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Steel Wheels
Typical recumbent bikes seat only one - and it's usually a floppy Deadhead. But Phat Cycles' ghetto-fabulous Recumbent Chopper holds you and your road companion, Harley-style. Designed by Hot Rods' Brian Fuller, the limited-edition chromoly-steel bike rides on a 20-inch wheel in front and a 26-incher in back, with optional rear foot pegs available for your passenger. Four feet of fork stretch between the handlebars and the front wheel, which makes the seven-speed monster a bit hard to handle. Once you've got it down, low-riding this lane hog will make you feel like the boss.
Fuller Series Recumbent Chopper: $2,500. Phat Cycles: (877) 884 7428, www.phatcycles.com.
Ace of Bass
Juvenile's "Back That Azz Up" just doesn't sound right without 5,000 watts of bass behind it. Standard car subwoofers give you heart-jumping sound - often with heartbreaking distortion. The 15-inch GTi is the first car subwoofer to use JBL's patented Differential Drive - previously reserved for professional speaker systems in stadiums, arenas, and recording studios - to make the windows, but not your music, rattle. Instead of employing a single coil, the GTi has two, on opposite sides of the cone's center. By splitting the wattage evenly, the speaker handles more power than traditional woofers, without losing fidelity.
W15GTi subwoofer: $1,100. JBL: (800) 336 4525, www.jbl.com.
Hidden Keys
PDAs are notorious for misunderstanding fast scribbling, and detachable keyboards mean you have one more thing to carry around. Sharp's 7-ounce Zaurus SL-5500 handheld includes a patented sliding cover that conceals a QWERTY keyboard. It uses a Linux-Java OS, and you can run hundreds of third-party apps written for the open-source KDE environment. Bonus: The dual expandable slots allow you to simultaneously increase the 64 megs of memory through CompactFlash and attach a GPS module via the Secure Digital slot.
Zaurus SL-5500: $599. Sharp: (800) 237 4277, www.sharp-usa.com.
Crank Caller
The whole point of having a cell phone is to use it on the go, so why do you need a power outlet to recharge it? You don't. FreePlay FreeCharge by Motorola keeps it fired up without plugging in. Wind the hand crank for 45 seconds, and the 7-ounce charger gives you five to six minutes of talk time and several hours of standby. (Or crank longer for more juice.) Your wrist reps generate energy faster than your phone can absorb it, so an internal battery stores the extra electricity, and the alternator transfers it at a digestible pace. The charger works with most Motorola handsets, and adapters are available to fit other brands.
FreePlay FreeCharge: $50. Motorola: (800) 331 6456, www.motorola.com.
In-Depth Coverage
Treat your clients to a three-dimensional walk through their new headquarters without the goofy goggles. The TriDef 3D TV system relies on a color-selecting filter that's fitted to your plasma screen to create left- and right-eye views in multiple vertical planes. It's like a lenticular overlay, but smoother. Stand in any one of 10 to 12 positions around the display (Pioneer's 50-inch model shown here) and the depth-enhanced images come alive. Decoder software reads and renders the 3-D input you generate with design or editing applications. The company behind TriDef, DDD, can also custom-convert your existing assets into deep-space footage.
TriDef 3D TV: $25,000. DDD: (877) 884 4333, www.ddd.com.
Stars on Ice
Be prepared for the 2002 Winter Trails event with Atlas' low-gravity Dual-Trac SL snowshoes. Weighing 14.4 ounces each - 33 percent lighter than previous superlight snowshoes - these trackers are designed for trail running and competition sports. An aluminum alloy frame holds a spring-loaded binding system that gives you an extra push forward after each flex. The titanium crampon forms to your footwear and carries sturdy teeth on the underside, which dig into icy surfaces for surefootedness on varied terrain.
Dual-Trac SL: $349. Atlas: (888) 482 8527, www.atlassnowshoe.com.
X Marks the Shot
Prepare for the zombies in House of the Dead 3 with Mad Catz's Light Blaster - a gun controller for the Xbox. The slime-green weapon stores game data in a tongue-shaped memory cartridge that pops satisfyingly into the weapon's grip like a bullet clip. The black Direction Pad (D-pad) in back lets you scroll through menus, while yellow LEDs on the barrel indicate whether you're in auto-fire, auto-reload, or manual mode. Instant-feedback vibrations help you savor each shot as you unleash your wrath on the undead.
Light Blaster: $35. Mad Catz: (800) 831 1442, www.madcatz.com.
Unreserved Seat
This squishy lounger, aptly named the Anemone, squirts the minimalist aesthetic in the eye. Designers Fernando and Humberto Campana took a basic, tubular steel frame and then hand-caned it with excessive amounts of PVC hose, following no pattern beyond that of intentional chaos. The result is a soft, pliable seat that's as comfortable as a waterbed - with a web of transparent or vividly colored tentacles to suck you in.
Anemone: $2,650. Edra: +1 (305) 572 1182, www.edra.com.
Now That's Entertainment!
How far do you think the AV desktop can go? Sony's Digital Studio goes further. The new Vaio system includes a DVD-RW drive, a minidisc recorder and player, a Memory Stick slot, and a PC-card port, which accepts adapters for other flash media. The 2-GHz computer receives TV signals from antenna, cable, and satellite sources and uses Giga Pocket software to transform into a TiVo-like personal video recorder. With its 80-gig hard drive, you'll have plenty of room to record the final episode of Temptation Island, which you can experience via the 15-inch flatscreen monitor (optional) and twin 20-watt speakers.
PCV-MXS10: $2,799. PCVD-15XD3 Monitor: $600. Sony: (800) 571 7669, www.sony.com/vaio.
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FETISH
Steel Wheels
Ace of Bass
Hidden Keys
Crank Caller
In-Depth Coverage
Stars on Ice
X Marks the Shot
Unreserved Seat
Now That's Entertainment!
