By Andrew Liszewski

If you’re worried about your electrical devices drawing power even while they’re turned off, this 7-outlet surge and spike protector from Ultra features an individual on/off switch for 6 of the 7 outlets, allowing you to selectively choose who’s sipping from the grid. Each button features an LED, so it’s easy to tell which ones are on and which are off, and the outlets are spaced out allowing them to accommodate wider power adapters side-by-side.

At the moment the only place that seems to have them in stock is Onhop, who’s asking a reasonable $18.76.

[ Ultra ULT31570 Surge & Spike Protector ] VIA [ Cool Tools ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Ok, I’m going to get this out of the way. I actually liked Nintendo’s Virtual Boy, and anyone who disagrees with me can kiss my stinging, watery, burning, bloodshot eyes! Now I’ll be the first to admit that the VB wasn’t the pinnacle of gaming devices. It awkwardly fell somewhere between a console and a portable game, but its size meant you always had to play it while sitting at a desk, which got uncomfortable real quick. However, for $20 on clearance, with a stack of games for $2 each, I happily overlooked the downsides.

And of the 10 or so Virtual Boy games I’ve ever tried, Mario’s Tennis was, and still is, the most entertaining of the lot for me. You got to choose from seven different characters like Mario, Luigi and other staples in Nintendo’s roster to compete in a singles/doubles match/tournament, but other than that, Mario’s Tennis was pretty basic. Thankfully it had solid tennis gameplay (given the era) and of course a novel, but convincing, 3D effect. I know a lot of people complain about the VB’s infamous red on black display, but I never had a problem with it, and due to a broken set of ‘legs’ I actually discovered that wearing the VB like a mask while laying on your back facilitated hours of gameplay without the discomfort.

P.S. If anyone has a set of Virtual Boy legs in good working condition they’d like to part with, I’ll gladly take them off your hands.

[ MobyGames - Mario's Tennis ]

By Evan Ackerman

Was the Zypad WR110 not quite feminine enough for your cyclopean curves and purple hair? Here’s a wrist computer that could enhance both your productivity and your mojo. The Ridgeline W200 from Glacier Computer is a wrist wearable computer does the trick, with sleek arm-hugging curves and a magnesium alloy case that’s a comfortable 10 ounces.

Now, I have to say, this thing looks an awful lot like the the Zypad WL1000 from back in 2006. Like, an awful lot. But at least it’s got mostly up to date specs, with a 3.5″ color touchscreen, WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, and various wired interfaces, running either Linux or Windows CE. As you might expect from its sporty and rugged form factor, the W200 is designed for people who want to get lost in the middle of nowhere without actually getting lost in the middle of nowhere. The batteries are hot swappable so that you’ll never lose your position, and the computer uses tilt sensors to tell if you’re actually looking at it, and if not, it powers down to idle.

I could see myself using one of these, for sure. Not because it’s in any way practical or anything… No, just so that people can see me using it and say, “wow, that guy has a wrist computer, he must be awesome.”

Price not yet set.

[ Glacier Computer ]
[ Press Release ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Watch collectors who lean towards the high-tech might want to break out their credit cards for this one. The 1972 Pulsar P1 by Hamilton USA was the first LED watch ever sold to the public, and according to the description on this eBay auction, the limited run of just 400 pieces were eventually all recalled. So finding one that’s still in working condition, with the original box, is quite rare. And that’s probably why the seller has listed it with a ‘Buy It Now’ price of $25,000. So, any takers?

[ eBay - Rare Pulsar P1 Prototype LED Digital watch 18k w/ box ] VIA [ TechEBlog ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Not long ago I warned you that Apple might finally be caving in to the record labels by hiking the prices of some of their new tunes. Unfortunately it appears that I was correct, if you hit up some new tracks in iTunes, you’ll find the new $1.29 price tag staring back at you. But it isn’t actually all bad news.

Before the changes, there were two types of music available. You had your regular stuff, and iTunes Plus. The ‘Plus’ tracks used 256 kbps AAC encoding and were DRM-free. You paid an extra thirty cents for these bonus features, which added up to $1.29. Now all of your music, even the $0.99 stuff, is higher-quality and DRM-free. As for your old tunes that you previously purchased, you can go ahead and convert those to the better versions for free.

As we stated before, the price of your track is determined by how popular it is. There are three tiers; $0.69, $0.99 and $1.29. The more popular the track, the higher price bracket. To be honest, I’m really a lot less upset about this change than I thought I would be. People have been turning to Amazon because they offer 256 kbps DRM-free tracks at $0.99, but now Apple has leveled the playing field. And for those wondering, Apple isn’t the only one raising prices on new tracks. A quick look around the Amazon site showed some new tracks with a $1.29 price as well.

Update: Looks like you’re still going to have to pay that $0.30 charge to upgrade your old music to iTunes Plus.

VIA [ Apple ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I remember a time long ago when I used to visit these very strange stores. I guess you would call them stores, but they were really more of a rental shop. Anyway, you would walk in and find the walls lined with movies that you could take home for a few days in exchange for several dollars. Of course if you didn’t bring them back by the designated time, you would be charged a fee. I hated those fees. Eventually technology advanced and no one needed to visit these stores anymore. You could either watch what I wanted by streaming it online, or with a few clicks have the movies sent to you via snail mail. Those companies that didn’t evolve to embrace the new technologies eventually died out, leaving only empty buildings in their wake.

It’s stories like that which I’m going to be able to tell my kids not long from now. Blockbuster, the largest movie rental store looks like it will be closing up in short order. They really don’t have much to offer the tech-savvy customers anymore, and rely on those that either haven’t hopped on the streaming bandwagon or are too impatient to wait a few days for their movie to arrive. Even if Blockbuster manages to find some more funding, I don’t suspect that they (or other movie rental shops) will survive more than a few years.

[ AP ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

By Shane McGlaun

Apple fanatics around the world get all tingly inside when the Apple Store is offline, which it was this morning. They know that means new products are being added. Many were probably hoping for a new netbook or updated iPhone; those are more likely to be announced at the WWDC later this spring.

What Apple did unveil was a newly updated Xserve server. The updated machine uses the Intel quad-core Nehalem processor that allows a performance boost of up to two times. At the same time the machine also gets a greener and more efficient design.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Shane McGlaun

Ever since the MacBook Air launched consumers have had a bit of a fascination with super thin notebooks. Back at CES 2009 in January, HP was showing off its new thin notebook called the DV2. The thin little machine wasn’t as svelte as a MacBook Air, but it looked more usable to my eyes.

HP has announced that the DV2 is now officially available starting at $799, making it much cheaper than the Air. The machine uses the new AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 CPU that it aimed specifically at ultra-portable machines. Other features include a 12.1-inch LCD with a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 and LED backlighting.

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By Andrew Liszewski

If you don’t have kids at home, there’s a good chance your refrigerator is devoid of finger paintings, report cards and other such decorations. But that doesn’t mean it has to be completely bare. Magnetic Pixels is an easy to use kit that comes with 1400 10mm x 10mm colored magnetic squares that can be used to create pixelated works of art. The magnets come in 16 different shades, but if you’re feeling a little uninspired you can download a handful of pre-made pixelated designs from their website to get you started.

Now according to the Magnetic Pixels site, the kits should be available from Kikkerland, but I can’t find any mention of them on their website.

[ Magnetic Pixels ] VIA [ swissmiss ]