CUT THE CORD
Sennheiser MX-W1
£300 www.sennheiser.co.uk 01494 551 551

These wireless earphones aim to improve the experience of listening to your portable music player with no strings attached. Current Bluetooth wireless headphones compress your music (sacrificing sound quality) and often involve bulky headphones or having to dangle an annoying receiver around your neck.

The MX-W1s, though, use a new radio transmission system called Kleer that avoids audio compression and requires a fraction of the power of Bluetooth, allowing the use of miniature receivers that fit inside the wireless, lightweight (10g) earbuds. Sennheiser says its hi-fi-quality stereo earphones will play for between three and four hours on a single charge.

However, unlike with Bluetooth, a technology built into some music-playing devices, such as mobile phones, you need to plug a separate, matchbox-sized transmitter into your player to make use of the Kleer system. This compact unit attaches to your player’s headphone socket. It has a range of about 30ft and can simultaneously share music with up to four sets of earbuds. In brief tests of an early model, it sounded better than many Bluetooth cans but not wired headphones at a fraction of the cost. The stiff price includes a pocket docking station for recharging while you’re on the move. The MX-W1 should be arriving in UK shops within the next few weeks.

UNREALITY TV
FakeTV
$40 (£21) www.faketv.com 00 1 952 943 2378

One of the greatest deterrents to a prowling burglar is the flickering light of a television set. Enter, then, the FakeTV, a miniature gadget that uses an array of computer-controlled LED lights to simulate the rapidly changing glow of a flat-panel television. Placed near an upstairs window (or anywhere it cannot be directly seen), the FakeTV will activate automatically at dusk and give the impression that there’s an insomniac in the house, killing time watching late-night movies until dawn breaks. The beauty of it is that it uses much less power than a real television – its power consumption of only 3W is less than that of many televisions in stand-by mode. There’s no guarantee that thieves will be deterred, of course, and at the moment the gadget is available in the USA only, with a typical postage charge of £20.

DIGITAL DOORMAN
Manodo Sbox home automation system
From £520, plus £3 per month www.manodo.se 0046 31 712 5000

With its 8in touchscreen, this virtual doorkeeper from Sweden will let you see live traffic forecasts, bus timetables, messages from your neighbours – even an entry-phone video of anyone loitering outside your door. Wirelessly connected to your broadband internet connection and to various meters and sensors around your home (the full set costs an additional £280), it can also tell you how much electricity, gas and water you’ve been using. Homes using the Sbox to monitor energy consumption typically use 20% less electricity and 25% less water. The system, which requires professional installation, will be available in the UK later this summer.

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