature, the Wand also features a ‘heartbeat’ in the form of various pulses that confirm gesture recognition, creepy!
But aside from its gadget credentials, and the fact there is an amazing instruction manual that has the look of pages from a spell book, and as you can see from the image it is actually a beautiful Harry Potter Esq replica wizards wand. Even the presentation box oozes quality.
Control Examples
Rotate anticlockwise (typically used for “volume down” function)
Rotate clockwise (typically used for “volume up” function)
Flick upwards
Flick downwards
Flick left
Flick right
Tap on top
Tap on side
Big swish
Push forward
Pull back
Double tap top
Double tap side
Modes: (yes a remote with different modes!)
Practice mode - allows the user to practise making the gestures and verify that they have been recognised correctly before learning associated IR data.
Sleep mode - the wand will enter a low-power sleep mode after 60 seconds of inactivity.
Learning mode - you can teach it one or more new codes for any of the possible gestures.
