Popular Gadgets

These are the 15 most popular gadgets from the past week, based on how many people looked at their pages.

Aero-Garden Kit

This is the perfect gift for cooks or gardeners or yourself, no green thumb required. It's a counter-top herb garden, with the perfect balance of organic nutrients, oxygen, lighting and automation technology. No messy soil is needed. It comes complete with everything including seed pods and nutrients.

Levitron Omega Levitating Spinning Top

The American Association of Physics Teachers called the original Levitron "the best new science toy in a generation." This, the latest version, is so much more than a spinning top. As it spins (using only your finger-power, no batteries are required), it levitates above a magnetic pad, high enough for you to pass your hand under it, and is great fun for kids and adults alike.

Philips DECT Digital Baby Monitor

Having suffered through two kids worth of basic, no-frills baby monitors, I now greatly appreciate the features that Philips have built into their new DECT digital baby monitors. DECT stands for Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication, and it's basically the same technology built into high-quality digital cordless phones. Unlike the older-style baby monitors I had to use before, this one has zero interference from nearby monitors or other devices in or around the home. It's also a totally private connection -- the neighbors can no longer listen in.

Recently featured in Time Magazine, the Philips DECT Baby Monitor features a two-way intercom so you can communicate with your child directly from the handset, an integrated thermometer reads ambient room temperature and displays it on the handset and base, 5 different lullabies are controllable from the handset, a nighlight is controllable from the handset, and rechargeable batteries with up to 12 hours operation between charges.

Also included are a belt clip, neck cord, zippered travel bag, and a lifetime guarantee.

Motion Activated Lawn Sprinkler

I wish I had one of these last spring when raccoons were digging up my lawn. It's a motion activated lawn sprinkler, for the express purpose of scaring away garden pests such as raccoons, dogs, cats, and other animals. When triggered by its infrared day-or-night motion sensor, it sprays a forceful stream of water at the intruders.

Maytag SkyBox Personal Beverage Vendor

"Ka-Thunk." Want to hear that satisfying vending-machine sound when grabbing a cold beverage? This customizable personal beverage vendor from Maytag holds 66 12-ounce cans or 33 12-ounce bottles. Child lock-out lets you lock some sections while leaving others accessible. To add some personal style, the front and side panels of the SkyBox can be customized with NFL, college, NASCAR, and other sports and beverage logos. It operates without coins or dollar bills. And just think about how much room you can free up in your refrigerator.

The Remote Control Night Vision Spy Car

I can't tell you how many times I've thought "What if I could mount a video-camera on the front of an RC car and drive it around while seeing what the camera sees". Ok, I'll tell you - quite a few, because I'm an RC junkie.

This remote control car not only lets you see what the car sees, it does it with a night-vision camera that sends images wirelessly to a remote headset with an eyepiece and LCD, allowing you to see what the car sees in the dark! Kids will absolutely love this. If they can ever pry it away from dad, that is.

Digital Picture Frame

Why stare at the same photo all the time? This 8" digital picture frame has 64 MB of built-in memory allowing you to store up to 100 6-megapixel photos. It can be positioned in six different ways for optimum landscape and portrait viewing, and is wall-mountable. Built-in speakers can play music while it plays a slideshow of your photos (remote included). New photos can be loaded via USB 1.0 or 2.0, or via various digital camera flash memory card formats.

Northern Lights LED Sphere

With shifting and undulating lights reminiscent of the Aurora Borealis, this illuminated sculpture simulates the atmospheric phenomenon using powerful blue, white, and green LEDs projected through a fragmented diffuser against the light-bending curve of a silvered, borasilic glass globe.

Got that? Me neither. All you need to know is: it looks way cool, and has absolutely no other purpose.

Voice-Activated R2-D2 Droid from Star Wars

How would you like your own little R2-D2 droid chasing you through the hallways of your battle-cruiser... er, I mean house?

This motorized replica responds to more than 40 voice commands, and plays games like tag using an infra-red sensor to find people.

R2-D2 has lights, a swiveling dome top, and sounds that mimic the real thing.

Radio Controlled Robotic Shark

Cue the Jaws soundtrack. This 2-foot long radio-controlled shark is ready for the pool. With a submersible controller (so you can swim with the shark), it has a range of 40' and a 15-minute runtime.

Progression Wake Up Clock

More gentle than the jarring noise of traditional alarms, this clock uses a gradual increase in ambient light, stimulating aromas, and peaceful sounds from nature to awaken sleepers. Thirty minutes before wake-up, the clock’s light begins to glow softly, subtly brightening over the next half hour. As the light increases, the warmth from the lamp releases faint aromatherapy scents into the air. Fifteen minutes before wake up time, the clock’s speaker generates soft nature sounds, and at the set wake up time a buzzer sounds to finish the cycle. Sound selection includes Nightfall, Thunder Storm, Zen Melody, Mountain Stream, Songbirds, and Ocean Surf. Four packets of aroma beads (Energy, Morning Café, Stress Relief, Lavendar) are provided or use your own oils. As a sleep aid, the clock operates in reverse, gradually diminishing light, scent, and sound for relaxed sleep.

Handheld GPS, MP3, Translator, Converter, and Audio Book Player

Does it shine your shoes? No, but this amazing wireless device combines a GPS, MP3 player, audio book player, picture viewer, world clock, currency and measurement converters and a calculator in a device that fits in the palm of your hand and weighs less than 6 oz. Don't leave home without it.

The Tumbling Vacuum Marinator

Why wait to marinate?

Winner of Popular Science Magazine's Best of What's New Award in Home Technology, this marinator creates a vacuum inside the barrel that causes the food's fibers to stretch and become porous, while paddles inside of the rotating barrel flip and coat the food with marinade.

Unlike conventional techniques that only flavor the surface and require 24 hours of marinating for thick cuts of meat, the automated marinator infuses restaurant-quality flavor and succulence into a 5-lb. brisket in less than 20 minutes, while using half the amount of marinade required for pan or bag soaking.

Airboard Hover Scooter

Hailed by the The New York Times as a "...miniature flying saucer with handlebars," the hover scooter provides an unprecedented experience in personal transportation, levitating inches above the ground and speeding a single rider across land on a cushion of air. Gentle lift from an engine-powered fan elevates the scooter off the ground, and a stream of air exiting a vent in the back provides light forward thrust. Learning to ride the scooter takes less than five minutes, and no previous skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, or other experience is required. Easy and intuitive to control, the rider simply leans left or right to perform smooth turns. The scooter deftly glides over level, solid ground such as concrete, asphalt, or well-groomed grass free of debris, sand, stones, and other obstacles. (We know what you are thinking and the answer is "Yes:" Red, Blue, Green, or Yellow.)

CEIVA Digital Photo Frame

CEIVA offers the world's only connected digital photo frames. With a digital photo frame, you can display photos from your digital camera as if they were regular photos, except that the frame can bring your pictures to life in a full-color slideshow.

CEIVA frames can receive photos through the internet (no computer required) directly from friends and family anywhere in the world. New photos can also be sent directly to the frame from camera phones.

CEIVA Digital Photo Frames are on sale now with a number of special offers to choose from.