Tech tools

Sony Tap 20 €1,249With the coming of Windows 8, we've seen a whole heap of new devices designed to show off the new operating system at its best. Sony's Tap 20 is trying to bridge the gap between desktop and mobile machine.

You won’t really be taking this 20-inch all-in-one to use on the bus, but you can move it around the house easily. So if you want to access recipes online in the kitchen, you can transport it in seconds. Or if the kids want to do some art, you can unplug it and move it to the living room without having to detangle cables and wires.

[ Sony.ie ]

Pac-Man Ghost lamp €43

Remember when Pac-Man was the cutting edge of games design? The arcade game has managed to stand the test of time, making it onto today’s touch screen devices and holding on to its status as an arcade classic.

This lamp, modelled on the famous Pac-Man enemies, lets you bring a little bit of the game’s retro style to your room. You change the colour of the lamp, or its light settings, creating strobe and flashing effects, and all through remote control. There are 16 colours on its spectrum, so you can recreate Blinky, Pinky, Inky or Clyde.

[ Firebox.com ]

Vers 1Q $120

A tiny sound system wrapped in a natural casing, this 3-inch wooden cubes bring high quality audio to your smartphone, laptop or tablet. The Vers 1Q comes with Bluetooth 2.1 to connect to your various devices and, despite its tiny size, can produce some surprisingly big sound.

It has enough memory to link up to 10 different devices, so you can use it with multiple devices at different times without having to re-pair them.

The battery is charged via USB, giving you about 10 hours of play time. And if you need stereo sound, you can link up two of the speakers together.

[ versaudio.com ]

Crossover $35

An iPhone 5 case with a difference, the Crossover comes from the home of social inventions, Quirky.com. The two-piece case consists of silicon straps that not only provide protection for your iPhone, but also serve a very useful function – giving you some storage space without turning your handset into a brick.

The straps cross over the phone, protecting the main areas of impact – the back and the four corners. You can use the case to store up to four credit cards, business cards, notes etc. The two straps come in a range of different colours.

[ Quirky.com ]