Gadgets Device

When you were a kid, did your parents always hassle you about turning off the lights when you left a room? Well now that you have your own place, you probably understand exactly why they would tell you that. What’s more is that you also likely have a lot of gadgets around your desk that still use power even when you’re not using them. This is why Watt Stopper created the Isole IDP-3050.

This rather ordinary-looking power strip is designed to save power by shutting off gadgets when you aren’t around. The small wired box is actually a passive infrared sensor which will kill power to most of the outlets when you aren’t around.

Two of the outlets are not controlled by the sensor, which would be ideal for plugging in your PC.

(Read the full post about ‘This power strip turns off unused gadgets’…)

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According to a report by MTV (and supported by a pitifully sparse sketch, see below), Microsoft is developing a Motion Controller for the Xbox, which will compete with the Wii for the affection of gaming grandmas everywhere. Game developer Rare (which is owned by Microsoft) has apparently been working on the device for a few months and might release it by the end of this year. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard of a challenger to the Wii-mote – the Motus Corporation has also promised to bring a motion controller to the Xbox and the PS3. Obviously, this rumor has some meat because Microsoft loves to take other people’s ideas and adapt them in their own vision. (Read the full post about ‘Rumor: Microsoft Working on Xbox Motion Controller’…)

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Gizmodo dropped a major bomb on notebook users yesterday–they somehow got their hands on details about the entire upcoming Lenovo line. They did break the news of the X300 launch back in January, though this does not appear to be from the same source. Everything is still unconfirmed, but a lot of the details make sense so it’s worth looking into.

Gizmodo does not have pictures or spec sheets this time, but there is still lot of great information (supposing most of it is true). The first big point is that we will see an expansion of the X series, specifically models based on the X300 notebook.

(Read the full post about ‘ThinkPad Line Revealed? X300 in three new sizes’…)

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This week at the Gartner Synposium/ITXPO 2008 held in Las Vegas, Xerox has shown off a prototype of a new piece of paper that is reusable.

Steve Hoover, VP of Xerox’s Research Center, gave a presentation and demonstrated how the paper worked. What he showed the audience was what looked like a normal piece of paper, but he then took out a UV LED torch. Holding the torch against the paper for a few seconds left a black mark. He also got a UV LED pen and drew a line on the paper as you would with a standard pen and paper.

A hot plate was also present on stage and Hoover took a marked piece of paper and placed it under the heat for a few seconds.

(Read the full post about ‘Xerox shows off reusable paper at ITXPO’…)

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This is a trend that needs no introduction. The art of turning everything Lego is something that needs appreciation rather than a cliché appreciation. The studs on the oversized Lego brick act as controls for the player and you can also find a USB port and a headphone jack. It supports both MP3 and WMA file formats. The colors are pretty realistic enough to represent overgrown Lego bricks. Imagine fitting the giant blocks together and having a giant music system (just hypothesis). There still is a child in all of us. (Read the full post about ‘LEGO MP3 Player’…)

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uWink sounds like the name of an online dating service, but it’s a restaurant concept from Nolan Bushnell, founder of both Atari and Chuck E. Cheese.  So you’d expect arcade games at such an establishment, but uWink takes it a step further and has the games built into your tabletop!  You and your dining companions can have fun playing games while waiting for your food and after finishing your food, and most of the games are free!  Also, large wall projections let patrons from different tables play against each other.  What a great idea for if you want to book the restaurant for a private function, and yes uWink can customize the games too!  I guess that’s where the “wink” comes in, since you can meet people from other tables. (Read the full post about ‘uWink brings technology to the table’…)

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Asus has added a new addition to their product line, and for a refreshing change it does not fit in the Eee family. The newest addition is the Essentio CS5110 desktop PC, in which Asus is claiming that it is “the world’s smallest Desktop PC equipped with a fully embedded discrete graphic card,” which is an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card with 256MB of memory. With the graphics aside, the CS5110 seems to be a decent offering, and one that would work equally well for a home PC or a media-centric PC in the living room thanks to the low 23.9dB sound output when idling. The CS5110 also has an S/PIDF out which offers up 7.1 audio as well as HDMI support. (Read the full post about ‘Asus officially announces the Essentio CS5110′…)

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Though not nearly as sexy (or well-spec’d, for that matter) as Sony’s recently-unveiled HDR-TG1, AgfaPhoto’s DV-5000Z still manages to hold its own on paper. Measuring in at 4.7- x 2.75-inches (12- x 7-centimeters) and weighing just over 7-ounces (200-grams), this HD camcorder features a 5-megapixel Micron CMOS sensor, 2.5-inch flip-out LCD, 3x optical zoom and an SD / SDHC slot to store everything on. As for shooting capabilities, it’ll capture clips at 1,280 x 720 (using H.264 compression) and snag 16-bit stereo sound all the while. You’ll also find USB connectivity, a rechargeable Li-ion and video out, natch. (Read the full post about ‘AgfaPhoto’s DV-5000Z SDHC camcorder shoots 720p’…)

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Our sister site Uberpulse has an exclusive (video) interview with H. C. Hung, the President of Personal Mobile Devices at ASUS. He confirmed that the intel-based ASUS Eee would be revealed in June, at Computex (Taiwan). We think that it will use Intel’s ATOM chip. What we do know is that the next Eee will come with either Windows or Linux and will have a larger display (which is already featured in the Eee update that we talked about here at Ubergizmo). In other Eee news: ASUS still struggles to meet the demand for the current Eee PC.RelatedWhy Are PC Manufacturers so Afraid of the Asus Eee? More Eee stories Tags: gadgets, buyers guides, gprs, robots (Read the full post about ‘Asus to Release Intel-Based Eee in June at Computex’…)

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In Japan and Korea, where mobile technology and culture is well ahead of the rest of the world, mobile users are accustomed to receiving advertising, including SMS ads, on their cell phones. It’s a give and take, as users also receive mobile coupons on their phones, with bar codes that can be directly scanned from their screens. Here in the U.S., it still seems like a strange concept to allow advertisers this kind of access and to use our cell phones to directly transact business. But someday, inevitably, we will - most of us - accept advertising messages on our mobile screens, and pay for merchandise with our cell phones, as part of the daily routine of life, just like we all use ATM cards today. (Read the full post about ‘Fluc - opt in for mobile ads and get coupons and free SMS’…)

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