Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, we’ve got plenty of options to sit in when it comes to rewarding yourself, but what if you’ve got a mischievous trick-or-treater that really needs some payback for stiffing you in the candy department? Enter Lil’ Sparky, the miniaturized (albeit potent) electric chair, handcrafted to scare the living daylights out of anything or anyone who dares to place its behind in it. Rob Cruickshank has officially “put the cute in electrocute” by wiring up a wooden electric chair that’s powered by a single 9-volt battery and can deliver the juice to the unlucky participant with just the flip of a toggle switch. While we certainly don’t condone the act of channeling unabated voltage through anybody’s bones, be sure to peep the video of the electrifying chair in all its sizzling glory just in case the need presents itself.

[Via BoingBoing]

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BOLD MOVES: THE FUTURE OF FORD A new documentary series. Be part of the transformation as it happens in real-time

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Even if you’re not into that whole “respecting the environment” thing, how many of you homeowners out there haven’t dreamed of slashing or even eliminating your electricity bills? Well a new residential windmill from a company called Southwest Windpower promises to not only help keep you green by reducing your dependency on coal-fired power plants, but to actually provide up to 90% of the juice that a typical household consumes in a year (and by typical, they aren’t talking about your 5-computer, 10-monitor family). Even better, the so-called Skystream 3.7, which incorporates its controls and inverter right into the main unit, will automatically switch your house over to grid power if winds fall below 8MPH (maximum efficiency is reached at 20MPH) — no storage batteries necessary. At around $8,500 including installation of the 35-foot-tower, the Skystream supposedly pays for itself within four to twelve years depending on local wind levels and electricity costs, and if you’re really frugal with the juice, some municipalities will even allow you to sell unused output back to the power company. Just because this is fit for residential installations, though, doesn’t mean that just anybody can pick one up — Southwest recommends that you own an acre of land in an area that averages 10MPH wind speeds, and of course, that not-unobtrusive tower needs to comply with local zoning laws — so the millions of us living in dense urban settings or gated communities will have to continue paying through the nose and destroying the environment in order to power our many gadgets.

[Via Gizmag]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Ok everyone, get your alarmist hats on tight over your already firmly planted tin-foil ones. We've heard the argument made before -- and believe us, it's a tough sell to us gadget dorks, but two official Department of Health reports, a Health Protection Agency (HPA) meeting, and the UN's World Health Organisation (WHO) have all convened on today's scary gadget-related disease du jour sure to make the hypochondriacs and "electric allergics" cringe with self-justification. The bend is to convince everyone that electromagnetic "smog" -- excessive electrical, radio, and microwave pollution -- could "interfere with the tiny natural electrical currents" of our nervous systems, as concluded by a National Radiological Protection Board survey that found children living close to power lines were developing leukaemia. Sure, that study might be getting a little post hoc ergo propter hoc on us, but the WHO and other health specialists are now beginning to blame electromagnetic fields as being a "likely cause" of up to 30% of childhood cancers, adult leukaemia, depression, brain cancers, possibly breast cancer, and even up to 1/10th of all miscarriages. Bold claims, and they kind of lost us when they got into the "allergic to electricity" argument, but hey, who are we to argue with peoples' gadgety ailments? Perhaps it's time for Engadget to pack up shop and move to the mountains to. Who's with us -- post-Engadget gadget-recovery commune? Nobody? Aight, we'll see this one through, then, like the rest of them.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

For anyone who thought gyms with workout equipment that generate electricity were a good idea, prepare to be one-upped. Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are working on metalic nanowires as nanogenerators that transform bodily kinetic energy into pure electricity. We were all thinking, oh, sweet, power-generating nanotech clothes. Naw dude, these peeps want to implant the nanogenerators right in your corporeal form for maximum energy output. Thought your mom got mad when you got a tattoo or piercing? Try explaining subcutaneous power generating zinc oxide nanowires.

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Remember that report in late 2004 that stated that as much as 10% of our energy draw could come from aggregate power use of devices in standby? Well, Scotland's mad as hell, and they're not gonna take it anymore. ScottishPower, Scotland's biggest power company, is calling for standby-free devices -- you know, like back in the good old days when an off device meant the device was off. In fact, according ScottishPower, gadgets in standby cost Scottish consumers over £62 million (about $108.5 million US) and produce 360,000 tons of CO2 annually. Of course the influence on the global consumer electronics market ScottishPower wields is, um, less than knightly, but if more power companies and government energy conservation programs (like EnergyStar) in more countries get behind ScottishPower, we might just be able to slow down this global warming thing (a little) with some clear(er) conscience devices.

Filed under: Household

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If you haven’t been conserving
energy like any good citizen of the world — carpooling, turning lights off when you leave the room, keeping your
defibrillator unplugged — perhaps it’s about time you took your energy output into your own hands. We’ve seen
juice-monitoring solutions before, but the Wattson definitely takes the cake for style and simplicity, showing a
running total of wattage output represented in a digital readout or ambient light — it can also connect to your PC and
record usage patterns. Unfortunately you’re going to have to spend £350 ($600 US) to get one, and that’s if you’re
lucky enough to snag one of the limited run of 250 they manufactured. Elementary, my dear… ahem.

[Via href="http://www.inhabitat.com/entry_1346.php">Inhabitat]

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