Is it hot in here, or is it just me? It's the perennial question here in the lab at gadgetshop HQ during the summer, or whenever we crank-up the particle accelerator. When we're not accelerating mesons and leptons to sub-light speed, we're constantly checking that the mercury in our thermometers stays well within Health & Safety Guidelines.

All of which was easy until the summer of 2003, when the records fell, the old thermometer broke and we took the decision to switch from good old fashioned analogue technology to the latest in digital temperature measurement. And we've never looked back, except with the occasional dewy eye.

Now, with the formidable assistance of this Wireless Indoor / Outdoor Thermometer from those clever (and, coincidentally American) chaps at Oregon Scientific, the trail never goes cold on how hot it is.

This little device takes crystal-clear clarity to a new level - with two display readings, one for the current indoor temperature (a balmy 20 degrees in my case) and the outdoor (a nut-jangling minus 1, should you ask). In fact, such is its cleverness, that when the external temperature starts to dip, an ice warning appears in the form of a blinking LED to alert one to cover one's begionas. All of which is dashed thoughtful of the yanks.