Introducing real-life gadgets that trounce some of 007’s most outrageous toys.
Photo by bionicteaching.
Some of the gadgets featured in Bond films have been laughed off as ridiculous in the past.
A laser watch? Invisible cars? Please…
But this list of real-life tech goodies tops some of 007’s most outrageous toys.
Avatar Digital Spy Camera
China Vasion gives us this handy gadget which is a cross between a telescope and a digital camera and features a 2.5 inch LCD screen and a 2MP monocular lens.
The amazing 40x digital zoom lets you capture distant shots and video in great detail.
Other specs include a mini-USB port, a built-in e-book reader, a standard media player, and 1GB of internal memory.
Price: $128.06 | View Site
Flameless USB Lighter
Designed by Nathan Gabriele, this lighter uses resistance coils to generate heat, lighting cigarettes without flames or fluid.
This technology is already used in car lighters.
On the other end of this lighter is a USB port which allows data transfer with internal flash memory. Useful for those situations where you need to download files secretly while your nemesis is searching for his cigars.
The Moshi Voice Activated Alarm Clock
Chucking your alarm clock across the room isn’t very suave. Why not command it to go into snooze mode instead?
The Moshi Alarm Clock responds to voice control to set both time and alarm, and is officially endorsed by the World Blind Union.
Your Moshi can tell you (literally, it has a voice too) the current temperature of the room, the date, and can change its lighting at your request.
The Moshi alarm will turn off at the sound of your voice, no matter how incoherent, meaning you don’t need to budge to stop the sound.
Price: $50 | View Site
LG Watch Phone
The LG GD910 Touch Watch Phone is one of the slickest new gadgets out there.
If the stereo Blue-tooth technology and camera for video conferences aren’t enough, the mp3 player, 3G HSDPA technology, voice recognition, and text to speech features make this an ultra-modern device worthy of 007.
Price: € 899 ($1,290) | View Site
Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard
Despite the amazing advances in touch screen technology, typing a lengthy email on a phone or PDA can be annoying.
Imagine pulling out your bluetooth enabled Blackberry and this handy little device barely bigger than a matchbook…and having a full size standard keyboard instantly displayed on the surface in front of you.
This tiny laser virtual keyboard projects a keyboard onto any flat surface, and even provides key click sounds to accompany your typing.
With a rechargeable battery for two hours of continuous typing and its futuristic look, the laser keyboard is sure to catch the eyes of your fellow cafe patrons.
Stash Card Secret Laptop Drawer
This isn’t exactly high-tech but it is pretty clever.
Wireless Garden presents a drawer designed to fit the PC card slot in your laptop perfectly, giving you a convenient place to hide keys, credit cards, stamps, cash, and incriminating photos.
Price: $9.95 | View Site
Memorize Written Data with the C Pen
The C Pen looks like a fat digital highlighter, but what it actually does makes it even cooler. Push the activation button on the side and slide the pen over any line of text as if you’re highlighting.
The C Pen captures the text (up to 2,000 pages at a time) and stores it into its memory, ready for you to transfer onto your computer via an IR port. You can even paste the copied text into Word or Excel.
Not sweet enough? How about this: the C Pen has a language translator, with the ability to translate any word in English to (or from) German, French, Italian, and Swedish.
So ideally, you can scan an article from Le Monde and have it translated into English, all on this nifty little gadget.
The C Pen also allows you to edit and make changes. The plagiarism potential here is astounding, but overall this seems like it could be a very useful toy.
Prices vary based on specification: the C Pen is available in Hosted (PC, Mac, etc.) or Standalone models.
Price: $170-$250 I View Site
Solar Powered Laptop Case
Voltaic Systems has an eco-friendly and convenient way to charge your laptop.
The Generator contains a solar panel that generates up to 15 watts using 20% efficient cells, along with a custom battery pack for conversion.
The battery will charge in around five hours, and the case will also charge cell phones and many other gadgets.
The Generator is made from water resistant recycled materials, making this a great choice for environmentally conscious Bond imitators.
Check their website first to make sure your laptop will charge in the Generator; Apple, Dell, HP, IBM/Lenovo, and Panasonic laptops usually get good results.
Voltaic also offers solar powered backpacks and messenger bags.
Price: $499 | View Site
Car Key Security Camera
Snap a few stealthy photos with this clever spy camera from Brando.
This fake car key has 2GB of memory, with a color video resolution of 640 x 480 and an image resolution of 1280 x 960 pixels.
For the same price and specs, try Brando’s key chain security camera.
Price: $66 | View Site
The sQuba Car
Based on the Lotus Esprit Bond took for a dive in the 1977 classic The Spy Who Loved Me, Rinspeed’s sQuba car is a fully submersible, all-electric convertible with an onboard breathing system that enables passengers to breathe with a design similar to scuba gear.
The sQuba’s two extra engines are used to run a pair of screw drives, which, combined with jet drives that ‘breathe’ through special rotating louvers, help the car maneuver underwater.
Rinspeed had the foresight to include a salt-water resistant interior and a laser sensor system for driverless motoring.
The sQuba is a zero-emission car, making this environmentally friendly automobile, not to mention insanely cool.
Price: Not in a million years | View Site
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8 Comments... join the discussion!
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Heh! Man, these descriptions make me want stuff! But the lap top stash card, well, make sure no one steals your computer!
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I’ve actually heard of the invisible keyboard. It was featured in an episode of CSI once, I forget which one. The killer actually happened to be using this, while at work.
And yet, I’m still intrigued….
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The LG watch phone is pretty high tech, but I do have a watch that doubles as a calculator. Not trying to brag or anything, just stating the facts, ladies…
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These are great finds, Michelle. I like the concept of the highlighter. Have you ever wanted to use ctrl+f to search for a word in a page of hard-copy text? Now you can (although it would probably take longer than just looking for it).
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…There’s nothing more moving to a guy that to make him one step closer to become James Bond in his own eyes.
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Scuba car ? no way! I think flying car more interesting.
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Really like the laser keyboard, but a bit pricey for two hours use before recharging.
Have to agree with Kate, don’t think the Stash Card Secret Laptop Drawer is too smart, you put all your valuables in the largest, most conspicuous thing that thieves are likely to target.
Think the best things by far are the C Pen, which is amazingly small and also damn useful and the solar panel laptop case, good price and probably see you through many a situation when you cannot get to a power source for a good stretch.
Oh and the “Junior Bond” picture, very cool.
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