The Toys of Young Hollywood
By Anna Kaufman
Christmas comes but once a year, but for young celebs flush with cash, connections and entourages to impress, wish list-ing goes on all year long. These are the gadgets that currently have them drooling.
Although they won’t officially be available in the United States until 2008, forward-thinking and environmentally conscious drivers are excitedly eyeing the tiny, fuel-efficient European smart cars. With the Smart ForTwo finally debuting here next year, maybe we’ll get to see a sequel to February’s eco-friendly Oscars where an army of Priuses delivered stars to the red carpet. Or should we say green carpet? (expected to start at under $15,000, smartusa.com)
TiVo has helped provide a happy medium between the twin desires to have an active social life and kick back on the couch with the latest episode of Heroes or The Office. But with the new VERIZON V CAST MOBILE TV service, you can take it one step further and bring live television with you. The tiny device has access to live content and other programming from networks including CBS, Comedy Central, Fox, MTV, NBC, ESPN and Nickelodeon—which means full-length, live (and pre-recorded) content 24 hours a day, easily selected from a handy digital menu. In other words, guys, you can tune in to SportsCenter on the go! ($13-$25 per month plus cost of handset, verizonwireless.com)
What could be cooler than a video iPod? A video iPod attached to a portable big-screen TV—which is exactly the experience the myvu PERSONAL MEDIA VIEWER simulates. Young Hollywood jetsetters need only attach the myvu to their iPod and slip the futuristic glasses over their eyes and ears, and the pair of LCD screens inside the headset make it seem as if you were watching a 27-inch television from 6 feet away rather than squinting at a tiny 2-inch screen right in front of your nose. Paris Hilton, Josh Groban, Snoop Dogg and Taylor Hicks have already been spotted enjoying the myvu, which is perfect for plane rides or limo-lounging—but probably not so much for the morning jog (think about it). ($299.95, myvu.com)
The new SONY CYBER-SHOT DSC T100 camera was designed especially with the young club-hopper in mind: Super-slim at just half-an-inch thick, it can fit conveniently into a tiny purse. And with the Carl Zeiss 5x optical zoom lens design and Sony’s “face detection” software, which automatically adjusts for faces in shadow and reduces that pesky red-eye, it makes capturing memorable moments on the dance floor a breeze. Plus, with enough battery life for 340 shots, this little digital camera can go all night. ($399.99, sonystyle.com)
With the compact and portable SONY PICTURESTATION DPP-FP90 DIGITAL PRINTER, you’ll never again be caught without a photo of yourself to autograph! It has an adjustable 3.6-inch LCD screen so you can admire your framing skills before pressing print, and the ability to spit out lab-quality 4- by 6-inch brilliant color photographs in a mere 45 seconds. There are also auto touch-up features, so you can always look your best—at least on the page. ($199.99, sonystyle.com)
At only 14 ounces, the 6- by 4-inch S-XGEN ULTRA MOBILE PORTABLE COMPUTER is the Tom Thumb of mini-PCs. With an eight-hour battery life, a 20GB hard drive and a fold-out keyboard that won’t cramp your fingers or your style, Seamless Internet’s S-XGen makes on-the-go working, playing or keeping in touch easier than ever—a real weight off the mind of the multitasking film-school whiz kid. Lugging a laptop is so passé. ($1,395, slwf.net)
With June’s release of the revolutionary iPHONE, everyone really is talking. In one small, portable, handheld device—the iPhone weighs in at less than 5 ounces and is not even an inch thick—Apple combines a 3.5-inch widescreen iPod; a 2-megapixel camera; internet communications providing desktop-class e-mail, maps, web browsing and a full QWERTY keyboard application; and a mobile phone with the new radical Visual Voicemail feature which makes sorting through phone messages as simple and selective as checking e-mail—and annoying phone calls from your agent easier to ignore. All of this is truly at your fingertips thanks to the device’s full-color, touch-screen browsing. ($499-$599, apple.com)
Bodyguards not enough to make you feel safe anymore? The TASER C2, which debuted in April, can stop attackers as far as 15 feet away and comes in sporty colors like “Metallic Pink” and “Electric Blue.” It also has a lithium-power long-life magazine for up to 50 firings (get back, overeager fans!), plus a built-in safety feature to prevent accidental Tasering. Forget whatever other electronic devices may be lingering at the back of the bedside table drawer—the Taser C2 is clearly a starlet’s new best friend. ($349.99 plus $9.99 activation fee, taser.com)
