Heat up your lunch with USB power

Unless you're into cold sandwiches for lunch, which is cold comfort for most of us Asians who like our victuals toasty, here's a nifty way to keep your meals hot, particularly if your office is too stingy to pack a microwave. Thanks once again to Thanko, quirky electronics maker of USB gewgaws like the USB tie fan and USB Eye Warmer, this USB-powered Lunchbox puts your plug-and-play port to more practical use.

Measuring 140 x 200 x 90mm and weighing 175g, the gizmo looks big enough to keep two smallish bento boxes (or one big meal box) nice and steaming at 60 degrees Celcius, although Thanko doesn't state how long it'll take to bring the food up to a piping hot temperature. According to the Web site literature, the heater is made of anodized aluminum supplemented by styrofoam insulation, so you can be assured you won't suddenly find yourself having a bonus steam facial out of the blue. Perfect with a hot cuppa brew right off a USB Cup Warmer.

Via GearLog

Household bot makes theatrical debut

The Wakamaru is best known as a domestic robot that can greet guests and provide information like weather forecasts. But soon, it may be signing autographs and being trailed by paparazzi.

Tuesday marked the theatrical debut for the bot, which appeared onstage alongside real-life actors in a play that's being hailed as a first in robot-human artistic collaboration. Hataraku Watashi ("I, Worker"), by playwright Oriza Hirata, focuses on a couple who own two housekeeping robots, one of which loses its motivation to work.
Read more »

Secret iPod cigarette case

Old iMacs modified to become aquariums are not uncommon. There are even instructions on the Web to teach you how to do so. Here's another mod for the Apple faithful, but it's for a purpose less therapeutic than watching fish swim around in a tank--hiding cigarettes.

Instead of just leaving her broken iPod in a drawer, 22-year-old Tara ripped out the innards, and made it into a case for seven cigarettes. According to her blogpost, she doesn't smoke much and, at her age, doesn't need to hide her smokes from teachers even if she did, so making it was purely for the cool factor. We think if someone can improve on this and make fire come out of the headphone jack on the top, it might even outstrip the iMac fish tank in popularity.

Via Boing Boing Gadgets

Hacking down on video game energy use

Individual gamers and console makers could significantly reduce energy use from video games, according to study that identified the Nintendo Wii as the industry's most efficient "juice sipper".

Gamers waste a lot of energy simply because they don't turn their machines off when they're not playing, according to environmental advocacy group the National Resources Defense Council and consulting firm Ecos. The analysis, published last week, found that turning off machines when idle could save gamers US$100 a year.

The authors said the industry should adopt automatic power-down features and make it easier for consumers to locate these features. Idle machines consume nearly as much energy as when machines are turned on.
Read more »

Illuminate your blinds

Feeling a little blasé about how ordinary your blinds look from day to night? OK. Fine, so you don't care. How about if they did something more than just open and close?

Designed by Yoon-Hui Kim and Eun-Kyung Kim, the Solar Vertical Lamp takes an average vertical blind and embeds it with special mini photovoltaics and LED pixels. Close the blinds during the day and the miniature solar pads on the back of the blinds start to soak up the sun's energy. Once the sun goes down, artfully placed lighting pixels illuminate in certain parts of the blinds.

The two-dimensional lamps come in table lamp, floor lamp, and chandelier forms. Besides being completely energy-efficient and saving you tons of money on your monthly bill, they create a sexy and dramatic ambiance for any part of the home.

Via Crave CNET

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