Running off three AA batteries, this FLEXiT blanket of LEDs is completely flexible and able to hold shape, meaning you can wrap and fold it around objects (your laptop, dog's tail, under the sink) for some urgent light-throwing.
There are 16 LEDs sprinkled across the silicone blanket, and there are even three light settings (I imagine for dim, dimmer, and dimmest light?) cost $30 on FLEXiT
The future of lighting is here, it's just not evenly distributed. Light-emitting diodes (LED) lightbulbs have been coming on the market in the past few years, but their quality varies greatly, from "almost perfect" to "horrible."
The Qnuru bulbs use LEDs made by Cree. The versions are "cool white" (6000k temp), they're also available in "warm white" (3000k). They use a standard E26 socket and use respectively 6.4 watts and 9.2 watts, and they're both rated as replacing 60W incandescents, though the bigger OPAL definitely produces more light and has a wider beam angle.
They have a 50,000+ hours lifetime, which compares very favorably to about 15,000 hours for compact fluorescent (CFLs) and 2,500 hours for incandescent bulbs. It makes more sense to pay extra for quality if you're going to be potentially keeping these lights around for decades. In fact, they come with a 3 year warranty, not something you'll find on any fluorescent!
And of course, because they are LEDs, they don't contain any mercury, and they are a lot less fragile than CFLs and incandescents.
If you've dabbled in Christmas decorations with traditional Christmas lights, you'll know that when one bulb blows, the entire line goes out with it. Why is that? Because of how the manufacturers wire them.
That image above shows how the lights and power supply are typically wired (not the new LED varieties, though) in traditional Christmas lights. If the filaments of all the bulbs are intact, then the circuit is complete and all the lights work. But if one bulb so happens to break then the entire circuit is broken, thus making all the lights go out. It's basically much cheaper for manufacturers to build lights like this because it allows them to use this cheaper series wiring with inexpensive bulbs.
China's not allowed access to Twitter, but obviously there are "ways" to work around that.Cheng Jianping and her fiancé Hua Chunhui, were two such users. Cheng, however, was arrested for RTing her fiancé's joke—on their wedding day.
The situation was made even more traumatic, because her family and fiancé weren't told of her arrest—leading them to think she'd done a runner. All for retweeting her fiancé's tweet, which said:
"Anti-Japanese demonstrations, smashing Japanese products, that was all done years ago by Guo Quan. It's no new trick. If you really wanted to kick it up a notch, you'd immediately fly to Shanghai to smash the Japanese Expo pavilion."
It was turned into a joke because she added "angry youth, charge!" to her retweet.
So, instead of enjoying life as a newlywed, Cheng was sent to a women's labor camp, where she immediately went on hunger strike. She's to remain there for a year, for "disturbing social order." This comes only a week after Irish chap Paul Chambers was slapped with a guilty verdict for joking he was going to blow up Robin Hood airport in England. Tweeters, stay vigilant.
I get so frustrated when I'm in a new car and there's no way to plug in my iPod. Get with the times, car manufacturers! Or bring them up to speed yourself with the O'Car, a dedicated iPhone-based head unit.
Oxygen Audio's O'Car has a RDS radio tuner and a 4x55W amp, but the magic happens when you strap in your iPhone. The rotating mount charges your phone and holds it horizontally or vertically, allowing you to play tunes through the iPod app, Pandora radio or whatever else, put your iPhone to work as a GPS navigator, or make hands-free calls over your car's speakers. Or play Infinity Blade while you're in bumper to bumper traffic.
We all know carbon emissions are making our planet warmer. But the increase in carbon brings with it other surprising problems. More carbon apparently means low sounds travel farther underwater, making the ocean a noisier place to live and work.
The reason is complex. Increased atmospheric carbon dioxide also means increased absorption of carbon in the Earth's oceans. And this increase, in turn, means more acidic sea water. More acidic oceans mean less absorption of sound at low frequencies.
And less sound absorption means louder noises over longer distances. In a paper published in Nature Geoscience, scientists predict that, within 100 years, absorption of sounds at around 200 Hz will go down by 70%, meaning sound could travel much farther.
The effects of less absorption and more noise at this frequency could be huge. For instance, scientists and commercial shipping vessels use these lower range frequencies for navigation and oceanic research. Also, marine mammals, such as whales, use these low frequencies for finding food and mates. Noisier oceans might cripple ocean navigation and interfere with whale life.
Unfortunately, the acidification of the ocean won't end when we stop polluting. In fact, the acidic shallow waters will propagate into the deeper ocean, where sound travels farthest, and possibly spread this noisy effect much farther than expected.
Recently, scientists found that blue whale songs are changing, drifting lower in pitch. Their research hinted at the deep complexity of marine life and the in-progress nature of this kind of science. This new marine acoustics research puts an additional wrinkle in the world of underwater communication, making the story more complex and even more interesting.
Eton's Raptor doesn't know if it's a radio, a weather-gauge or a bottle opener. An inbuilt solar-panel charges the li-Ion battery, powers the AM/FM/digital tuner, and also juices-up your phone through the miniUSB port.
Planning an expedition through uncharted territory? You also get a compass, chronograph, altimeter and barometer to keep you on track and informed of atmospheric conditions. There's a clip for your utility belt and of course, it's rubberized for waterproofing and shock protection. There's even a line-input for amplifying your iPod, too.
And the feature you'll probably end up using the most? The bottle opener of course. On sale soon, for an unspecified amount.
Looks like Panasonic aren't the only guys with a camcorder that can supportinterchangeable lenses like a DSLR. Sony's NXCAM, first shown off in May, takes E-mount lenses (the same used on their NEX cameras) and has a super-35mm sensor.
While it's just a concept for now, they have plans to bring it out in the middle of next year, where it'll be shooting video in 1080p—most likely for a pretty, pretty penny.
Don't lob this grenade, whatever you do—unless you're attempting insurance fraud and actually want your house burned down. Perfectly rounded, filled with oil, and then lit up. What could go wrong?
Researchers have figured out how to use a specific engraving technique in order to alter the frequency of light a metal—any metal—absorbs or reflects. How? By carving tiny rings, smaller than the wavelengths of light.
Gold normally absorbs blue light, which gives it its yellowish hue. Silver metals absorb and emit just about every frequency of visible of light (which means they're actually colorless).
By carving a pattern of rings onto a metal's surface, the properties of its electrons, called the resonant frequency, is altered. By varying the size and depth of these rings, the frequency of light a metal absorbs and reflects is changed. No other properties of the metal are affected.
This is essentially the same technique that scientists are using to create invisibility cloaks, except that instead of trying to make light pass through a material, they just want to redirect how light is reflected and absorbed.
500 prints of the Windows XP wallpaper "Green Hill" have been turned into a piece of art, called "My Favourite Landscape." Yes, the world's most infuriating computer error can now be cooed at in an art gallery. Ugh.
Paul Destieu, the creator of such horror, used 500 prints which "sets the common bug out of its context, on a wall, expending it to much bigger scale. The famous picture finds a new landscape shape out of its usual frame."
Exercise in minimalistic unbranded beauty, or eco-friendly gadgetry using new creation techniques? Both. Direct from Hong Kong, designer Michael Young uses cornstarch for hisEOps Noisezero i+ Eco 'buds. Sounds corny.
Just because vinyl records are analog, it doesn't mean you can't pirate them. All you need is a wood box, glass, window cement, silicone mixture, liquid plastic and a drill press. Hey, I didn't say it was going to be easy.
To start, you put your record in the wood box and pour the silicone mix over the record to create a mold. Then, you pour the liquid plastic into the silicone mold to make the pirated copy of the record.
It's rare to find a kitchen concept that looks truly innovative, but these silicone steam roasting bowls look ace: use them to mix; use them to bake or steam; use them to serve. You can find them here.
Yes, the Tapi is silly looking. But it makes some sense. Attach the Tapi to your faucet and squeeze the rubber end to turn your faucet into a low cost, full-fledged drinking fountain. No cup necessary! If you don't squeeze the rubber end, water will flow normally.
Boxed milk and juices are a supermarket staple, but one company is now selling boxed water.
Boxed Water Is Better sells water in cartons, ditching the plastic bottles while reducing the overall carbon footprint of packing and distribution by 80%.
It's a cheap and cheerful plastic top that pops onto a standard 12- or 16-ounce drinks can, and turns it into a resealable bottle, with a lid, to stop your refreshments going flat. Simplicity itself, and it's reusable too. Available in a variety of colors, packs of three for around $1.99 here.
The HD 220 Originals come in white and blue, with adjustable earpads and promises of "enough bass." Enough for what, I wonder? Blasting eardrums with some drum 'n bass?
They are perfect for everyday use, featuring powerful bass-driven, stereo sound; a closed headphone design to block outside noise and create the ultimate listening environment; and individually adjustable ear cups for a secure and comfortable fit. The HD 220 Originals cost £50
Product packages are often the design equivalent of having a hammer driven into your eyeballs. Buzzword-y text everywhere, disgusting color overload, and corny cartoon mascots. So why not strip it all away and let the thing's name speak for itself?
Design firm A2591 took popular tasty products and gave them a minimalist makeover. All the extraneous crap, scrubbed away. Each item gets two version—one with some of the orignal's elements left over. Beautiful typography. Simple, popping colors. Tasteful. Think Cornflakes, without a big goofy picture of cascading milk into a Grand Canyon-sized pit of cereal. We all know what Cornflakes are—we don't need the helpful illustration.
Of course, companies want their products to be as wackily eye-grabbing as possible so that our hands and wallets will do the grabbing next, but it's nice to imagine a world in which store shelves are visually appealing, instead of it looking like an ad agency projectile vomited.
USB drives have become cheap to the point of disposability. I think there are four lying underneath my bed like dust bunnies. So a drive has to be particularly eye-catching to make anyone care—like these 3D printed "keys.
It's not the smallest, or the highest-capacity, or the fastest. But it's easy on the eyes, and you could put photos of your crush on it and wear it around your neck! Actually, that would be sort of creepy.
The iPhone was stolen from a hospital in Heidelberg, Melbourne, a 16 year old kid who pedalled away furiously on his BMX. It was another successful result for Apple's "Find My iPhone" service though, which allowed the police to track the kid using GPS from a helicopter.
The SHOWWX+ laser projector is 50% brighter than its predecessor, throwing video at 15 lumens with a 5,000:1 contrast ratio for 2 hours with a built-in battery. It's designed specifically for iPads, iPhones, and iPod Touches, so it has a dock connector and can project all your Netflix goodies without any DRM hang-ups.
Because it's a laser projector, the SHOWWX+ has "infinite focus," as MicroVision calls it, allowing the image to be projected crisply on curved surfaces, or when the device isn't perfectly perpendicular to the surface it's projecting on. Its native resolution is 848 x 480, not quite HD, and it includes composite cables in the box for non iOS devices. But pair this thing with some AirPlay speakers and your iPad theater just got a lot more compelling. Available now for $450.
Thanks to the 1.11 update for Panasonic's $600 DMC-G2, the camera is now compatible with Panny's $250 3D lens. Now you can get started filming the Avatar sequel too.
Considering I've just polished off half a jar of jam, you could say I'm a fan of all things preserved. But inedible LED jams? JellyLamps' bright hues make me sad I can't slather a knife-full on a bit of crust.
When turned upside down, the LED light inside each jar of JellyLamps jam switches on, and glows neon. When flipped over, rightside-up, it looks just like a normal jar of jam—albeit, one that's made from fruit plucked from the bushes of Chernobyl.
Unfortunately they're very pricey for what they are. Each jar runs off two AAA batteries (which casts 50hrs of light, apparently), and costs $45
Disney has teamed up with Monster to create these official Tron: Legacy T1 headphones, which have lights that glow and move and generally please the eyes.
These noise-isolating cans are designed for gaming, and as such, come with a detachable boom mic so that you can make yourself heard while raiding or rushing in whatever Blizzard game.
Available in White/Silver or Black, the lines and general styling of the headphones certainly aren't lacking in flair, but I would have preferred something a bit more minimal to go with all those nice blue lights.
Some watch manufacturers think adding a sapphire crystal face, compass or having a diving depth of 1,000m is enough. Me? I won't consider strapping something to my wrist unless prehistoric animals have been set in the dial.
Louis Moinet's Jurassic Tourbillon watch has fragments of fossilized dino bones set in the dial, and is encased in 18K white gold with 56 diamonds equating to 3.46 carats. A watch sparkling with diamonds—however ugly it may be—would attract a pretty penny alone, but the addition of dinosaur bones? Well, the one thing I'm certain of is that you won't be able to barter a cave drawing for one of them.
LG pulled the covers off their Android-powered Optimus 2X smartphone, revealing the first handset to pack a Tegra 2 chipset—featuring a 1 GHz dual-core processor—under its hood.
The added processing power apparently allows the Optimus 2X to playback 1080p video with no lag on its 4-inch, 800x480 screen, and can supply visuals to larger displays thanks to HDMI mirroring. And you can even use the HDMI connection to play Android games on a larger screen, still using the phone as a controller. Toss in 8 gigabytes of internal storage, along with front and rear cams (8 megapixels and 1.3 megapixels, respectively), and you have yourself a seemingly solid handset.
The Optimus 2X, slated for a 2011 release in Asia and Europe, will ship with Android 2.2 (Froyo), but of course, a 2.3 (Gingerbread) update will follow. There's been no announcement about a U.S. release yet. Specs below:
Key specifications:
1Ghz Dual-core Processor (NVIDIA Tegra 2)
4-inch WVGA screen
8GB memory (up to 32GB via microSD)
1,500 mAh battery
8 megapixel rear camera and 1.3 megapixel front camera
HDMI mirroring
1080p MPEG-4/H.264 playback and recording
This is a jump-up from the 200,000 sold each day which Eric Schmidt confirmed in August.Andy Rubin, Android's creator, took to Twitter to make his proud boast—only the second time he's ever tweeted. @Arubin @morrildl
What do you have to say in ten characters or less? You'd better think of something clever, because Diesel Watches wants you to have a brand-new LED panel watch, into which you can program anything you like. Ideas include: BrushTeeth, Pay Bills.
Diesel's new watches feature a scrolling LED message display, a silicone strap, and come in black, blue, white, purple, grey, and glow-in-the-dark.
Need some R2-D2 cans to match your bathing-suit and Droid phone? These headphones could be clamped 'round your head for 50 notes. Boba Fett, Stormtrooper, and Darth Vader and models are also available, but you can't go wrong with Artwo.
You can probably guess that Coloud's headphones are going to put style over substance, especially at that price-point. Nonetheless, for people who don't feel the need to spend hundreds, a bit of off audio quality or tinny bass won't be too much of a problem. Surprisingly, they even have an inline-mic on the headphone cable, for receiving phone calls.
Available now, the headphones are 39.90 Euros, which converts roughly to $53.
With most Facebook updates there is, inevitably, backlash against the changes that greet users when they sign in for the first time. Not so with artistAlexandre Oudin. He saw an opportunity.
For anyone who wants to copy his style, all you have to do is block the other photos you're tagged in and upload photos to your profile pictures album that are the exact size (yes, down to the pixel) of the display on Facebook and voilà !
Joining up with Bill Gates, George Lucas, Warren Buffett, and 50 other billionaires, Zuckerberg has agreed to donate the majority of his wealth to charity, as part of the Giving Pledge movement Gates launched back in August.
It's the largest philanthropic work ever done, with over 50 billionaires pledging to give away most of their fortunes to various charities. They're not legally bound to do so, but if they renege then I imagine all hell would break loose. Just imagine having Gates' beady glare on you, wherever you go. *shudder*
15 other billionaires signed up recently, alongside Zuckerberg. AOL's co-founder Steve Case, and investor Carl Icahn are just some of the names you might recognize. The charities on the receiving end of the Giving Pledge's handout haven't been named yet, but considering Gates fascination with green issues, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw some funky eco-friendly initiatives start looking or greener.
It's ridiculous all the half-baked solutions we depend on to resuscitate a dead phone. Especially when there's a potent supply of free power just waiting to be tapped, right above our heads. No, not the sun—overhead power lines.
The Bat Hook is as simple as any plug-in charger, but it's great for on-the-go. It's just a weighted hook with a razor blade in it, strung on the end of a cord: you toss it over the nearest power line. Its blade pierces the live wire, neatly and safely conducting electric current down to you, for convenient charging of gadgets, jumpstarting cars, or powering your roadside business. It even works in the rain!
The explanatory video from the Department of Defense says something about how it's only for trained Special Operations soldiers, and "you should never throw something over power lines," but that is clearly just marketing hype, calculated to give the Bat Hook an air of exclusivity.
Ever have those moments where excess spatula handles run wild in your kitchen? Yeah, me neither. Still, you shouldn't deny yourself a snap-together cookware system, if only for the purpose of saying you have a snap-together cookware system.
The a-JAYS series is designed specifically for iOS devices—check out how the L-shaped plug aligns perfectly with the starkly top flat of an iPhone 4. The cables themselves are completely flat—which means fewer tangles in addition to an appearance unlike your typical headphones. Form following function! And aside from sound, the only thing I could ask of my headphones is that they don't collapse into a tangled piled of hell after a few days of use.
If they're anything like their standard earbuds, they'll probably sound pretty good too—but so do a lot of hideous audio products.
If you're a headset devotee, you'll know that they don't always stay put on your ear. The Plantronics Voyager Pro UC packs capacitive sensors so it knows when you're wearing it—and when to direct calls to itself.
Think of the Voyager Pro UC, which will get its full announcement at CES in January, as asmart Bluetooth headset. Thanks to capacitive sensors, it knows when you're wearing it—if it happens to be buried in your bag across the room, calls will just go to your handset as usual. If you pop it on your ear mid-call, it'll reroute the audio there immediately. An included USB dongle lets you use it with a PC, and the sensors will automatically switch, say, your Skype status to "In a Call" when you're actually in a call.
And for those looking to get even more intimate with their earpiece, the Voyager Pro's "Whisper Alerts" will quietly intone the subject lines of emails from a set group of Outlook VIPs in your ear without anyone being the wiser. Clever! Pricing and availability will be announced early next year.
Sony may ship two pairs of glasses "free" with the LX900 TV, but for anyone needing to pick up an extra pair or two they're available now on Amazon for $150 each.
Compatible with Sony's HX800, HX909 and LX900 3DTVs, the batteries last for up to 100 hours before needing charging, but don't forget you'll need to purchase an emitter for $48 if you haven't done so already, and a 3D Blu-ray player. The 3DTV is pretty crucial too, but then I don't expect anyone to be buying these glasses for kicks.
You love sporks. You love multitools. And now? Look on with a delicate blend of respect and astonishment that the two coexist, in blissful harmony that is the CRKT Eat'N Tool.
The CRKT Eat'N Tool is a bottle opener, screwdriver/pry tip, three metric wrench reliefs and a carabiner all in one. Oh, and a spork. Don't forget the spork. You can get one of your own for $7 here.
For those tired of traditional Christmas trees—their prickly needles, their tiresome ornaments, their limited lifespans—there's another way! The Tannenboing, which bills itself as the "modern, sustainable" Christmas tree, is low on upkeep and high on surreal futuristic style.
So what exactly is your new tree? A brushed aluminum spiral that extends to a height of six feet when suspended from the ceiling. It can hold up to 250 ornamental items weighing up to 20 pounds around its curving track, and it will either have the effect of making it look like you have a whole whole lot of presents under your tree or not really very many at all, I haven't quite been able to figure out.
The extremely hot planet Wasp-12b has such a high carbon-to-oxygen ratio that scientists are saying that the planet's surface might be littered with diamonds. The lead researcher specifies: "You might see land masses and mountains made up of diamonds."
Astronomers are saying that it's the first carbon-rich planet ever observed. Planets in our solar system typically have a 1 to 2 carbon to oxygen ratio, Wasp-12b, on the other hand, has more carbon than oxygen. Because of all that carbon (and that there's no water on the planet), astronomers believe that Wasp-12b could have diamonds in its core (but current technology is limiting them from seeing the actual core).
Before you start building your DIY space shuttle though, you should know that the planet is 1,200 light years away and ridiculously, ridiculously hot (like 2315 degrees Celsius hot). There was also murmurs that Wasp-12b was going to be eaten by its star. So maybe diamonds aren't forever.
