No more lost luggage with Trakdot.

Do you travel a lot or does your luggage go missing a lot? Maybe it’s time you invest in a Trakdot luggage tracker.

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The Trakdot is a small tracker that you put in your checked luggage and it can report, in real-time, city location to any smartphone or via sms.

The devic costs $49.95 and then there is a $8.99 activation fee and an $12.99 annual service fee.

In my opinion, unless you’re a frequent traveller this may be overkill, but if you are a frequent traveller or carry some very valueable items in your checked luggage this may be a worthwhile investement. A least that way you know where your luggage is “hiding” or let police know where it is “hiding” incase some dubious person took an interest in your traveling goodies.

Read more about this little Trakdot gadget here.

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What to buy men this holidays part 2

I hope you have enjoyed browsing through part 1 of this post but if you still haven’t found anything that tickle your fancy then keep reading because today I will bring you some more exciting gift ideas.

Working in the garage or the garden can be thirsty and dirty work and if you don’t want him to come trotting into the house and scratch around the fridge for a cold drink with his filthy hands then this mini cooler may be the perfect gift. Styled on the classic Coke vending machine this little cooler will fit just as good in the pool room or bar as well.

Koolatron mini vending machine

T shirts is always a good option too and there is no better one for the guy who loves getting his hands dirty than this one.

Stays in the garage

Or for the “kick ass dad”, this one.

Kick ass Dad t shirt

For the men in your life that is a bit more fashion conscious there are countless options but if you are looking for something that is a bit unique I suggested you look past the high street stores. thanks to sites like Etsy you can now buy handmade goods directly from the manufacturer. If your man loves wearing a bit of bling I would highly recommend the bracelets and necklaces by a guy called Feihong. Here is one of his bracelets I love.

Mens Bracelet

Another jewelery designer that you MUST check out is Thomas Sabo. Like all famous jewelers his stuff is on the higher end of the price scale but with his unique designs it is worth it. Here are some of my favourites.

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Oh and while you are there you might as well slip something for yourself into the shopping cart.

Talk about fashionable stuff, I spotted this Wotancraft bag on Pinterest and I’m just loving it. Made from canvas and premium quality leather. It is actually a camera bag but I think your man can find various ways of using it.

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Shopping for a geek or a gamer friend can be a lot of fun and the choices are endless. Here is one cool toy I recently spotted online.

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If they have a games room or home theater a large bean bag will be just perfect. They come in a range of sizes and materials but I think the omni by Sumolounge is the most versatile.

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Another large bean bag that would be perfect (if he has a swimming pool) is this floating beanbag.

Large bean bag

One of my favorite gift ideas and one that I think is very unique and show that you’ve put some thought into his gift is a set of Custom headphones. These include some top brands like Sennheiser and Beierdynamic and Pioneer.

Custom cans headphones

Gold Custom Headphones

For the outdoor lover there are two products that I found that is worth your attention.
The first one is a fold up charcoal bbq that is such a clever design. With space at a premium when you go camping this little BBQ folds flat to become no bigger that the size of a notebook.

Fold up BBQ
The second gift is for the more hardcore outdoors man or Bear Grylls wannabe. This Survival knife with fire starter will make sure they can survive in the toughest conditions or show of their fire starting skills.

Hunting knife

So there you have it. I hope you’ve got some inspiration for your Christmas shopping this year. I would love to hear from you. What is the coolest gift you ever bought someone?

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Kinect continues to excite.

While the world are in awe of the capabilities of their iDevices, a quiet achiever continues to innovate.

Since Microsoft released its first Kinect it has been used in many creative ways. Originally designed for gaming, many other industries soon realised it’s potential. From monitoring play groups to identify kids that may potentially have autism to guard dog robots.
Now with the release of windows 8 imminent and it’s focus now inluding apps, the kinect once again presents ways for companies to use it in innovative ways.

Check this video by Nissan USA as an example.

The Kinect for Windows crew will be releasing updates to the runtime and software develoment kit (SDK) on October 8
Here is an excerpt from their blog

This release has numerous new features that deliver additional power to Kinect for Windows developers and business customers. Here are some highlights.

•Enable businesses to do more with Kinect for Windows
We are committed to opening up even more opportunities for the creation of new end user experiences. We’ll be adding features such as expanded sensor data access—including color camera settings and extended depth data—to continue to inspire innovative uses of the Kinect for Windows technology in new and different places.

•Improve developer efficiency
We continue to invest in making our platform easier and more powerful for developers. That’s why we’ll be releasing more tools and samples in October, such as a new sample that demonstrates a “best in class” UI based on the Kinect for Windows Human Interface Guidelines.

• Extend our Windows tools and operating system support
We want to make it easy for our customers to be able to build and deploy on a variety of Windows platforms. Our October update will include support for Windows 8 desktop applications, Microsoft .NET 4.5, and Microsoft Visual Studio 2012.

Exciting times are laying ahead for Windows and Kinect. I am certainly curious to see what else the Kinect can be used for…