It's that time of year again, where we all rush off to Clinton's for a naff card, a syrupy teddy and a box of Quality Streets for our loved ones. Yep, Valentine's Day rears its sickly head once again, and, like it or lump it, it's here to stay.

But how best to show the extent of your love for that special, nerdy man-child in your life?

If your boyfriend is partial to a bit of tech or some geeky toys, you've come to the right place. Check out Tech Digest's Top Ten Geeky Valentine Presents: For Him. Wedding bells will be ringing in a matter of months with these nifty little gifts, we assure you.

Click the image below to get started

This latest model of Buffalo's LinkStation Mini sets itself apart from the host of other media server options vying for your money by offering a built in BitTorrent client to manage all your P2P file sharing.

Available in black or white and both 500GB and 1TB storage sizes, the LinkStation Mini also features support for DLNA sharing with transfer speeds capable of up to 40 Mbps. There is also a WebAccess portal, allowing users to access files stored on the LinkStation Mini via the web from anywhere in the world.

Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, the LinkStation Mini keeps itself discrete not only by its size, but also by its lack of a noisy fan. It's able to do without this heat-reducing gear as Buffalo claim power consumption is 60% lower than on previous models.

Paul Hudson, Northern European sales director, Buffalo Technology, commented: "As the appetite for digital media continues to grow, consumers expect high-quality, high-definition content to replace traditional formats. The LinkStation Mini is an ideal way for people to store all their movies, music and photos; share it with friends and family and to use it in their homes on a computer, laptop or television."

The LinkStation Mini is available now, with prices starting at £179.99, going up to £249.99.

Here's a full list of specs:

· High-speed processor provides file transfer rates of up to 40MB/s with enhanced performance
· Control access with group and user level security
· Direct copy of multimedia files from attached USB devices
· Supports Apple Bonjour
· Supports Active Directory
· Supports UPS connectivity via USB port
· Supports RAID 0/1
· In-built Print Server
· Auto-Sensing 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet port
· Silent, with no internal fan
· In-built DLNA CERTIFIED™ Server
· In-Built BitTorrent™ Client
· Fully integrates with iTunes
· WebAccess allows you to store, share and access files from any web browser via PC, Mac or iPhone
· Memeo™ backup software

Pocket mirrors are so last decade. If you want to look pixel-perfect these days, you need to get yourself in front of an augmented reality cosmetic mirror.

It's the latest craze to hit Tokyo malls; you sit yourself down in front of the Shiseido-built mirror, and by judging you skin tone, it makes recommendations on what make-up you should wear, overlaying virtual previews onto your face.

Judging from the video there's still a bit of work needed here though. Not on the model, you cheeky so and so, but rather on the tech itself. Rather than properly showing what she would look like with the recommended make up, it instead makes it look like her eyes have been gouged-out, King Lear-style.

Bet you weren't expect a Shakespearean reference when you hit this link, huh?

Via: CScout Japan

You can shove your PS3s and Xbox 360s; put yourself in front of a classic Galaxian arcade cabinet and watch as it devourers all the silver in your pockets with old-school gaming joy. Emulators like MAME may keep your piggybank full, but modern controllers don't feel right in the 8 -bit world.

Thankfully, Retro Thing have been quietly working away on their Clear Classic USB Joystick, modelled after controllers familiar to any gamers from the 70's and 80's.

Retro Thing worked closely with Legacy Engineering ( the team behind the Atari Flashback 2 retro console) to get the iconic feel just right, but added their own blue LED light into the mix to give it a Tron-like glow.

The controller, compatible with both PCs and Macs, comes complete with an Atari 2600 emulator and 80 homebrew games to get you started.

The limited edition joystick costs $29.95, and Retro Thing stockists Reflex Audio happily ship to the UK.

Buy one here.

Samsung has been announced as the largest technology firm in the world, with sales of their devices hitting the $117.8 billion mark.

The figure sees them overtake HP, who managed an impressive $114.6 billion, making them the second largest tech company.

With a big push in TV, camera and memory chip developments at Samsung HQ (not to mention their sizeable showing at this year's CES) it's no surprise Samsung are doing so well. It's only in the mobile sector where they appear to have lost ground.

Jan Lee of Daiwa Securities told CNN that he saw the mobile market as a potential growth sector for Samsung. "Compare it with Apple" he said, "There is still a gap in profit margins of their phone businesses."

Keep an eye out on Monday for Tech Digest's review of the Samsung UE40B8000 LED TV. Quick teaser; it's wicked.

Remember all those You've Been Framed clips of dogs playing the piano? Well that was just the beginning; thanks to Mattel's Puppy Tweets collar tag, your dog is about to enter the online world of social networking and Twitter. No, seriously.

First of all, you have to make a Twitter account for little Rex (stay with me here). You then clip the tag onto your dogs collar, which packs in both motion and sound sensing technology. The device then reads and categorises what your pet is up to, and sends it to the dog's Twitter account. Then you, smug dog owner person, sit back and marvel as the pooch tweets such dignified observations as "YAHOOOOOOOOO! Somedays you just gotta get your bark on" or "I finally caught that tail I've been chasing and...OOUUUCHH!"

This isn't exactly going to change the minds of those who still "don't get" Twitter yet. But can you think of an anymore zealous a group of animal lovers than dog owners? It'll sell like hotcakes, though I don't much fancy an army of Rovers following my feed.

And surely a "Budgie Tweets" collar would have been more appropriate? Hmmm...Excuse me while I just go file a patent...

Here's a novel new approach to camcorders. The Ion Twin Video features two cameras which record simultaneously in two back-to-back directions, producing a picture-in-picture recording.

It looks quite a lot like the Flip, hooking up to a PC via USB, recodrind to an SD card or SDHC and featuring a rechargeable battery pack.

I can't figure out if I like this one or not. On the one hand, being able to catch both jaw-dropping moments and your reactions to them simultaneously could have some fun outcomes; think You've Been Framed with added evil-grins. On the other hand, so far it seems that you cant dedicate the whole image to just one video feed and cut between the two lenses; you have to have a picture-in-picture set up, which could quickly become annoying and make the whole thing a bit useless really.

Might be one for narcissists only this.

Price still unknown, but expect to see the Twin Video in shops by the Summer.

Thanks to all the new wireless charging systems on their way to market, the shock-horror moment of being out and about and then having your mobile's battery die mid-way through a call may be a thing of the past. Of this new wave of chargers, the Airnergy from RCA looks to be the pick of the litter.

Airnergy works by harvesting wi-fi signals around you and converting them into electricity. Sure, we've seen this done before, but it's the efficiency that is the key here; the Airnergy can convert and store enough power within 90 minutes to charge a smartphone.

The magic here is the Airnergy's built in battery. It doesn't need to be connected to your phone to be charged immediately. Just keeping it in range of a decent wi-fi source means power can be held onto for when you need it most.

A small and simple device, it could really challenge the Power Mat, with all its frustrating accessories, for dominance in the charger market. And at a suggested retail price of $40 (around £30) its way cheaper too.

We'll be keeping our eye on this one to say the least.

Via: Oh Gizmo

If you live in the UK and look outside your window today, odds on the world around you is covered in snow. It may have been a good laugh when you were little, hiding stones in snowballs and peeing your name into the snow (you little deviant, you), but these days all it inspires is a moan, a groan, and the thought of a long journey home.

So, to help pass these next few snowed-in days, here are a couple of gadgets for both the snow-phobic and fanatic in each of us.

Heated Vest

The sort of item Inuits only dream of, why not invest in an electricity powered vest? Made from nylon and polyester with a heating filament across the back, it is powered by a hidden ultra-safe battery pack which can be switched on or off as required. Already got one? Look how cool you look now! No, seriously...

I-River Story E-reader

It's so cold that you'll likely want to stay in right now till the snow thaws. You may not even want to get out of bed, let alone hit the shops to pick up some reading material. What you need is an iRiver Story e-reader. With a 6 inch E-ink display, QWERTY keyboard and enough storage space for 1,500 books, iIt gives the most bang for your buck right now in the e-reader market, and will keep you entertained until someone comes to dig you out of your snow covered hovel. Pick it up here for £195.

Snow Storm Snow Machine

Perhaps you can't get enough of the snow? Not only are you an idiot, but you're in luck too! Turn your living room into a winter-wonderland with the Snow Storm Snow Machine! For £109.95 you can spray fake snow anywhere you want, anytime you want. I wouldn't recommend eating the stuff though, unless you enjoy trips to A and E. Grab one here.

Lost Planet (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

Imagine the best bits of Starship Troopers and the snow scene from Empire Stikes Back. Then throw in some Transformer-like robots. Then throw in some more snow. And ice. And more snow. Mix it all together and you have Lost Planet, Capcoms excellent sci-fi shooter for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. It may be a few years old now, but it's still amazing fun taking on the colossal Akrid snow aliens, and there's a sequel on the way later this year. Its age means you can pick it up cheap now too. Which is cool.

Alive (DVD)

If you think you've got it bad, spare a thought for the poor folks of the 1972 Uruguayan rugby team. Their chartered plane crash landed in the snow-capped Andes. With no supplies and freezing snow cold all around, they begin to die of cold. The survivors then had to eat their dead mates. 'Nuff said. Sadly, it's yet to reach us in gory high-def detail on Blu-ray, but you can pick it up here from Amazon on DVD for £3.98.

The Consumer Electronics show, the behemoth of tech, the Valhalla of gadgetry, has come and gone for yet another year. But this time, rather than arriving with a bang, it slinked into sight with something more like a whimper.

CES 2010 had really had the wind knocked out of it before it had even got into the ring this year. All eyes were already on Apple and their rumoured Tablet in the run up to the event, despite the fact that Apple are traditionally a no-show at CES, instead planning their own top-secret unveiling at the end of January. Likewise, Google delivered a sucker-punch in the shape of the Nexus One, their flagship handset revealed at their own event on the eve of CES 2010's opening.

To make matter's worse, Microsoft's opening keynote speech (delivered by walking personality drain Steve Ballmer) was pretty darn dull. First a power cut, then a load of waffle on the 2 month old Windows 7, Ballmer hardly seemed to be trying to keep our attention. Though the Christmas release date for Project Natal was welcome news, it revealed nothing new about the device, whilst the partnership with Hewlett Packard for the new Slate device seemed merely like a case of keeping-up with the Joneses. Or should that be the Jobs-es?

But the Las Vegas event wasn't without its highlights. Far from it in fact. Maybe it's the recession, or the generally pocket-pinching mood in the air these days, but for once the most sought after tech wasn't in the realms of dreamy aspiration, but was actually fairly affordable.

Take for instance the brand new 3D TVs on show, of which the Sony BRAVIA XBR-52HX900 (video above, courtesy of Ashley) was the pick of the litter. Finally shaping up to the standards set by its cinema siblings, company reps promised that the average 3D TV will cost little more than a top-end Full HD set. Skype and video calling in many TV sets too will help turn your living room into somewhere the Jetsons could only dream of.

E-readers are also looking to be both big and affordable in 2010. As a comic book fanatic I'd have liked to have seen more attempts at a colour screened e-reader (I'm not including the MSI offering, which is really just a dual-touch screened PC, super-cool as it is). Plastic Logic's Que Pro e-reader looked great though, with a massive, durable screen, and was far lighter than the hundreds of books you'd be able to store on the tabloid-sized device.

There were, of course, tablets aplenty. The dual-booting Viliv P3 may be an underdog in the category, but seemed way more exciting than Microsoft's offering. The offer of both Windows and Android on the same device showed a respect for user choice not often seen in the back-slapping world of consumer tech.

There was still time for fun too. The Parrot AR Drone Quadricopter was fun and fresh, combining real-world toys with augmented reality controls. A little less high-tech but full of retro-chic was the Lasonic i931 iPhone dock/ghetto blaster mash-up. Odd's on its at the top of Flava Flav's Christmas list. And there was still some time for the weird and the plain old dumb, too.

Though less prevalent than other years, there were some great examples of brand new tech on show that were genuinely exciting. A real head-turner and my favourite item of the show was the Light Blue Optic Light Touch. Using a pico projection engine and a touch sensitive sensor, it'll turn any flat surface into a touchscreen. It works ridiculously well despite still being in the development stages, and has almost unlimited potential.

Some detractors say that, recession or not, CES looks to be on its last legs. It's sad, but not unlikely, when you consider the audiences that companies like Apple and Google can command for just a single product launch. However, for emerging companies like Light Blue Optics CES is still vital to gain some exposure, not to mention the fact that such a prominent date in the calendar forces the tech giants to have made some significant, competitive advances in their gear, year-on-year.

So here's hoping the old dog's got a bit of life left in it yet. Hopefully next year will kick off the recessionary cobwebs and kick the show back into high-tech gear. It wouldn't take much to tempt us back to the City of Sin once more.

Click here for full CES 2010 pre-show, day one, day two and day three round-ups.

OK, so the USB missile launcher is very old news indeed, but hardcore fans (like me) will be delighted to discover that there's a new technologically more advanced version coming that is more powerful and is controlled via a webcam - great for sneaky attacks.

No details on price yet, but it should be on sale in the UK very soon.

There are loads of iPhone solar chargers at CES but this is probably the best. It fits snugly on to your phone and can deliver thirty minutes of power for two hours of charging. It doesn't have to be connected to the iPhone to charge and if the sun isn't playing you can charge it up via USB. It goes on sale soon in Europe including the Uk, for 80 (not 8 as it says in the video) Euros. It comes with a free app that works out how much you need to use the sun to charge the battery depending on where in the world you are

This is one of the most popular things at the show. It is a wall which has images which, when you click on them, bring up Google News stories. At the moment it is just a headline, but apparently Intel says it can add a lot more information. So what are you going to use it? Well think retail. You choose your trainers and then click on image to see if they are in stock. Would love to see the news version of this at a London railway station - now that would be amazing - how about it Intel?

Thumbnail from Engadget who have lots of pics of the Infoscape here

Gotta love this! It is a hat that houses your iPhone.touch so you watch videos on the quiet. It includes a magnifying glass to increase the size of the screen. Great for the beach, but not too hot on the pavement. Yours for just $19.95 on sale now from here.

Thumbnail pic from Gizmodo who reviewed it here

The AR Drone Quadricopter (that's a four propeller helicopter to you and me) is a very cool device that is sure to be one of the year's hottest gadgets. It is controlled by either an iPhone or an iPod touch and boasts two cameras - one for controlling the device and another which streams images back to the iPhone/touch. Basically if you tilt the phone then the Quadricopter tilts, raise the iPhone and the copter rises etc.

It is going to be available in the second half of 2010 in both the US and the UK and works as either standalone remote control toy or as part of game.

More here

Another day, another Tech Digest CES 2010 round-up. Fancy Tweeting hands-free in your car or controlling your PC by breathing? Check today's top stories below and find out how.

Twitter coming to Ford cars
The digital equivalent of drink-driving?

Motorola announce Backflip Android Phone
Hinged smartphone is Motorola's big CES 2010 offering

Ion launch the iType full QWERTY keyboard add-on for the iPhone
Making the portable unwieldy

Vuzix demo Wrap 920AR Augmented Reality visor
Turning your trip to the shops into a scene out of Robocop

Zyxio's new breathing-based PC controller, the Sensawaft
Affordable accessibility gadget, perfect for disabled PC users

3D gaming headed to the Palm family
Apple isn't the only mobile now capable of some hardcore gaming action

Is the Viliv P3 the underdog tablet to look out?
Dual-booting tablet is looking very tasty indeed

Razer and Sixense bring motion gaming to the PC
But will it catch on within the incredibly competitive PC gaming peripheral market?

UK getting the Dell Mini 3i
Android phone hitting UK shores in the not-so-distant-future

Video- Armour Home Q2 Tilt Internet radio
Innovative and simple radio from Brit-based Armour

Video - "World's smallest Windows PC" the UMID M Book 1
It makes a gnat's bum look big. Well...not quite. But you get the idea

Video- Casio's Digital Art Frame
Making all those dodgy Facebook snaps look good

Video - The coolest retro iPhone hi-fi ever, Lasonic's i931
Bring 80's boom box street-chic bang up to date

Video - Toshiba's Cell TV that is controlled by hand gestures
Innovative tech, but it makes you look a bit of an idiot; not sure I want a work out in front of the telly

Video - Sony's BRAVIA XBR-52HX900 3D TV
Their flagship 3D set is a stunner

Video - Panasonic's 3D camera
Bet the adult-entertainment industry cant wait to get its mitts on this one

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

Tech Digest at CES is sponsored by Best Buy. For more CES stories and videos go here

What is it with peripheral manufacturers turning perfectly portable devices into hulking behemoths with their (often unneeded) accessories?

Enter the iType, Ion's full size QWERTY iPhone add-on.

Still there's a use for this one I suppose. Laying your iPhone inside landscape wise, the iType doubles up as a charger and will be useful for those who Tweet or SMS a lot from the handset, or even use their iPhone to blog on.

You're looking at around £60 for this when it launches in the first half of the year.

Via: Reg Hardware

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

Tech Digest at CES is sponsored by Best Buy. For more CES stories and videos go here

Augmented reality is set to be massive this year, with smartphone apps the likely first stop off point for most. But holding up your iPhone's camera is a bit rubbish compared to the Vuzix Wrap 920AR Augmented Reality Visor. Now you too can see the world just the same as Robocop did!

According to Vuzix: "users can view the real-world environment and computer-generated imagery seamlessly mixed together; allowing video game characters to jump out of the TV and come to life in your living room, or magazines and books with animated links back to the web in real time."

In other words the world around you gets overlaid with maps, Facebook profiles, timetables, review, prices and more if you're wearing these specs.

Keep a robotic eye out for this in the Spring, expected to cost around £500.

A little off topic, but anyone agree that Robocop was the most violent film of all time? Sorry, just a case of CES-induced madness kicking in...

Via: Shiny Shiny

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

Tech Digest at CES is sponsored by Best Buy. For more CES stories and videos go here

Here's a neat demo-video courtesy of Engadget showing off Zyxio's new breathing-based PC controller.

A novel mouse-alternative, the Sensawaft features a sensor which converts the direction, length and strength of your breathing into commands for the PC cursor. It takes some getting used to according to Engadget's Paul Miller, but he was getting to grips with the device within a few minutes.

Lots of potential uses here for the disabled or those with accessibility difficulties, not to mention perhaps medical uses where a third hand would be...handy. Keeping in mind the low suggested price range of $70, this is also far more affordable than other accessibility-designed PC control units.

Via: Engadget

Click here for more CES 2010 coverage from Tech Digest

Tech Digest at CES is sponsored by Best Buy. For more CES stories and videos go here