Check out your electrical consumption with this power strip

Ever wondered how much power is being consumed by your LCD TV or desktop PC? Well, now you can find out exactly how much electricity your appliances at home are drawing with the Cost Controller Power Strip. Like most power strips in the market, the Cost Controller Power Strip is designed to connect to multiple devices (in this case, eight) and comes with surge protection.

What's interesting, though, is the addition of an LCD display that shows in kilowatt hours (kWh) the power consumption of the connected electronic gadgets. This allows users to find out which devices contribute the most to their monthly utility bills and perhaps better manage usage to keep costs down. The increasing kWh figures shown on the display may even be inspire some people to think twice about leaving their DVD recorder or LCD monitor on standby mode over the weekend.

The Cost Controller Power Strip also shows the voltage, line frequency and power factor, so users can monitor the quality of the power line. It retails in the US for US$99.99.

Via ComputerGear
Picture credit: ComputerGear

More Xbox 360 joy for less

While Sony has pulled a quickie and slapped on a pricier S$599 (US$394.08) sticker tag on its 40GB PlayStation 3, Microsoft has gone the exact opposite direction across the board for its Xbox 360s. Effective from April 29, the Arcade, 20GB Pro and 120GB Elite models will be priced at S$399 (US$262.50), S$499 (US$328.29) and S$699 (US$459.87), respectively. The price revision makes perfect sense, too, since this will give its hard drive-equipped Pro package a lot more leeway against its rival's offering.

Photo credit: Microsoft

Lexmark's new All-in-One lineup

Ask anyone about Lexmark printers and they would probably mention "affordable" somewhere along the line. Affordable it may be, but the US company is bent on providing consumers a better printing experience with its printers. In recent years, All-in-One (AIO) units are becoming more popular as they are space-saving, which is important if you have space constraints. The price slash on these units has also boosted sales of this category. Probably with this idea in mind, Lexmark's introduced its new line of AIO units targeted at home users, students and small offices.

While Lexmark Singapore did not provide any information regarding these printers, we got a better idea of them from Lexmark's US Web site.

The X4650 is part of the Home and Student line of printers that Lexmark released earlier this year. It boasts Wi-Fi connectivity for wireless and network printing and, according to its Web site, the installation process is fuss-free and should be complete within 10 minutes. The X4650 can print, copy, scan and output pictures directly from flash media or PictBridge.

The X6575 is targeted at professionals and business users. It also has Wi-Fi which we think is great so everyone can print from it without the messy cables. It is fitted with an auto document feeder that can hold up to 25 pages for multiple-page copying or faxing.

Another new AIO from Lexmark that has fax function is the X5495. Without Wi-Fi, it is a scaled-down version of the X6575. Compared with the professional model, the print speed is slightly slower at 25 pages per minute (ppm) for black and 18ppm for color prints.

According to its specifications, the X2650 looks like an AIO for students. Stripped of the slots for memory cards and PictBridge function, this printer houses the bare essentials of what is required for an AIO--copy and scan on top of printing, which is what a student may be using the most.

As of press time, Lexmark Singapore could not confirm the pricing and availability of these models in Asia Pacific, but we're keeping an eye out for you. Check back here for more updates.

Step aside, Oxyride, here comes Evolta

Looks like we've barely taken Panasonic's OxyRide AA batteries out for a spin before even that has been overtaken in the endless race for the longest-lasting and most durable battery.

Newcomer Evolta, derived from the words "evolution" and "voltage", is due out in Japan end month with a worldwide rollout later in the year. It comes under the Panasonic stable, but lays claim to being the first of its kind to have the Guinness Book of World Records officially certify the Evolta as the "world's longest-lasting AA alkaline battery cell". In numbers that you and I can understand, that's "almost 1.3-2 times" longer than existing alkalines out there, with a shelf life that's a whopping 10 years--double that of Pana's current batts and possibly even outlasting some of us.

The retail price has been suggested at 590 yen (US$5.65) per pack of four--an ouch-worthy 15 percent premium over regular batteries and even pricier than its own previously top-lining Oxyride. True to the hype that accompanied the Oxyride, the Evolta is readying a game that's tied up with its 15cm-tall Evolta mascot robot.

Via Japan Today | Photo credit: Panasonic

Apple gives iMac chips a boost

Following rumors last week that Apple would soon be releasing a new iMac, the Mac maker on Monday started selling an updated version of the computer, featuring a faster processor and an option for a souped-up graphics chip.

The lowest-end new iMac, which retails for S$1,888 (US$1,388) in Singapore, features a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Penryn processor with up to 6MB of cache memory and a 1,066MHz front-side bus. Most models offer 2GB of memory.

These features are similar to those found in the February MacBook and MacBook Pro updates.

"With the latest Intel processors, a faster new graphics option, and more memory, customers now have even more reasons to love the iMac," Philip Schiller, Apple Worldwide Product Marketing senior vice president, said in a statement.

Apple's 24-inch iMac, which starts selling from S$2,788 (US$2,049), features such options as a 3.06GHz Intel processor and speedy 512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS graphics.

While the update offers faster processing speed, the overall design remains the same.

Via Crave CNET

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