Award-winning designs, Amusing gizmos

Some of today's most innovative thinking goes into entertainment gadgetry. The 8-track tapes you've been hanging on to are officially antiques. But joining them soon will be VCRs, cassette tapes, and conventional AM/FM radios. What's hot now? Think digital and online, as in digital-video recorders (DVRs) and micro hi-fi systems with Internet connectivity. On the lighter side, how about a toy gun you can point at someone (just not at close range) and fire without fear of taking an eye out? For some of the latest technological developments to just plain old fun, read on. Though it appears to be an evening bag, it's really a portable DVD player. For those who have it all and want to take it with them, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Seoul, Korea ( ), developed Padis (Portable all-disc integrated system). A 2002 Industrial Design Excellence (IDE) Silver award winner, it features a 10-in. high-resolution LCD, and loads discs of all formats, including DVD, DVD-audio, CD-RW, DVD-RW, and MP3. An internal memory stick makes it PC compatible. Nickel-ion batteries provide 5 hr of power, and are recyclable. The Padis is only 23-mm thick and sits in a corrugated magnesium case with polycarbonate/ABS molding. Price: $999. Next time your significant other bugs you, pick up the Zero Launcher and blow off some smoke. No, it's not a gun, it's a toy that creates fog rings for fun. From Zero Toys Inc., Concord, Mass. ( ), it launches 2-to-6-in.-diameter fog rings capable of sailing up to 14