F E T I S H    Issue 2.07 - July 1996
Edited by Tom Loosemore & James Flint



  Pop Dogs

We Brits have never been much cop at the barbecue thang. So what do we do when we can't win by playing fair? We cheat: we use the Hammacher Schlemmer Pop-Up Hot Dog Cooker instead. Now you can whistle up perfectly cooked, piping-hot dogs all year round, whatever the weather. The toaster, though oddly bereft of the essential ketchup dispenser, accomodates two sausages and two buns.

Pop-Up Hot Dog Cooker: US$49.95. Hammacher Schlemmer: +1 (212) 421 9000, on the Web at www2.pcy.mci.net/marketplace/hamshlem/.

  Total Convergence

The Nokia 9000 nearly got a whole page all to its rather wondrous self. Its arrival in the Wiredoffice elicited more "oohs" and "aahs" than would a school nativity play in a roomful of parents. So what's the big deal? Nothing less than a fully featured PDA built into a GSM digital phone, that's what. The 9000 runs the elegant GEOS operating system, and offers email, fax and Web connectivity, as well as the obligatory word processor, spreadsheet et al. Wibble.

Nokia 9000: available from August this year, priced around £600. Nokia: (0990) 002110, on the Web at www.nokia.com.

  Chin Up, Chuck

Like everything else, summer pranks move with the times. Gone are the days when you filled plastic bags with water and hurled 'em down from a great height on unsuspecting victims; this summer, watch out for marauding brats toting head-up, hands-free, voice-activated water pistols. The latest thang for those hot-weather water fights is Shout n' Shoot, featuring an eye range for greater accuracy and a voice-activitated trigger for the powerful battery-powered water jet. You can even put the headset on backwards - sneaky!

Shout n' Shoot: £14.95. Available from Transecom SA: +33 (1) 39 86 96 30, fax +33 (1) 39 86 43 57.

  Board, Stoopid?

Sure, at first glance the Outback mountainboard may resemble a cross between a skateboard and a Reliant Robin, but its design also combines ideas drawn from mountain biking, snowboarding and surfing. The three suitably knobbly pneumatic tyres will roll over any terrain - rocks, grass, mud, whatever. And don't worry, there's a brake to slow you down should things get a little too hairy.

Outback mountainboards: priced around £200. Earth Sports Products Inc.: +1 (509) 783 0600.

  Audio Agoraphilia

Place the Sound Spider behind your sofa, extend its retractable arms and turn the stereo volume up to eleven. This is no ordinary speaker; you'll be blasted with 16 channels of three-dimensional imaged sound, orchestrated by a piece of software called the Taylor Array Process that mimcs the way sound travels in "the real world". You can even fold the Spider away behind the couch when it's not in use. Now that's what I call surround sound...

Sound Spider: price not yet available. Dimension Audio: (0171) 248 1225.

  10X Better

Tired of wiating for that ROM to spin up? The Super 10X range of ten-speed Plug & Play CD-ROM drives from Pioneer pushes access speeds towards the stratospheric. The redesigned chip-set employs new LSI technology to support the improved throughput, and will read data at high speed from all your CD-ROM discs. The Super 10X range conforms to all current industry standards, at distinctly non-standard speeds.

Pioneer High Fidelity: available from August, starting at £199. Pioneer: (01753) 789 789, on the Web at www.pgb.pioneer.co.uk/pioneer/.

  3D-isposable

Frustrated with dreary holiday snaps? Well, what say you to adding an extra dimension? The ImageTech Disposable 3D Magic Camera comes pre-loaded with 3D film, 16 frames of it. The instructions say it's great for taking close-up shots of interesting 3D things in bright sunlight (guess all those pictures we took of HMS Belfast in the drizzle aren't going to come out, then).

Disposable 3D Magic Camera: £16.95. Processing for one film by ImageTech: £12.60. Sold under licence by the Widescreen Centre: (0171) 935 2580.

  Sticky Sounds

Canon's Family Voice is an audio post-it note. Stick it to the fridge using the hidden magnet, et voilá: you have a perfectly positioned family bulletin board. It can replay 20 seconds of audio recording, making it ideal for leaving short messages and phone numbers. But while the various Family Voices are endearingly cute, the thing's shape doesn't give you the requisite feeling that you're talking to just another kitchen appliance - a plain old circle or triangle might work better.

Available only in Japan - so far. Family Voice: ¥2,800 (approximately £17). Canon: +8 (43) 211 9390.