Enter SCOTTEVEST. And better yet, enter SCOTTEVEST with their “last big sale of the year.” The sale is currently in effect and will be running for just a limited time — until September 26th at 6:00 AM Mountain Time. As for the savings — 40 percent off. Though, that 40 percent off is only for select items.

And thankfully, those select items are worthy. In other words, they are not selling off the junk that no one else is buying, but stuff people actually want. The 40 percent off items include the SeV Carry-on Coat, Women’s Trench, Outback Jacket, Men’s Lightweight Vest, Women’s Lightweight Vest, SeV Travel Pants and the SeV Travel Shorts.

That said, there is some fine print that you should probably be aware of up front. The sale includes sizes and colors that are in-stock at the moment and these items are not eligible for returns or exchanges. Bottom line, make sure you know what you are buying or else you will be stuck with it.

There is also another small catch — in order to get the 40 percent savings you will need to enter the coupon code during checkout. The code is LASTSALE2011. With that, I have long been curious about SCOTTEVEST, but have been turned off by the higher prices. But that is not to say they are not worthy of the price, just that I am on the cheap side. Anyway, my example for this sale, I have just ordered the SeV Travel Shorts which normally sell for $45 and thanks to the discount I am only paying $27. A savings of $18.

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have developed a new line of suits for soldiers to wear that come with a variety of photovoltaic cells (devices that turn sunlight directly into energy) and thermoelectric devices (devices that turn heat into energy), which in turn pour their charge directly into the batteries on board the devices, as opposed to making soldiers tote around battery packs, which in turn need to be juiced up regularly.

This serves a twofold purpose–not only does it cut down on the amount of weight a soldier has to carry into battle, but it also allows the soldier to stay out longer as he (or she, possibly) no longer needs to return to a central base to recharge the battery pack, as they now generate their own power.

And the part of this that means much to us is that, at some point, you can likely expect this development to boil down into the hands of regular schmoes like us, so that we too can charge our laptops and iPads and suchlike on the go. Sure, some designs for that already exist, but they’ve proven somewhat low-powered, and whatever the Glasgow crew did, they’ve got enough juice to make them battle-ready, and that’s likely much better than we’ve seen so far.

The suits should be completed by December, which means troops will likely start fielding the new suits next year.

The M12 Cordless Heated Jacket is, pretty much, what it says on the box.It’s a jacket with multiple layers and an outer shell that resists both wind and water, two of the biggest modifiers of cold there are. Going under those layers shows some carbon fiber heating zones, two in the front and one in the back, that can provide extra heat from there. It’s powered by a set of portable battery packs, and can be adjusted to taste out in the field from a menu of three different settings.

You charge the batteries, meanwhile, from normal household current. The jacket itself is available without the batteries, but it’s not that much more to get the power backup. You’ll pay $119 for this without the battery / charger array, and with the power backup systems you’ll pay $182.95.

This would doubtless be great for most any homeowner who finds it necessary to work outside during the colder months, especially anyone who has to do their own snow removal. I speak from personal experience on that score–waterproofing is hugely important when running a snowblower or shoveling–and this jacket looks like it would fit the bill nicely.

So if you find yourself neck deep in winter, you may want to consider getting your hands on an M12 Cordless Heated Jacket while there’s still some winter in which to use it.

This particular wristwatch can basically be set so that when that alarm goes off at some ungodly early hour in the morning you can still sleep through it while your mate will still spring out of bed thanks to the vibrating alarm feature. If your mate is a light sleeper they can just have the watch vibrating on the bedside table and it still won’t be startling you out of sleep. If they are a slightly deeper sleeper they can actually wear the watch while they sleep with the guarantee that if their arm starts vibrating they are probably going to wake up.

Of course if you are looking for a product like this, you can probably find one cheaper than Analarm version which currently costs a whopping $450.

Digits are a set of four conductive pins that attach to the fingertips of any set of gloves–one set of two for each hand that will let you use your touchscreen as normal (point, click, and of course, pinch and stretch where applicable) with either hand thanks to the two pads on your index and middle finger.

The key distinction here is that, while a lot of similar products already exist that let you use their gloves along with their particular modification, Digits will go on any set of gloves, because they’re basically just pins that you drive through the finger of the glove and then cap before you put your hand in there (unless, of course, you like getting stabbed with a pin point every time you put on a pair of gloves, and even then I’d still recommend the caps so that the pins don’t fall out).

A set of four Digits only costs $14, and it’s a great idea if you live in colder areas but still want to use your touchscreen hardware regardless of outdoor weather conditions. Even if you’re more of a casual user you’ll likely still find some value, as it’s not like these will wear out any time soon and are transferable to other gloves. I’m sure a lot of folks out in that recent East Coast blizzard would have loved to have a set of these.

According to one particular reviewer on the site, they bought Kindle 3 (WiFi only) and used it for several months without a problem. It was when they bought the non-lighted leather cover that their Kindle would freeze or completely reboot itself “4-5 times a day.” Judging from the fact that Amazon has said they will replace the covers free of charge, that user was far from the only one having the issues. Some feel the culprit is the metal hooks the cover uses in its spine. In the version that lights up, these hooks actually conduct small amounts of electricity. In the non-lighted version they seem to be conducting just enough electricity to mess with the normal operations of the device. Amazon has issued a statement saying no matter when the covers were purchased, the company will replace them and that they are looking into the problem.

Basically, the SkyKap advisor is a GPS system built into a baseball cap, with voice activation so you can tell it what to do while you play, hands free. It’ll give you distance and direction to the green, or water hazards, or sand traps, or any such similar concept for fully 2000 different courses, which it gets access to when you patch it into your computer via USB connection. This basically means that, at most any time, you’re going to have a pretty fair idea of what club to use at any time, and the direction you’ll want to shoot in to get you the best shot at the green. Of course, it won’t clue you in to things like wind speed and weather and the like–you’ll have to do those particular calculations on the fly yourself and compensate accordingly, but you’ll always know range and direction, which is terribly important to proper golfing.

Admittedly, most of my knowledge of and skill with golf comes from a whole lot of Hot Shots Golf 2 back on the Playstation 2, but it does translate sufficiently to know at least a few things about the game. And you’ll have to be a pretty decent golfer to get one of these in, as you’ll have to shell out fully $300 to lay hands on one. They’re available right now, though, so if you’ve got sufficiently deep pockets and a golfer in your life, you may well have a terrific gift opportunity here.

Reebok signed on with recent start-up MC10, a company that deals in those flexible electronics. Now, they’re not spilling a whole lot of details as yet on just what it is they’re trying to do together, but what we do know thus far is that they’re looking to, according to one source, “make the interface between people and electronics disappear”.

This sounds a lot more high-tech than it really is; the basic concept says that, right now, if you want to figure out your heart rate while you’re working out, you need to hook something up to yourself and check the results. But with what MC10 and Reebok are looking to do, you won’t need to do that any more, as what you’d have once needed to hook yourself up to is now, instead, available right on your clothing itself. Suggestions have been made that they’d like to simply take the flexible sensors and install them into the clothing, which can process its own data in-house and send it on to a remote monitoring device.

This is not only worthwhile for athletes monitoring their performance, but also for hospital patients or those receiving rehab care, as things like heart rate and the like can be monitored without hooking up extensive arrays of insidious-looking beeping machinery.

It’ll be a while before they’re ready to wheel this sort of thing out, of course–some estimates figure within two years–but still, even I can see how a lot of value could be derived from products like this. Keep an eye out, folks, because pretty soon your workout clothes might have a better idea of how your workout’s going than you do.

LG brought in no less a figure than Alain Mikli, who’s famous for designing eyeglass frames. He’s already got stores in, among a host of other places, fashion capitols like New York, Milan and Paris.

The glasses themselves, meanwhile, are constructed from a variety of different metals, and even feature a co-patented nose bridge (which basically means you’ve never seen a set of glasses like these, no matter how similar they may look to other designs) and have been specially designed to evenly distribute the weight and be, basically, perfectly balanced.

I personally would like to see a set of 3D glasses that will go on over a pair of regular prescription glasses comfortably, as the last time I had to suffer through a 3D viewing (worse yet that it was Wes Craven’s My Soul To Take) I spent the movie with the 3D glasses perched on the farthest extremity of my nose, with the stems tucked underneath the stems of my regular glasses. This was uncomfortable enough and was made much worse by the fact that what I was watching was deeply unpleasant in its own right.

And there are plenty of other 3D skeptics out there who don’t much like the thought of wearing special glasses just to watch a movie (nor, I’m sure, paying roughly double for a ticket), but will designer glasses help? We’ll find out fairly soon, as they’ll hit market following the exhibition at CES, and will even be bundled along with LG 3D televisions.

You’ve already read about Syte products previously here, in which you were given the unique opportunity to wander around populated areas with your tablet PC on your shirt. Now you’ll get that same opportunity with your smartphone.

Much like Syte’s tablet shirt, the Smartphone Syte Shirt lets you slip your handset of choice (iPhone and Droid Incredible are mentioned, so let those be your gauges in terms of size) into a dust and water resistant pouch on the front of your shirt. You can even zipper close the pouch to decrease the likelihood of someone snatching your phone right out of your shirt pocket.

Plus, the shirt is actually engineered to allow finger touches through the plastic screen itself (it’s water proof and dust proof but not finger proof? Interesting.), so you can continue to use your phone while it’s perched on your chest.

It’s certainly going to be an interesting conversation starter–use your GPS to provide accurate directions on the front of your chest, or go to a rave and fire up one of the many flashlight apps to work like a color strobe. You’ll never need to buy glow sticks again!

But best of all for a lot of people, Syte shirts are handmade in the USA (which is a downright rarity any more, it seems) so you can get your hands on a slice of Americana that still handles your cell phone…that was likely not handmade in the USA. And if you’re inclined to back up an American enterprise, then you can get your hands on a Smartphone Syte Shirt (or one of the many others) for $39.95.

No, seriously–wearable money. Basically, you put on a wristband that looks like a watch without hands or a dial or anything like that, but inside it contains a variety of components that allow it to act like one of those pre-loaded credit cards you see in drugstores.

You then wear the wristband around, and when you want to buy stuff, simply scan the wristband and the appropriate amount of cash is deducted from same.

Each Hashy reader is supported by the Edy service, which is an e-money service in Japan, and can be loaded with up to $600, rather, the Japanese equivalent in yen. Each bracelet costs $36, again in yen, and can be both purchased and refilled in convenience stores all across Japan.

Considering how much of Japan’s commerce can actually be done either by convenience stores or vending machines, it’s not surprising that a system like this would come around, and for them, it’s probably pretty convenient, too. It wouldn’t work everywhere–you certainly wouldn’t want to walk into an upscale restaurant or boutique packing your chunky pink wristband–and theft would probably be a bit of an issue with muggers able to snatch cash off your wrist as easily as they’d take your watch, plus the thing is so easily identifiable as a Hashy reader that every miscreant in Tokyo knows exactly what to look for here. You might as well be wearing a big flashing sign on your neck reading “Attention Criminals: Whole Load of Negotiable E-Money Currently Located On My Left Wrist”.

Still though, it’s a heck of an idea, and would likely do fairly well elsewhere. Consider the gas station–wave your wristwatch at the gas pump to get your bill paid? Sounds good to me.

First Oakley tries it, and now this. The word is that the line–and it will be an entire line, with three different styles for men and for women (which means six different versions)–will all be RealD certified, which is basically just what you see being used in theaters. But they’re not just pretty 3D glasses, oh no–they’ll also offer photochromic coating and M3D circular polarized lens technology for maximum UV protection when you’re out in the sun.

This is actually something of a step up, as other glasses don’t offer (at least none as yet that I’ve been able to find) the M3D technology that keeps these both useful as 3D glasses and as actual UV protection. They really are pretty impressive by all accounts, but you’ll have to ask yourself one important question before getting your hands on a set of Calvin Klein 3D glasses:

Do I really want to drop $180 on a pair of sunglasses, even if they’ll let me watch chunks of people go flying at me in the middle of Saw 3D?

Though if your answer to this particular question is yes, you’ll be happy to know that you’ll be able to put your money where your mouth is in a very short time–these look to hit stores this December, just in time for the various holiday shopping seasons.

Oh, sure, people like me pretty much cut our teeth on cold weather and learning all the great benefits of staying inside, where even old furnaces provided heat sufficient to make every day seem like a jolly holiday in, well, mid-April at least, but for those of  you who have to–or want to–hit the outdoors, this is something you’ll want to know about.

The Omni-Heat System basically outfits a variety of winter gear (boots, gloves and jackets) with electric heating systems, as well as mylar inner linings, just like those space blankets you see in camping stores, to help hold in your body heat. And before you start thinking something like “Snow…wet…electric…uh-oh”, don’t worry, I thought of that same thing myself. But the electric heating in here is battery driven, so your chances of contacting ground through a snowbank and keeping yourself warm by not caring about cold any more are pretty much nil. The number and size of the batteries, not surprisingly, change depending on the size of the garment; the jackets, for example, carry a pair of 15 Wh batteries whilst the gloves carry just one smaller battery.

The batteries themselves, meanwhile, will keep you warm and toasty for about six hours, can be recharged by AC or USB, and yes, they’ll even serve as a recharge port for your iPod or similar gear should you find yourself out on the slopes with a dead MP3 player while hitting the double diamond run.

Of course, as you’d likely expect, electrically heated clothing is pricey to say the least. The jacket costs a whopping $850, while the gloves run $400 for the pair. But still…a jacket that’ll make sure you never get cold again (while the battery’s alive) is a pretty valuable item indeed.

It’s hard to believe, but the Q Sensor comes from Affectiva, which is a spinoff of MIT’s Media Lab. It works about the same way a polygraph device does, detecting electrical changes in the skin (sometimes called galvanic skin responses), based on their change in mood.

When you’re having severe emotional changes–either happy or sad, excited or worried–moisture starts building up under the skin. That generally leads to sweating, but it also makes your skin more electrically conductive (obviously, wet surfaces conduct electricity better than dry). The Q Sensor measures this conductivity which in turn gives you an idea of just how stressed out you are, whether you’re actually sweating or just getting ready to start.

Affectiva, for its part, looks to use the devices for medical purposes, especially for caregivers who will be able to tell at a glance just how stressed out their charges happen to be. In turn, they can use this information to start trying to calm their charges down before outbursts–potentially violent ones, especially–even happen.

The Q Sensor does have some limitations: it can’t tell just how stressed you are, or whether you’re happily excited or potentially enraged, but it can collect other information like body temperature and motion, things that can also add a note of valuable information in determining whether someone’s dangerously stressed, and the data itself can be transmitted via USB port to other connections.

Q Sensors will sell for $2000 a unit to start with, starting next month in a trial version.

The Timberland campaign was launched earlier this week in New York City. The footwear collection will be part of the 2011 Earthkeeper’s Collection. Timberland plans to provide 3D displays of its collection as part of its “Virtual Forest,” both online and at physical store locations. Timberland says it will support Haiti reforestation efforts through this product line.

Timberland says it is committed to sustaining the environment, given that its business consists mostly of outdoor and camping apparel, such as hiking boots. The campaign is meant to help educate consumers on eco-friendliness. Timberland believes that taking environmental action can consist of a wide variety of activities, which can include buying the right products, such as those made with recycled or recyclable materials.

The All Seasons jacket is made with an internal zip-out Primaloft and comes with a hood. The fabric is waterproof, but lets the skin breathe. And once you’ve worn out your All Seasons jacket, you don’t have to worry about polluting the environment if you throw it out.

Henri Lloyd will buy back your worn out jackets and garments (at a lower cost, of course), and these will be returned to the supplier and processed for recycling. Blue Eco garments are broken down into their basic material to produce new raw polyester material. New Blue Eco garments are then manufactured for future sale.

Henri Lloyd says its garments can undergo “infinite recycling” which means your old Blue Eco garments will simply find life in anew.

The Patch is paper-thin and feels like paper on your wrist. That’s because it’s actually made of paper mache. The watch comes in 10 colors to suit your mood. While the Patch is essentially made of paper, its surface was given a special coating that makes the watch shock resistant, tear resistant and waterproof. With a little care, your paper watch should be able to stand the test of time.

With a 24 Euro price tag, or about $33.50 apiece at current exchange rates, the Patch is about half the price of the usual Swatch watch, and definitely cheaper than the usual Altanus luxury chronometer.

The Patch was developed through four years of research, and represents leaps and bounds both in technology and eco-friendliness among the Swiss watchmaking industry.

The YouTube video for this has cleared 60,000 views so far, and shows how a shirt is laid on the segmented cardboard platform, and then, three strokes later, the shirt is compressed into a nicely-folded almost-square.

It’s a little bulky for any kind of industrial application, but still–if you favor folding to store your shirts, then this is definitely the kind of thing you want. Me, I favor hangers myself so this isn’t so useful to me, but if folding appeals to you then you’ll certainly want a piece of this action.

A revamped version of the original Sarcos XOS, the XOS 2 is lighter, stronger and faster than the original, providing enough power for several hundred pushups whilst using only half the power of the original.

Significant downside alert, though–they may use half the power, but they need a continuous supply of it to operate. That is, they need to be tethered to a power source in order to operate. But even that isn’t so much of a downside–it’ll be a godsend for those folks loading weapons and suchlike. Think the power walker from Aliens and you’ll get a good picture of the usefulness.

The SensoGlove packs a series of sensors that can display on a “sweat-proof” LED display how your grip pressure is. Even better, it can even announce its commands audibly, telling you to loosen or tighten your grip as needed.

And how much will you pay for this incredibly useful golfing peripheral? Why, just a meager $89 dollars. Whether or not this is useful to you can be answered in asking yourself how often you golf, though I’m not encouraged about this one’s sales prospects.

The 3D glasses in question will look nothing like those pictured, being as the product announcement has only just come out, and they will be passive polarized, using Oakley’s own HDO-3D technology. They’ll even support prescription lenses, so if you wear glasses, you might be able to wear 3D sunglasses everywhere in the future.

Word on pricing is sketchy at best, though Oakley’s already calling them “premium” which means “get out your checkbook”, and early news suggests they’ll be somewhere between $150 and $200 a pair, which makes me think I’ll likely watch more movies at home if this keeps up.

Arizona State University neuroscientist William Tyler is part of this particular race, and is working on a “transcranial pulsed ultrasound” device capable of sending signals to deep parts of the brain and modifying their function.

For their part, DARPA’s out to get something like this going to create helmet-sized devices that can alter soldiers’ perceptions in the field, for example, making them feel cool and refreshed whilst hanging around in a boiling hot sun-drenched environment like the Middle East, or making them feel relaxed and peaceful while waiting for an operation to begin.

And definitely, some are looking to this as a way to access the deeply-buried brain signals that often contribute to disorders like those mentioned above. But also as mentioned above, the possibility for abuse is nightmarish in scope, so I’ll reserve judgment on this one myself and open up the floor for you folks–as much good as such a device could do, is it worth the risks?

And that’s exactly what Exmovere is out to do with their Exmobaby line of sensor-laced pajamas. Basically, the pajamas (also available in onesies) are lined with wearable, washable sensors hooked to a transceiver, which is then secured in a pouch on the clothing. The transceiver then wirelessly transmits information about the baby’s heart rate, emotional state and even behavior back to a PC or cell phone.

I admit I can see this having some useful applications, especially with people who accidentally leave their kids in the car on hot days (especially since you’re required to pretty much travel with them in an iron box far out of your line of sight). Now when Junior’s been accidentally left behind, his onesie will tweet you saying “Hey, it’s getting really hot out here”, someone’ll have a head-slap moment and fetch the kid before he suffocates. Any life saved is a good one.

No word on pricing yet, though they’ll be available in limited editions starting early next year.

Yes, I know…it’s no hoverboard. We all wanted the hoverboard. But we’ve got self-tying shoes coming up and that’s worth paying attention to. How do these things work? From the patent application:

“the automatic lacing system provides a set of straps that can be automatically opened and closed to switch between a loosened and tightened position of the upper. The article further includes an automatic ankle cinching system that is configured to automatically adjust an ankle portion of the upper.”

Basically, you flip a switch, and the shoes tighten a series of straps via a small battery-powered motor contained in the shoe. Further, the shoes are set to be powered by either USB or micro-USB port (though why an AC adapter couldn’t be used is a bit beyond me), which means you’ll likely be plugging your shoes into your PC at night.

There’s no word on when the self-tying shoes will hit market, but if Nike’s filing patent applications, it says they’re definitely planning to do something with them and fairly soon.

The General Dynamics Itronix GD300 is running a version of Android, and it offers a GPS system, MIL-STD 810G-grade durability, a 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 256 meg of RAM, eight gigs of flash storage and a 3.5 inch touchscreen that’s both “glove friendly” and “sunlight readable”.

Looking at it, and going over its functions–including real-time position locating and connection to military radios–suggests that it pretty much is the Pip-Boy of legend staring us right in the face. No word on how long it’ll take for the civilian model to land, though I’ll give good odds there are plenty of gamers out there who’d love to get this in, considering it’s comparably powerful to, say, a Nexus One and is likely on par with the iPhone.

And considering the government’s as broke as it is, you’d think there’d be an all-too-welcome fortune in licensing the wearable iPhone.

6. Catapult

It seems a bit low-tech to be included on this list, but it’s common knowledge that sharks are drawn to the scent of blood, and that the scent of blood can carry a really long way under water. Thus, a catapult would make an extra-handy tool for a shark filmer to have on hand, as when the crowds of sharks get a bit on the heavy side, a catapult would do well to fire a clot of bloody meat (sometimes called chum) out well away from filming.

5. Spear gun

Some places actually recommend carrying a weapon in the event a shark decides to attack, so that you can in turn fend it off. Sharks are used to swimming up on prey and eating, so prey that fights back might be better protected. Thankfully, there are plenty of places from which the shark filmer can get a spear gun, so it works out pretty well in the end.

4. Shark-proof plastic

Developed by the folks at Greyling Industries, they actually used this not as a shark protection device, but as a shark transport device. They actually managed to put a five foot long White Tip Reef Shark inside this material and successfully transported it across the North American continent inside. If it’s strong enough to hold a shark, it’s likely going to be a good thing to have around while filming them.

3. Proximity detector

For those filming shark attacks, especially without the benefit of item number two on the top six list, the worst possible thing to have happen is to have a shark sneak up on you from behind. Or from the top. Filming underwater is filming in a 360 degree environment, where anything can move in at any angle. And since your eyes can only cover a maximum of like a hundred-odd degrees in front of you, it’d be good to know when something was moving in. That’s where the proximity detector, of which there are several out, comes in, allowing you to know when something moves into your area. It may not be too useful if the area is full of sharks, but if something’s moving, whether you can see it or not, you’ll know about it.

2. Shock wetsuit

A recently patented device, and thus not yet available on the market, is a wetsuit designed to fend off shark attack by simply seeming unappealing to the shark in question. The patent describes the device as working by sending out an electric field, which is picked up by receptors in the shark’s nose and interpreted as a general sort of “stay away from this thing” signal. Admittedly, this might keep the sharks out of camera range, but if the fields work only at short range, it would at least keep them out of biting range.

1. Telepresence robot

Of course, sometimes, the best thing you can possibly say in a matter like this is “why bother”? Why send a human to do something horrible and dangerous when you can just send a robot to do it instead? Sure, the robots we have right now aren’t exactly the best for this sort of thing–we just wrote about one that boasted a five megapixel camera, which is high end for a cell phone, and no substitute for full filming gear in HD–but it definitely takes the danger out of the equation.

And so, there you have it–six devices that the folks involved in filming sharks would no doubt love to have on hand while they engage in the risky work of filming sharks.

Shark Week starts this Sunday on Discovery Channel.

all pics copyright their owners.

7. Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean watch

Heavily featured throughout the latter installments of the James Bond series, the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean watch offers a self-winding chronometer, co-axial escapement movement, water resistance to 2000 feet and a rhodium-plated finish. It might have even stood up to what Salt herself might have put it through. Oh, and special note–one of these is actually up for auction on eBay right this second. You’ve got roughly twenty days left, so go have a look if you want one.

6. The Sony 007 Spy Pack

This current collector’s edition brought together just about anything anyone interested in surveillance or information gathering (just like Salt managed to do nicely with the subway tunnels around the church), mostly because it managed to load an unsettlingly large amount of hardware in one convenient briefcase package. The full loadout included a VAIO TX series laptop with privacy filter, a Cyber-shot DSC-T50B digital camera, and an attache case to keep it all in.

5. The exploding rat

Considering how Salt got out of her first scrape with the CIA in the first place, she probably would have been right at home with the exploding rat. You saw a version of this in the movie Wanted, but originally, in the waning days of World War II, the Special Operations Executive branch of the British military developed a way to secret explosives inside rodents and send them into German military facilities to wreak havoc. And that’s the kind of thing no one pays attention to…until it’s too late.

4. Compass button

When Salt emerges from the Potomac River toward the end, I just about bet she’d want to know a quick and easy way to get back to civilization, warmth and dry clothes. Also developed during the 1940s for the British military, the compass button looked like your typical jacket button, but were magnetized in such a way that, when used together, they functioned like a compass.

3. Mobile phone stun gun

This item is actually really interesting, and definitely would’ve been one for Salt to have on hand. It’s not an actual mobile phone–sadly, there’s no app yet for temporarily electrocuting an attacker–but it’s a million volt stun gun that’s shaped just like a mobile phone. Being as these are illegal in some states, you’ll have to do your own research as to whether or not you’re one of them, but for those of you who are allowed by law to have them, it’s one that you hope you never need, but just might. Especially if you find yourself in as many desperate situations as Evelyn Salt, and if you’ve got $39.95 on hand, it may be worth your time.

2. The pepper spray ring

A quick dose of irony here–Evelyn Salt spent a lot of her childhood kissing a man’s ring. So it’s not exactly a big surprise that she’d want to have a ring of her own on hand. And it’s even better if that ring fires a cloud of noxious, choking pepper spray. The pepper spray used in this ring is, roughly, four hundred times stronger than that of a jalapeno pepper (2000000 SHU against the jalapeno’s 5000 SHU, where SHU is the standard for heat perception rating), so a quick jolt of this will leave most anyone a choking, gasping wreck. And you can get one of these for $27.95.

1. The high voltage briefcase

Now, clearly, Evelyn Salt didn’t have a lot of documents to keep safe with her whilst running from the CIA in a bid to winkle out hidden Russian traitors, but if she did, she definitely would have wanted to have one of these on hand. It not only comes in regular or imitation PVC leather, it also emits a 30000 volt pulse, which can both be activated on the unit itself or set to go off via remote, thus ensuring that anyone who lays hands on your precious documents that isn’t you gets a good solid jolt–unless they thought ahead sufficiently far to get rubber gloves before handling it. And you can have one of these for about $400 here.

Of course, we’ve all seen loads of other fantastic devices that Evelyn Salt would have no doubt loved to have on hand when she was tackling simultaneously the forces of the CIA and the entire Russian espionage corps, but these are seven of them that would do the job nicely, and the best part is, they actually exist in one form or another.

Salt is now available in theaters.

all pics copyright their owners.

The Syte Shirt is much like any other T-shirt that costs $50 (what am I, shopping at concerts?) in that it covers your upper torso and does it well. But the reason you’ll be paying Metallica prices for this one is that it comes with a clear, reinforced pocket on the front that accommodates your iPad and allows you full contact with the device literally anywhere you go.

Now when muggers demand the shirt off your back, you’ll know why!

Seriously, though, the shirt has officially gone on sale today, again for $50, and there’s definitely a few pluses to it. Easy access to a computer just about anywhere isn’t anything to scoff at–go to the grocery store, as pictured above in the official Syte press, and compare prices across town while you shop. Imagine: all the power of the internet in any brick-and-mortar. Sounds like a bargain hunter’s dream to me.

That and if you get a mobile screensaver (or something like Gravilux) going, you get a t-shirt that changes designs every day, so it’d be like wearing a new shirt every day without changing.

Just take your dirty clothes, put them in the Washing Box, set some simple touchscreen controls and allow steam to clean your clothes in the box, which mounts on your wall and is roughly the size of a plasma television.

Looking at this thing, which you can see above, poses interesting questions like: “Where does the dirt go? It sure doesn’t evaporate!” “How many shirts can you reasonably fit in that thing at one time, anyway?” And of course, my personal favorite, “Why not just buy a washer in the first place?”

Of course, there’s some sensible application here–it’s great for people who don’t have many clothes or don’t mind washing their clothes fresh every day or even don’t have a lot of room for a washing machine–but I can’t help but look at this thing and think, you know, maybe this wouldn’t work out so well, especially matched against what we already have. But still, it’s an interesting idea that may be the start of something great.

That’s not a typo, by the way; GAEMS is actually an acronym for Gaming And Entertainment Mobile Systems, and it recently bowed at E3. GAEMS not only serves as a carrier for your Xbox 360, but actually turns it into a mobile gaming platform by including in its front panel a 15-inch 720p LCD television, along with an array of built-in speakers, on which to play it.

GAEMS suitcases are also in the works for the new, slimmer Xbox 360 as well as the Playstation Slim. Downside? The GAEMS isn’t sufficiently large to accommodate any controller, so they’re looking to market a second “controller bag” to go with it. Why you wouldn’t just put one in with your clothes is beyond me, but whatever works, I suppose. Look for these to hit stores by the end of the year with a price tag of $250.

This isn’t exactly new–Samsung has been offering the Touch of Color option for a while, but this isn’t a “touch” of color; Colorware offers a full-on haymaker of color. Basically, when you’re shopping for a new HDTV, all you have to do is tell the folks out at Colorware what system you want, and what color you want it, then they will ship it out to you looking exactly how you wanted it colored.

Naturally, they do this for an extra premium–how much they won’t detail, you have to call or email them for a quote–and they won’t color your existing television; they’ll only provide this service for new televisions. That actually makes some sense. Some of these older televisions would take a LOT of paint to fully cover, and would cost probably more than the televisions themselves are worth, even leaving out shipping costs.

Still though, if you want, like the picture shows, a bright red television in your bright red TV room, well, here’s your chance!

The folks out at Schulz Plumbing (and who ever thought you’d be interested in buying an iPad accessory from anywhere named “Schulz Plumbing”?) designed the Hard Case for iPad to look like an everyday construction clipboard, something of a specialist tool I admit, but very nondescript all the same. In fact, from the outside, it resembles nothing so much as a big gray box.

Inside this case, though, is a layer of high-density polyurethane foam to serve as both placeholder and shock-absorber, along with a tray for small tools like pens, a stylus, and similar whatnot. The outside is made from aluminum finished with a weather-resistant lacquer, and you can get one of these from Schulz for $49.95, their “early adopter” price.

So if you want to keep your iPad safe and securely hidden, consider the Hard Case.

They are concept shoes of course and while we may not see how one could possibly wear them now, the future could be something else. This is of course if you consider robotic shoes which may be out if we ever do reach the space age.

Aside from that, only a nut would end up trying to walk using these Nike shoes with circuit boards acting as soles.

But never fear because someone is working on it already. A designer named Gabriel Dishaw is working on a wearable version which unfortunately will not come out any time soon.

Hence, these Nike shoes are not even close to what future shoe styling would be. This is one weird concept that certainly doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

The Mi-Sport Waterproof Headphones with MP3 Player can store up to a 4GB of various media files that include MP3s, WMAs and AAC files. It has a rechargeable battery that is good for up to 7 hours of use.

The control buttons are located at the side of the headphones but will not have an actual display to show which file is currently playing. Another dandy feature is the voice navigation control which will reportedly read back to you the names of tracks or playlists negating the need to shuffle at times.

The Mi-Sport headphones has no specific date of release for now, saying only that it will be available within 2010. No actual picture of the product aside from the rendered ones are available for now so we just have to wait some more for the official photos to come out.

The inPulse BlackBerry watch isn’t a substitute for the popular phone also known as the CrackBerry. The watch connects to your BlackBerry via Bluetooth 2.0. It includes a 1.3-inch OLED display screen and lets you preview e-mails, messages, alarms and will even show incoming call details. To answer calls or reply to messages, you will still need to whip out the actual phone.

All the settings for the watch are done on the actual BlackBerry. It features optional vibrating alerts and comes with a microUSB port for charging. Once the 150mAh Li-ion battery is fully charged, Allerta claims that it can last for up to four days, based on receiving 20 to 30 updates a day.

Allerta’s initial press release included features for the inPulse that had gadget fanatics smiling:

Check your messages quickly and discreetly
Using inPulse, a glance down at your wrist is all it takes to easily check recently received email, SMS and even Twitter messages. New messages are sent directly to your inPulse. Instead of pulling out your phone to figure out who keeps texting you, just keep an eye on your inPulse.

Never miss an important call
Have you ever missed a call because you didn’t hear your phone ringing or couldn’t feel the vibration? inPulse has a built-in vibrating motor which immediately alerts you of incoming calls. Glance down at inPulse to quickly see who is calling.

You can place your pre-order for the inPulse for just $149. Keep in mind that the first batch has been fully pre-ordered. It was meant to have gone out in February but obviously that didn’t eventuate due to manufacturing problems. Do expect longer delays to receive your inPulse if you’re just putting in your order today. Although the long wait could be worth it in the end.

The ‘Head-Mounted Display Apparatus for Retaining a Portable Electronic Device with Display’, as its officially termed, seemingly stems from Apple’s decision that ‘there is a need for an improved head-mounted display system, particularly a system that temporarily integrates or merges both mechanically and electronically a head-mounted device with a portable electronic device’.

The device, which as can be seen from the diagrams shown here, would allow users to slot an iPhone (the iPhone 4G perhaps?) into the headwear so the device is placed immediately in front of your eyes and, according to the patent application, it would feature a microphone, speaker, a camera, on-board batteries, and, of course, an accelerometer allowing the headwear to detect user head movements so as to allow the device to ‘associate a particular head movement with a command for controlling an operating of the head-mounted display system’.

We have to hand it to Apple for either being extremely forward thinking or for wanting us all to succumb to their vision of the world (or a somewhat disturbing mixture of the two). Of course it could also be an April Fool’s joke by Apple but I wouldn’t bank on it, after all since when did Apple have a sense of humour? You can see the application here.

Hours are represented in blue, five minutes increments in purple and single minute increments are represented in pink. The lights are placed on the same points as the numbers on a clock face. Which means that in this picture the blue LED represents twelve. The purple LED represents 45 and the pink LEDs represent one minute each. Making the time, in this picture, 12:47.

Design it not limited to the watch face and casing alone, it extends to the black stainless steel strap style bracelet. The bracelet which is made of matching stainless steel dots, echoes the design on the watches face. Obviously, this watch isn’t for someone who wants a mere time piece. It is more of a fashion statement and conversation piece with time keeping capability or someone looking to add an interesting watch design to their collection.

By presenting this watch concept, Tokyo Flash shows that they are anything but conventional. The new time keeping design puts a new spin on an old practice and makes keeping time more interesting. Despite it being a suitable for all unisex design, this watch is not for the faint of heart. This Tokyo Flash watch makes a bold artistic statement and will catch the eye of on lookers where ever you go.

Since this is a concept Tokyo Flash is asking shoppers to give their opinion before rolling this out for production. No word yet on when this prospective design will come to life. Right now all you can do it look at it and weight, but if you would like to weigh in feedback is welcome on the TokyoFlash Design Studio blog. There are many watch concept designs there, but I think this is definitely on of the more interesting concepts.

In addition to the usual N97 software, the Gold Edition N97 will feature an application dubbed “ELLE 360Fashion news” that lets “fashion lovers [...] follow the latest trends and news from the catwalk.” It sounds like an RSS feed from French fashion magazine Elle to me, but nobody ever accused me of being fashion-savy.

Why Nokia is pushing this as a ‘premiere’ app is beyond me, you probably can get it for free on the Ovi App Store. Not to overtly shill for our friends at Sony Ericsson, but at least the high-class Sony Ericsson Xperia Pureness phone came with a 24-hour concierge service for its high-brow owners.

In case you haven’t heard, the Nokia N97 has been pretty poorly received by just about everybody and even Nokia admitted that the phone needed some work. Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that this Gold Edition will help the N97 fly off the shelves, but it probably isn’t meant too. It’s not every day that we see the manufacturer like Nokia doing these special gold editions – usually it’s done by a third party, like Stuart Hughes, who’ve produced such wonders like the Gold iPhone and Gold PS3.

Nokia plans to release the Nokia N97 mini Gold Edition in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The release date hasn’t been revealed, but it will sell for zł2499 ($847) in Poland.

This is TwelveSouth’s fourth MacBook product. Their earlier efforts are the BassJump, an add-on USB subwoofer; the BookArc stand – a stand that stands your MacBook up straight so you can more easily use it like a desktop (plug in monitor, keyboard); and the BackPack – a small plastic shelf that attaches to the back of your iMac or Apple Cinema Display for… storage.

I dare say that their BookBook is the most practical. The whole case is a hard shell, to provide some protection and the spine of the ‘book’ is reinforced to give even more protection against drop shocks. Each BookBook is actually being built by hand, so each BookBook sold will be unique. The each corner of the BookBook has an elastic band so you can even use your MacBook while it’s covered by the BookBook.

The other selling point that TwelveSouth is pushing, aside from the hard protective shell of the case, is the fact that it will be completely disguised and that any would be coffee shop or dorm room thief would think it’s some old dusty tome. Of course, just hope they don’t pick it up and notice the weight distribution is off. At any rate, they’re selling 13- and 15-inch models that are designed for the MacBook and MacBook Pro, and the extra-thin 13-inch MacBook Air will fit with some extra space. They’re selling them for $80.

Stuart Hughes, the company behind the Gold Wii and Gold iPhone have released their newest gold-laden gadget improvement. Sony’s PlayStation 3, which Sony likes to think of as a high-end electronics device aimed at adults, has been given a 22kt gold upgrade, at a steep, steep price.

It takes workers 12 weeks to convert a stock PlayStation 3 into the “Supreme” model seen here. 1,600 grams of 22kt gold was added to the main body of the console, with Stuart Hughes adding 58 Flawless diamonds around the sides of the disc slot. The console, which Stuart Hughes promotes as ‘gaming for the elite’, is limited to only three consoles. Gaming for the elite isn’t cheap, as the asking price for the PS3 Supreme is £199,995 ($320,066).

Stuart Hughes loves to add gold and diamonds to popular tech gadgets. Their other gold-laden creations include, a Nintendo Wii, two iPhones (8GB and 32GB versions), a iPod Nano, a BlackBerry Bold, and what seems to be every popular Nokia handset in the last two years. If you want a last minute Christmas gift, pull out the American Express black card and head to Stuart Hughes’ website.