PC World‘s list of the top 50 tech gadgets of the last half century was assembled after we polled our editors for nominations. We then rated the nominated gadgets for usefulness, design, degree of innovation, influence on subsequent gadgets, and the “cool factor.” Here are the results. (For more on our 50 Greatest Gadgets project, see the full story.)

• Sony Walkman TPS-L2 (1979)
• Apple iPod (2001)
• (Tie) ReplayTV RTV2001 and TiVo HDR110 (1999)
• PalmPilot 1000 (1996)
• Sony CDP-101 (1982)
• Motorola StarTAC (1996)
• Atari Video Computer System (1977)
• M-Systems DiskOnKey (2000)
• Regency TR-1 (1954)
• Sony PlayStation 2 (2000)
• Motorola Razr V3 (2004)
• Motorola PageWriter (1996)
• BlackBerry 850 Wireless Handheld (1998)
• Phonemate Model 400 (1971)
• Texas Instruments Speak & Spell (1978)
• Texas Instruments SR-10 (1973)
• Diamond Multimedia Rio PMP300 %281998)
• Sony Handycam DCR-VX1000 (1995)
• Handspring Treo 600 (2003)
• Zenith Space Command (1956)
• Hamilton Pulsar (1972)
• Kodak Instamatic 100 (1963)
• MITS Altair 8800 (1975)
• Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 (1983)
• Nintendo Game Boy (1989)
• Commodore 64 (1982)
• Apple Newton MessagePad (1994)
• Sony Betamax (1975)
• Sanyo SCP-5300 (2002)
• iRobot Roomba Intelligent Floorvac (2002)
• Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer (1999)
• Franklin Rolodex Electronics REX PC Companion (1997)
• Lego Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 10 (1998)
• Motorola DynaTAC 8000X (1983)
• Iomega Zip Drive (1995)
• Magnavox Magnavision Model 8000 DiscoVision Videodisc Player (1978)
• Milton Bradley Simon (1978)
• Play, Inc Snappy Video Snapshot (1996)
• Connectix QuickCam (1994)
• BellSouth/IBM Simon Personal Communicator (1993)
• Motorola Handie Talkie HT-220 Slimline (1969)
• Polaroid Swinger (1965)
• Sony Aibo ERS-110 (1999)
• Sony Mavica MVC-FD5 (1997)
• Learjet Stereo-8 (1965)
• Timex/Sinclair 1000 (1982)
• Sharp Wizard OZ-7000 (1989)
• Jakks Pacific TV Games (2002)
• Poqet PC Model PQ-0164 (1990)

For more info click here

Â

CyberHome Entertainment introduces the new PMP 4000 and PMP 7000, a 4-inch and 7-inch screen Personal Media Player that can play up to 80 hours of video (MPEG4, DivX, XviD, Windows Media Format Video), store up to 10,000 MP3 or Windows Media Audio files or photos, and display photos or video using an external HD monitor at 1080i resolution.

“Usually when someone talks about Personal Media Players, one tends to think small, lowresolution screens and horrible output quality. We pretty much put an end to that myth with the PMP 4000 & 7000″, comments Irwin Yuen, Product Director for CyberHome. “We’ve succeeded in putting together what could arguably be the best Personal Media Players– feature for feature – in the market today. These products offer exceptional video quality, and an external component output that will drive a high definition monitor at 1080i with no problem”, he adds.

The PMP 4000 & 7000 are hard drive-based portable media players designed to play audio, video, and photo files as portable handhelds or full-fledged media players when connected to a high definition monitor. They support Windows Media Format audio and video files with DRM file protection and boasts built-in video and audio encoders that allow the user to record directly from external input devices. The PMP 4000 & 7000 also functions as an external hard drive when connected to a PC for storing files and other information. To complete the setup, CyberHome is bundling the PMP 4000 & 7000 with an external DVD Player and external battery that enables them to play DVD movies off-the-shelf.

Pricing & Availability
CyberHome will begin its PMP 4000 promotional-launch to national retail outlets in January 2006 for a suggested retail price of $399.00. The promotional bundled package will include the main unit, battery pack, external DVD player and accessory kit & carrying case.

About CyberHome
CyberHome Entertainment, Inc is a privately held company located in Fremont, CA USA. One of the world’s leading providers of consumer electronic products, CyberHome products are sold in the United States through nationwide mass retail chains like Walmart, Best Buy, Circuit City, CompUSA, K-Mart, Target and online at Amazon.com. The company’s website is at www.cyberhome.com.

 From eHomeUpgrade

I wouldn’t have thought I’d ever consider wearing a flash drive on my wrist. But… this USB bracelet by Michael Young actually looks okay, and hides its functional properties pretty well when the bracelet is clasped.

Even so, you might ask why would you wear something that can so easily fit in a pocket and doesn’t offer anything when it’s sitting on your wrist unplugged from a USB port. There is a good reason, for me at least. Flash drives are so tiny that I often forget that I’ve plugged it in and leave behind files I need. Maybe this is the intended function, to act as a reminder, as the bracelet is emblazed with the word “LOST”. If this was also a watch, I’d definitely wear it. There are USB flash watches out there, but they look like they should be wearing the logo “GEEK”.

$60, exclusively from Charles and Marie.

Fom Popgadget

Â

Well, well, well, looks like Nikon’s little secret about their latest forthcoming WiFi camera, the Coolpix S6 subcompact, couldn’t be contained by the mere likes of the FCC. From what we gleaned, we can expect it to have built-in 802.11b/g for sending pics back to the mothership (sorry, looks like yet another software-driven solution, no Flickr support just yet), a 6 megapixel CCD, 3x optical zoom, 3-inch 230,000 pixel display, 22MB of internal memory, and an SD slot. We’re gonna guess it’ll be announced sometime soon (CES certainly isn’t out of the cards).

Curvy.

Â

From Engadget