leisure + entertainment

Game Time Nation

5 new ways to entertain us

Video-game lounges: Game Time Nation, New York; Microsoft’s temporary Xbox lounges in Germany

Light jockeying: DJ-controlled LED colour displays in bars

Movieoke (like karaoke, only you act out favourite scenes from movies): at Two Boots Den of Cin, New York; Ex-Centris, Montreal; and Deja Vu, Chicago

Boom boom rooms: rumpus rooms for the MTV Cribs generation

Role-playing theme parks: like the simulated metropolis Wannado City, Fort Lauderdale

5 things for the adventurous

Hummer Tactical Mountain Bike: evades radar detection

Parkour and psychogeography: new ways to explore the urban jungle

Extreme golf: no course, just wild terrain to cross

Krav Maga: an Israeli self-defence technique

Mountain Man’s Bear Balls: ursine repellent

5 musical developments to watch for

Jhai singing

Satellite radio

Brokenbeat

Latin music

The Rocbox MP3 player from Roc-A-Fella’s Damon Dash

GEM Neighborhood Electric Vehicle

5 reasons to drive in 2005

Running errands in the GEM Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV)

In-car navigation systems (like Hertz Rent A Car’s NeverLost and GM’s OnStar service), now available in after-market versions from Magellan and Garmin

Tollway Oases: highway toll booths offering Krispy Kreme and Subway snacks

Smart fortwo car comes to Canada

Suzuki Burgman 650 scooter

5 gadgets we love

Philip Stein Teslar watch, which reportedly shields the body from electronic pollution

Boom noise-cancelling cellphone headset

Suunto n3 “wristop computer”

Sony Qualia 016 mini-digital camera

Nintendo DS

5 amazing things cellphones can now do

Deliver chapters of books by instalment

Show cellular soap operas, TV shows and “ring videos”

Create multimedia blogs, with text and photos (like Nokia Lifeblog)

Use GPS technology to let you know where friends, taxis, even your kids are

Be disposable (Cyclone Phone)

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