What with summer holidays quickly approaching, and the weather being, well, unpredictable, it might be just as well to make a plan for any possible rainy days. Going to the cinema in a foreign country is an interesting, if not rewarding experience, but you can crack the language barrier if you've got a portable DVD player.

This one announced today by Sony is a clamshell design, although the screen swivels 180 degrees. The screen is eight inch widescreen, there's a slimline remote and the battery life should stretch to six hours. There's even two headphone jacks, for sharing the DVD love.

[Via Tech Digest]

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Our jobs aren't all slog, slog, slog here at Shiny Towers. Occasionally we find the time to make complete arses of ourselves, for your delectation. Here's one such example: Katie and I decided to take a look at some of the prizes in our Ultimate Festival Guide giveaway. Cue innane jokes, jumping on an air mattress, and trying to unpop a pop-up tent. And some stupid music. Enjoy.

And for more details on how to enter the competition, just click here.

If you're lucky enough to be hiking off to one of this summer's festivals, then this bag is a survival essential. The Voltaic's Daypack uses solar panels to enable you to charge your phone or iPod without a futile scrabble for a spare plug.

Thankfully the solar panels are fully waterproof so any mud/sweat/beer residue won't be a worry. This backpack fits perfectly with the festival ethos of eco-friendliness, and you won't have to go bothering roadies for an emergency plug socket when you've misplaced all your friends because you were staring intently at that handsome guy in the next tent.

Buy one now for $210 online. And if you haven't gotten your festival tickets yet why not enter our competition?

Product Page: Amazon

Related Posts: Glastonbury gadgets | More camping gadgets

I don't know about you, but when I think of "camp survival", pink postcards and a photograph album aren't exactly the first things that spring to mind. I'd be thinking more along the lines of torches, distress flares and things that would help me defend myself against wild animals. To be fair to Juicy Couture, there is a flashlight in this little survival kit, but the emphasis here is firmly on things that are pink. There's a pink bag. A pink pillow. A pink pen. A pink address book. (WHY?) A red fan. Wait... a red fan? Why not pink? Oh, never mind... Anyway, these little camping "essentials" all come covered in Juicy Couture logos and will cost you $98. Oh, and it's aimed at little girls, for whom "survival" probably does boil down to who has the cutest address book on the camp site...

Product Page: [via Gizmodiva]

Related: Juicy Couture Sidekick II | Juicy Couture iPod Nano holder | Juicy Couture Laptop Cases

Now, I've never actually been camping, but I would imagine that when you're out in them there wilds, space is probably at a premium. Enter the LightCap, which multitasks as both a water bottle and a lamp, and claims to be "virtually unbreakable" into the bargain. It has a one litre capacity, and the cap cunningly conceals a solar panel, Ni-Cad battery pack and LED light. What's more, a flick of the switch changes the white light the lamp emits into a red one. A red light in the window of your tent (do tents even have windows?)? I've seen it all now...

Product Page

Related: Light reading book lamp | The Jellephish mood lamp | USB tech lamp

Medion's new UMPC aims to corner the entry level market before the big guns have really even taken off. At £799.99 (although prices may subsequently come down), the RIM 1000 will be available to buy online from May 2007. However, Medion are planning a supermarket launch towards the end of the year.

So does the "budget" UMPC skimp on features? To be honest, not really. More specs and speculation after the jump, and you can expect a video review soon.

An eco-friendly gadget in plenty of time for the summer festival season. Katie and Abi from Hippyshopper check out its effectiveness.

Freeplay Energy

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The new Revo DAB range at John Lewis actually gives most of the best features to the Uno's silver and black big brothers, but on a blog like this priority has to be given to the pink...

All three radios have crystal clear DAB quality, and can act as cordless speakers for your iPod. A choice of dead-raising digital tootling or waking to a soothing radio station (don't tune in to Chris Moyles, then) and an additional FM tuner make this a pleasingly simple radio alarm. It doesn't brush your teeth, make your bed or get you to work on time, but it will, you know, play music. At £69.99 it's a tad steep, with the cylindrical fuchsia design the main appeal.

The silver Pico is more portable, the blocky black Pico+ much more intelligent.

The Power Inverter would appear to be contrary to all news reports about global warming and energy consumption here on Planet Doom. How many times have you been in the car and thought, 'Gee whiz, it'd be great if there were an electrical socket in here'? The Power Converter turns your car's cigarette lighter into an outlet. Made for you and your anti-environmentalist self, it comes in two wattages that can run your gadgets that use less 150 watts. If you run out of gas, plug a lamp into the Power Inverter...until you drain your battery or AA comes.

£12.95 for 75W and £14.95 for 150W Product Page

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Why you would want to attach a mini flashlight to the back of your phone or PDA is lost to me. After all, couldn't you just use the light from your screen? I suppose if you had a fairly old phone or do a lot of nocturnal searching, it may come in handy. And let's not even go into why you're doing a lot of nocturnal searching. It will lead us to only bad places.

On the up-side, it is only $4.95, so hardly bank breaking. And in more marvellous news, it's available in black or silver. Which is perfect... as long as you have a black or silver phone.

Product page

Related: More phones and accessories

What are we, animals, that we have to cook our food over a fire if we want it to be hot in the outdoors? No longer! The The WaveBox Portable Microwave is specifically designed to go on the road with you, and equipped with connects allowing it to siphon precious takeaway-reheating juice from your car battery. It's also weather-resistant, stability-enhanced, and designed for "construction, boating, fishing and camping" environments. Video after the jump. [GT]

The WaveBox Portable Microwave [via Popgadget]

More camping gadgets

You know that irksome feeling when your map gets all soggy and falls apart as you climb over a stile on a rainy day searching for the lake? No? Never happened to you?

Me either. I tend not to go places I need a map for when it’s raining, as a rule. But that’s what the advertising blur said Toughprint’s waterproof paper was good for. Me, I’d use it to print my recipes on so that when I splatter raw egg on it, I can wipe it off. Or for signs round my desk that are likely to be near where I put my coffee mug. Oh, and if I ever lost my dog and had to resort to sticking pitiful pleas for him on lampposts. Gosh, I should write their marketing copy!

Product Page £14.95 for 25 sheets [via RedFerret]

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It’s not so much the fact it’s pink, but that it’s a mini fridge, that excites me. It’s the idea of having chilled snacks within hand’s reach, wherever I might be – in bed (it plugs into the mains), in the car (it comes with a 12V adaptor), at my desk…snacks EVERYwhere!

I realise that mini-fridges aren’t new, and we at Shiny Shiny are the first to acknowledge that colouring everything pink has been done to death…but…we still like it!

So all you need is a pink computer, pink desk, and a pink boss to go with it.

Product Page: £20.00 from Woolworths

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Let’s face it – how often in life do you really need a torch? Infrequently enough that by the time you’ve lost your favourite earring down the back of the radiator minutes before a date, you can guarantee the batteries are dead.

That makes this a girl torch, even though the marketers don’t seem to have realized it yet. Apparently, you just need to shake it initially for 3 minutes (well, you can get your boyfriend/housemate/husband to do the hard work if necessary), and after that, it just needs a little shake to get its juices going for long enough to find the earring/your mobile in a power cut/help in some other form. It also boasts a super-bright LED visible for up to a mile – for, er, finding your earring really, really far away? Well, never mind that one then, but it is waterproof and shock resistant, so you can use it to… beat intruders over the head in the rain…

So it's warm. It's raining. The streets are slick as soap. SHICK-SHICK! You pop out your Switch Stick, a folding aluminum walking stick, and go cleanly about your away. Available in a variety of colours and with a nice little traveling box. £20. [GT]

Switch Stick

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Dear Father Christmas,

As a right on hippy shopper, as well as a crusty old festival goer, this Wind Up Lantern is pretty much my ideal present. It's wind up so it's eco-friendly, it uses LED lights so it's energy efficient, and it's pink. Like I say, the *perfect* present. Pop one under the tree, Santy, and I'll take it along to every field-based social engagement next summer, where I'm sure to be able to convince some blissed out peace lover to spend an hour winding it for me so I can have 8 hours of light.

Pink Wind UP Lantern £29.99 from Millets

Top 50 Gadgets for Christmas | More eco-friendly gadgets | More camping gadgets

For more eco-friendly stories, check out our ethical consumerism blog, Hippyshopper

If you're a late night reader, or perpetual jet setter, this Pop-up Booklight from Blacks is the perfect stocking stuffer for you! This LED booklight clips on the back of your book and lets your read in peace without disturbing your sleeping partner...or cat. It's powered by three button batteries, and is made of a bright yellow, light weight plastic construction. Not exactly a subtle color, but will be easy to find in the dark, or in the bottom of your carry-on luggage. For a hands-free alternative, try this Over-Ear Booklight.

£4.99 from Blacks
Batteries included

Related: Over-Ear Booklight | Light Reading Book Lamp | MyLight Illuminating Bookmark

The new Burton Motorola Audex Dutchess jacket keeps you toasty, musically charged, and in touch with family and friends all at the same time. The Dutchess comes with Bluetooth wireless technology, stereo speakers, a hands-free mic and a rechargeable battery pack. The inside has protected pockets to stow your phone, and if you're an iPod girl, a hidden jack for you to plug in. The sleek control panel on the sleeve and can be used to play music, answer phone calls, or check your caller ID. Stylish and tech friendly; the perfect combo for a day on the slopes. Check out this Burton Headphone Beanie for another great way to enjoy music in the cold.

£350 from Burton/Motorola

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Sod's law clearly states that if your mobile phone is going to run out of charge, it's going to happen when you're nowhere near a source of electricity to charge it up again. Sod's law further states that this will only ever happen at the time you most need to use said phone. And that, my friends, is why this little pink gadget from Millets is your new best friend.

With adaptors for most Motorola, Nokia, Samsung and Sony phones, next time your battery runs out in the middle of nowhere, all you need to do is plug in your phone charger and wind it up. The charger generates its own electricity, which will both power up your phone and allow you to use the torch that's built into it. The lanyard stops you losing it, but given the bright pink colour (it also comes in black, blue and grey), you probably don't need to worry too much about that either.

Product Page

Related: Posh Wind-Up Torch | Wind Up Radio, Torch and Phone Charger| Solar Torch

Most of us are familiar by now with the concept of the wind-up torch (now a stocking filler staple up and down the land), but how about a wind-up lantern? This one contains 15 LED lights, which will last for at least 50,000 hours. Not that's a lot of winding...

You can choose to use all 15 lights at once, or save energy (and create a more intimate scene) with just nine. One minute's winding will give you around eight minutes of light from all fifteen bulbs, and the lamp will also run from good old batteries if you're feeling lazy.

Product Page

Related: Wind-up DAB| Wind-up remote control| Glastonbury Gadgets