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One of the most overlooked features in any laptop, iPad, smartphone, or iPod Touch, is Bluetooth music streaming. Sure, everybody loves the idea of music without wires, but in reality, stereo headsets are either bulky or messy, and Bluetooth speakers are generally wimpy and ugly.
Enter Jambox–a rechargeable speaker that breaks our preconceptions for what a Bluetooth can do (and how good it can look doing it). Priced on the high end at $199, this little speaker bar uses two 1.25-inch drivers on the front and a passive radiator woofer on the back to deliver a surprisingly balanced sound for its size. There’s also an integrated microphone for speakerphone operation (not to mention voice dialing and Jawbone’s speech-to-SMS capabilities) and a multipurpose button that can be programmed for speed dial. Expect around 8 hours running off the internal battery.

Record HDTV to your Mac or stream it to your iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad with the EyeTV HD ($200). This USB box sports component video and RCA audio inputs on the back, and connects to a cable- or satellite set-top box for your recording pleasure. An IR blaster takes care of the controls, while a $5 app lets you control and watch live TV over 3G or Wi-Fi, and a special dual-format capture feature saves your favorite shows in both iPad and iPhone formats simultaneously

What’s the one thing external hard drives have been missing all these years? If you answered “a screen,” perhaps the Western Digital My Passport Studio ($150-$200) is for you. Available in 320, 500, and 640GB capacities, these sleek silver drives feature both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 interfaces, Time Machine support for the Mac users out there, and a super-crazy, e-paper “label” on the outside that lets you know details like remaining capacity, whether the drive is locked, and, to help with drive organization, a personalized label to help you keep track of its contents. Although, honestly, if you’re having problems keeping track of all your external drives, perhaps you should cut down on the porn torrenting.

Aiming to be the ultimate pocket cam for interviews, YouTube videos, and more, the Ion Twin Video ($TBA; Q2 2010) lets you record both what you see and your reaction to it. It pulls off this feat by packing two cameras

Imagine a computer that was so simple even a complete novice could use it out of the box. A computer with a low-powered, low performance and low-priced CPU, the Sempron LE-1250 (or maybe even an Intel Atom). Imagine that it comes in a small box with a tiny (by today?s standards) 19-inch monitor and cheap dime-store keyboard.

What would you do if you had a warehouse full of these machines, all less capable than the cheapest netbook? If it was me, I?d hire a trusted public figure and try to sell the lot to the only demographic that would buy them ? old people who have never used a computer before. Better, I?d charge $735 or $890. After all, they all trust the lovely British TV presenter Valerie Singleton, right? Well, guess what? Somebody beat me to it.

The two simplicITy Suite computers are cheap-o boxes with the above mentioned processors, and either wired or wireless keyboard or mouse depending on whether you opt for the 100 or the 200 model. Available in the UK, both run Linux Mint and Eldy, a simple desktop environment which offers the bare basics of email, web browsing and chat. Eldy (and Linux, of course) are both free. In fact, visit the Eldy site (tagline: ?Easy computer for our seniors?) and you?ll learn that it can be installed on any PC.

Now, we know that some oldsters can be scared of computers, usually because they think they might ?break something?. And we?re all for anything that gets more people on the web (and hopefully reading Gadget Lab). But taking a bunch of extremely low-spec commodity PC boxes, loading them up with free software and hawking them to pensioners seems rather cynical given the high price tag.

The features of the software are nice enough (as they would be if Eldy were loaded onto that old PC you have in the basement). Old folk can browse the web, check weather and Skype the kids, but we can?t help thinking it?s all a little patronizing. Aiming a computer OS at seniors, especially when put onto overpriced hardware, smacks at best of do-goodism and at worse of cashing in on the uninformed. What is wrong with a cheap old PC running Ubuntu? Stick the relevant icons on the desktop, make ?em big and off you go. It?s free, a helluva lot prettier than the Windows 95-alike Eldy, and when grandma is no longer scared of the web-browser, there?s whole lot more under the hood.

Thanks WIRED

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While tech fiends are anxiously awaiting web tablets made by Apple and TechCrunch, a recently-launched French touchpad device could become the darling of culinary geeks. Made specifically for kitchen use, QOOQ is a touchscreen tablet that aims to coach and assist both beginning and experienced cooks.

For EUR 349, the device comes loaded with 500 interactive recipes and 10 instructional videos. Customers can add their own recipes and

TomTom has been on a mission to keep itself relevant as smartphones increasingly start to overstep on its territory, and the GO I-90 is another move in its counteroffensive plan. Capable of slotting into the double DIN slot usually reserved for in-car radio / music players, its big selling point is that it integrates into your dashboard yet is still capable of being moved around like a discrete nav unit. You wouldn’t be left decrying the loss of your radio either, with the GO I-90 sporting FM (with RDS support) and AM reception, USB support for MP3 players including iPods, and a promised compatibility with an “extensive” list of phones for handsfree calling — unfortunately, the poorly worded PR makes no mention of Bluetooth so we’re not sure how they’ll pull that off. Throw in a guarantee to receive the latest maps, TomTom’s Map Share for crowdsourced routes, and a Help-Me! emergency menu, and you get a pretty comprehensive product. Shame about that €599 (about $893) sticker then. Available in Europe in December.

Remember the Barnes and Noble dual-display ebook reader spotted in concept form last week?? There?s obviously something in the water, as Spring Design have just announced an ebook reader, the Alex, with both a 6-inch E Ink panel and a 3.5-inch color touchscreen, based on Google?s Android platform and with integrated 3G and WiFi.

The touchscreen can be used to browse the web and grab clippings, which can then be viewed on the e-ink panel.? Spring Design have also developed what they call Link Notes, a hybrid of traditional ebooks, clippings, multimedia and user notes.? As for production possibilities, the company claim to be in discussion with ?selected strategic partners? and ?major content? providers, with a release expected by the end of 2009.

Storage is via SD card, and there?s a headphones socket and full smartphone functionality.? Spring Design call the dual-display system Duet Navigator, and as well as being used to pull up related photos, news articles, media content and more, it will also aid in annotation and searches by offering an on-screen keyboard.

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