Stuff Geeks Want

Raise your hand if you know how to perform a kite barrel roll. Few us do, but with the Air Hogs Wind Chaser stunt kite from Air Hogs, you’ll be doing this and much more minutes after you get your hands on the controls. Yea, there’s still a string, but this one has got a remote in the handle that controls a motor under the wings. As the motor tightens and loosens the cables, the kite spins and dives at will.

Buy for $35 from Amazon

In celebration of Woodstock exactly 40 years ago this weekend, we present the sleep system that would have made a weekend of sweat and mud a little more bearable. It’s the Coleman QuickBed with MP3 plug-in. It’s got a built-in amplifier and a set of speakers so you simply plug in your iPod or MP3 player and you’re sleeping with tunes. It has a built-in QuickPump that runs on four D batteries that inflates and deflates your mattress hands-free (translation: no blowing it up and passing out).

Buy for $59 from Amazon

You might have seen it in the news recently…this British backpacker got lost in the Australian bush a few weeks back and was missing for 12 days. He admitted to being “an idiot” and not registering with authorities before going bush walking (ya think?!).

“Hind sight is 50/50″ they say, but when his Dad ate him out for this bozo move, he should have handed him one of these…The Bushnell BackTrack GPS personal Location Finder.

So you’re out in the woods (heck, how about in an unfamiliar shopping mall and parking lot?) and you want to return to where you started. Your simply mark your starting point into the BackTrack, turn it off, go to your destination, turn it back on, and press one button to start your trek back. You then simply follow the arrow on its display back to where you started. The simplest ideas are so impressive.

If you’re in to the techie side of it, the unit uses a High Sensitivity SiRF Star 111 GPS receiver and a self calibrating digital compass. When you set your starting point, the information is stored on the unit’s built-in memory. You can store up to three locations.

It uses two AAA batteries and weighs about the same as a small cell phone. Bushnell says the batteries should last for about a hundred uses. It’s lightweight, small and a breeze to use.

Buy for $50 from Amazon

If you’re going to get a lame scooter or something similar, why not make sure you’ve got food and drink between your legs? Enter the Cruzin’ Cooler.

There’s a bunch of different models from 300 to 1000 watts depending on your weight, how much internal storage capacity you want and how far you want to travel. There’s even a gas-powered model and most of them come in five colors. The battery life is determined by the weight of the driver, load and the terrain the cooler is driven on, but reviews we’ve seen show speeds up to 13 mph and a range of up to 15 miles.

So if you can see yourself or your wife cruising the camp grounds on this without laughing your ass off as you drink the beer she brought you, then the Cruzin’ Cooler is wacky but worthy.

Buy starting at $160 from Amazon

What if there were an iPod that cranked the tunes and floated in the pool with you? You then have the small problem of water turning your speaker into a worthless plastic brick. Back to the drawing board.

So here’s an interesting solution…a floating, waterproof, wireless speaker you can use with an iPod, iPhone, MP3 player, computer, home stereo, TV, ANY audio source. It’s the PoolPOD from Audio Unlimited and it’s got a 900MHz wireless connection for up to 150 feet to a docking station where you simply plug your device via a 3.5mm or RCA output.

The sounds isn’t fantastic but hey, would do you expect for a waterproof speaker in a ball? We thought it sounded pretty good for a $72 wireless speaker that says no to water.

Buy for $72.00 from Amazon

I’m intimidated by outdoor grills. They’re hard to start if you’re only using charcoal and even the gas-burning models don’t put out a good, continuous temperature. Now there are infrared gas grills and there’s one that’s finally in a price range those on a budget can afford.

It’s the Char-Broil Urban Infrared Gas Grill. In simple terms it generates infrared energy by using a simple sheet of perforated stainless steel to convert the output of a standard gas burner into a blue-colored infrared flame. This small, patio sized unit has two burners that put out 20,000 BTUs under 340 square inches of cooking space and can reach temperatures around 700 degrees F for high, even heating. Each burner has an individual temperature gauge.

So a stainless steel, propane-fueled, small footprint gas grill with infrared cooking for $269. Not bad.

Buy for $269.00 from Lowes

Teddy Roosevelt would have loved this. It’s a big stick, but with so much more. The Pedomostick (great idea, lousy name) tallies your footsteps, calculates calories burned, measures distance traveled, and tracks time spent walking on a LCD display built into the handle. It extends from 37-inches to 52 with an adjustable LED flashlight just past the rubber handle.

Yea, it costs a little more than a broken tree limb, but who wants to duck tape a flashlight to a stick?

Buy for $99.95 from Hammacher Schlemmer

If you do any sort of meaningful cycling, prudence suggests you carry a spare tube, portable pump, and multi-tool with you so that you can address any technical difficulties that might befall you on your ride.

You can cover two of those three bases with Blackburn’s AirFix, a mini CO2 inflator that features nine common tools built-in, including 3/4/5/6/8mm hex keys, a chain tool, and steel core tire lever.

Normally $40, BlueSkyCycling is currently selling the AirFix at almost 70% off. Stock up so you always have gifts on hand for your cycling buddies!

Buy for $12.98 from BlueSkyCycling

CNET last week called HD Radio one of the decades biggest tech flops and it’s hard to argue that point. Put together the facts that radio stations failed early to make the financial investment in broadcasting equipment and HD’s creator, iBiquity, failed to mirror XM Radio’s smart move of getting sat-ready radios in cars years ago, and HD has had a tough road. That’s now changing with the first handheld HD Radio just out from Best Buy.

Made by KRI and sold by Best Buy under the Insignia brand name for just under $50, this little handheld beauty gives you regular FM stations as well as those enhanced with HD channels – which if you didn’t know are radio stations that piggyback onto an FM station and broadcast additional content like music, talk, sports and more for free, most of it commercial free.

The first thing you notice is the audio difference between analog FM and HD is dramatic. The frequency will first lock in on the analog signal and then the digital kicks in two to three seconds later with an ‘HD’ symbol confirming the station.

It’s got 10-station presets, a nice, bright, 1.5-inch LCD color screen, a 10-hour, built-in rechargeable lithium battery, an included USB cable for charging, headphones and arm band.

This unit works best outdoors depending on the signal strength of the station your listening to. It sounds great, is cheap enough and it’s lithium-battery holds an acceptable eight-hour charge in our tests.

Buy for $49.99 from Best Buy

If you want to carry your beer in the coolest way possible, Timbuk2′s new Dolores messenger bag has you covered.

Its sharp looks will catch eyes, but not many will suspect that you’re hiding a dozen beers in what otherwise appears to be a standard messenger bag.

Bonus: a red anodized bottle opener is attached to the side of the bag.

Buy for $110 from Timbuk2