By Evan Ackerman

I’m sure all of you, along with Oprah and Jeff Bezos, are reading this on your Kindle e-book reader right now. What? You’re not? Oh, let me guess… It’s because it’s too thick and the pages don’t turn fast enough and it doesn’t have enough memory. Well, today is your lucky day, because Amazon has released the Kindle 2, which is only a third of an inch thick, features 20% faster page turning, and has 2 gigs of memory… Enough for 1,500 books out of the 230,000+ book catalog.

The most interesting new feature of the Kindle 2 is probably the integrated text to speech engine, which will read back any text that the book will display. It’s a synthesized voice, and perhaps not something you’d want to listen to extensively, but it might be nice to have the news or something read to you every morning. Another new feature is WhisperSync, which wirelessly keeps your Kindle up to date. You can still download books over 3G (it takes about 60 seconds per book), the 800 x 600 e-ink screen now has 16 shades of gray, and the battery is good for 4 days straight of reading and downloading, or 2 weeks of reading.

The Kindle 2 launches February 24th, and will cost $349… This item ships for free with Super Saver shipping.

[ Amazon Kindle 2 ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While I wouldn’t necessarily call it a ‘smart’ material, UK-based Squid London has recently sold out of a limited edition collection of umbrellas featuring hydrochromatic inks that turn color when they get wet. Before the rain starts falling, the umbrellas have a rather bland and desaturated color scheme, but as soon as mother nature lets loose, the umbrella appears to come to life which could help cheer you up if the foul weather has put you in a bad mood.

According to Wikipedia, hydrochromatic ink was originally developed by a subsidiary of the Pilot Pen Company in Japan, and is probably most easily recognizable as the ‘secret’ behind the Aquadoodle children’s toy.

[ Squid London ] VIA [ Fashioning Technology ]

By Luke Anderson

When I’m working on a project that requires measuring, cutting, drilling and hammering, I tend to be very precise about what I do. My grandfather always drilled  the phrase “measure twice, cut once” into my head, and it’s good advice. One annoying thing about tape measures is that it’s not always easy to mark in the exact spot that you want. The line on the tape measure itself is usually a good quarter-inch above the object you need to mark, which can leave your measurements off, albeit only slightly. Not to mention that you don’t always have a free hand to mark with. Well here’s a tape measure that will do the marking for you.

The Irwin Straight-Line Tape Measure looks just like any other. However, at the point where the tape exits the roll, there is a handy marker on the underside. Just set it down (you might need to rub it on the object a little) and you’re all set. This $14 gadget could very well save you a lot of hassle in the future.

[ Amazon ] VIA [ Book of Joe ]

By Luke Anderson

There’s all sorts of talk about “going green” with technology these days. So you’ve upgraded to the most energy-efficient chipset and your power consumption is almost negligent, but how “green” is your computer’s case? Well if having the most eco-friendly computer is your goal, I doubt that anything can top this recycled cardboard case concept.

This design seems pretty interesting, if you don’t mind staring at a cardboard box. The creators were concerned with making a computer that used low-impact manufacturing processes. You don’t get much more low-impact than corrugated cardboard. It is only a basic computer, certainly nothing a gamer would want to use, but it gets the job done, and is actually more heat resistant than a plastic case.

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By Andrew Liszewski

Have you ever wondered how long it would take to scroll a full mile? Probably not, but it’s clear someone has, otherwise One MileScroll.com wouldn’t exist. The site is pretty self-explanatory, it’s basically a webpage that’s just over a mile long with a scale of 1 inch for every 96 pixels. And to keep things interesting, along the way there are a series of red horizontal lines denoting the vertical height of everything from the iPhone, to Andre the Giant, to the Empire State Building. You can even submit your own objects to the list, but I’m pretty sure they have to go through an approval process before they get officially added to the site.

Now there’s no question that OneMileScroll.com is nothing but a big waste of time, but oddly enough I found it to be as satisfying as finishing a 10K run. Or at least I imagine it to be as satisfying, since technically I’ve never run 10K, and I just used the HOME & END keys to navigate the site.

Thanks Meg!

[ OneMileScroll.com ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Sometimes a good idea doesn’t have to be as fancy as multi-touch gestures, or even a better way to catch a mouse. Flashlights are pretty much a necessity whenever you venture into the great outdoors (unless you carry a FLIR or night vision system) and since everything from clothing, to sleeping bags, to backpacks already come with some type of cord locking device, why not replace them all with one that’s got a built-in LED flashlight?

The Cord Lock Light, available from Sahalie.com, is easy to install, features three brightness settings and is even water resistant. And with these installed on all of your gear, you’re always going to have a flashlight handy, whether you need to read a map, kill a mosquito or even fight off a bear. Best of all, they’re just $10 a pop, and you can save 50 cents each when you buy 2 or more.

[ Cord Lock Light ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re looking for the ultimate home theater display and don’t mind having to deal with a few seams here and there, you might want to take a look at NEC’s new MultiSync X461UN displays. They’re specifically designed for use in large video walls, where a single LCD display is both impractical, and astronomically expensive. Each 46 inch unit features an ultra-narrow bezel which results in a screen-to-screen distance of just 7.3mm. And since you can combine up to 100 displays (10×10) in a single grid, that gives you a total screen area of about 645 square feet.

Each screen features a native resolution of 1366×768 (WXGA), a maximum brightness of 700 cd/m2 and a “typical” contrast ratio of 3000:1. And since nothing looks worse than a video wall with a different color tint on each display, there’s also an optional SpectraView II color calibration solution available which ensures “color uniformity and fidelity across individual and multiple screens, creating a perfectly matched image in tiled environments.” The MultiSync X461UN should be available sometime in April and has an estimated price tag of $6,000.

[ NEC MultiSync X461UN ] VIA [ SlashGear ]

By Andrew Liszewski

I truly feel bad for anyone who has to wear a tie to work (or pants, a shirt, and pretty much anything except pajamas) but they at least provide a wearable canvas allowing you to express yourself to co-workers and the powers that be. For example, any gamers who’ve found themselves stuck in a crappy 9 to 5 can now show their love for 4 different classic titles including Asteroids, Tetris, Space Invaders and Pong. Each ‘Game Tie’ is made from microfiber, no fancy schmancy silk here, and they’re all available from Amazon for just $24.95 each.

[ Game Ties ] VIA [ Technabob ]

By Andrew Liszewski

While not officially billed under the Simon brand name, the 4 blue, red, green and yellow buttons on this Memory Game Alarm Clock don’t leave much to the imagination when it comes to what it’s trying to emulate. When the alarm sounds in the morning, you’ll need to correctly remember and reproduce the sequence of lights by pressing the 4 colored buttons in the correct order. Otherwise, the alarm will continue to sound until you’re awake enough to pop out the batteries. Pricing and availability is unknown.

[ UrbanTrend - Memory Game Alarm Clock ] VIA [ Coolest Gadgets ]