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Shiny Shiny: Now waterproof cases aren’t entirely trustworthy and if you’re going to worry about your MP3 player the entire time it’s in the water, you may as well forget it.

A waterproof MP3 player on the other hand is something you can enjoy without paranoia kicking in. The Soundwave would make a handy amphibious accessory. It’s shock resistant, comes with waterproof headphones and armband accessories, and can handle itself in up to 10 feet of water.

Despite what Freestyle Audio says, this isn’t the “world’s first amphibious MP3 player” and the only way to listen to your favourite tunes underwater before the Soundwave came along was not in a submarine.

It may be the first MP3 player to fully submerge up to ten feet, but it’s definitely been done.

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Scenta: For all of you out there who are health-conscious enough to do exercise occasionally, and enjoy pounding up and down a swimming pool, here’s a device that could make the experience a little more enjoyable.

The Soundwave is the latest waterproof MP3 player from Freestyle.

It is completely submersible down to ten feet and also features a shock resistant design so hopefully won’t break if you drop it by the side of the pool in your post-lap exhaustion.

It will store up to 2GB of audio data, including MP3, WMA, and DRM protected files, but also has an FM tuner with channel presets.

With the player, you get an armstrap, but the device will float if it becomes unattached. You also get waterproof earbuds but the standard jack means that you can connect other headphones if you want.

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Gizmodo: Sony’s XDV-W600 is no 60-inch high-contrast plasma TV, for sure: no, it’ll sell for a different reason… it’s waterproof.

In fact, it meets IPX 7 and IPX 6 specs, and can safely go three feet under for half an hour.

Clearly designed to go in the bathroom, it looks a smidge like a bar of soap, and has a 4-inch screen, recording function to its own 2GB internal memory, and runs for 23 hours from its own batteries supplemented by AAs.

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Techradar.com: Garmin has unveiled the nuvi 500 series of waterproof, multi-use navigators at the British Motor show this week. Nuvi’s 500 series has been specifically designed for driving, cycling, walking or boating, with maps to suit each activity.

The 500 series features NavTeq sophisticated mapping data and the ability to accept different types of mapping including TOPO for outdoor navigation and Blue Chart cartography for marine usage.

The waterproof nüvi 500 series features all the latest Garmin navigation technology including Hotfix, detailed NavTeq mapping, millions of points of interest (POIs), traffic avoidance compatibility and Garmin’s popular “Where am I?” safety feature (immediately giving you your exact latitude and longitude coordinates).

Garmin Connect Photos gives you instant access to millions of geo-located images provided by Google’s Panoramio if you would rather ‘photo-navigate’ on your jaunts.

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Camera Core: Fujitsu has released the F705i handset in Japan, with claims that it is the slimmest waterproof phone currently available. The ultra-thin phone is just 13.7mm thick.The handset is designed to work even after being immersed one metre deep in water for half an hour.

The F05i features a 1.3-megapixel camera and a quick zoom function which adjusts the size of text on-screen with the touch of a button.

The phone also features Super Clear Voice and Super Clear Mike features, which adapt the call volume to suit the background noise conditions when making a call.

The F705i measures 106×49×13.7mm and weighs in at 111g. It provides 170-minute of talk time, or 100-minutes of video calling, on a single charge.

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HiddenWires:

AV and CI companies are increasingly being asked to install high technology in every room inside and outside the home. Aquavision has responded by introducing five waterproof HD Ready LCD ‘in-wall’ televisions. The Series4 high-performance range consists of 17 (4:3), 19, 26, 32 and 40in widescreen sizes.

The most exciting new feature, which no other waterproof television has, is the RS232 control port, enabling the television to be controlled from a compatible touch panel anywhere in the home. The RS232 control port is fully compatible with most home automation control systems including Crestron.

All the new models feature integrated Freeview digital and analogue tuners, a component video, S-Video and analogue PC input, twin HDMI inputs on the AVF-32-4C and AVF-40-C, single HDMI on the 17, 19, and 26 the twin HDMI inputs on the two larger screens, full scart connection and built in games. Image quality is far more superior than any other waterproof TV available offering a contrast ratio of 1600:1 on the AVF-32-4C for outstanding reproduction of detail and depth of images and 1,366 x 768 pixel resolution on most of the new models. The new screens accept both industry standard ‘High Definition’ video formats (1080i and 720p) perfect for watching the latest HDTV and high definition movies.

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PMP Today: These days, everything is mobile and this includes watching your favorite TV shows and movies. Unfortunately, most gadgets don’t come protected from the elements–except, that is, for the new Sanyo LVT-WD40.

This shiny white PMP is completely waterproof, meaning if you want to watch videos in the shower or in the rain, you don’t have to worry about damaging it or receiving electrical shocks. Now why you would want to watch TV while in the shower or walking in the rain is an entirely different matter altogether.

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Gadgetcandy: (…) three intriguing new DAB radios by Revo. Each one has its own unique charms, and of course we love the pink Uno…
This one’s very affordable, connectable to your iPod (as the other two are), and has an advanced alarm system that you can set for workdays and weekend lie-ins.

Its big bro the silver Pico has a rechargeable battery pack and is water-resistant too. Then there’s the daddy of them all, the Pico+ in black, which enables you to pause, rewind and record live radio as well as download and upload MP3s. Get in!

Starting at £69.95 (about 100 euro).

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Akihabara: Japan is a country where you’ll have the pleasure to learn how to take a bath again. We tend to shower more often nowadays to clean our nice muscular bodies, or in my case the nice love handles… but taking a bath remains fun, and a bath with music is even better.

So JVC has thought about a floating DAP with a radio function, and blue LED which is good for Zen Spirit. This DAP has a SD port and 256MB of internal memory, supports MP3, WMA and WMA DRM (= shit). It has slightly more than 15 hours of autonomy with 4 AA batteries, and weights 260g.

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Crave: Makita is a name most associated with such things as power tools and table saws, not usually portable gadgets. But just to show that it’s not all blue-collar, the Japanese company has developed a radio specifically designed for construction sites.Think of it as kind of the Toughbook of radios. The MR100 has a lithium battery and weather-resistant casing to survive harsh conditions, from extreme cold to hot and humid climates, Akihabara News says.

If you want one of these just for personal use for some strange reason, be aware that this isn’t meant to be carried around in a backpack: It measures nearly a foot square and weighs more than 9 pounds. Which means you won’t want to be walking by on the street if one of these falls off a 40-story scaffold.

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Popgaget: While I don’t sing in the shower very much, I often wish I could boogie to one of my iTunes playlists while going through my morning ablutions. So even though this wireless water-resistant iPod speaker doesn’t come in classic iPod white, I’d be happy to have it in my bathroom, knowing that I wouldn’t have to worry about any accidental splash damage.The 3″ full-range 6-watt speaker comes with a dock, of course, but it’s kept separate from the speaker so that it can be kept somewhere safe and dry – anywhere within the 150′ radius of its wireless signal, in fact. So you could leave the docking station in one place and move the speaker around the house, even out to the pool if that’s where you need some tunes going. However, both the dock and the speaker need AC power, so they’re not truly portable units.

The system is compatible with all iPod nanos, 30GB and 60GB iPod video, and the 20GB iPod photo. The dock also recharges iPods while it’s playing. Speakers come with AM/FM radio, an alarm clock, 3 audio/video out jacks, and one audio in jack for connection to a PC or CD player. And there’s a remote control, of course.

The entire speaker system costs $199.95 (about 150 euro).

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Navigadget: Magellan just announced the release of its new 2200 series for the European market. Magellan prepared the 2200T which we already knew about but also introduced a new version called the 2250T (pictured below) which will include the maps of all of Europe whereas the 2200T will only include selected regions and will be available in France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark as soon as December 1st of this year, and the rest of the continent in early 2007.

Both devices, which Magellan claims they’re the “world’s first rugged, IPX-4-waterproof car navigation systems” can be upgraded to provide off-road navigation and real-time traffic capabilities.

Both measure 12.5 x 8.5 x 2.6 centimeters with an integrated battery and antenna, and are equipped with voice and visual turn-by-turn guidance with a 3.5 inch color touch-screen display for easy viewing of the 3-D birds-eye map screen.

Magellan 2200T will cost less than 300 euro and 2250T will set you back 350 euro at most.

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