The Gadget Zone: anticipating winter with tech treats

James Careless —

With the approach of yet another Canadian winter, now is the time to cheer yourself up, with some consumer tech gadgets brought to you by the Gadget Zone!

Playing pool is a great way to pass a cold winter’s night. But playing pool on an actual 1965 Ford Mustang Pool Table – that’s way better. Sold by www.brookstone.com for $9,995 – yes, a vintage Mustang does not come cheap! – this table is made from a real Mustang, cut down in the middle to support a pool table and fit into an average rec room. The front and back are Mustang all the way, with working lights, chrome bumpers and hardware, real alloy rims and tires – and yes, a professional-grade 4′ x 8′ slate playing top. Just be sure to put something down to protect the floor from rubber, because the Mustang Pool Table’s tires are real and can leave marks

In a perfect world, you would be able to get high-speed broadband on your laptop, tablet, and smartphone no matter where you are. Well, Bell Canada’s Novatel Wireless MiFi 2 ‘Internet HotSpot’ comes pretty close to providing such perfection in real life. This is a smartphone-sized 2.8″ colour touchscreen unit that connects to Bell’s 4G LTE network, providing up to 10 Wi-Fi linked devices with real broadband Internet access.

A case in point: While waiting in the dentist’s office yesterday, I used my MiFi 2 to get 7.5 Gbps download speeds on my laptop. (I know this for a fact, because I checked the MiFi 2’s download speed using CNET’s free Bandwidth Meter Online Speed Test site at http://reviews.cnet.com/internet-speed-test/.) Now, back here in my office, I’m only getting 5 Gbps over my wired Bell Business Internet service! The Novatel Wireless MiFi 2 is free on a two-year Bell plan, or $199.95 if you buy it upfront at www.bell.ca. (Data rates are extra, of course.)

Have you ever you wished you had a portable radio in your pocket? Like you’re getting out of the car during a good song, or you’re bored standing in line and there’s no cellular coverage? If so, then check out the CC Pocket Radio. Specially made by the radio fanatics at the C. Crane Company (www.ccrane.com), the CC Pocket Radio is the ultimate transistor radio. Consider: This little unit receives AM, FM, and weather band broadcasts, and can store up to 55 presets to boot. The CC Pocket Radio comes equipped with an LCD display for digital up/down tuning, an onboard speaker, and a headphone jack that provides stereo on FM. Add a built-in clock radio, and an AM 2.5 kHz narrowband filter to help separate too-close stations, and the CC Pocket Radio is the perfect pocket portable. US$59.95 at www.ccrane.com.

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