New Home Gadgets

How do you feel about looking like a sweat band-wearer straight out of the 80s? You’re okay with that? How about if we add in an awkward wire extending out of the forehead area? Don’t worry about looking cool. You’ll be asleep for most of the time. These are the Sleep Headphones, straight from the pages of Etsy. The Sleep Headphones are made to fit comfortably around your head and ears while you sleep. Wearing a big set of muff headphones just doesn’t do the trick when your trying to pass out. But then again, listening to your significant other’s persistent snoring isn’t doing much for your sleeping habits either. The Sleep Headphones look like they could be worn all night without a hitch. (Read the full post about ‘Sleep Headphones’…)

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Sony is said to be among the first manufacturer to take advantage of Centrino 2’s ability to switch between graphics chips with its Vaio Z570. Back in the days, “thin & light” (<4lbs) laptop users complained about having to choose between a decent graphics chip and a better battery life. The solution was to make manually switchable graphics: the user had to physically move a switch, and then reboot to use a different graphics chip. As we covered during the Centrino 2 launch, things ate getting better: the system can now switch between integrated (low power) and discrete (high performance) graphics without rebooting.

(Read the full post about ‘Sony laptop to feature reboot-less switching between Intel and NVIDIA GPU’…)

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DISH Network will be first to bring you* 1080p resolution HD content through broadcast means.  Say goodbye to the 720 garbage you’ve been forced to watch and bask in the 1080p you should have had all along.  Available tomorrow is “I am Legend” video on demand will be in full 1080p. The asterisk after “you” above means you may not actually be “you”.  According to Electronista: The upgrade in resolution isn’t available for all subscribers but will be a no-charge addition for anyone who owns an HD DVR capable of playing MPEG-4 video. (Read the full post about ‘Here comes 1080p broadcasts’…)

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Sometimes I’m amazed at the sheer amount of Lego inspired gadgets and even furniture that pops up.  Well here’s one more for you and this one comes in a chic smoky white form.  For once, this one won’t actually cost you a small fortune either.  So many vendors take advantage of the fact that Legos have so much geek appeal that no matter the price, someone will buy it.  This light actually has an extra perk thrown in.  It has an extra layer that can be snapped off or on that has little cups to hold your pens and other little things you keep on your desk. (Read the full post about ‘Lego desk lamp and organizer’…)

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These robot toilet paper holders may not have a single hi-tech feature going for them, but the fact that they’re robot heads just makes up for it.  Although I do wish they automatically ate the toilet paper when too much was hanging down.  Maybe with a random sound effect to go with it.  However, I’m afraid although these are incredibly cool, they are about as low tech as they come. Thankfully, the vendor has included a roll of toilet paper, just in case you don’t have toilet paper where you’re from.  Alright, so it may be 100% recycled toilet paper.  Seriously though, who includes toilet paper?  The head is made out of heavy duty ceramic.  It comes in several bright colors, which includes black, red, white and yellow.  They are a bit pricey though, they are being sold for $49.99.  Which seems like a bit much for something the just hold toilet paper, even if it is a robot head. (Read the full post about ‘The Robotan Toilet Paper Holder’…)

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Lian Li is more famous for their range of PC chassis, but here we have the Lian Li BZ-U02 I/O port bezel that enables convenient access to essential ports without having to bend down and check out the back of your PC chassis. Features include one standard 5.25″ bay, a special dust cover that prevents dust bunnies from establishing colonies around the ports, four USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, eSATA, and even an audio jack to hook up headphones or speakers, with a microphone port to complete the happy reunion. Lian Li will be offering the BZ-U02 for $30. (Read the full post about ‘Lian Li BZ-U02 I/O Port Bezel’…)

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by Joshua Topolsky, posted Jul 31st 2008 at 8:14AM That’s right chicks and dudes, iTunes 7.7.1 is now available for your downloading pleasure. Does it snap the App Store liberties you’ve been taking? Will it enhance your audio? Is it spying on you and your loved ones? Only Apple knows for sure.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]PermalinkEmail this45 CommentsFiled under: Desktops, Laptops (Read the full post about ‘iTunes 7.7.1 is out… and then nothing’…)

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Sanyo announced a new sleek, slim high definition dual camera Xacti DMX-HD800 that can take both stills and videos. Sanyo Xacti DMX-HD800 sports a compact and light-weight body, and easily saves data onto SD/SDHC memory cards for convenience. The DMX-HD800 will take stills and videos used on a personal computer or from the Web, houses a new three-dimensional digital noise reduction (3DDNR) filter, and adds the ‘Face Chaser’ for both stills and videos with an active scanner visible on the monitor. The Sanyo DMX-HD800 has not only has it been designed to be sleek and stylish, but it now offers our unique three-dimensional digital noise reduction (3DDNR) filter, which allows clear, beautiful images with simple operation of a dual camera offering high resolution stills and HD videos in a single unit. (Read the full post about ‘Sanyo Xacti DMX-HD800′…)

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by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jul 31st 2008 at 8:45AMIf you woke up this morning worried about what Yahoo! is planning to do for its Music Store customers who are about to be left in the lurch with its DRM server shut-down, have no fear. Yahoo! has announced that it will offer customers coupons or refunds for those songs you bought. Basically, you’ll get a coupon that you can use at RealNetworks Inc.’s Rhapsody download service. Their songs, of course, are DRM-free. For those of you who have “serious problems with this arrangement” (their words, not ours), refunds will be available. (Read the full post about ‘Yahoo! offers up coupons and refunds to DRM server-shutdown victims’…)

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IBM Research has created a new software solution to help make sure you never forget anyone’s details while on the move.

The system is called Pensieve and uses a combination of your mobile phone and desktop computer.

(Read the full post about ‘IBM Pensieve helps you remember’…)

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