Sony Ericsson is back with a bang, this time round they have expanded their Walkman line of cellphones (guess the Cybershot fans will have to take a back seat for this time), where the Zylo is the latest model to be introduced. This next generation Walkman phone will not break the bank if you are interested in picking one up, where it not only offers the best musical experience from a Walkman handset, but will also merge both music with social networking in a single device. That’s right, you will be able to catch up with family and friends over Twitter and Facebook among others using but a few button presses, while enjoying your favorite tunes in the background. Apart from that, the Zylo will also sport the TrackID feature which lets you access the name and artist of a track which you currently hear.

The Sony Ericsson Zylo will sport the human curvature design which is not consistent across the whole Sony Ericsson portfolio. Beautiful and timeless, it also comes with an ergonomic keypad that makes using the handset a joy. Apart from that, the Sony Ericsson Zylo with Walkman will also come preloaded with sounds to spice things up when you’re on an undercover mission – after all, you can pretend that you are still at work, walking on the street or in a restaurant when talking to your other half, although we wouldn’t recommend you build a relationship based on mistrust.

Interestingly enough, the FLAC format will make a debut on this handset, letting consumers experience superb lossless quality sound, but it will definitely take up much more storage space than a regular MP3 file. With PlayNow support, you can shop round the clock in a virtual music store, as long as your budget permits. Other features include connectivity to Flickr and Picasa as well as the ability to upload video clips to YouTube straight away with but a couple of clicks. The Sony Ericsson Zylo with Walkman supports UMTS HSPA 900/2100 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS HSPA 850/900/1800/1900 and GSM GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 networks, where it will hit the market this Q3 with Jazz Black, Chacha Silver and Swing Pink colors to choose from.

For those of us who travel frequently for holidays living the good life, many of our friends would love to see pictures of all the exotic places where we’ve gone to. Instead of going through archives of digital photos and printing them out, why not carry those in a Digital Album like the one you see here? Available in Tan and Black colors to look like a standard photo album, the Digital Album retails for £179 each.

This portable device is a digital photo gallery that can be taken everywhere with you. It has a 7 inch screen and you don’t even need to worry about hooking it up to your PC to upload new photos - it can be done on the spot by connecting it to your digital camera or by inserting an SD card. Even without any extra memory cards the Album still packs a whopping 4GB of memory (that’s up to 40,000 images), and it can be expanded to a staggering 20GB. We can’t even begin to try and work out how many images that amount of memory could store (not because we’re lazy, we’re just terrible at maths). It can playback your photos one at a time or, if you just can’t resist making your friends jealous, you can use the slideshow function. It can even be charged anywhere in the world via USB or by using the handily included universal charger.

Grandparents would also do well to tote this around considering how they love showing off pictures of their third generation to friends as well as random strangers.

If you’re going to buy a watch anymore it has to be an unusual one that catches your eye to make it worth it. Let’s face it, it’s not really necessary to wear a watch anymore. We have plenty of other gadgets that have fifteen other functions, one of which being to tell the time. Well this MK V watch is definitely eye catching enough to make it an interesting piece to wear on your wrist. The down side is that you have to press a button to open the shutter that covers the watch face. Yet is that any worse really than tapping the screen of your iPhone to check the time?

I honestly don’t know if Motorola’s Aura is the most expensive cellular phone ever made, but it has got to be up there. (In keeping with tradition, I will tell you the price at the end of the article, but feel free to hit the jump if you can’t wait.)

Motorola’s Aura has some very debonair features, such as the swivel design with the circular screen at the pivot. The display is really the highlight of the Aura, with 16 million colors and 300dpi resolution.

The lens itself on the screen is a 1.62 carat sapphire crystal, but that isn’t all the bling this Aura sports. Apparently, the textured pattern that you see takes about two weeks to sculpt, and the finish is the type used on expensive wristwatches. The keypad is aluminum and the swivel itself uses 130 precision ball bearings.

But enough about the way too technical features, let’s talk about the user functions. This quad-band GSM support phone has 2GB worth of memory, a music player, stereo Bluetooth, messaging, e-mail, speakerphone, as well as Motorola’s CrystalTalk feature. There is also a 2 Megapixel camera.

Anyone who has read the Silver Surfer comic or watched Back to the Future will definitely love to own one of those hoverboards, although the former’s is way more powerful than the latter due to its cosmic properties. Well, you can now relive those action sequences with the Cyber Surfer R/C Spaceboard from ThinkGeek.

The Cyber Surfer R/C Spaceboard uses two ducted fans and a solid state accelerometer to hover off the ground and “surf” across the room. You control the height and right or left turns with the Cyber Surfer always surfing forward through the air. You never need to worry about balancing the the surfer since the accelerometer adjusts the propeller speed accordingly and keeps him rock solid in the air. Just push the stick up and you’re hovering. The Cyber Surfer is designed for indoor flights only and is pretty easy to control with minimal practice. Now all we need is a slightly larger version for office commuting.

Would be nice to see a model built for adult use, but in the meantime you will just have to make do with this $69.99 toy.

I know that Darth Vader isn’t exactly the most generous person in the universe, so to see his character included in the Star Wars Nutcracker Set is definitely a hoot. He does have the ability to crush nuts (the edible ones as well as those from the family jewel variety), so I guess that makes him qualify to be part of the set.

These are the nutcrackers handcrafted from hardwood to depict the iconic characters from the Star Wars movies: Darth Vader, R2-D2, and Yoda. Darth Vader stands 10″ tall and is draped in a vinyl cape, capped by his signature black helmet. He holds his red lightsaber and is decorated with details including vinyl boots, his breathing apparatus, and chest control unit. R2-D2 stands 7″ tall displaying his handpainted circuitry; his anterior louvered vents conceal the “cracker.” Master Jedi Yoda stands 7 1/2″ tall with his walking stick and his humble burlap robe. Non-functional, they are for decorative purposes only.

In a fight between Star Wars characters and the Iron Lady, who do you think would win? The Star Wars Nutcracker Set will retail for $99.95.

Toshiba also does storage devices just in case you didn’t notice, and this time round they have rolled out the first 80GB SATA automotive-grade hard drive to keep company its existing line of ruggedized and temperature-enhanced storage solutions that are specially meant for in-car navigation and infotainment applications. This will be the seventh generation automotive-grade hard drive also known by its more obscure model number MK8057GSC. Toshiba also scores a first with its release, since it is the debut of a SATA interface storage device to complement their current line of PATA products that are available in 40GB, 60GB and 80GB capacities. With SATA interface, it is a snap to migrate to the latest automotive systems with its ability to reduce signal-line complexity, simultaneously supporting faster top-end data transfer rates versus Parallel-ATA (PATA) based HDDs.

ADLINK Technology is first off the blocks to release the first Extreme Rugged system in the world which is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo processor as well as a GME965 chipset. Better known as the Ampro ADLINK RuffSystem 840, inside you will find integrated components that are kept protected by the harsh external environments so that you will be able to get your work done even in the most uncomfortable of situations, including working near a volcano or in a harsh environment that requires you to sweat it out (or shiver, depending on which occupational role you’re currently playing).

I’m not really sure that this should be called a makeover, but for the sake of simplicity, we’ll just call it that. This DIY job is for those that have far too many useless cassette tapes lying around. It’s understandable that some would, they were used for quite a few years, so it’d be easy to build up a large stash of them. So it’s established that there are probably quite a few people out there that could probably pull off a job like this. Especially considering it’s as simple as gluing a bunch of tapes to an already built wooden cabinet. What I question is whether or not it should be done.

As iPods grow increasingly popular, more and more accessories pop up. Many of the sleeker designs are far out of most people’s price ranges, but they are still fun to drool over. This one isn’t the most outrageously priced I’ve seen, but it’s still not the greatest either. Either way, it’s worth checking out. With the sleek tower it could easily get slipped into any style room. Yes, it will take up a little floor space, but tucked into a corner it’d hardly take up much room.

I thought I would kill two birds with one stone today and discuss two gadgets that are of a similar nature. In this case, a product that we all love and use all the time, and you’re probably using it right now: the computer mouse.

Let’s start with the Road Mice. The Road Mice are computer mice that are designed to look like the automobile that you want to drive. They are available in many models including the Ford Mustang GT, Chevy Camaro, and Dodge Charger. Each of them come in different colors with decals. They are also completely wireless and have headlights.

If you really want a more personalized mouse, you should definitely go for the USB Air Flow Mouse with Scrolling LED Message. The Air Flow Mouse has a fan to reduce the heat as you are using the mouse. Not only that, it has an LED scrolling board, which is programmable by an included remote control. It is available in both red and green.

As you can see by the title, this Husqvarna Solar-Powered Robot Lawnmover deserves its own acronym. Of course, HSPRL is really lame, and I suppose the Swedish-based company will have to change a few of the descriptors into synonyms that start with vowels so they could get an actual word.

This HSPRL (just humor me for this article’s sake) was announced at the Green Industry and Equipment Expo 2008. I’m certain that this isn’t the first autonomous robot lawn mower, but I’m guessing this one won’t be the last.

Of course, the real selling point of the HSPRL is the fact that it is solar powered, which doesn’t sound like an industry first. This limits it to daylight usage, but it uses a rechargeable nickel metal hydride battery.

We’ve read it before ad-nauseum. Cupertino is working on a tablet. Apple’s going to release a tablet. Multi touch screen patent applications prove a tablet is coming. All very tempting tidbits of information based on something seen in the wild of the world wide web. Now we can add another to the list. But this time, it’s coming from the Gray Old Lady herself – the NY Times. And it pretty much looks like an iPhone on steroids.

I don’t know about you, but there is just something about gaming notebooks that turn me off. Number one, you have the extra bulk to tote around which certainly won’t bode well for your back in the long run, while the battery life is nothing short of shameful. Not only that, while it might be able to play the latest and greatest games on-the-road, it will never be able to match up to a real gaming experience on a desktop PC. Despite those personal reasons, gaming notebooks aren’t dead and they don’t seem to be dying off anyways, with Asus being the latest company to unveil a couple more gaming notebooks in the form of the G71 and G50.

Sony might have suffered big losses in the stock market lately, but good thing that has not dampened their enthusiasm of rolling out new devices and products to keep us consumers feeling happy. This time round we have a couple more additions to Sony’s family of S-Frame digital photo frames, and one of them holds the distinction of being the first 10″ model which is being paraded at the PhotoPlus Expo trade show. The two models in question are the DPF-D100 and DPG-D80, and these will come in 10″ and 8″ sizes, respectively. They will boast high quality SVGA resolution LCD displays and will be the first digital photo frames from Sony that come with an aspect ratio of 4:3.

NEC is back yet again with another LCD monitor - the P221W. This 22″ display is based on the hugely successful 90 Series displays, and will feature the following that aims to help ease the work of the professional graphics user.

• 1,680 x 1,050 native resolution
• Wide color gamut achieves 96 percent coverage of AdobeRGB
• Internal 10-bit programmable lookup tables (LUTs)
• S-PVA LCD technology, which provides for the widest viewing angles available with minimal off-angle color shift
• AmbiBright automatic brightness adjustment
• 1,000:1 typical contrast ratio
• 16ms response time
• 300 cd/m2 typical brightness
• XtraView+ 178° (88°/88°/88°/88°) viewing angle
• ECO Mode and carbon footprint reduction
• Analog and digital input signal
• Four-way ergonomic stand (tilt/swivel/pivot/height-adjust)
• Optional Soundbar 90

The NEC P221W will come with a 3-year limited warranty when it arrives this December, so set aside $636.90 if you want to get yourself an early Christmas present.

The Vent Register Booster Fan aims to increase energy efficiency in your home or office by dramatically increasing air flow while saving energy simultaneously.

Vent Register Booster Fan automatically boosts vent airflow by up to 80%; keeping room temperature warm, and heating costs low. Register Booster is designed with an adjustable thermostat sensor, which switches on automatically when vent airflow is sensed. Vent fan also has a manual switch for continuous operation. Home Trends register booster quietly warms or cools your home, using much less energy than adjusting your thermostat for the same effect. Simply place the vent fan over any 4” by 6” floor register, or install over wall register with 4 screws (not included).

You can pick up the Vent Register Booster Fan for $59.95. Hey, anything that helps reduce the daily rising costs of living is always welcome in my home.

Many have had to deal with the dilemma of not being allowed to wear their headphones at certain places. The job of finding ways to hide them can sometimes be obnoxious and close to impossible. Well thankfully Think Geek has released the solution. With this discreet little beanie, no one would have to know you’re rocking out to your favorite songs. It wouldn’t be difficult to tuck the cord down your shirt and then connect it to an iPod hidden in your pocket.

I’m sure there are a lot of Coolest Gadgets readers that use Skype’s service in order to save money on phone calls by using the Internet, and some of you may even have exclusive Skype phones.

Designer Eno Setiawan has created a unique design for a Skype phone that is simply known as the hanger phone. The hanger phone works like the phones that hang on the wall. All you need to do is pick it up to make a call, and then hang it up when finished. Nothing original so far, but the materials are. The hanger phone uses materials like aluminum plate, polycarbonate, and polyurethane.

The hanger phone dock uses a Bluetooth connection to transmit audio from the phone to the computer, and it looks like the dock itself connects to the PC using USB.

If you’ve ever had to discreetly read your book at night, then likely you’re no stranger to the variety of reading lights available. The type that clip to your book are helpful, but you still have to shift them a great deal to keep the area you’re reading illuminated. Well although this little light wouldn’t clip to your book, it’d make a convenient light. With it being solar powered you’d never have to worry about searching for batteries at two in the morning.