Gadgets: Gadget Show Live Special

Audio-wise I was tempted with the Hopman hidden speaker system which can be attached to plasterboard walls and even office furniture instead of using a conventional speaker box.  Handy if you want to disguise your speakers, but if you owned some lovely Qurve speakers you'd want everyone to see them!

The Qurve system utilises "lifes natural amplifier" - the acoustic horn.  These sound as well as they look but at prices starting at £3,500 they're not for your everyone's pocket - unfortunately they wouldn't even fit in my bag.  I did try!  Mi-Hub is the work of Integrated Entertainment Systems Ltd and are a couple of ways of slinging your home cinema set-up into your TV stand. Mi-Hub comes in two flavours. The more right-angled one being the Mi-Hub Quantum has an asking price of £430 in white and £400 in black and the Opus comes in at £480/£430 following the previous options. The Quantum has 4×10W L/R speakers and 2×20W subs, while the Opus is fitted with 6×10W L/R speakers and another 2 subs. Both machines are also good for karaoke thanks to their multiple mic inputs and they also feature all the HDMIs, S-Video, composites, coaxial, SCART and opticals you could want as well as being Dolby certified. They looked pretty swish on the stand and the sound was quite good – although I’m not convinced if having all those speakers so close together works for films or music if you were looking for a dedicated rig. I still think, however, that the integrated speaker/tv stand is a decent option though for those with limited space.

I embarrassed myself at the Kung-Fu Live stand.  You fancy being the star of a martial arts computer game?  Well, the FreeMotion tech that the Virtual Air Guitar Company has developed allows accurate real-time tracking of your body as well as background removal using regular webcams. The software tracks the player’s poses and movements including data for all body parts such as hands, feet and the head. The player’s image is extracted from the background and transferred into the game world. The background removal works in home conditions without the need for a greenscreen – It can even remove your buddies that happen to be sat watching. The game tracks pretty well (granted, having about 5 years from Lau Gar training meant I wasn’t as lightening fast or supple as I should be) and was only confused by the rare sight of sunlight streaming into the camera’s line of sight - but aren't we all in this country?  The game I was playing was a horizontal scrolling beat-em up and it only took a few seconds before I was punching and kicking into thin air whilst the gaming me was attempting to hit the bad guy. Unfortunately, the screen was over my right shoulder which meant the Kung-Fu mini me wasn’t looking where he was punching but looked as though he was waiting to be paparazzied. It’s fun and as you are actually punching, kicking, ducking and blocking it doesn’t take long before you realise that you are actually getting a work out.

I met the YikeBike in person at the show.  I first spotted the foldable electric bike back in September and am happy to report that it will land in the UK in June (in time for my birthday). The 10kg carbon fibre vehicle has been tweaked since September and from the original figures of a 9km range and a top speed of 20kph it can now travel at up to 25kph for 10km on a single charge before needing a plug or being slung over your shoulder using the Yike’s bag. The New Zealand based company isn’t expecting you to ride this all the way to work (although, if you live near enough to work you could) but the idea is that you ride it from home to the train station/bus stop, fold it up get on-board and then flip out your Yike for the remainder of your commute. The YikeBike takes 40 minutes to charge and just 20 seconds to fold away. The design is fab and watching folk on the test-track in the NEC it speeds along at quite a decent lick – it certainly feels fast enough. The only draw back could be the £2,995 asking price – Yikes! indeed.  The Yike is cool and, to me, says upmarket – even City slick.  If you’re looking for something more ‘urban’ may I take this opportunity to introduce OZO’s Easy Glider? It looks like Mad Max’s chariot but this electric transport is fairly portable and can be used with your skateboard, in-lines or even your unicycle as well as the ‘Char’ – that’s the little chariot bit by-the-way. The Easy Glider comes in kids and adult guises and the 360W motor will drag you for somewhere between six and 12 miles at a top speed of 20kph. It weighs around 32kg and stopping comes thanks to brakes on both front and back wheels (if you have the Char hooked up) – it even uses the downhill mometum to recharge the batteries as you go. My favourite bit is the fact that it has a soundsystem! Attach your mp3 player of choice to the integrated steeringbar and connect it to the sound system. 4×10 watt speakers will provide your choooooonz! Thanks to the foldable steeringbar and the compact size of only 50 x 30 cm, the easyglider can be shoved in most car boots should the British weather turn nasty and you’re offered a lift. The adult version comes in five different colours and costs £725 - A tad lower in price than the Yike.

You may recall the sWaP wristphone from last year. Well, the company has been busy building and shrinking more phone tech in order for it to be wrist-mounted – and in the process have shrunk it so far as to become a key fob. I managed to get some hands-on time with the new range whilst at the Birmingham NEC. The original model, now dubbed Classic, is joined by the retro looking Rebel. The upmarket unibodied milled steel Signature model looks impressive and would definitely suit those that have a hankering to be a double-O agent. The Signature also comes in a rather snazzy presentation box. The bracelet designed Incognito is squarely aimed at the ladies and has the feel of something futuristic. All of these wristphones work well and in the demo’s were very usable and come with Bluetooth headsets for when the novelty of talking to your cuffs wears thin. Befitting of OO7 they come with concealed cameras so that you can take sneaky shots of blueprints as well as your bosses acting daft in the pub after work in order to secure that promotion. Ultra-new on the sWaP stand at The Gadget Show Live was the tiny Nova. So fresh is this newcomer the stand only had the one-off hand built version that they flew in that morning. The sWaP Nova Keychain Phone is a 2G (GSM/GPRS) handset and is smaller than a box of matches (just check out the pics). It, like the rest of the rage, comes unlocked and will work with all the networks except Three. Like its wrist bound stablemates it comes with a stylus, microSD slot and has the benefit of a recessed direct connect USB plug. You can either hang it round your neck via a lanyard or keep it with your keys – I did suggest making the attached loop a little longer so that ladies could slip it over their wrists. Unlike the other sWaPs you’ll have to purchase a Bluetooth headset should you want one. I think the Nova would work great as a ‘going out’ phone. You know, for when you’re dressed up but don’t want to carry around a lot of bulky gear. There’s no room in your purse or pockets for that large smartphone so you slip your SIM into this tiny phone, attach it to your house key and you’re good to go. The Nova will be out later this year and will cost you around £199.

I even had chance to meet up with some old friends - Acorn, ZX Spectrum and Macintosh.