Image courtesy: Weather.com

And trust me, I use the word easier as a last resort because there is really nothing easy about a hurricane. In fact, a better word may be bearable. That being said, first and foremost — prepare the yard and house by picking up the items which are usually laying around. And yes, that includes those that may seem big — including tables and chairs as those can sometimes be more dangerous than the little items.

You should also consider getting some extra food, a charcoal grill, some charcoal, water and batteries for when you lose power. And for those batteries, remember, if you lose power and have nothing that is powered by batteries you may lose that feeling of knowing what is going on and what to expect in the coming hours.

Pro tip, while gadgets are cool, in a time of a storm and limited or no power a simple AM/FM radio is a wonderful thing to have.

Another point to consider, get some gas in the car along with some extra gas in a can for those lucky enough with a generator. You should also take some time to think about the some other ‘in advance’ type of things. For example, if there is a branch or part of a tree that could blow and break a window you should cut it now. Remember, the more you do now, the easier it will be if you get hit.

With the big points out of the way, here are some goodies that you can do to help make things after easier. Keep in mind, a big storm can kill power for several days. Or worse, several weeks. With that, here are some geek tips — charge every gadget that you have that you may want to use — most important a mobile phone. And here, SMS will probably be king.

Also, download some content now — after all, the power goes out, the cable goes out and so does the internet. Plan ahead and have stuff to watch or keep yourself entertained after the fact — especially for those with kids. Maybe hit up your local retail outlet and buy an external battery or two and a car charger for your phone or laptop is always handy to have when you have no power in your home.

Your camera will also be handy for after the storm, and with that, I leave you with this thought and the below image — take this storm seriously as they can be really really dangerous. This image was my house in 2005 when Hurricane Wilma came across the southern part of Florida. All in all, it was a little over $40,000 worth of damage which came from winds of about 110 miles per hour.

The new gadget is the UP wristband and it is dubbed as coming to “help people live a healthier life.” According to the details we received;

“UP by Jawbone is a new system that tracks your movement, sleep patterns, and nutrition so you can live a healthier life. This new end-to-end system consists of a small wristband that monitors your activity 24/7, a mobile app that analyzes the activity, and an open platform that motivates you with personal and social recommendations and challenges tailored to your goals.”

With that, while this endurance geek does have his eye on this, there are still several key details missing. Most important, how much this will end up selling for and when exactly it will be available. At present, the UP by Jawbone is noted as coming “later this year.” So far no hints as to the price.

Furthermore, while there was mention of a “mobile app” the details are rather sparse as to which platform that will be for. We suspect, if there is just one that it will be for iOS, however we are hoping to see at least two — one for iOS and the other for Android.

Bottom line, this is another way to help monitor and track your body and what it does during the day (and night) and could be a nice offering, assuming you are into that sort of thing. And for those looking for something similar and not feeling like they want to wait, there are other similar products such as the Fitbit. Me personally, I like Jawbone and think I may wait to see what happens when they officially launch this.

With Quarks’ new paint, the entire wall acts as an on and off switch meaning that you no longer need to put a lamp close enough for you to reach over and turn off. The On/Off Paint will record a single touch and carry an electric current that will turn a device on or off. The best part of the paint is that it does not take a great deal of wiring in order to make it work, simply determine the area you want to paint and as long as it is around a plug you’ll be able to touch any part of that area.

While this isn’t currently available in the United States, if the company knows what’s good for it, the On/Off Switch Paint will be here soon.

The USocket is basically just a normal power plate, a three-pronged version that you’ll find in most any house, but with one critical addition: an actual USB port that allows you to plug any device that charges on USB directly into a wall socket. No need for the intermediary of an adapter any more–just plug your MP3 player or cell phone or whatever right into the wall socket and let it get its charge back on like any other device you might have in your house. Even better, it’ll only put out power to the devices when they need power, not just when they’re plugged in, ensuring that wasted power is minimized.

This, as far as I’m concerned, is a terrific idea. I’m sick to death of hunting up adapters to get charge back in my MP3 player, or worse, having to fire up my whole desktop just to slap in an MP3 player and get some charge back on it.

The really good part is, these reportedly cost just $10 a pop, which is a bit pricey for electrical plug face plates, but it’s not like you need them all over the whole house. A couple will do just fine to get your devices recharged–after all, they’ve got two USB ports per plate. The bad news, though, is that shipments on these have been delayed yet again to sometime in January, which means at least a couple weeks of waiting to get these passing juice through your house and into your mobile gear.

The Couch Mode is basically a full screen mode that goes wider than the usual computer screen without losing the clarity of picture people want when they are watching videos while sitting one their living room couch. The Vimeo Couch Mode has also got new features like a “More Info” screen and something that is sure to gain big time popularity in a “Watch Later” queue.

While the Vimeo Couch Mode is currently only support in Safari and Chrome browsers, support for several other browsers are expected in the near future.

What’s great about this is that it not only operates like a normal power strip, but it also comes with motion detectors such that, when no one’s in the room with a device, it cuts the power flowing to devices that would seem to be not in use.

And in case you’re leaving something on a charger overnight, as so many of us do, you can alternately select one of the slots to ignore its motion detector protocols to function as a standard “dumb” device. A second slot, intended for computers and the like, is permanently “on”.

Having this level of customization in a power strip means that it won’t be cheap–the HiSaver is available now and sells for $110. This would be preposterous, of course, but the HiSaver promises annual electric bill savings of between $30 and $50, so it may well be worth it after all.

Arizona State University neuroscientist William Tyler is part of this particular race, and is working on a “transcranial pulsed ultrasound” device capable of sending signals to deep parts of the brain and modifying their function.

For their part, DARPA’s out to get something like this going to create helmet-sized devices that can alter soldiers’ perceptions in the field, for example, making them feel cool and refreshed whilst hanging around in a boiling hot sun-drenched environment like the Middle East, or making them feel relaxed and peaceful while waiting for an operation to begin.

And definitely, some are looking to this as a way to access the deeply-buried brain signals that often contribute to disorders like those mentioned above. But also as mentioned above, the possibility for abuse is nightmarish in scope, so I’ll reserve judgment on this one myself and open up the floor for you folks–as much good as such a device could do, is it worth the risks?

7. Television

Now, who in their right mind wouldn’t mind a television that can change channels, adjust volume, display menu information or even turn on and off with the sheer power of thought alone? The good part about this is that it only needs a certain number of commands to operate (volume up / down, channel up / down, and so on) so programming such an interface may not be difficult. And if you refine it further by hooking a DVR to it, or your whole home theater, well, pretty soon you’re to the point where you don’t even have to move to watch television. And isn’t that really the ultimate end point?

6. Microwave

Again, you don’t need a whole lot of controls here, mostly just numbers, but thinking your microwave settings into life by just concentrating ends really well. Open the door, slip your dinner in, think a number and boom–you got hot food. Great while watching the television you think into existence, but you’d have to be careful, otherwise you’ll accidentally heat your soup for 1408 minutes while settling in to watch Stephen King.

5. Stereo

Much like the television, you don’t necessarily need a whole lot of controls to make it work, but once you really get it going you turn the stereo system in your house into a whole new level of experience. I mean, sure, it’s pretty good if you get it to the point where you think it on, or alter the volume by thought, but imagine patching in, say, a hard drive or MP3 player. Then you get to the point where you can think “I want to hear Mambo Number 5″ or even “What’s that one song, goes like this, na na NA nanana naaaa…” and have it react accordingly. And that makes for a whole new experience, where your background music changes according to your mood.

4. Desktop Computer

There’s a panoply of things your standard desktop computer can do, so getting this into thought control would be difficult but a coup unlike most any other. Imagine the sheer amount of things you’d get done if you could type into a text box just by thought. Log into your accounts, go to web addresses, type letters, compose novels…allowing the computer to operate at the speed of thought instead of the speed of carpal tunnel-plagued wrists might well trigger a cultural revolution the likes of which mankind has never seen before.

Or at least make World of Warcraft a truly immersive experience.

3. Car

If I can’t get a car that drives itself, the next best thing would have to be a car that controls by thought unaided. And that may well be the simplest to do yet–think about it. There’s only a handful of controls in a car anyway. Turn left, turn right, slow down, stop, speed up, back up. Sure, there’s other things like wipers, lights and radio but there’s no reason that can’t be controlled by hand while you’re thinking. So imagine a day in which you watch the GPS with one eye, the road with another, and think yourself down the road.

2. Thermostat

There are only two controls on a thermostat: up, or down. But imagine the environment in which you can feel cold one second and the furnace kicks on. Or you’re feeling hot, and the air conditioner fires up. It may well represent the greatest advancement in human comfort since, well, since the furnace and the air conditioner. Even better, they’d represent a much more dynamic experience–if the furnace or air conditioner only come on when you need them. No longer do you maintain a temperature when the house is empty–you only turn on the heater or air conditioner when you feel the need for them. It might involve less power use, because you wouldn’t have it too hot or too cold.

1. Water fixtures

I don’t know how many times I’ve set out to take a shower and discovered the water was too hot or too cold. And most every night, I reach down to adjust the taps because I’ve gotten used to the temperature. When the day comes that I can put up the water temperature a degree or two just by thought, it will be a terrific day. And it’s not just in the bathroom that this would be valuable–consider out in the kitchen sink. Filling up the sink for a load of dishes could be accomplished remotely. If the water is too hot cold would flood in the moment my hand touched the meniscus. Sure, many people have dishwashers–even I do–but there’s nothing quite like saving water and washing manually, especially when you don’t have a whole lot of dishes to begin with.

And that’s the list of the top seven things I’d like to see controlled by thought. Some of them are closer than others, and some may never arrive. But any of them that do arrive stand to substantially change our entire way of life. And that’s seldom a bad thing.

Not only will they be distinguished by console of choice–Xbox 360, Wii and Playstation 3–they’ll also offer a couple for specific games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero. That’s a move that makes some sense, frankly–Rock Band has about as many peripherals as some countries’ entire space program.

And whether it’s for you or the kids (or even both–why not make gaming a family affair?), you’ll have plenty of room for your games, controllers, and similar items, and put in a surprisingly small space, as you can tell from the picture above. They’ll be available in stores likely for the holidays, and look to retail at $69.99.

Watching video of this thing (available at the source), with its classical piano soundtrack, was almost sufficient to put me out like a light just watching. Panasonic’s Relax Chair Yasumi rocks back and forth with a slow, up and down motion, so it doesn’t even look like it’d be a huge problem for folks prone to motion sickness.

There’s not much news here in the way of pricing and release data, but the idea of having a chair that not only works as a chaise lounge, but also as an automated rocker, is a terribly exciting one. Of course, it probably costs an arm and a leg, too, but it’s still plenty exciting.

See, the city of Cleveland just agreed to shell out $2.5 million in taxpayer dinero to buy garbage cans equipped with RFID tags, which will in turn manage to tell how much of your garbage is recyclable and how much isn’t. If you put over ten percent recyclable matter into your garbage, the city issues a $100 fine.

It works by tracking the number of times your recyclables bin is taken away for emptying, and if the number starts to fall off, they go leafing through your trash to measure the contents.

I don’t know about you, but I’m horrified. The thought that the city might be leafing through my trash in a bid to find a reason to fine me is a scary proposition. But in this economy, it’s not surprising to see cities doing what they can to recover lost revenue.

That’s right–now while you’re at work, you can see what the dog’s getting up to in full 720p, which is better than a lot of people’s television sets can offer. And if just one camera isn’t enough to keep you satisfied, you can step up to an additional set of cameras building up to a full network of either indoor or outdoor cameras. You can add as many as six cameras; indoor models run $229.99 and outdoor runs $279.99, and the basic indoor system costs $299.99 while the basic outdoor system costs $349.99. The cameras feature two gigs of onboard storage in microSD, so you can even record the footage, not just watch via computer or smartphone. Even better, it only takes minutes to set up via a three-step system.

Word of warning, though–older household wiring may not support the system, because the network that runs the cameras requires HomePlug, which in turns uses your home wiring to network.

Indesit’s model was just shown off at the Freescale Technology Forum in Florida, and it has the surprisingly money-saving feature of being able to time its washing. See, just in case you don’t know, power costs can vary depending on when you use the juice. Use more power when everyone else is using it and you pay more in those cases, use more when no one is and you pay less. So the Indesit model allows you to take advantage of that by being like the TiVo of washing machines–it fires up its load when the power is cheapest.

Not only does it boast the power (and money) saving tech, it also offers the Aqualtis system, which automatically determines how much detergent you need. And if you’ve done your own laundry recently, you know that that can be a bit of a hassle. Why use more than you need, right?

Since this just hit a trade show, there’s no real concrete word on pricing and availability just yet, but it’s definitely going to be one to watch.

Yes, you’re reading an article about a toilet that makes electricity by flushing.

Basically, every time you flush, you’re firing a stream of pressurized water (or kinetic energy if you want to get really science wonk about it) into the toilet’s systems, moving the contents of the bowl into the septic tank or sewer system. That’s a lot of water moving through a lot of different pipes, so Tom Broadbent, formerly of De Montfort University in Leicester, England got to wondering, why can’t all that water crank a turbine on its way out?

And thus, the HighDro Power toilet system was born.

Obviously, it won’t do too much good in a house, where the toilet is flushed less than thirty or forty times a day, but in, say, a hotel or office complex where hundreds or thousands of flushes are racked up daily, well, that’s another story. Broadbent claims his device would save a seven-story building $1400 a year in electrical costs thanks to the offsets from his toilet generators. And that’s no small achievement!

Just take your dirty clothes, put them in the Washing Box, set some simple touchscreen controls and allow steam to clean your clothes in the box, which mounts on your wall and is roughly the size of a plasma television.

Looking at this thing, which you can see above, poses interesting questions like: “Where does the dirt go? It sure doesn’t evaporate!” “How many shirts can you reasonably fit in that thing at one time, anyway?” And of course, my personal favorite, “Why not just buy a washer in the first place?”

Of course, there’s some sensible application here–it’s great for people who don’t have many clothes or don’t mind washing their clothes fresh every day or even don’t have a lot of room for a washing machine–but I can’t help but look at this thing and think, you know, maybe this wouldn’t work out so well, especially matched against what we already have. But still, it’s an interesting idea that may be the start of something great.

5.The Roku Soundbridge Radio

Yes, it looks like your basic clock radio, but it offers a wide variety of other options that should help you fall asleep. Not only will it connect to your PC by WiFi and stream music from it, it’ll also play Internet radio stations, of which there are a huge amount. Now that by itself is pretty good, but when you tack on that the Roku Soundbridge has the capability to slowly fade out while it plays, then you’ve got a device that’ll really help you fall asleep. You’ll go from listening to music, to steadily quieter music, to eventually, none at all. And by the time you get there, you should be well on your way to falling asleep. The Roku Soundbridge sells for $250.

4.The Sleepwave

If you miss the old days of being rocked to sleep, well, we’ve got just the gadget for you. No, it’s not a hammock–it’s the Sleepwave from Philips. Now you too can re-live the old days of being rocked to sleep at night even if you’re now significantly larger than your dear old mother. The Sleepwave has two earpieces that hook over your ears and, in turn, stimulates the vestibular nerve and thus makes you think you’re swaying back and forth. It retails for $440 in Australia, so chances are if you’re elsewhere you can get it too.

3.The Lightsleeper

Designed by an insomniac college student, the Lightsleeper projects a moving light image up on your ceiling in a controlled circle, and does that for about 30 minutes at a clip. You watch the spinning light and this, apparently, helps you fall asleep by relaxing your mind. And if the first half hour isn’t enough to relax you, just tap the device for another half-hour’s worth of spinning light. Sounds more like a way to get you dizzy to me, but the folks behind it assure me it works. It currently retails for 150 pounds sterling at lightsleeper.com.

2.The Kuchofuku Air Conditioned Bed

If there’s one thing I know full well, it’s that it’s a whole lot easier to fall asleep in a cool room than it is in a hot room. And if the bed’s cool, that also helps a whole lot. Enter the Kuchofuku air conditioned bed, a bed that uses two fans to draw in cool air and circulate it through the bed while you sleep. I can personally see this one working as long as the fans aren’t really loud. Between the cool temperatures and the droning fan blades, this one should do the job nicely. And for $399, it’s not a bad price.

1. The Suimin Sleep Room

Oh here we go. It’s one thing to say that your bedroom is designed entirely for sleep, but it’s another thing to actually have a room designed by scientists for sleep. The Suimin Sleep Room uses built-in controls to induce quality sleep, using a reclining bed with massage functions, soundproofing, specifically-tuned lighting and music to make an environment tailor-made for sleep. In fact, it’s so well crafted that no one has ever spent more than a half hour in a Suimin Sleep Room before falling sound asleep. It’ll cost you a whopping $50000 Australian to have one of these put in, but considering what it can do, that’s almost worth it.

And so, there are five devices that suggest they’ll help you get a good night’s sleep. I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV, so I can’t say they will or not, but I’d definitely like to try some of these myself.

Inception hits theaters today.

all pics copyright their owners.

See, not only does the Enphase Environ allow you to contact it via the web–thus, any computer or smartphone–to adjust settings in mid-flight. Imagine the power savings if you leave your air conditioner off all day and then, when you’re on your way home from work, call and tell it to turn on so by the time you get home it’s right where you like it just in time for the cool of the evening. Or better, should you leave for vacation and discover, much to your chagrin, that you left the air on, you can boost it while on the way to your vacation destination.

Even better, the Enphase Environ will allow you to check your solar panel output (assuming you actually have any to check), thus giving you one more option. And word is that Enphase is actually developing other apps as well to be both green and highly useful. When you couple “green” and “highly useful”, well, that’s good enough by me.

It’s a lot like any other power strip, but with a critical difference: the USB port isn’t there to power the device, that’s what the power plug is for. But what the USB does is hook into your computer to allow you to control the individual outlets from your computer.

You might wonder what that level of control is even necessary for, but consider this: most people leave their printers plugged in, even powered up, just in case they need to print something. Turning it off and on is a headache, especially for those few sheets! But with the USB Controlled Power Strip, you can just disconnect that outlet from receiving power from your computer. Then, when you need it, just re-engage that outlet and boom! Juice is flowing to your printer for those few seconds you need a print job.

And what’s better, you can even tie the controlled power strip to other devices–like, say, your cell phone. A little software work and the next thing you know, you can arrange to activate your coffeemaker from your cell phone.

You’ll be able to get one of these in August, but the price is as yet unannounced.

When I first saw this picture, my jaw dropped. And then I came to my senses and figured it had to be some kind of photo manipulation or something similar. But no, I’m assured from a couple different places that the Wet Circuits power strip is indeed doing what it purports.

Yes, that’s a guy jamming metal tweezers into a power strip while water pours over his hand into the device, and yet, that light bulb carries on. It’s waterproof, tamperproof, and assured to be safe against virtually everything from “pets who like to lick things” to “kids who like to explore and stick things into holes”. It’s even assured to work under water, though this isn’t recommended because, get this, it will “shorten the product’s life span due to the mineral buildup”. Not because we all know the dangers of electricity and water combining, but because of minerals.

And if you want a power strip that will stand up to most anything, then you can get a Wet Circuits power strip for $35.

Normally, a battery would have its positive terminal at one end, and its negative terminal at another. But with Microsoft’s Instaload batteries, each end has both the positive AND the negative terminal, so they each have two terminals per end. Thus, you’ll be able to slide a battery into its port any way you please, because no matter how the port is set up, you’ll always make the negative / positive contact.

Microsoft already has a host of buddies involved in this, including Duracell and the flashlight maker AE Light, so it looks like Microsoft batteries might be heading our way soon…or at least, it looked that way until I discovered the trap in the issue–apparently, there’s some whisperings that Microsoft is somehow managing to involve “licensing terms” in these batteries, which strikes me as preposterous and at the same time likely. We’re talking about Microsoft, after all.

Just what these terms are is still a bit unclear, as the product isn’t even out, but the thought of being a “battery pirate” is a strange one at best.

The PowerTel M6000 is a perfect fit for malls, offices or noisy places. Never miss a call or fail to answer it on time and miss those important orders or appointments. If the loud ringing is not enough, this phone set also comes with a vibration mode which should help shake you up a bit in case you go deaf.

So is it any wonder why the PowerTel M6000 is touted to be the world’s loudest phone? Irritating or not you have to agree that missing calls can be critical especially in businesses. The phone also comes with big buttons and a hands-free speakers as well as a special hidden “SOS” panic button. If this is something that interests you, the PowerTel M6000 retails for about $175. Care to get one?

Yes, design label Diesel, already well know for their clothing and watch ranges, has now moved in to furniture with their Lifestyle range.

The Xraydio 2 Disk rectangular coffee table measuring 1400 x 500 x 290 is cleverly made by printing the X-ray of a dj console onto glass and using the ‘colours of the night’ with shades from electric blue to black.

Diesel themselves say ‘by retaining the transparency of the glass the effect is truly strong, evocative and highly iconographic.’ The lighting opportunities too are limitless.

No price yet on this piece of art in the lounge.

Well, there you have it, it’s a really cool design and would certainly grace any retro-style lounge. In fact you may even consider other rooms as Diesel also produce a range of bed covers that match the design on the table!

Neato Robotics has revealed the XV-11 Robot Vacuum, a laser-guided vacuum cleaner designed for independent, obstacle-conscious operation.  The Neato XV-11 Robot Vacuum takes advantage of a small form factor to not only clean a household in a low-profile, but fit under couches and beds to provide a cleaner environment.

Neato Robotic’s XV-11 vacuum is slated to compete directly with the Roomba robot vacuum, but does so with different navigation and cleaning technology.  The Neato XV-11 uses a laser vision system that provides a 360-degree view of a room, doorways, furniture and other obstacles in its path.  This laser system allows the Neato Robotics XV-11 vacuum to approach, but not touch its obstacles while maintaining a complete cleaning radius.  Also, the cornered edges of the Neato XV-11 robot allow it to clean corners, whereas the rounded Roomba was unable to fit.

Under the Neato XV-11′s possibly Autobot-symbol-inspired design is a “centrifugal compression impeller” system that sucks up dust and debris.  This is also a departure from the Roomba standard, as the Roomba used a sweeper system that consumed more energy than this new Neato Robotics counterpart.  While an A/B comparison of the energy usage and effectiveness of the Roomba and the Neato Robotics XV-11 Robot Vacuum has not been conducted, we’ll have to take Neato’s word on that until its February release.  Upon its release, it will be for sale on Neato’s website and select retail locations for $399.

How many hours do you spend in front of the computer? Does your back hurt? What about your joints and in particular your knees? There’s no point in denying it, the more time you spend at your desk whether at work or at home, the more likely to visit the doctor for a work-related condition.

In order to be as efficient as possible at work you should be as healthy as possible. The chair and the desk you’re using are just about as important as that computer in front of you. And since we did show you all the latest laptops and desktops out there, maybe it’s time to offer you a seating solution too.

The ON comes from the German office furniture maker Wilkhahn and from the looks of it, the ON sounds like a great addition to one’s personal workspace. The ON uses the Trimension technology which is a mechanism that follows the “positions functions and scope of movement in the knee and hip joints.” In other words, sitting becomes less tiring and therefore you’re less likely to feel various kinds of pains. In fact it seems that the Center of Health at the German Sport University Cologne has confirmed that the ON will activate the whole metabolic system. That sounds like something I’d want to have active while I’m focusing on the screens in front of me all day long.

The ON lets you move forwards, backwards and sideways without leaving the chair. That way you activate various group muscles which are otherwise ignored while you’re sitting. So whenever you need to move around, the ON will follow your posture. The chair’s pivotal sections follow the position and movement of the knee and hip joints while keeping your center of gravity in perfect balance. In other words you can move as much as you want to any direction without worrying about unwanted accidents.

The ON is available right now and it comes with a price tag that will make you think twice before buying. The chair costs around $850 but we’re talking about your health here. There’s no price for that, is it?

Now I don’t want to make light of a pretty serious situation, but I have to. Last month I remember that I posted an article on something called the RomEO PuP GPS pet locator that’s eerily similar to what I’m about to cover in this particular post, at least in concept. Now I’m not suggesting that people put dog collars on their kids to keep track of them, I just had to get that out there before I could move on. OK, now I can focus. A British company called Lok8u, whose license plate-like moniker is a bit of a stretch, has just announced the release of a GPS child location system called the nu-m8 that is being touted as, “…the world’s first GPS locator that locates your child…not just the device.”

Now I don’t have kids myself, just dogs, but I can imagine what an absolute nightmare it would be to actually lose your child. My wife and I lost our cat for a few hours once and it wasn’t fun. Anyway, it sure seems like the freak quota of the planet has increased in recent years with all of the press surrounding child-stealing weirdoes and it’s about time a company like Lok8u has done something about it. Their new nu-m8 is basically a GPS locator that has been built-in to a little wrist-wearable device that also doubles as a digital watch. You strap it on your kid and you can track them anywhere in the world using the Lok8u website.

The nu-m8 system uses the same pinpoint precise GPS technology that’s used in SatNav systems and it’s capable of locating your child within three meters (that’s about 10-ft). The location part of the system is accomplished by connecting to the lok8u customer portal via the Internet or SMS text message from your mobile phone. As an added layer of security, the wristwatch device has a built-in alarm that is set to go off if it’s removed and it’s completely waterproof. You can also set a “safe zone” for your kid and the device will let you know if they’ve wandered outside of the area. Kind of like an Invisible Fence system for children without the electric shock. This might be a great feature for the next generation, Lok8u. Just a suggestion.

At this point, the nu-m8 is only available in the UK and requires a minimum 18-month (ouch) subscription to Pinpoint Services. Subscriptions start at 4.99GBP per month for the basic package. The nu-m8 comes in green, black, blue or pink and is priced at 149.99GBP and is available to buy now from www.lok8u.com and Amazon.co.uk.

Admit it. You know there are days when you wish you could actually find out what the temperature and humidity levels are in your bathroom, bedroom, office, and kitchen. As useful as that information can be, it doesn’t help that you need to go out and buy four separate devices and set them up in each location all the while dreading the time when you have to actually get off the couch to walk around to each room to read them. That can take hours. I feel your pain and so do the folks at Oregon Scientific. Not only is their new +ECO Clima Control weather station capable of saving you valuable time in your indoor meteorological exploits, it can also run off of solar power, and that’s good for everyone.

The new +ECO Clima Control is basically your typical multi-location weather station capable of reporting the exact temperature and humidity readings in up to four locations in your home (one being where you actually have the base station) at once. Where it does one better is in its integrated solar panel. For it’s through this nifty little addition that you can basically run the device as long as the sun continues to shine. According to Oregon Scientific, the solar panel is capable of collecting enough solar power to run the weather station for up to three months. I guess that would come in handy for those three months where you have no sunlight. Maybe for cave dwellers and polar bears up near the Arctic Circle.

So what else do you get? How about the future weather forecast with graphical icons that will tell you if its going to be Sunny, Partly Cloudy, Cloudy, Rainy or Snowy. It also has a pretty large LED backlit display, a radio-controlled clock and calendar, an alarm, and something called a mold alert. I’m not exactly sure what a mold alert is, but my bet is that when it goes off it doesn’t have to do with the bread in your fridge. Maybe it means that your humidity levels are too high. Whatever the case, you can get your own +ECO Clima Control weather station for $119.99 at www.oregonscientific.com.

Have you been looking for a new way to creep out your significant other? Are you a perpetual nagger that loves to rely on new technology to get the job done? Well, the folks that created the Digital Video Memo just might be your best friends. Now you can take your gentle reminding to the next level or leave your loved one a little somethin’ somethin’ in the morning to let them know you were thinking about them. Before I go into the details, I must remind you that the above image is pretty frickin’ creepy, so don’t look directly at it for extended periods of time.

The Digital Video Memo is a nifty little magnet that allows you to record up to 30 seconds of whatever it is that you want to record. It has a built-in 1.5-in LCD screen and integrated speaker so your audience is sure to get the message loud and clear. From what I’ve read, it seems pretty easy to use, too. You push one button to record and one button to play back. Easy, breezy, beautiful. Now you can only store one message at a time, so don’t get your hopes too high with this one. You plug it into a powered USB port to recharge its battery and if you haven’t gotten it yet, it has a magnet on the back.

You can get your very own Digital Video Memo magnet from the fine folks at www.iwantoneofthose.com for a mere 29.99GBP (about $50). You’ll notice that either one of two things are at play: completely unexpected (and quite disturbing) popularity or poor supply chain management. They’re backordered.

With energy costs high enough to give you a coronary every time you get the electric bill, it’s no wonder that manufacturers are trying to take advantage. It’s definitely a lot cheaper to heat only the room you are using rather than trying to heat the entire house, right? So why not have a portable heating system that you can take with you. That’s exactly what the inventor of the Remote Temperature Sensing Space Heater (insert much-needed clever name here) thought, too.

According to the people at Hammacher-Schlemmer this is the only space heater that monitors the ambient temperature from the remote control, ensuring your preferred air temperature is maintained wherever you are located. When the temperature falls below or rises above the preset level, the remote control automatically sends a signal to the heater (up to 30-ft away) to increase or decrease the wattage and fan speed.

Deeply pitched fan blades and a specially-designed air duct create a vortex of warm air that circulates throughout a 256-sq ft (24-sq m) room, heating the air evenly from the floor to the ceiling and eliminating hot and cold spots. The heater uses only the necessary energy (between 750 and 1,500 watts) to achieve the preferred temperature, ensuring optimal efficiency.

The unit features a remote control that also allows you to adjust heat output or set the timer with the touch of a button, and all functions can be changed using the heater’s LCD touchscreen. The Remote requires two AA batteries and the heater plugs into an AC outlet. Overall the space heater measures 13×12.25x 10.25-in (33×31.1×26-cm) and weighs 7.5-lbs (3.4-kg). You can get your own for $199.99 at www.hammacher.com.

Keeping tabs on your pets, especially dogs, can be a nerve-wracking experience. This is especially true for those of us that live on large lots where you often let your dogs run free. But I guess this can be just as much of a pain for city dwellers whose pets have a tendency to make a break for it whenever they sense a chance at freedom. So what are you to do if your dog’s out of sight and it’s time to go? How about a pet tracking GPS device? That’s exactly what the RomEO PuP Pet Location System is and it’s sure to help you keep your dogs at home where they belong.

The RomEO PuP Pet Location System consists of a collar and GPS receiver. The collar is sized 12-24-in so it should fit most dogs. The weather-resistant receiver has a 3-mile range and contains a WAAS enabled GPS receiver tracking multiple satellites. It also gives you the option to track two dogs per System so you can keep an eye on multiple canines simultaneously. The receiver features a backlit LCD that displays both the distance and direction between you and your pet so you can make sure you are headed in the right direction.

The RomEO PuP Pet Location System also sports rechargeable batteries along with an included charger. The manufacturer states that the battery life is 18 to 30 hours depending on use and the unit has an indoor mode that allows you to keep your digital eyes on your dog from within your house. Not a bad feature for when it’s raining I suppose. You can get your own RomEO PuP for $279.95 at www.romeoforpets.com. A second collar will cost you $159.95.

Sonos, creator of multi-room music systems, has just announced that it has launched the new Sonos CR200, a state of the art music controller for the home. The new full-color Sonos Controller, which just received its long-awaited FCC approval this month, features an ultra-responsive touch screen display that should make it easy to quickly find and play all the music you want, in any room of the house, and all with the touch of a finger.

The Sonos CR200 features a 3.5-in full-color 640×480 VGA display and comes with an integrated capacitive touch screen for accurate and responsive operation. The touch screen keyboard enables a fairly robust music search and includes support for multi-million song jukeboxes like Napster and Rhapsody, more than 25,000 radio stations and podcasts, SIRIUS Internet Radio, and personal music libraries. It also features the ability to create custom radio stations from services like Last.fm and Pandora.

Apart from the rich graphics, you will also be able to view metadata such as artist information, cover art and more. The CR200 is styled with an anodized precision machined extruded aluminum case and soft durable rubber backing. The unit ships with the Sonos Charging Cradle 200 and retails for $349. For more information and the complete spec list you can head over to www.sonos.com.

We all love our digital music and couldn’t stand to be without our precious iPods for even a moment, but few of us realize that the high compression rates required by such technology often comes at the cost of the audio quality of our favorite recordings. The folks at Olive understand this and have created the new Olive OPUS No. 4 Digital Music Player with that in mind.

The Olive OPUS No. 4 Digital Music Player is one slick unit. It gives you the ability to store up to 3,000 CDs worth of music and it maintains their original high-fidelity audio quality to boot. You basically just insert a CD and hit record on the touchscreen interface. After a couple of minutes its added to your digital library so you can enjoy it forever. Olive will even preload 100 of your CDs for free before they ship your unit out.

Another cool feature of the Olive OPUS No. 4 Digital Music Player is that it allows you to access its content using any web browser or wireless device like an iPhone. That way you can manage your audio library from just about anywhere. And if you have a ton of digital music files on your Mac or PC, no problem. You can even drag and drop your other digital music right in to your new OPUS No. 4. You can even share the music in up to 10 different rooms by using the MELODY No. 2 Hi-Fi Multi-Room Players.

For more information on the new Olive OPUS No. 4 Digital Music Player and to order your own head over to www.olive.us. There’s a 500GB model, a 1TB model and an extreme 2TB model and they’ll cost you $1,499, $1,599 and $1,799 respectively.

Nothing looks cooler than a sleek outdoor fireplace when you are entertaining on the back deck. Their ability to enhance the ambiance of even the most ordinary of spaces has made them some of the most popular design upgrades in homes around the world. The latest in outdoor fireplace technology from Conmoto, the Muro, not only looks great but its environmentally friendly fuel option won’t add to your carbon footprint either.

The Conmoto Muro designed by Sebastian David Buscher is the perfect fusion of form and function. Crafted in concrete and glass it has a clean modern look that adds an air of sophistication to any decor. The minimalist fireplace burns liquid bio-alcohol – the fuel tank has about a 3.5-hour burn time – and is perfect for any outdoor location. And it’s flexibility allows you to set it up on your patio or balcony, even mount to the wall.

The Conmoto Muro is really a decorative piece, so you shouldn’t expect to heat your house with it, but it will generate close to 1 kW of heat. That might be enough to warm your hands with in the cold fall months. There is also a specially-crafted stainless steel hook that allows for infinite adjustment of the fuel tank. The Conmoto Muro outdoor fireplace with glass fire screen retails for 1,095GBP (about $1,800) or 935GBP (about $1,500) without.

When it comes to indoor lighting options more and more people are changing out their traditional incandescent light bulbs for the more energy-efficient compact fluorescent kind. They save you quite a bit in energy costs but their tightly wound spiral look doesn’t sit very well with some interior designers. The engineers at Eternaled have come up with a new LED, the HydraLux-4 liquid-cooled household bulb, that they hope will have even the designers drooling.

Eternaleds’ new HydraLux-4 LED bulb is touted as the first LED bulb in the world to use liquid-cooling technology. You can clearly see the transparent liquid filling the inner chamber of the light. It’s also said to produce 360-degree lighting equivalent to that of a 25-Watt standard “A-Shape” incandescent bulb while lasting 35 times as long. It is designed to fit into any device that uses a standard E27 medium base light socket. Here are some interesting facts from the Eternaled website:

• Saves on average $13.96 per year*
• Costs $1.75 to run per year*
• Saves $157.00 over lifetime in bulb and electricity costs*
• Lasts 35,000 hours or 35x longer than incandescent bulbs
• Fully Dimmable
• Approved for Outdoor and Indoor Use
• Runs cool
• 2-Year Warranty & 30 Day Money Back Guarantee
• UL Listed, CE Approved, ROHS

* At 8 hours usage per day, 365 days per year and $0.15/kWh

The HydraLux-4 is definitely a step-change in lighting technology. Although it won’t find much use in areas outside of little lamps and wall sconces, it will open up your options. Oh yeah, and the liquid inside is harmless paraffin oil so there’s no need to worry about getting a haz-mat crew out to your house if you happen to drop it on the floor. You can get your hands on a HydraLux-4 for $34.99 at www.Eternaleds.com. They come in warm white and daylight white.

There are just some places that aren’t conducive to television installation and chief among them in most people’s homes are the bathrooms. They are normally some of the smallest rooms in your house and they’re wet environments on top of that. So what are you supposed to do if you simply have to have your high-definition while you shave? The technology wizards at Suera have just the thing with their Enhanced Series of mirror televisions.

Seura has combined the beauty and simplicity of a mirror with the high-tech in their new line of Enhaced Series Seura Mirror Televisions. The general idea seems simple enough. You install a small LCD television behind a mirror so that when the TV is on you can see it and when it’s off you can’t. The main challenge with this placement is in your ability to get a clear picture since the glass and mirror coating physically obscure the screen. Suera has come up with the solution by combining a specialized mirror coating that mimics the real thing with an ultra-bright LCD screen that really pops. And just in case you were worried about the moisture from your shower causing problems, the Seura mirror TV is waterproof.

You might think that this kind of thing is expensive and you would be right. The 19-in screen embedded in a 24×36-in mirror will run you about $3,500 and while the TV size doesn’t change you can get a mirror that is up to 45×36-in for those big wall spaces. Oh yeah, and I’m sure they’ll customize one for you if you have the coin. For more information and to download the detailed specs you can head over to www.seura.com.

LEDs are finding their way into almost every aspect of our lives. They are relatively cheap to manufacture, they last just about forever, and they look cool. So whether it’s in a new television or the flashlight that’s sitting on your workbench, LEDs have a welcome place in our homes. Interior designers are also starting to incorporate the LED into their work because of the increased flexibility and cost-effectiveness they can afford. The Marset LEDTube is a unique little LED lamp that is sure to have you dreaming up places in your own house where you can put them.

The LEDTube is a space friendly lighting alternative to your typical wall or table lamp. Its recessed wall installation makes sure that it’s readily available when you need it and easy to stow when you don’t. And because it’s not sitting on your nightstand you get to recover all of that valuable bedside real estate. I don’t really need any lights at the moment, but I have to be honest, when I saw this thing I wanted one. They just look like something you’d find in some high-end boutique hotel in Switzerland and we all need something like that.

The LEDTube is available in silver and black and they retail for 248EUR (about $350). From what I was able to find, they are only available to construction contractors at the moment, but you can request additional information from the manufacturer at www.stylepark.com.

When it comes to cool cleaning contraptions it seems like Dyson has cornered the market with their award-winning (and brightly colored) line of cyclone vacuum cleaners. Not to be outdone, the Japanese have put their own spin on these oft-maligned sanatation devices with their latest offering, the Escargot Cyclone Vacuum Cleaner. The result of a collaborative effort between Japanese electronics giant Toshiba and appliance manufacturer Electrolux, the Escargot VC-Z100L is a combination of super clean and neat freak sleek.

Weighing in at a svelt 2.1-kg (4.6-lbs) the Escargot VC-Z100L (probably so-named because of its resemblance to the shell of our slimy friend the snail) puts a new spin on the cyclone vacuum cleaner. This compact vacuum cleaner sports a 50-watt high-suction power plant and can be easily moved from room to room via the attached shoulder strap. This means no more having to drag around a piece of dead weight during your cleaning routine.

The Escargot comes with plenty of accessories, making it adaptable to pretty much any vacuuming task. It’s also short on sound with an ear-friendly 65-dBA maximum noise level. With its 6-m (19.7-ft) long power cord, modern metallic design and reliance on industrial-strength materials, the Escargot just might make cleaning fun. OK, probably not, but it sounds good, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, the Escargot is only available in Japan, so most of us will have to continue to dream. Price for this Escargot cyclone vacuum cleaner is around 10,500 Yen ($113).

I like to keep things neat. This means that when it comes to charging my electronics I have to find some way of managing all of the cords and charging bases littering my office. Normally, I just put them all in the same place, but they end up looking like a bowl of black spaghetti. There are several devices on the market that provide single-source charging of multiple electronic devices, but very few that do it with style. The Charge4All Charging Tube not only lets you charge up to four devices at once with a single power source, but it looks good too.

Charge4All, makers of various charging gadgets and adaptors, has just announced the release of the Charge4All Charging Tube. This slick little gizmo has four ports that let you connect just about any portable electronic device for charging. What will it charge, you ask? According to the website “…any hand-held electronic devices including cell phones, mp3 players, Bluetooth devices, PDAs, digital cameras, portable GPS’s, etc.”

The Charge4All comes in both silver and black and you can get it with or without the optional rubber charging mat. The basic set of adaptors included are: iPhone/iPod, Micro USB, Mini USB for Blackberry and Motorola, Samsung SCH, and LG Chocolate. If you don’t see one for your device they probably have it available for ordering on their website. For more information and to order your own Charge4All visit www.charge4all.com. The unit is priced at $29.95 and the various adaptors are $4.95 each.

I probably lost the better part of five years of my youth to video games and just about as much time arguing with my parents about how much time I spent in front of the screen. In fact, it might be the reason I need to wear glasses today. Anyway, parents today have to deal with even more technology taking their kid’s time. What if there was a way to monitor, better yet, control how much time your little monsters spent battling aliens and saving virtual galaxies from annihilation? The GameDr video game timer might be the perfect prescription.

Invented by John Morrissey of Edina, Minnisota, the GameDr Video Game Timer is basically a high-tech chastity belt for your gaming console. The unit is attached to the plug of the game console and set by the parents to a pre-determined number of hours or minutes using a password protected digital display. Once the time limit has been reached, it sends out a series of audible beeps letting the gamer know that their time is about to run out. Once the time limit is reached, the device electronically locks out the power supply to the gaming device. Game over, man! Game over!

The general idea behind the GameDr is that it allows parents to control how much time their kids are allowed to spend controller in hand. I guess it’ll give kids more time to spend texting and Tweeting. Not a bad concept, really, but I’m sure that some of those tech-savvy teens will have a hack figured out in no time. The device retails for $30 and is being marketed by Digital Innovations of Arlington, Illinois.

For many new parents, the challenge of knowing what to do when your baby is crying can be nerve wracking. What do all of those wails mean? Is he hungry? Thirsty? Bored? Is it just gas? No longer do parents have to rely on millions of years of genetic instincts when it comes to raising their children. There is now a device created specifically to decode those baby screams so that even the most clueless parent knows when to feed and when to change. Because mixing up those two activities can really irritate your baby.

The WhyCry Baby Cry Analyzer, the creation of Spanish electronics engineer Pedro Monagas, was developed after three years of studying over 100 infants for distinctions in their cries. Monagas found that by analyzing differences in pitch, frequency of crying spells and changes in volume, he was able to determine that they fell into one of five distinct mood categories: hungry, bored, annoyed, sleepy or stressed. I have to give the guy credit. Three years and a hundred crying babies? I can’t even make it through a 45-minute flight with one screaming infant.

Does the thing work? I haven’t the faintest idea. The claim is that after 20 seconds, it will analyze the crying sounds and display one of five graphics depicting the appropriate mood of your baby. It’s a baby mood box. I can also imagine that there are more than a few guys out there wondering if this would work on their woman. It’s about the size of a small alarm clock and it even has a digital display of the temperature and humidity in your baby’s room. I’m pretty sure those last two features are there to prevent hot-moist baby syndrome. The WhyCry sells for about $100 at www.thinkgeek.com and www.whycry.com is there to help you understand why you need one.

The new Touch URC 8603 from XSight is a universal remote control designed to make all other remotes in your house redundant. It’s a handy device that can let you manage an impressive eighteen devices and costs a little less than $200.

The URC 8603 is an amazingly intelligent device. All you need to do is to tell it about the devices you want it to control and the URC 8603 will do the rest. It has a 2.2 inch color touch screen and programmable macros that let you access movies at the touch of a single button. Logos on the touchscreen activate the channel when you touch the logo. The URC 8603 makes use of a web-based programming tool – the EZRC. With the EZRC you can create your own profiles and segregate channels and devices to be activated under your own profile.The remote supports up to six profiles.

The remote control software can be upgraded via a USB so you can add new features such as new languages and graphics to the remote as and when available.

The URC 8603 -
* Device support: 18 devices
* Display: Colour touchscreen: 2.2 inch
* Infra-Red
* Set-Up: On remote setup, EZ-RC Setup via Internet
* Screen Keys
* Keypad Backlighting
* LCD Clock
* User Interface
* Slide Bar
* Li-Ion battery
* Charging cradle