Category: Gadgets and Tech

This is a really interesting product, but I must confess to having no understanding of how the Postcard Radio works. It is based on radios from the 1920s and looks just like a postcard, except slightly thicker.

According to Middlesex University who produce the radio ‘it works without batteries and is tuned by moving a small metal plate or coin over the front of it’. It would make a good gift for wannabe spies who like gadgets disguised as everyday objects. The version with a picture of Winston Churchill on it, adds to the wartime espionage image.

It is available to buy from the Middlesex University Teaching Resources website.

Put off Sky because of the ugly box under your TV and even uglier dish? You’re probably the target market for the Sky HD Designer Collection.

Basically, it has collared some bright young things from the world or art and design to give the high-definition boxes a makeover. The designers vying to catch your eye are Basso & Brooke (who did the 70s-styled box above), Giles Deacon, Preen, Gareth Pugh (who does a Bridget Riley-esque op art box) and Jonathan Saunders.

All are available now in limited quantities, with prices between £199 and £299, plus your subscription. Shame that dish still looks so ugly.

Find out more at the Sky HD Designer Collection website

Looking not unlike one of those receivers people used to use to drop in on ships or the local police force is this Asus Internet Radio.

However, it does have two big differences – firstly, that rather smart wood casing that gives it a distinctive vintage look and the secondly, the technology. You see, this is an internet radio – which means it can pick up over 10,000 radio stations by connecting to your home wireless network or via a cable from your broadband modem. Just think – you need never listen to local radio again.

Newly unveiled, there’s no price for this as yet – or indeed a UK launch date.

Asus website