Gadgets That Tackle Tough Problems

Agam Shah, IDG News Service

Looking for quick answers to specific problems? Gadgets are here to help. OmegaPoint Systems' BreathKey keychain attachment provides an instant reading of your blood-alcohol level, offering you a preemptive reality check against having one too many. When you feel the tension mounting, use Sharper Image's StressEraser to slow down your breathing and coordinate it with your heart rate. And to ensure that you're on time to face the day, a pair of alarm clocks from Hammacher Schlemmer--the Flying Alarm Clock and the Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock--promise to help you wake up and fly right.

Keychain Breathalyzer

For people who drink alcohol, OmegaPoint's BreathKey--a keychain attachment that gives a blood-alcohol-level reading in seconds--may help with deciding when to say when.

Pressing a button in the middle of the breathalyzer brings up the previous blood-alcohol reading on the device's tiny screen. The user then blows into a hole on the device for about 4 seconds, after which the screen displays a reading for the current blood-alcohol level.

According to OmegaPoint, the maximum legal blood-alcohol level for U.S. drivers is 0.08 percent (actually the maximum is 0.1 percent in some states; but on the other hand a number of jurisdictions have maximums of less than 0.08 percent for certain individuals, such as drivers under the age of 21, truckers, or taxicab drivers); however, the company says, impairment starts at 0.04 percent.

Though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the BreathKey, the gadget has no legal validity and law enforcement officials won't accept its readings as a substitute for their own breathalyzer tests. (OmegaPoint notes that the device has an error tolerance of plus or minus 0.01 percent for a person whose true blood alcohol level is 0.08 percent, whereas the breathalizer that police use has an error tolerance of plus or minus 0.005 percent for the same person.)

You should use the Breathkey only as a tool for obtaining an aprroximate measure of your blood alcohol level--not as "proof" that you're unimpaired and can drive safely--the company warns. For $70, it might be worthwhile if you love a pint in the evening. The device is available at the OmegaPoint Systems Web site.

Relieving Stress Distress

The science of effective breathing underlies Sharper Image's StressEraser, a yogic contraption that relaxes body and mind by synchronizing effective breathing with a user's continuous heart rate.

Stress activates "sympathetic nerves," increasing your heart rate, brain activity, and breathing rate. Using an infrared fingertip pulse sensor and its own software algorithms to analyze data, the StressEraser measures and displays the effect of sympathetic nerves on your heart rate, as a chart on its LCD. Using that feedback, the StressEraser displays graphical cues to help you coordinate deep breathing with the continuous heart rate, thereby activating "parasympathetic nerves" to counter sympathetic nerves and reduce stress levels. The device can store the charts it generates so that you can monitor your breathing and heart rates over time.

At $300, the device is expensive, but don't let that stress you out: Its maker invites you to try it at no cost for 60 days. It's available from the Sharper Image Web site.

Wake Up Fast or Slow

The Flying Alarm Clock from Hammacher Schlemmer sends a real wake-up call to deep sleepers. The time of day is displayed in an LCD readout embedded in a small black hemisphere topped off by a silvery flat rotor disk. When the alarm goes off, the disk spins up off the clock and sails across the room; the alarm stops only after you grab the disk and return it to the clock's base. The disk, which rises up to 9 inches above the base at liftoff, is a great way to get sloths out of their beds. This $40 alarm clock is available at the Hammacher Schlemmer Web site.

A less acrobatic alarm clock from Hammacher Schlemmer--the Peaceful Progression Wake Up Clock--offers a wake-up alarm ritual incorporating light, aromatherapy, and melodic tones. When setting the alarm, you can place aromatherapy beads in the aroma bowl, and choose a melodic sound to serenade your ears when sleepy time is over. During the half-hour prior to the actual get-up time you've established, the clock gradually emits more and more light, aroma, and melodic sounds to ease you awake. At final wake-up time, a buzzer goes off. The clock also operates in reverse, using light, sound, and smell to help you fall asleep.

Sounds available in the clock include nightfall, thunderstorm, zen melody, mountain stream, songbirds, and ocean surf. For aromas, you can use the included beads (energy, morning caf, stress relief, lavender) or your own aromatherapy oils. The $50 clock also operates on two AA batteries. You'll find it at the Hammacher Schlemmer Web site.

We All Groove With iGroove

Klipsch Audio Technologies' iGroove SXT iPod Speaker is a two-way speaker system that can dock an iPod and deliver video to TV sets. Weighing only 4 pounds, this portable speaker system still delivers powerful audio with the help of built-in woofers and tweeters. You can recharge your iPod (Klipsch says it supports all types) through the docking station located between the speakers, and an S-Video output delivers video to TV sets. The $170 iGroove system comes with a remote control. More information, including a dealer locator, is available at Klipsch's Web site.

Agam Shah is an editor with the IDG News Service, based in San Francisco. Questions or comments? Write to Agam Shah.