If you’re concerned about the purity of the water in your home, there are plenty of options out there to solve the problem. Anything from attaching something to your faucet, to pitchers that you pop in your fridge. Well this Zuvo Water Purator is probably one of the most thorough out there. It has a five step filtration process to make sure your water stays nice and safe. If that weren’t enough to convince you, they also donate 5% of their profits to water purification programs in developing countries.
The first step of the process is ozonation which treats the taste of the water, then there is the ultraviolet light that cleans the water, photo-oxidation combines the UV and ozone process and further treats the water. Then it does a filtration process that also removes lead and finally it does a post-filatration UV ensuring that the water is clean and healthy. You can install this on the counter or get rid of the extra clutter and keep it underneath your counter. They’ll of course include instructions for both ways. You can purchase the Zuvo Water Purator for $199.99 from SmartHome.
I’ve never run across someone that didn’t adore the movie WALL-E. So it’s no surprise that there would be small random WALL-E inspired items. Here’s a tiny whimsical flash drive that has a keychain attached to it. Which means you get to store files on it and show it off on your keys when it’s not plugged into the computer. Not only is it WALL-E, but it’s WALL-E clinging tightly to a fire extinguisher.
The flash drive stores 8GB of data, which is definitely not too shabby. This was a posting on Etsy and when it was it would have cost you $65. However, being Etsy, they only had one in stock and it’s managed to disappear already, which I’m not really surprised about. The great thing with Etsy though, is that you can easily contact the seller and see if they’ll create a duplicate for you. Sometimes it’s a one time deal and they can’t create another one, but it’s worth a shot.
Even though the included steering wheel for MarioKart was just a cheap piece of plastic, it pales in comparison to this racing wheel for the iPhone/iPod touch.
Digital Steering Wheel from CTA comes comes with grip with a bigger radius, not to mention a suction cup mount that adheres to any flat surface. The angle which the user wants to play is also adjustable.
It works for the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch. It comes with about 4 “mounts” that the user has to insert their particular Apple device in, and then snap it in to the center of the wheel. I have included a video that you can see after the jump if you want more info.
Clearly, I need to get an iPhone just so I can try out all these racing apps. I suppose that it is not enough just to tilt the device, isn’t it. No, someone had to go make a steering wheel for it. I believe that they call that “progress”.
Unfortunately, my source did not give any word on the price. Anyone want to care to guess? Sure that piece of plastic for MarioKart is $19.99, but this piece of plastic has a suction cup and adjustable angle. If it turns out that the CTA Digital Steering Wheel is $20 or lower, then we need to storm Nintendo.
Looking for new ways to turn your computer into an all-round entertainment system? Perhaps it might be lacking the GV-SC31 1Seg USB TV tuner from IO Data of Japan, where the free TVStation application that can be downloaded enables you to view live TV as well as recorded programs right off your computer. Just make sure you have sufficient storage space on your machine if you’re prone to record more than you watch. This USB device can also allow you to view said programs on your iPod touch or iPhone as it streams video straight from the PC onto said devices. It will arrive in Japan later this month for $70 a pop - there is no word on whether it will arrive elsewhere or not.
It’s cool enough to have holograms, but what if you could actually touch them? This was a project that some researchers at the University of Tokyo took on, and have achieved some interesting results.
You can watch a video of what they have done after the jump, but here is a quick summary. First, they used two Wiimotes (yes, Wiimotes) to track a holographic object in realtime and space. So when that hand that you see in the picture tries to dribble that tiny ball, it responds like a real superball would.
Ultrasounds are then given so the hand can actually “feel” the impact. Experiements have shown that the ultrasounds can disrupt things from a distance, and if focused properly, they can create a sense of touch. At the end of the video is that hand underneath some raindrops, and it can apparently “feel” them.
This is definitely one of those “this could change everything” technologies, but it is still in its fetal stage. In other words, don’t be dreaming about having your own holodeck from Star Trek TNG anytime soon. By the way, I believe that technology used energy and matter conversion.
Man, I am such a geek sometimes. I’ll prove it yet again by saying that this technology reminds me of a short-lived show called Automan. It was about a guy who created a holographic man who others could actually feel. He even had an Autocar and Autoplane which were also tangible holograms.
Yeah, we are a long way holograms that we can feel. I suppose if they had this touch holograms in Star Wars, then Luke Skywalker could have felt Princess Leia saying “help me Obi-Wan Kenobi”.
Fire alarms and smoke detectors are more often than not overlooked in most homes, and some people who sleep like the dead through the night might want to take less chances with their lives by picking up the Lifetone Bedside Fire Alarm Clock. This unique alarm clock not only helps you wake up at the specified time in the morning, it will also be able to sniff up the screech of your home smoke alarm, pounding out a 90-decibel alarm into its immediate surroundings (which would normally be on your beside table) while working in tandem with a bed shaker located right under your pillow to make sure you can wake up in time to save your bacon from getting roasted. Surely $179.00 isn’t too much of an asking price?
Anvil Cabinet and Mill have just introduced their fully automated “smart” kitchen cabinets. All I can say is that if I had a kitchen that looked this good, I would be satisfied with “dumb” kitchen cabinets.
What makes the cabinets think that they are so smart is that they can “automatically fold and disappear”. Apparently, these cabinet doors don’t need hinges, but rise and fall vertically, like cabinets in a science fiction movie. All it takes from the user is a wave of the hand or a tap on the sensor, and the cabinet doors slide open and closed, hopefully with a cool-sounding whoosh sound.
Another feature is that some cabinets feature biometric scanners, so you can keep other people from stealing your secret ingredients. For example, if you don’t want your kids to raid your liquor cabinet, make it so only you can access it.
So what does that mean? It will make cooking easier by insuring that you don’t take the trouble of opening your cabinet doors. That’s right, if you want to cook something, then you can use a pre-set program so all the right doors open for flour, sugar, etc..
I got to admit that this is a good application for “smart house” technology. However, I don’t have any word of the cost of such a system. It can’t be too cheap.
When it comes to scanners, there is a handful of notable names that one can trust, and among them would include Epson, who recently released their Perfection V500 Office scanner that will target micro-business owners, home office users and consumers. This scanner is able to offer an above average scanning solution which effortlessly combines the productivity features of a document scanner and the image quality of a photo scanner without taking up too much footprint on your working desk. Epson has clearly done well to position the Perfection V500 Office for scanning a wide variety of items, ranging from important documents to receipts. It will feature a 30-page automatic document feeder that has scan speeds of up to three pages per minute, a quartet of push buttons for easy, one-touch scanning, and Epson ReadyScan LED technology that makes scanning a snap since it does away with pesky warm-up time, especially when you’re just about to start a scan or switching between reflective and film scanning. Guess getting this would be an unspoken signal from your boss that he expects productivity levels to increase, leaving you with less excuse to hang around the water cooler for the latest gossip because the scanner is “warming up”.
The Epson Perfection V500 Office comes with 6400 dpi resolution for superior image quality scans, while you will also benefit from a wide range of speciality photo features including a transparency unit for negative, slides and film scanning, Digital ICE Technology that handles dust and scratch removal in film scans and Epson Easy Photo Fix technology which comes in handy where old and faded image restoration, dust removal and grain reducing are concerned.
The Epson Perfection V500 Office is tipped to retail for $349.99 when it arrives in the market sometime next month. It will play nice with most operating systems including Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Mac OS X.
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Even though the included steering wheel for MarioKart was just a cheap piece of plastic, it pales in comparison to this racing wheel for the iPhone/iPod touch. 
It’s cool enough to have holograms, but what if you could actually touch them? This was a project that some researchers at the University of Tokyo took on, and have achieved some interesting results. 
Fire alarms and smoke detectors are more often than not overlooked in most homes, and some people who sleep like the dead through the night might want to take less chances with their lives by picking up the 
Anvil Cabinet and Mill have just introduced their fully automated “smart” kitchen cabinets. All I can say is that if I had a kitchen that looked this good, I would be satisfied with “dumb” kitchen cabinets.