Gadgets, Games, and Hardware

Here are exciting things I got to play with first hand this holiday season:

RocketFM - turns your pc/mac into an FM broadcaster. Any set of speakers with an FM tuner can now become a jukebox if I just set my laptop near it.

Super Mario Galaxy - 5 stars !

• Good variety in level design and difficulty progression (easy if you've played mario games in the past though)
• Good intentional use of the wii controller -- i.e. - flick of wrist throws a turtle shell, shake of wrist causes spin attacks, etc.
  

Guitar Hero 3 - 5 stars !

• Fun whether or not you have played guitar before.
• Good difficulty progression (even guitar shredders can get to something challenging).
• Good re-use of the wii controller wireless/sensors. The Wiimote plugs right into the plastic guitar body. Uses tilt sensor to switch into rock-out mode :)
  

Line6 Toneport UX2 - low-latency guitar/mic recording solution for the pc -- jury still out.

Eye-fi - 802.11 + SD memory in the footprint of an SD card that plugs in to your existing digital camera. It wirelessly syncs to your computer and nearly any photo site you might want to use. Set up was very smooth -- didn't even have to type in my wireless security info. Only known negative so far: not Camino compatible.

Nike + IPod - wireless accelerometer/pedometer for the ipod. We're going to try one of the clip adapters on ebay which purports to bypass the need for the $100 pair of specialized Nike's.

And here are some things I discovered I'd like to keep my eye on for 2008:
Asus eee pc
Amazon Kindle - ebook reader with online purchasing, backup, no connectivity fees, and paper-like screen (claims to read well under bright light).
OLPC pc
next gen Apple iPhone (currently vapor)
next gen Apple portable (tablet?/ultralite notebook?) (currently vapor)