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Chav gadget returns

MP3 shades back with a Thump

Certified gadget obsessives Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny scour Gizmoville for the oddest digital goodies, Bayraider keeps tabs on the best and worst of eBay and HippyShopper has all your ethical goodies.

Chav gadget returns

Oakley Thump 2

Not put off by being voted as our ‘Chav Gadget of 2005’, Oakley has struck back with a sequel to its rather odd Thump MP3 sunglasses. There’s not a huge difference between the Thump 2 and its predecessor; it looks like they don’t come containing an angry bald guy this time and they sport a bit more of a squared design. More importantly the storage capacity has been dramatically improved to 1GB (about 240 songs) and apparently the audio engine has been tweaked to give better playback of digital music. You also have the benefit of Oakley lenses, which amongst other niceties, are strong enough to resist a 12 gauge shotgun blast from 15 yards; it’s a lot safer to just avoid being shot in the face though. So if you are an irate, follically challenged male of a large enough stature to dissuade those who would mock these ‘distinctive’ sunglasses, the Thump 2 is hitting the UK soon for the princely sum of £199-£299 depending on capacity. For the runners and riders for 2004’s Must-Chav gadget check here.

Vodafone offers push email

In what is very likely to be the start of a trend Vodafone has become the first phone network to offers its customers a push email solution. Starting from next month small business subscribers to its network, along with smartphone crazed consumers, will be pushed those all important messages in real time courtesy of a system from Visto. Interestingly the service offers push email on a wide range of handset including both Symbian and Windows Mobile handsets. The full list includes the Sony Ericsson P900i, Nokia 9300, Nokia 6680, Vodafone V1620, Vodafone VPA Compact, HP hw 6510 and Motorola MPx 220. Vodafone is making it fairly cheap for consumers too with the tariff running at £12.77 per month for the service or less if a user spends more than £34 per month on voice calls. Voda is also souping up its BlackBerry option to enable its users to access BlackBerry2 facilities which include attachment viewing and secure encryption on a broader range of handsets. The network also has a Windows Mobile based push email service which debuts in 2006.

Xbox 360s already cost a mint on eBay

Microsoft's Xbox 360 is finally on sale in the US, although thankfully us Brits only have to wait another week and a half till it comes out over here. The console has already sold out in the States though, and is likely to do the same here in the UK. And whaddya know: thousands of people lucky enough to get their hands on one of the first batch are already punting them online.

According to eBay, the average auction price for Xbox 360s on its site is $660, compared to the official RRPs of $399.99 for the full monty, and $299.99 for the version without a hard drive. However, some bundles have been going for up to $2,500. Be warned Europeans, the console is region-locked for both games and DVDs, so you'd be advised to wait a few days and grab one from over here.

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