Turn your iPhone into a sweet auto-tracking camera with the Swivl mount

You’ve had those moments. Those times when you see something and it immediately hits you that it’s exactly what you want, even if you never knew that you wanted it. For me, the latest one of those “I MUST HAVE THIS” moments comes in the form of a little thing called Swivl . What is it? Well, have a look:

So now you get the basic idea, but here are the specifics – Swivl is a device that allows your mobile device’s camera to follow your every move. Any phone (or iPod touch) that’s less than 11mm thick will fit securely into its clamp, allowing the Swivl device to swivel left or right, as well as tilt up and down, all the while keeping you in the frame.

But how? It’s the second part of Swivl. The little marker can be worn on a lanyard, held in your hand or any other fashion that allows the base to see the other half. Then, wherever the marker goes, Swivl follows.

Swivl has been around and in development for quite some time. You might have heard about it when it was called Satarii Star from IndieGoGo . After a lot of R&D, a name change and a few months, Swivl is almost ready for the market, but it’s definitely ready for a pre-order. For $159, you can make sure to get your hands onto a Swivl device as soon as they are ready to be sold, which I’m told will be in the early part of 2012.

So if Swivl gives you an ah-hah moment as well, get your pre-order going . I’ll be getting a live demo of Swivl during CES in January, and we’ll give you a better look at what it can do at that time.

Is This The Mother of All Blu-Ray Players?

Kaleidescape , Inc aims to replace the traditional Blu-ray players with it’s new Blu-ray movie server system , a new product designed to help users copy their DVDs, Blu-rays and CDs to a harddrive.

This media server system does two things; burns disks and provides users with an immersive movie-watching experience through the use of its user interface and movie database.

The UI enables users to surf and browse movie collections, similar to the same style we’ve seen from media-content software like Boxee. Different movies can be played on multiple TV’s simultaneously although it does require that each TV has an M-Class player attached.

It’s equipped with a built-in movie database that stores over 145,000 titles, digital movie showbox covers, movie suggestions and a favourites section where users can create various lists. Again, in the same fashion of the new generation of set-top boxes, the Kaleidescape media server also brings movie synopsis’ to the collections.

The modular disk vault, the hardware that imports the disks needs to be paired with one of Kaleidescape’s M-Class players , an endeavor that will cost you about $2,500 not including the $1,500 aforementioned disk burner. The price tag seems a bit inflated, however the capacity limitation of 100 (Blu-ray) disks isn’t too bad as it does hold a great deal of high-definition files.

According to the demo videos , in order to import a disk onto the drive, the user is required to insert the disk and hit import. Storing files will take between 10-25 minutes depending on the type of disk; CD, DVD, Blu-ray.

This might not be an ideal solution for hardcore geeks who likely already have sweet media set-ups, an unlikely purchase if you understand how to burn a disk and already utilize software like Boxee to manage media. I’m however thinking this would be a great choice for the non-tech savvy types. The value here is in its simplicity, something tech-phobe consumers may find serious worth in. This isn’t something I would personally buy but it would be perfect for someone like my Dad, he’d never let me set-up a media center for him although I think he would love this product.

3 UK is set to deliver truly unlimited mobile broadband, tethering included.

In the world of mobile broadband Internet, “excessive use” is a phrase that we’ve all come to be too familiar with. For the 1.5 million mobile Internet customers on 3 UK , that term just flew out the door. The UK’s 4th-largest mobile carrier has just introduced truly limitless mobile broadband packages, replacing the previous 1 GB cap for £25 plan.

According to what we’re reading over at the New York Times, the company is including tethering in the plan. The Times brings up the fair point that this could overwhelm 3’s network, which covers the vast majority of the UK population. However, it’s worth mentioning that the 3G speeds are certainly no substitute for a dedicated, broadband connection in the home.

Will this open Pandora’s proverbial box for other wireless providers in the UK? It’s not likely that we’ll see Vodaphone immediately drop its tiered, monthly-capped pricing scheme, but it does open the door to investigation. With the growth of 3’s network due to the merger of its network with T-Mobile earlier in the year, the move will certainly give the competition pause.

Putting it all into perspective, you can now walk into a 3 retailer, purchase an 3Phone 4 at £69, then pay £35 per month for 2,000 minutes, 5,000 texts plus “all-you-can-eat” data. That’s compelling, no matter how you look at it.