By Evan Ackerman
Here we have the Nemo Digital Magnifier, brought to you by firstStreet (“for Boomers and Beyond”). From the looks of this thing, it’s designed to prey (yes, prey) on people who have no idea what to think when it comes to gadgetry. Take a close look at those numbers that it’s currently magnifying in the picture, because those are your first two payments on the Nemo. And then you still owe $88.40. Plus shipping and handling. That’s right, the Nemo digital magnifier costs nine hundred dollars. With poor eyesight and 900 bucks you could instead get an eye exam and some pretty sweet glasses. Or custom contacts that make you look like a zombie. Or you could just hire some poor unemployed liberal arts grad to come over to your house and read stuff directly to you while providing insightful (but ultimately useless and oftentimes annoying) commentary.
So what does it do for $900? Well, it magnifies whatever is under it between 4.5x and 9x (and who wants to bet that the 9x is a digital zoom) on a 4 inch (!) screen. It also lets you take “freeze frame” pictures in one of six viewing modes (like black and white), and has a 3 hour battery life. Does it incorporate something obviously useful, like a light to illuminate what it’s magnifying? Not according to the description. I especially like how on the sidebar on the firstStreet website, you can buy two credit card sized optical magnifiers (with built in lights) for $19.95. Which do I think is the better deal? We say just squint, for $0.00.
[ First Street ] VIA [ Coolest-Gadgets ]
For $900 you could buy a laptop and a cheap camera and get better results. .