Headed straight for the Outfit Your Survival Compound Pavilion at CES is the HydroPak fuel-cell power generator from Millennium Cell and Horizon Fuel Cell. The system uses water-activated cartridges to supply hydrogen-generated electricity to one standard AC outlet and two USB connectors. The HydroPak is quieter and lighter than other types of generators, doesn't spew out noxious emissions and has infinite shelf life. Horizon expects to have units ready for sale in mid-2008, priced at $400 for the generator and $20 for eac... lire la suite
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Green Umbrella has a very interesting service plan: a all-in-one extended warranty plan that covers all your gadgets for three years. You pay $9.99 a month, and it'll cover most of your home electronics (TVs, Computers) and appliances (Washers, Dryers, Refrigerators, Microwaves) as long as they come with at least a 90 day warranty if you purchase after you sign up, and 1 year if you purchased before. The downside is that they don't cover cellphones, and they don't cover accidental damage. Is this worth it? It depends on your luck. Most products don't break within the first three years of their lifespan, but if you buy enough STUFF, the odds are that at least one of your things will break. Since we're all Giz readers here, we're likely to fall under this category. So here's the bottom line. You're paying $360 over the course of three years (the extend that they cover a product) for this. If in that span of three years, something(s) breaks that will cost more than $360 to fix or replace, you're out in front. If not, you're out $360.
A team of researchers at North Carolina State University have devised an ingenious way to charge your gadgets on the move: With solar powered clothing. The designs use a process called digital textile printing to leverage the blocky solar panels into neck ties and jackets. In the case of the tie there's even a hidden pocket to hold your device as it charges. Convenient. A five-day test found the clothing posed no significant health risk, including electric shock, although the neck tie design did have one major flaw. See if you can guess what it was.
Here's a perfect example of why you should always approach "healthy" labeling on food products with a skeptical eye. Summer did a quick side-by-side comparison of regular Mott's apple juice with new Mott's Plus Light. What she found was that except for a few added vitamins, the Light product was just Mott's juice diluted by 50% with water—but selling for the same price as the 100% juice. I'll start by saying that I'm a fan of apple juice, but I'm not a fan of super-sweet beverages. So, for a few years now, I've been buying 100% apple juice and watering it down. 50% apple juice & 50% water is the perfect combo for me. I was at Giant today in Phoenixville, PA and I found a sneaky little ripoff in the juice aisle. I found Mott's 100% apple juice selling for $2.69. Then, right next to it, I saw another one of Mott's products also selling for $2.69 — Mott's Plus Light. The "plus" designation seems to come from the extra vitamins that they throw in there, that's all. But the word "light" caught my attention because it's a term that usually means lower sugar content (which is something that I'm always looking for.) And then, the final straw: I saw that the Mott's Plus Light was 50% juice! I'm no math whiz, but it seems pretty clear that the Mott's Plus Light is clearly watered-down apple juice being sold at exactly the same price as the Mott's 100% apple juice. The Mott's Plus Light label makes it appear so... so much healthier, and it's clearly designed to trap carb- and sugar-conscious shoppers into buying half the product for the full price! Yes, Mott's Plus Light also comes with more of vitamins C & D as well as calcium, but with less iron and potassium, and you'll be paying twice the price of regular Mott's for what's otherwise just watered down juice.
Headed straight for the Outfit Your Survival Compound Pavilion at CES is the HydroPak fuel-cell power generator from Millennium Cell and Horizon Fuel Cell. The system uses water-activated cartridges to supply hydrogen-generated electricity to one standard AC outlet and two USB connectors. The HydroPak is quieter and lighter than other types of generators, doesn't spew out noxious emissions and has infinite shelf life.
I can't stand the U.S. Postal Service with their obsolete stamps and long lines, but they have actually come up with a useful service called "Mail Back" that allows you to ditch your old gadgets in the mail for free. Currently, postage-paid envelopes can be picked up in around 1500 post offices in 10 cites that include Chicago, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., with plans to go nationwide if the trial is successful. Once mailed, the discarded electronics end up at Clover Technologies Group for recycling (or possibly in pockets of crooked postal workers). [ComputerWorld via Lifehacker]
The economy sucks. Even if the government is still afraid of the "r word," real people know we're living in recession land. That means cutting back: Wal-Mart is even launching quasi-permanent recession sales. Usually, the first stuff to go is whatever doesn't go in our mouth or keep us dry—like gadgets. So here's the Q: Is the recession making you buy fewer or cheaper gadgets? Are you going to hold off on the 3G iPhone or a new DSLR until the economy (and your wallet) are looking a little more solid? Gawker Media polls require Javascript; if you're viewing this in an RSS reader, click through to view in your Javascript-enabled web browser.
Of all the solar powered gadgets we've shown you recently, I'd have to say this is the most elegant. The Intelligent Forms SOLo is a lounge table (can we call it a coffee table?) and is simply designed to soak up the sun, turning it into stored power so you can charge your gear. Apparently left for a year in a "typical outdoor setting," it can store enough power in its internal batteries to charge up your cellphone 6,800 times or your laptop 168 times. Its got USB sockets, a car-style 12V socket and even a standard 3-pin mains plug, and the whole thing is weatherproof. galleryPost('solotable', 3, ''); Better yet: the SOLo has LED lighting built in for subtle evening lighting effects, you can check on its charge status on its built-in LCD monitor, and it has a large device drawer so you can safely pop your phone, iPod or even laptop inside to keep it safe. For some reason it also has Bluetooth, allowing it "to collect, distribute and exhibit information on both the tabletop LCD display screen and wirelessly between computers and the internet"... and while we're not sure exactly what that means, it sounds pretty impressive.
Saving a little extra money on your next power bill is as easy as unplugging your power cables now and then. After all, those greedy gadgets keep sucking power from the grid even when not in use. Designer Paulo Oh has come up with an extremely simple solution to this problem with an outlet that includes hangers for your plugs. Naturally, this little feature means that you don't have to deal with cords lying all willy-nilly on the floor. It is only a concept at this point, but with this whole power conservation thing catching on, I wouldn't be surprised to see something similar available in the near future. [Yanko via Ubergizmo]
En ce jour où la plupart des Quebecois retournent au travail, avec quelques kilos en trop et un reste de mal de tete, celebrons les gadgets invraisemblables qui nous ont fait sourire tout au long de l'annee 2007....
Tradition oblige: en ce premier jour de l'annee nouvelle, voici mon palmares des gadgets les plus interessants de 2007. Les plus bizarres, eux, viendront jeudi......