Revo Heritage Deluxe Table Radio, €260:A mix of retro design and cutting-edge technology, Revo's Heritage Deluxe Table Radio looks exactly like a classic radio should, but also packs in DAB, FM, internet radio and even a dock for your iPhone and iPod to bring it up to today's high standards.
Within the aluminium and walnut-veneer casing is some pretty good technology.
The DAB radio is high-sensitivity, and the WiFi access allows you to get more than 11,000 stations from around the world. It can stream audio wirelessly from your PC or Mac, and has an iPod “video out” connection. Non-Apple converts can hook up their MP3 players with an auxiliary cable.
The audio quality from the device is impressive, with a custom-designed speaker driver and seven-watt amplifier. Revo has also included a digital alarm clock, with the obligatory snooze and sleep functions, so it may just replace every radio device in your bedroom.
www.myrevo.fr
Adidas miCoach Pacer, €170
The Adidas miCoach Pacer is exactly like having an annoying personal trainer in your ear, urging you to run faster, pick up the pace, don’t give up now . . . The good news is that you set the workouts, from length to intensity, and you can switch it off as soon as you’ve had enough – without it punishing you next time around.
Adidas made a move into this territory a couple of years ago with the Samsung miCoach mobile phone. It used a heart-rate monitor and stride sensor that attached to your shoe and communicated with the phone to gauge how hard you were working.
The Pacer retains the stride sensor and heart-rate monitor, but it has ditched the phone element. Instead, you are tracked through a small gadget that connects to both sensors. It uses workout plans you have created online and helps you keep track of your progress. The device can be set up in minutes, and even connects to your MP3 player.
www.micoach.com
Sony Vaio Y Series, €674
Sony has added to its Vaio range with its new Y-series laptop. With a high-contrast wide- screen 13.3-inch LED display, it is perfect for multimedia on the move. It is lightweight, at less than 1.8kg, while low-voltage Intel processors allow Sony to make the bold promise of up to nine hours’ battery life.
Just in case, though, Sony has shrunk the size of the charger to make it more portable. Despite its small size, the laptop has a decent- sized keyboard and a multi-gesture touchpad that allows you to zoom through multimedia files with finger movements to scroll and rotate images. As an optional extra, the Y-series can also be fitted with Vaio Everywair to allow you to access 3G mobile broadband networks.
Sony has paid some attention to the outer casing, with a magnesium alloy body that not only looks good but offers some protection when you are out and about.
www.sony.ie
