Fishstachio

The Pentax Optio W90 is the camera to take on vacation. It’s sandproof, dustproof and waterproof down to six metres. It’s also happy snapping in the cold, going as low as -10°C. The 2.7 inch LCD screen has an anti-reflection coating to help you shoot in glaring sun or snow. The W90 has a 5x zoom and takes shots at resolutions up to 12 MP. It also shoots 1280x720 HD video at 30 frames per second. And get this: it’s available in pistachio green.

Price: RMB 2,030. Web: www.pentaximaging.com

Roomba Rummie

Futuristic as they may sound, robot vacuum cleaners have been available for a while now. After a few iterations, they’ve even become useful. Schedule cleaning times for the Roomba 562 and it’ll set off from its charging dock and get to work without you having to lift a finger. The little guy knows his limits, sensing and avoiding staircases, and returning home when he needs a charge. He even senses particularly dirty spots and devotes extra attention to them. His navigation skills aren’t perfect, however, and Wired describes the 562 as a bit of a drunk, weaving around at random, covering areas he’s already been. But that’s the beauty of robots, pets and babies for that matter: they’re idiots, knowing even less than we do, but somehow they still get by. It’s inspirational.

Price: RMB 2,500. Web: www.irobot.com

Third D

James Cameron’s Avatar set the high water mark for cinema. It’s all downhill from here. That said, we can slow the decline of movie making and image taking by imitating JC’s meisterwerk, firstly by ending the embarrassment of two dimensional photography. Improbable tech company Loreo has created this stereoscopic dimension adder to do just that for China’s bajillion Canon DSLRs. Just screw it on and every time you click the shutter you’ll take dual images, which resolve into a single 3D image when viewed with Loreo’s special glasses.

Price: RMB 1,120. Web: www.loreo.com

Faddest Thing on Wheels

Personal transportation doesn’t get better, or cooler than the good old-fashioned roller skate, the one with the rubber stop at the front that we never worked out how to use. Skateboards and inline skates, and now this here 'Skatecycle', wouldn’t exist if it came down to transportational pleasure alone. The new-fangled doohickey does, however, have one very real advantage over the classic “shoe car”, as we used to call it: your dad doesn’t know how to ride it. The Freerider Skatecycle is made of aluminium and it has dual joints in the middle that help riders to wriggle their way up to speed.

Price: RMB 1,050. Web: www.brooklynworkshop.com

Multi-lens Movie Maker

Remember when everyone was buying smaller and slimmer cameras? I think it was in the ‘90s. And then people were like, "I don’t care what it does, just give me the biggest SLR you’ve got." Sony’s NEX-VG10 could do the same thing for video – muscling in on the Flip’s market share. The NEX-VG10 takes a whopping great 1920x1080 HD video load all over its extra large CMOS sensor. It has an array of four microphones for capturing separate directional sound and can take 14MP still photos at up to seven frames per second. Best of all, the camera accepts E-mount and (with an adaptor) A-mount lenses, making it one of the most versatile prosumer handycams out.

Price: RMB 13,500. Web: www.sonystyle.com

Lego Lambo

While it’s not quite the bride bait of the Car of the Month (see page 3), Lego’s 1:17 scale model of the Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 has one serious advantage: it’s far less than 1/17 of the price. Just like the real thing, its doors and engine cover open, and it has a retractable roof. The 741 piece model has a recommended age range of 9 to 14, but that’s like saying breast milk is just for babies.

Price: RMB 400. Web: www.lego.com

Car of the Month

Super cars, so named because they have the super power of eliciting roadside marriage proposals, are increasingly big business in China. Both Ferrari and Lamborghini doubled their first quarter sales in 2010 compared with the same time period last year. Ferrari sold 68 vehicles, while Lamborghini trailed with 38. To catch up to their horsey compatriots, Lamborghini are introducing eight new cars into the Chinese market, including this future husband carrier, the Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder. Even with its aluminum build, and at just 1.18 metres tall, the squat little Spyder weighs 1,550kg. But that heft gets you mad speed and the mad control you need to manage it. The car’s so fast the manufacturers like to mention its 0-200km/h acceleration speed (13.1 seconds).

Engine: 10 cylinder, 5.2l.

Horsepower: 560 at 8,000rpm.

Transmission: 6 speed plus reverse. Permanent four wheel drive.

Top Speed: 324km/h.

0-100km/h: 4 seconds.

Fuel Consumption: 14 litres of fuel per 100km.