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

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

All hail the Optimus Maximus from--ThinkGeek?

So it finally happened. The Optimus Maximus--the most-hyped keyboard of all time--is now for sale to the consuming public as promised. To which we have only one response: ThinkGeek?

We don't have anything against the gadget peddler, mind you--it was just a little surprising to see a US$1,589.99 product being sold by a retailer that's better known for such products as USB rocket launchers. On its What's New page, for instance, the vaunted Maximus is sandwiched between a Dueling Space Marines Copter Set and a pair of Speed Racer Mini R/C Cars.

Not that we have anything against such items, of course. We just thought that Art Lebedev, the uber-keyboard's Russia-based purveyor, might have opted for a higher-end distributor for its crown jewel. Which, by the way, is selling for around US$25 more than the oft-quoted price for the version that allows all 113 keys to be programmed separately. Just to show we're paying attention.

Via Crave CNET

Iomega unveils 500GB HD multimedia drive

Not long ago the idea of adding 500GB of storage space to a home media system was unthinkable to the average consumer, unless one was willing to pay ungodly sums of money. What a difference a couple of years make.

Iomega is releasing its "ScreenPlay HD Multimedia Drive" at that half-terabyte mark, a considerable leap from the 60GB capacity of its last generation. As storage technologies continue to drop in price--the new ScreenPlay is selling for around US$200--it's positioned to compete with a growing number of products such as LaCie's LaCinema Premier, which was described in CNET's 2006 review as "essentially a big hard drive with audio and video outputs and a remote control" that can work with the TV while bypassing a computer or the Internet.

The new ScreenPlay drive works much the same way but, like many other devices in this age of high definition, also includes an HD "upscaling" feature to provide higher video quality where possible. As fellow Craver David Carnoy cautioned recently, however, it behooves consumers to do their homework on this technology because it can be a dubious distinction depending on how well the TV processes video.

Via Crave CNET

New iMacs arriving next week?

Apple could be getting ready for the advent of the educational buying season with new iMacs.

So says GeekSugar, which has a post up Thursday claiming Apple's about to tweak the all-in-one iMac desktop. It doesn't sound like much of an overhaul, just a speed bump to Intel's latest Penryn processors used by the MacBook and MacBook Pro and a larger hard drive, with no major design changes expected. Apple hasn't updated the iMac since introducing a new design for the lineup last August.

The current quarter is a prime buying period for K-12 school systems, said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer on Wednesday's earnings call. A slightly faster and larger system--at around the current price point, according to GeekSugar--might induce some to take the plunge.

Tuesday tends to be New Apple Product Introduction Day, so we'll probably know if new iMacs will soon grace Apple's store shelves by then.

Via Crave CNET

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