O'Neil's H4 Campback - Integrated Video Camera in your Backpack!

There's no dirth of adventurous people in this world, and I'm sure all of them would be truly happy if there was a small device that captured all of their wonderful moments so they could revel in the glory later when they share those memories with family and friends! Well, it seems like with O'Neil's new product, this might not be a dream anymore, nor would you have to pay extra for getting a video while you are diving from a plane or engaged in paragliding or para-sailing. An external camera for video taping extreme sports is nothing new. But this new product takes it one level further by integrating it with a backack, yes, the one thing you usually would carry on such adventures, and also adding a whole lot of new features to their earlier version!

O’Neill, the sports manufacturer famous for wetsuits and clothing lines, have now upgraded it’s Campack (backpack) with a portable media player/recorder and external camera lens. Snowboarders, skier’s, and anyone who is addicted to getting the rush of extreme sports can use the H4 Campack to record their relentless pursuit of cheating death. What makes the H4 system so cool isn’t the external camera lens that attaches to a head or goggles, but the fact that recording is completely controllable through the backpack itself. Control buttons, large enough for ski gloves to press them, are located on the shoulder strap. Stop, start and record are easily accessible in this fashion. The drawback ? you lose the iPod and Bluetooth connectivity as well as a solar charging option which were a part of the H2 system.

The player sports a media 2.4-inch 240k color LCD, and stores video on either it’s 512MB of internal memory or up to 2GB in SD card storage. The camera allows for about 2 hours of 320 x 240 pixel @ 25fps recordings. A button panel on the shoulder strap controls the recordings which can be dumped back to the PC via the player's USB jack or SD card reader. However, you'll ahve to live with the fact that you will have to stop and change SD cards after only about 2 hours of YouTube quality PAL video. A bit uncomfortable, but not a show-stopper!

And now for the vital question. What's the cost of capturing your moments of thrill on a lens?? Well, it is estimated to be around $400 USD and would be available during the hoilday season, starting December. That seems to be comparable to a regular Handy cam or portable video recording device. but only time will tell whether this baby makes a mark or not...I do like the idea of providing easier control ad not being dependent on other to shoot you live in action, so maybe this just might find a place with some people. What do you think??

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Cars that Change Colors on the press of a button!!

My old car is going busted, and it's time for us to seriously start thinking about buying a new car. So as we were browsing through some models online, we saw that the sleek-looking blacks or graphites and the metallic blues added a dent of another 1000 dollars to our pockets which are already falling apart!! And unfortunately, those are the only colors that catch your eyes, not the stark whites, right?? So I sat there wondering how much fun it would be if we could make cars that changed colors on our whim?? Pop-press a button, and my car turns grey; come sweltering summer and I'd press the button again to turn it into a soothing white...or much better, I can have a modern double-colored car with streaks - such that I've seen and dreamt about in 2 fast 2 Furious!!!

Looks like God wanted me to revel my dream, and at least be happy with the thought that something like my crazy idea could actually exist. Yup, Nissan, the renowned car-maker who's trying hard to revamp it's image and restore it's lost glory is coming out with new ideas that would appeal to the nerdy and young crowd (like me and my readers!!) They were the ones who dreamed up the concept of "self-healing paint" some two years back, which was supposedly scratch-resistant, and they are now talking about "a paramagnetic concoction", which enables motorists to change the color of their ride at the press of a button.

Is this just an idea, because we all have a lot of ideas...or is it for real?? Well, looks like it is real and the secret behind this is a special polymer containing paramagnetic iron oxide particles, which is applied to the car's exterior. Then, by applying an electric current, the spacing of small crystals within the iron oxide particles can be adjusted, therefore affecting their ability to reflect light and change color. The catch (yeah, there's always a catch!) once your engine is turned off, and there's no current running, the charge is lost and the car turns to a default color (maybe white, maybe something else, it's for them to decide)

If all goes well, Nissan expects to roll out these vehicles by early 2010. Though the concept is fascinating, and truly an innovation, I wonder what would happen when all parked/turned off Nissan cars would turn to the same default color...how do you identify your car? especially for people like my husband who never bother to memorize the number plate?? well, it sure will be more work for cops chasing people, as the latter could keep flipping their car colors at the whim of a button and confuse the cops!!! sounds funny, huh?!! The case of the color-changing Chameleon Car - wow, I sure am a born writer:)

So what say you? Does this sound interesting, disturbing, rubbish, stylish or hoax??

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X-Ray Handbag - Cool or Spooky??!!

Many a times you've seen women carrying fashionable handbags and purses that catches your eye and you crave to have something similar. A typical example of "Neighbor's Envy, Owner's Pride". But then again, how many times have you looked at a handbag and tried to imagine what's inside it? Would be a fun game to guess the stuff that lies inside an opaque bag, and I know many of us would have played such games as kids! But suddenly, something that I am about to tell you might not make this idea a fun game anymore! In fact, I felt it was downright spooky to imagine what would happen if we could really see inside a handbag!!

Think Geek, the creators of stuff for geeks is out with something intriguing yet cool for some and spooky for the others, an X-Ray Bag that shows the contents inside your bag! Right in time for Halloween, huh?! These X-Ray tote and shoulder bags made of a space-age woven plastic fiber appear to have been bombarded by X-rays and magically make your eyes sensitive to their reflection. So now, what you carry inside is no longer a secret! Whether its something interesting like a wad of cash, credit cards, i-phone or diamonds, or something as fickle as sunglasses or a pair of clothes, you choose what to show, and even when it is only a hoax, it is one cool trick that will leave people agape! Just buy a bag with neutral stuff on it and a thief will never even think of trying to steal something from that tote-bag...After all, what use is a pair of clothes to him:)

For those who wish to carry real precious stuff, but sadly don't actually get to buy it, you can live your whims by buying a bag with fancy article images...Be bold and daring, and pick one that suits you! If you are interested in buying one, click here.

I don't think I'd like to carry one myself personally, but I have seen someone else carrying it, and I was intrigued enough to stop and give her bag a hard look! The x-ray effect is tantalizing, and this would be a cool gift for a teen!

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