Jay Leno’s Cool Christmas Gifts

What are some of the best gifts for the patent people and inventor types on your Christmas list?

The other night I was watching Jay Leno on The Tonight Show and he was demonstrating what he thought were the coolest gadgets and I paused the show on my DVR after he demonstrated each toy while I found each one through the wireless Internet connection on my iPad.

Isn’t technology wonderful!

Here are a few of the cool gift ideas and the cool gadget websites where you can find other great gift ideas:

Parrot AR.Drone Quadricopter Controlled by iPhone/iPod touch/iPad

At Parrot.com we find the AR.Drone remote-control quadricopter is a groundbreaking device combining the best of many worlds, including modeling, video gaming, and augmented reality.

The AR.Drone is remote-controlled by either an iPhone, iPod touch or an iPad and features a number of sensors, including a front camera, vertical camera, and an ultrasound altimeter, accelerometer, gyro sensors, and ultrasound sensor combine with a powerful on-board computer to make piloting the AR.Drone easy.

The AR.Drone can also be used in the video game AR.FlyingAce, a dogfight between two AR.Drones.

The Beer Pager

Here is a gift that every college student could use. It is found at the Remote Control Beer Pager site.

It began with a Memorial Day party when two friends set their beers down by the BBQ for a spirited game of Cornhole, a beanbag tossing game that builds quite a thirst. Parched, our heroes returned to the grill only to be confronted with 7 open beers. Tragically, they did not know which beer was their own.

In a life changing moment of inspiration, one of these men said, “If only beers came with alarms so we could beep em and find em, like when you lose your car in a parking lot”. This ingenious thought was greeted with hilarious laughter. Once the laughing died down the two men realized this was a gift that needed to be shared with the rest of the world.

Melodyhorn Air Powered Steampunk Synthesizer

This is a really cool site, Think Geek ” Stuff for Smart Masses” it is where I found the Melodyhorn. It is a brand of melodica. It has the keys of a piano, is played like a woodwind instrument, but is polyphonic like a keyboard or a harmonica.

This is how they describe this instrument, “Before you start thinking we’re crazy for bringing you a wacky frankeninstrument, take a look at this list of famous recording artists who have used the melodica on their albums or in their live shows: Ben Folds, Faith No More, Oasis, Depeche Mode, The String Cheese Incident, Cake, Cyndi Lauper, Indigo Girls, Herbie Hancock, and even The Beatles. Ever wondered what instrument plays the opening theme song to the US version of the TV sitcom The Office? That’s a melodica, too.

Get in on the hottest, wackiest musical trend and wrap your lips around this steampunk synth!”

The Table Tennis Trainer

From America’s Longest Running Catalog Hammacher Schlemmer– The Table Tennis Trainer.

Similar to a tennis ball machine, this automatic table tennis trainer serves a steady stream of balls for solo practice to fine tune one’s game.

A turn of a knob selects one of three spin settings: Underspin (where the bottom of the ball rotates away from the player, requiring a chopping stroke to return); Topspin (where the top of the ball rotates away from the player); and a challenging Heavy Topspin (high rpm rotation that must be returned with a controlled downward stroke).

The trainer holds 110 balls and, with an adjustable speed dial, delivers them at any rate from 12 to 70 per minute. And of course batteries are not included.

Jaguar C-X75

This was not show on the Jay Leno show but I thought it was so cool I wanted to share it. It was posted on a cool gadget website called Shiny New Want. It is a futuristic electronic powered car by Jaguar.

It has 4x 195hp electric motors pumping out a 780hp, the lithium-ion batteries can be recharged from your garage’s 220v outlet.

The Jaguar C-X75 also has 2 x 96hp micro gas turbines, to recharge the batteries on the go if you need to go further than the 68 mile battery only range, with the turbines running on gasoline, ethanol, diesel, bourbon or whatever other combustible liquid you have lying around the car can go a total of 560 miles