gadgets

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Solar Trash Compactors

Whatever happened to home trash compactors? They were all the rage thirty years ago, but eventually homeowners decided the benefit to an individual household wasn't worth the space the gadget took up in the kitchen, much less repair expenses. But compacting waste on a large scale can save a lot of money in transportation costs and landfill use. Many larger municipal operations compact trash at the landfill site, but how many trips do those huge trucks have to make to get it there? * The Big Belly Solar... READ ON

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The Future of Building Materials

My home expansion was completed enough to move into in December, which was none too soon for me. We had the new rooms built the old-fashioned way, with wood structural supports, Masonite clapboard, and fiberglass insulation. If we had waited another year or two those building materials might have been completely different, considering all the space-age technology coming down the pike.... READ ON

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Colorful Changing Shower Head

In case there's anyone who hasn't bought me a wedding gift yet (oh yeah, that's everyone), I found what I want. The Colorful Changing Shower Head requires no wiring and no batteries. The LED lights are powered by the water running through the shower! I had visions of disco nights in the shower until I saw that the color of the light depends on the temperature of the water. Hey, I guess it's useful to know whether the water is just right before you step in and soak yourself all over.*Even without batteries,... READ ON

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Inflatable Hospital

Amidst all the heartbreaking stories out of Haiti these past two weeks, I was impressed to see that Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres) was deploying an inflatable hospital. An inflatable hospital? What a great... READ ON

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The Yike Bike

I've written about several kinds of bikes, whether they are fun to ride, easy to store, technologically advanced, or particularly green. One of these days,... READ ON

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Illoom Balloons

I remember seeing videos of sky lanterns released during the Taiwan Lantern Festival and thinking how beautiful, how amazing, how dangerous! The sky lanterns are made of paper, illuminated by candles, and released into the air to float as long as they will. This is something I'd like to try myself, if it weren't for the danger of setting the entire community on fire. That was my first thought when I ran across Illoom Balloons. * Illoom Balloons are lit internally by LEDs! Just one tiny LED per balloon... READ ON

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Bacteria Assassin Ninja Toothbrush Sanitizer

The New Year holiday and that little bit of extra time off from work is a good time to get cleaned up, reorganized, and ready for a bright new year. I've been in the zone myself. After putting away all the Christmas decorations, I'm cleaning places that weren't seen for the past month. The bathroom? Sure, you do regular cleanings, but how often do you think about the one thing that should be the cleanest of all? Yes, your toothbrush. The average toothbrush in the average bathroom contains about ten million... READ ON

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Setgo Transport Urban Bag

You've got a lot of gadgets to carry around with youÂ -your phone or Blackberry, iPod, keys, maybe a DS, and a wallet. Women carry them in a purse. Men's pants pockets are roomy, but they can only go so far. Some guys put everything in a backpack, camera bag, or laptop bag and hope what they carry doesn't resemble a man bag, or a "European shoulder bag". Especially when it's a gift from someone who will want to see you use it. So when is a man bag not a man bag? When it resembles something more manly,... READ ON

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Tata Swach

Ratan Tata was once inspired to build a cheap car when he saw a family of four balanced on a bicycle in his native India. Now that the Tata Nano "people's car" is a reality, the business tycoon has unveiled an even more useful product for India and the world. Globally, over a billion people do not have daily access to safe drinking water. The types of water delivery systems we use are prohibitively expensive for many countries. Around 380,000 children in India alone will die this year from diarrhea,... READ ON

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Mr. Christmas Lights and Sounds

In 2005, the world was charmed by a video called the Christmas Lights Gone Wild, in which Carson Williams loaded his house with Christmas lights and programmed them to flash in sync with music, specifically "Wizards in Winter" by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. Williams spent two months and over $10,000 to create the spectacle. It wasn't the first such display, but the video stormed the internet and impressed many who had never seen such a... READ ON