The Elan Smart Remote (model ESR-8020) features a pair of capacitive touch pads, which can be used to interact with any standard PC software. The remote has five modes: mouse, keyboard, joystick, presentation and handwriting recognition. While each pad appears to only sense a single finger press, the pair together can be used to produce Windows 7 multitouch gestures. Flip the remote over, and it’s a full-function AV remote for controlling Windows Media Center apps. Check out the video below to see the Elan Smart Remote in action.

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Elan plans on showing off the remote at the upcoming CES 2010 show in Las Vegas. No word on pricing or a release date yet.

The only “bombs bursting in air” will be the ones dropping on you while you’re playing Modern Warfare 2 with this thing. The Street Pad wireless joypad works offers a large 8-way D-Pad, multi-speed turbo fire modes, and comes with a wireless USB dongle for use with either a PC or PS3. It’s available over at TotalConsole for $24.99 (USD).

And if you’re not into patriotism, there’s always this:

Now Infinity and JBL (both part of the Harman International family) have announced subwoofers that can be placed anywhere in your room without running any speaker wires. Using a 2.4GHz transmitter/receiver pair, they grab their sound signals over the air. Supposedly, they offer “interference-free” operation, but there’s bound to be some noise on at least one of the four selectable RF channels if there’s any other electronic gadgets in the area.

Infinity’s PS212W model ($679 USD) is a 400-watt, 12-inch sub, while the JBL Cinema Sound CSS10W ($559 USD) has a smaller 10-inch driver and 300-watts of power. I’m always a bit skeptical about analog wireless audio and video devices, given their tendency to drop some information. You’d surely be better off with a hard-wired connection, but if you just have to be wireless, these might be worth a look.

[What Hi-Fi via Audio Junkies]

Hidden inside the Tire Clock Spy Cam is a digital video camera with a 2.4GHz wireless transmitter. An included remote receiver can view and record what the camera captures. If the general concept of such a gadget isn’t strange enough for you, add some Engrish text that reads “The Best Wish For My Good Friend” and the Queen’s English spelling of “Tyre”, and you’ve got yourself one oddball device.

Unless you happen to run an auto parts store in Hong Kong, I don’t know if hiding a spy cam in something that stands out quite so much as this is a good idea.

Some interesting revelations are shown in the video. The headset comes with small and medium “ear wraps,” taking into account the fact that everyone’s ears are different (what happened to “large”?). Each headset can be bound to one of the four wireless controller channels, and little green “1-4″ LED indicators to show the current channel. Microsoft also claims that the headset actually improves audio quality.

The headset is priced at $59.99 and should hit stores this week.

[via ON10]