In 2005 alone, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 259,800 births registered to 255,500 mothers. Now consider there are similar statistics for each year before and after, and you’ll get a sense for the number of people currently thinking about buying a Mothers’ Day gift – and perhaps being stuck for a great idea.

Never fear! ConnectedWomen is here to help with our inaugural Mothers’ Day gift guide.

Forget slippers, chocolates or limp service-station carnations. We’ve hand-picked what we think are some of the most cool, unusual and desirable consumer-electronics gifts for you to give – or receive – this Mothers' Day, May 11:

Ear bling

Sounds nice! These luxurious crystal earphones are part of the Active Crystals range from Philips and Swarovski.

Philips has teamed up with Swarovski, makers of lead-cut crystal products, to create a range of luxury earphones. There are four styles to choose from, each featuring a glittering Swarovski crystal on the exterior of the ear piece. One style, called “Space”, offers a choice of colours for the crystal: violet, jet hematite or silver shade.

The earphones also feature soft and flexible silicone ear buds, polished stainless-steel body and a fabric-type cable.

Click here to purchase directly from Swarovski Australia. Prices range from $140 to $265.

Selphy portraits

Canon's Selpy ES2 compact photo printer currently comes with a bonus gift box. This includes a selection of magnetic photo frames - like the one around this image.

Most of us are used to the concept of digital cameras, but not digital images. They sit on our PC until the hard drive dies, taking with it those precious family pictures.

To help overcome this problem, Canon has introduced the Selphy ES2 photo printer. In addition to printing high-quality photos, you can create post cards, photo stickers and calendars. The printer sports a funky, space-saving vertical design, and a carry handle and optional battery pack for portable photo printing.

This printer is available from Myer and speciality photo retailers for a recommended retail price (RRP) of $249. Buy one between April 1 and May 31, and you’ll also receive a pretty pink gift box with $100 worth of goodies such as magnetic picture frames and photo greetings cards. Ask for it in store.

Fries-day on my mind

Guilt-free chips? You bet. The Tefal ActiFry allows you to cook a kilogram of hot chips in just one spoonful of oil.

You can have your chips and eat them too with this new cooker from Tefal.

The ActiFry uses a patented technology that took ten years to develop and enables cooking with almost no oil or fat. The product comes with a dosing spoon to ensure you use the correct amount of oil. Just one spoonful is used to cook a kilogram of hot chips, which Tefal says will contain only 3% fat compared to 9% in a conventional oven.

The cooker is suitable for other foods as well: seafood, vegetables, chicken nuggets. The smaller quantities of oil mean the ActiFry is also safer to use than traditional friers.

Tefal has cooked up an RRP of $349.95 for this product. For stockists, visit www.tefal.com.au.

Stylish storage

Western Digital's My Passport Elite external had drives are small and stylish.

An external hard drive is just thing to protect and carry all your precious music, photo and business files – if only you could find one that isn’t bulky or ugly. 

Enter Western Digital’s My Passport Elite range. These hard drives are tiny; not much bigger than a deck of cards and weighing just 105 grams. They are also stylish, made from a soft, almost leather-like material that is easy to grip and fashionable to carry. They come in two elegant colours - bronze and titanium – and in capacities of either 250GB (RRP $199) or 320GB ($279). What’s more, they are USB-powered, which eliminates the need for an external power adapter.

For stockists, phone distribution company Synnex on 1300 100 100.

The Zeppelin has landed
Named after its curious shape, the Zeppelin is very high-end an iPod dock and speaker system. It comes with a price tag of almost $1000, but its owners will have the satisfaction of knowing it was designed and made by Bowers & Wilkins (B&W). This British firm’s state-of-the-art products are the preferred monitoring loudspeakers in professional recording studios from Abbey Road Studios to Skywalker Sound.

For the music-loving mum who has everything: the distinctively shaped Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin iPod dock and speaker system.

In creating the Zeppelin, B&W has married top-of-the-line audio quality with cutting-edge design. The larger bass unit sits in the centre of the device and the form tapers towards the ends, where the smaller mid-range and tweeter drivers are accommodated.

Available from David Jones, Apple’s online store and authorised B&W resellers.

Hot blue

The blue bubbles in the Illuma2 kettle are delivered courtesy of a cluster of lights in the base of the unit.

An electric kettle might not be your usual cup of tea for a Mothers’ Day gift, but this one could well change your mind.

When switched off, the Illuma2 Kettle from Morphy Richards has a mirrored stainless-steel finish. But watch what happens when you switch it on. The exterior turns clear, allowing you to see the water, and then lights up in an intensifying bright blue colour as the water boils.

Sure, it’s a bit on a novelty, but watching those dancing blue bubbles has an oddly calming effect – just what you need at morning-tea time. The lluma2 is available from most consumer-electronics retailers for a recommended retail price (RRP) of $139.95.

ConnectedWomen Showtime has decided to host four connectedwomen subscribers and their partners to the Gold Class experience of the latest James Bond film Quantum of Solace which opens today. If you live in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne or Brisbane just write to us at claire@connectedwomen.net.au and tell us in 25 words why you really want to see Daniel Craig play 007 again.  ... Read More

One of Australia’s best known household brands is Breville. Founded on Melbourne Cup day in 1932, over the past seventy five years it has become a national icon and remains one of the strongest performing brands on the Australian market despite the present economic turbulence. ... Read More

As we move further towards summer, and efficiency in all things is on the minds of women, we ask that perennial question: Are your home appliances green? Although 2008 has been dominated by talk of climate change, some confusion remains about the credential of “eco-friendly” products. ... Read More

Lynette Palmen AM is the founder and managing director of Women’s Network Australia and is ConnectedWomen’s guest editor for this week’s edition. As Lynette claims to have “recession proofed” her business, she tell us how she used technology to get there. ... Read More

Are you putting off that consumer electronics purchase you need? You certainly wouldn’t be alone. The latest Westpac-Melbourne Institute survey of consumer confidence found that the proportion of households saying now is a good time to buy a major household item has plummeted to its lowest level in over 25 years. ... Read More

Although we may be cautious of overspending at the moment, there are still some great promotional deals that ConnectedWomen can use to start filling up their Christmas stockings without breaking the bank. CE suppliers want to take you to New York, London, Hong Kong and there's even a chance to win a trip around the world!  ... Read More

The one per cent drop in Australia’s interest rate by the Reserve Bank yesterday startled most Australians. Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens gave a clear picture of the conditions that prompted the Bank to act so decisively: ''The recent deterioration in prospects for global growth, together with much more difficult market conditions even for creditworthy borrowers, now present the risk that demand and output could be significantly weaker than earlier expected,'' he said. ... Read More

Today marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness month, an important date in any woman’s calendar. In the lead up to and on Monday October 27, the official Breast Cancer Awareness day, we are reminded of the value and fragility of relationships with women in our lives.  ... Read More

Yesterday, in a warehouse in the back streets of Sydney’s Alexandria, Sony Australia created a UCHI or “home”: a purpose built concept space to demonstrate cutting edge products which the company said “continue to redefine the digital landscape through advances in high definition, connectivity and design."  ... Read More

Have you ever purchased a new piece of technology, excitedly took it home from the shops and then…became lost in technical jargon and unhelpful instruction manuals? It’s a frustration that many women purchasing technology face daily. I experienced this recently when my determined attempts to connect the internet at my new house were thwarted. ... Read More

First, we wowed you with swooner Michael Bublé, and then last week we enlightened you with Dr Deepak Chopra. Now we are pulling out the big guns and offering our ConnectedWomen subscribers two Gold tickets to attend Anthony Robbins' ‘Unleash the Power Within’ four day motivational program next week. ... Read More

The concept of spring cleaning is a paradox for many women. Most of us secretly love the idea of getting into every nook and cranny, washing, dusting, wiping and, of course, vacuuming. There is something about a sparkling clean house which is very attractive. Then there is reality... I don’t know any woman who is either running a business or managing and working in a department and a household who has the time, or the energy to put into the task.  ... Read More

It’s been a long time since a tie and a bottle of aftershave was de rigueur as a Father’s Day gift. Today our mates are hoping for something not only a lot more ‘cool’ but with a certain degree of bragging power. While we can’t giftwrap the latest Porsche for you, ConnectedWomen is here to help with our inaugural Father’s Day technology gift guide.  ... Read More

ConnectedWomen will have a chance to spring clean inside and out when we host four subscribers to an evening with Dr Deepak Chopra at Sydney’s State Theatre on Wednesday, September 3. The evening is an event within the ConnectedWomen ShowTime series and is co-hosted between ConnectedWomen and Bio Pro Technology. ... Read More

Hands up if you’ve shopped online? Chances are you have. We do so much online these days it may be hard to remember when you last visited the bank or bought event tickets in person. Like many Australians, I’ve embraced online banking and shopping. It’s convenient, saving time and in some cases money. ... Read More

On Friday evening, around 8 billion eyes will be watching the Beijing Olympic Games on either a plasma or LCD Flat Panel Display (FPD) or traditional Cathode Ray Technology (CRT) television. ... Read More

Australian women now have a strong choice when it comes to deciding what device to use for their mobile communications. Despite the deep footprint of the traditional mobile phone within daily life, this is now being edged out by the power of the “smartphone”.  ... Read More

Some Australian women are spending up to 45 hours a week involved in the latest international gaming craze World of Warcraft distributed by software supplier Blizzard Entertainment. ... Read More

When women enter a consumer electronics store to make their next technology purchase, they can now be confident that they represent the most powerful force in the marketplace. This is especially true of female baby-boomers, according to research conducted by the authors of a book that examines the buying power and influence of this group.  ... Read More

When I was 12 years old, the only electrical gadget in my bedroom was a silver, shoe-box-sized radio and tape recorder, on which I would tape songs from "American Top 40" every Sunday afternoon. My son, who turns 12 this week, has gadgetry galore - and, according to one study, it's transforming his bedroom into a health hazard.
 ... Read More

GRLmobile, a mobile-phone service especially for young females aged 16 to 25, launched in Australia today - July 1. The company says it will offer not only handsets and mobile-phone services, but a "one-stop online shop" for customers who see their phones as much a fashion accessory as a communication device.
 ... Read More

Sex and the City’s Mr Big, Chris Noth, was revealed as the "brand ambassador" for LG Mobile in Australia and New Zealand at a glamorous launch party at the State Theatre in Sydney last night.

Leading up to last night's event, LG kept the name of their new ambassador and the launch venue tightly under wraps. ... Read More

Move over Michael Bublé, kitchen firebrand Gordon Ramsay is so hot that his sessions at the Good Food & Wine Show in Sydney later this week have been sold out. Even the organisers were caught by the demand and are hurriedly developing a bigger theatre to ensure as many people as possible get to see Gordon live on stage.  ... Read More

How do ConnectedWomen successfully juggle the challenges of work, home, and technology that’s evolving faster than ever before? In this issue, we speak with Samea Maakrun, who at the age of just 33 is managing director of her own lifestyle and wellbeing company, Sasy n Savy Pty Ltd.  ... Read More

ConnectedWomen received a fantastic response to our Michael Bublé promotion, confirming the crooner's popularity in Australia. Click to read more. ... Read More

Winter officially arrives this weekend, and while many of us dread the colder months, there is an upside. It’s the perfect excuse to grab a great book, brew a hot toddy, and cosy up to the latest in luxurious heating products. ... Read More

It’s official: Australians are smitten with mobile telephones. In 2007, shipments of new mobile devices to this country topped 9.64 million. But like a lot of love affairs, there’s more to this story than first meets the eye. ... Read More

My friend Ros recently celebrated her 40th birthday. Rather than buy her a bunch of so-so gifts, a group of us pooled our funds to buy her a new digital camera and assorted accessories.  ... Read More

ConnectedWomen asked Dr Matthew Sorell, a camera expert and senior lecturer in telecommunications and multimedia engineering at the University of Adelaide, to define some common digital camera-terms – and how this might influence the camera you buy. ... Read More

In 2005 alone, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, there were 259,800 births registered to 255,500 mothers. Now consider there are similar statistics for each year before and after, and you’ll get a sense for the number of people currently thinking about buying a Mothers’ Day gift – and perhaps being stuck for a great idea.
 ... Read More

If you exist in the corporate world, you might have heard of the term “blue-sky thinking”. It’s where you gather with your colleagues and dream of what your business could achieve if you weren’t hamstrung by budget, deadlines and the daily grind.

 ... Read More