By Chris Scott Barr

These days people are all about being “green” and such. One good way to do your part for the environment is by recycling. For most people that consists of separating out glass bottles and aluminum cans from their trash. Well one company is taking those old bottles and turning them into something useful.

Green Glass Company specializes in something rather cool, turning old beer bottles into drinking glasses. They don’t have the largest selection of brands to choose from, but if you like Rolling Rock, Corona or a few others, then they’ll be happy to hook you up with some cool glassware. You can pick up a set of four for $32.50.

[ GreenGlass ] VIA [ RedFerret ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When you were a kid, how many times did you get home a little late when your parents weren’t home, but lied and told them you were on time? Or perhaps you snuck out, then back in late at night. Fess up, I’m sure that you did it at least once. Well it seems that some parents may be able to keep track of just when exactly their children arrived home. Oddly enough, it comes in the form of a femtocell.

DoCoMo has announced a new femtocell that not only helps your cell phones maintain a great signal while you’re at home, but it also can send out notifications when a phone has entered the area. Essentially, the parents could set it up to get an email every time their child came home. Seems like an interesting idea, until the kid figures out that he can flood his parents inbox by going in and out of the range of the device over and over. Come to think of it, that’s probably the first thing I’d do in protest.

[ FarEastGizmos ] VIA [ UberGizmo ]

By Evan Ackerman

This little USB accessory from Buffalo has got to be the easiest way to throw an impromptu LAN party anywhere you want without having to resort to something as annoying and under performing as an ad-hoc wireless network. The three port router is powered entirely by one USB port, and means you and two of your friends can get together and frag each other (or exchange massive amounts of porn) at speeds of up to 100 Mbps. It’s nothing particularly fancy, but it works, it’s portable, and it’s cheap, too: it’ll go on sale later this month for about $25.

VIA [ Akihabara News ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It’s uncertain what affect file sharing and ‘piracy’ has really had on the movie industry, but it’s obvious the studios are concerned and have been trying to find ways to get people back into theaters. Thanks to technical advances 3D has finally become a popular gimmick, and now a Montreal (Longueuil) based company called D-Box is hoping theater-goers will be just as interested in a more moving film experience, quite literally.

Last night I had a chance to try out D-Box’s Motion Theater Seats at the Canadian launch in Toronto which, as their name implies, are special theater seats that can move and rumble alongside the action in the film providing an enhanced movie-going experience. While I don’t think the technology will add much to talking head flicks or anything adapted from a Jane Austen novel, it does give you a good reason to endure the sticky floors of your local cinema when it comes to Summer blockbusters. More after the jump…

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By Andrew Liszewski

Designed by the Netherlands based studio Trapped in Suburbia the ‘Play More’ notepad ended up being a finalist at the European Design Awards according to Top Cultured. And rightfully so! The clever notepad features standard lined paper on one side, but on the other is a series of patterned prints that makes the page end up looking like everything from a soccer ball to a baseball to even a golf ball when crumpled up.

Sadly it’s not available for sale, but I hope Trapped in Suburbia realizes they could probably make a small mint if they managed to produce these and sell them to stores like Urban Outfitters.

[ Top Cultured - Wish There Was A Notebook Like This When I Was A Kid ] VIA [ bookofjoe ]

By Andrew Liszewski

You may think you’re being eco-friendly by shutting off your TV whenever you leave the room, but don’t forget about the peripherals you have connected like DVD players, receivers and gaming consoles which may still be drawing power even when in standby mode. The TV TrickleStar does the remembering for you though, and will automatically switch on or switch off all peripheral devices whenever your TV is turned on or off using “inbuilt current sensing circuitry.” It’s just $34.95 available from the TrickleStar online store, and it seems like one of those investments that will be worth it in the long run.

[ TV TrickleSaver ] VIA [ GoNintendo ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Back in the day you could buy a special cartridge for your Super Nintendo known as the ‘Super Game Boy‘ that allowed you to play Game Boy titles on your TV. But apparently someone felt that using the Super Nintendo’s controller for a Game Boy game was just too confusing, which led to the creation of this bizarre accessory known as the Super Gameboy Commander. Eagle-eyed readers will notice that it has the same button layout as the Game Boy did, with a few extra ones allowing you to also play Super Nintendo (or Super Famicom) titles with it.

I find it hard to believe that anyone using the Super Game Boy would be jamming Tetris pieces in the wrong places because they were confused by the SNES’s control pad, and I find it even harder to believe that there would still be a market for this thing today. But believe it or not, NCSX is selling them brand new in their original boxes for $19.90.

[ Super Gameboy Commander for Super Famicom ] VIA [ Tiny Cartridge ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’m sure that everyone remembers the TV-B-Gone. It’s the little device that can turn almost any television on and off at the push of a button. While it was just a fun little toy, I think that it was made infamous by a certain other tech blog’s shenanigans at last year’s CES. Well the original was a bit bulky and conspicuous, so one enterprising hacker decided to shrink it down. The result is a device with the exact same capabilities that’s smaller than your thumb.

While I don’t think I’d ever walk around a giant electronics show shutting off random TVs at will, this does give me some ideas. With a device that small, you could likely setup some sort of automatic timer, so that it goes off in 10-second intervals or so. Now disguise it in such a way that it can be carried around with only the LED showing. Sure, your battery probably wouldn’t last too terribly long, but it would make those trips to Best Buy far more entertaining.

VIA [ Hack a Day ]

By Chris Scott Barr

As the old saying goes “when you gotta go, you gotta go.” Most of the time you are able to find a bathroom somewhere close, however, sometimes there isn’t one in sight. But on the rare occasion that you can no longer wait, and have nowhere to go, you can turn to these TravelJohn Disposable Urinals.

No, this isn’t something that you get excited about using, but I suppose it beats the alternative. For guys, we can usually find a tree or something to go behind (provided it’s not too public of a place), but girls have a much harder time. Either way, this thing would beat peeing your pants. Just do your business (number 1 only) in the pouch, and it will instantly turn into a gel. Then just toss it in the nearest trash can. You can get a box of 18 for $12.

[ Amazon ] VIA [ Dvice ]