Entertainment

All the latest generation iPods, with exception of the tiny shuffle, are capable of video storage and playback. This can be an excellent way of passing time, either on long trips or even if you're having trouble sleeping.

Huge Plastacine rabbits, that’s what I think of when I think of the latest Sony TV’s they were used to promote the vivid colours that these are capable of. Of course they are great TV’s but are they worth the premium the name brings.

Normally you would get my opinion as an experienced computer user but a very basic musician. Here something different the view of a very experienced musician but almost a computer novice.

Remote control flying devices come in a variety of shapes and sizes. The latest offering to fall into my hands is a mini-helicopter.

This new Personal Video Recorder (PVR) from Humax provides 160Gbytes of storage, enough for around 100 hours of recorded TV.

Here I am looking at the latest offering from Pure Digital the One Mini. Just as this arrived Pure announced they had sold 2,000,000 DAB radios this is of course DAB but also FM and you can connect an iPod or portable CD.

While headphones are a very convenient way of listening to your music it's good sometimes to go for the more traditional approach and listen through speakers. The EQ5 from Motorola are a small set of stereo Bluetooth speakers that double up as a speaker-phone.

Here two items the first a quality speaker that runs of three ‘AAA’ batteries and the second a headset that enables your phone to remain firmly in your pocket or bag and thus saves you from becoming a target for thieves.

It's september so as (recent) history dictates it's time for Steve Jobs to take to the stage and show us what he hopes Santa will be delivering this year.

As I mentioned last week, manufacturers and developers already have Christmas product line-ups in place.

This is the largest of three models that give a truly improved sound from the otherwise rather bland output available from the Apple iPod. While Orbitsound T12 unit comes with a sub woofer the really exciting stuff is developed in the main unit.

As a radio lover I was very interested to get my hands on this pocket DAB radio from Goodmans. Billed as the "smallest personal/pocket DAB radio in the world" this could be exactly the replacement for my pocket FM radio.

While this is a digital photo frame it also plays music and can even play .AVI movies both sound and video, in fact it is a rather nice product all round. There has to be a minus point and my tests have produced two.

We all know Digital TV is coming but before you chuck out perfectly good TV’s because they do not have a SCART socket there is a way to get Digital TV using this little box from TVonics.

Adding to its current range of video capture solutions, Pinnacle has developed its Video Transfer kit which does not require the presence of a computer in order to work.

Here a Hot Stone Grill to cook on and while it’s cooking how about a game of Boules but whatever you do not play it on the patio or the prize lawn.

Answering the call and donning my secret agent guise (actually it was no different from my normal appearance as that is the best way not to attract attention), I made my way to Sony’s secret bunker to discover about the company’s latest gadgets.

This is an excellent voice and music recorder. Not only does it record in rather good stereo in MP3 but it can also record in WAV at 44.1 in 16bit (CD quality) but even up to 96 in 24bit.

Here I am looking at two items that come from the company that charges $3 US shipping no matter how large your order. Fist an MP3 player that looks like a largish Lego brick and then an Alarm Clock radio that takes SD cards so you can wake to your choice of music guaranteed.

This is a rather good iPod playing device, that just for good measure can play CD’s – of various types – has an FM radio and an ‘Aux’ input to play anything that can connect via a 3.5mm jack plug.

Here I will tell you about two different companies with wonderful earbuds that shall we say are not cheap. In fact both could probably cost more than the unit you plug them into.

The title says dual radio in this case it’s FM and Internet but it is also an MP3 player a Media Server and an Alarm Clock. The Internet part can be either Ethernet or Wireless connectivity.

Adding to the range of iPod accessories, not developed by Apple, is a new speaker and recharging unit from Logitech.

Apple were arguably late to the MP3 market - but when they got there, they certainly made an impact. Five generations on and the original distinctive iPod family were joined by the 'Touch', sporting many of the same features but in a significantly different package.

Here I will tell you about two of the board games I was promised at the Toy Fair in January that have recently arrived. First About Time a game stated to be for 14+, second one for 8+ Cat Attack.

I used to play – many years ago – in a snooker team – local league division three – and one of the team members always used to say you can’t beat a good w#*$ here my opinion differs slightly, it’s that you can’t beat a good read.

From the same company that recently supplied the 19inch offering for a prize draw, this is a Digital and Analogue offering that has all the possible external connectors you might want and it’s HD Ready and widescreen with 16:9 viewing.

Adding to its already extensive range of technology products, LINDY Electronics has released the LINDY USB DVB-T Receiver.

While you can receive a personal and friendly service from some traditional book sellers, the same is not always true when purchasing books online. Perhaps a new website can change this public conception.

This is a very good Internet radio that can work wired or wireless, stereo not mono as some are and the first plus is that it can also be used to play the content from your iPod. The second plus you will need to read on to find out about.