Sun
MINIPOD, SCANDYNA
ELONEX ONE LAPTOP
BLACKBERRY PEARL 8130 SMARTPHONE IN PINK
MINIPOD, SCANDYNA: $849/PAIR
Sharpen up your sound and your decor with these iPod speakers from Scandyna that look like so many colourful robots lined up ready to blast out your favourite tunes. According to the maker Scandyna, every aspect of the design has a precise acoustical justification so there’s more to this look than pure whimsy. The Minipod has three spheres and comes in a rainbow of colours from the standard, black, white and silver to midnight blue, racing green, yellow and others. Look for them at www.podspeakers.com.
ELONEX ONE LAPTOP: £99 (ABOUT $200 CDN)
Billed as the sub-£100 laptop, this stripped down but functional laptop is slated to launch at the Education Show in Birmingham, England at the end of this month. Elonex’s ONE is geared to school kids and runs on the Linux operating system with software giving students access to word processing, spreadsheet software, e-mail, a scientific calculator, an imaging and graphics package and Internet browsing. It has Wi-Fi built in, and the company is offering ONEunion, an online site allowing users to download content, music and artwork and personalize their ONE. Weighing in at less than one kilogram, it has a full QWERTY keyboard, a seven-inch (17.9 cm) screen, a flash-based hard drive and a battery that runs for three hours. Elonex plans to donate to underprivileged children one out of every 100 of these laptops that are sold. No word on availability in North America, but in announcing the new laptop, Elonex’s marketing manager Sam Goult said the company expects to bring low-cost computing to Europe and beyond.
BLACKBERRY PEARL 8130 SMARTPHONE IN PINK, $100 WITH A THREE-YEAR CONTRACT FROM TELUS, $500 WITH NO CONTRACT
Pick the BlackBerry Pearl 8130 in pink and Telus will donate $25 from the sale to Rethink Breast Cancer, a charity focusing on young people who are affected by and concerned about breast cancer. This version includes pink chameleon wallpaper, a two megapixel camera with flash and video and the regular phone, e-mail, web browsing, text messaging and other social and business functions of the BlackBerry.
ENELOOP AIR FRESHENER, SANYO
If you’ve ever shared a car with a dog who has taken a dip in the ocean, you’ll appreciate this compact air freshener from Sanyo that uses the company’s electrolyzed water technology to clean the air with a “virus washer” function. It has a rechargeable battery and also can be plugged into a cigarette lighter or a regular outlet to rid the air around you of pesky odours from your pet or a smelly smoker, viruses, airborne bacteria or allergens such as pollens. It’s launching in Japan.