The Gadgets Page

Who knew that Google had their hands in the solar panel industry. Fortunately, whatever they touch turns to gold, or in this case, electricity. Nanosolar has created a solar panel that can be “printed” onto a thin strip. It then can be cut to whatever size you need. Most importantly, the production costs less than building a new electric coal generator, which has been the goal of solar since the beginning.

Because of this amazing achievement, Popular Science has named Nanosolar as one of their Innovations of the Year:

• PopSci’s Best of What’s New 2007

Nanosolar isn’t vaporware. They shipped their first commercial panels back in December.

• Nanosolar Blog » Nanosolar Ships First Panels

You can see a CNN clip that briefly mentions Nanosolar here:

As promising as it sounds, I can’t wait for these solar panels to hit the mainstream so that it’s an easy and lightweight addition to your roof.

Via: Nanosolar by Sheri Bigelow of Design Simply

Scott C. Lemon at the.Inevitable.Org/anism bought a XO Laptop from the One Laptop Per Child people. The first time I saw these was at CES 2007. They allowed me to play with a prototype, which is very similar to the original.

• Gadgets Page » CES 2007: The $100 Laptop

Back then, I found the keyboard completely unusable for my petite hands, but I was excited to hear Scott’s review of the product.

• the.Inevitable.Org/anism » XO Laptop Thoughts …

He didn’t mention the small keyboard, but he had lots to say about it’s “half-baked” status:

So what isn’t baked yet? Well … the XO Laptop can’t see any of the FIVE wireless access points at my house! Yes … I read the entire Start page on “connecting” … but that isn’t it. I can manually open a terminal, and use iwconfig and dhclient to get the networking working … but that is a hassle. I have taken the laptop elsewhere and it seems to detect the wireless APs of other places. I will admit that I have some unique SSIDs (that contain slashes) that might be screwing them up … so I might try to poke around the source code looking … 🙂

Other things are that they don’t currently support cut and paste in some places! I’ve been reading the wiki and getting instructions on how to do things … but then I can’t cut from the browser and paste into the terminal. Ugh!

The one thing that I will say is that Sam loves his new laptop. And we have downloaded a whole bunch of the activities, and he is already navigating through Sugar and playing with lots of them. I just got one that is a peer-to-peer game of Connect 4 … he and I haven’t played that one yet … but Andrea and I did … we each won one game.

My biggest problem with the OLPC initiative is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. You can’t advance up the pyramid of needs until the bottom layers are taken care of. The OLPC seems like an esteem need to me. It falls in the “achievement” category. Having a computer might seem like a basic need for survival to you and me, but in the thick of things, I would sell my computer for food. Children in the third world countries are a little more preoccupied with the lower levels of the hierarchy of needs, so OLPC turns out to be a valiant, but misguided effort. If you want to help kids in the third world, send them food, vaccines or help them build an adequate house. They can worry about OLPC’s when they have those basic needs met.

Quick, what do the following gadgets have in common?

• Apple’s Mac Mini, iPod, and iPhone
• Sony’s Playstation II and Playstation III
• Nintendo’s Wii
• Microsoft’s XBox 360
• Amazon’s Kindle
• Hewlett Packard’s Mysterious Black Box

If you answered that they’re all manufactured by the same company, you’re right. FoxConn is Taiwan’s largest private company and China’s largest exporter. They produce all sorts of high-tech gadgets as an original equipment manufacturer.

Along with the ones I mentioned above, they make various computer parts for Intel, HP, and Dell, and countless cellular phones. While most of their manufacturing is done in China, they also have facilities all over the world, including several in the US.

It’s hard to find out detailed information about Foxconn. Their web site is a bit sketchy on specifics, and they rarely make the news in the US. The last time anyone heard of them in US tech news was when Apple dealt with some labor issues at their factory. But they seem to have a huge impact on the tech industry.

While they seem to do a fine job—I have no complaints about how my iPhone, iPods, and game consoles were assembled—it’s amusing to imagine iPods and all three major game consoles being made in the same company’s factories.

This year at CES was the year of the iPod Throne. Most of the thrones had speakers or chargers attached, but this company, Prosperity Tree had an array of beautiful iPod thrones that were just for show: the iSeat.

There are no speakers, chargers or anything electronic to the iSeat. It is merely a place to rest your iPod, iPhone or cellphone when it isn’t in your pocket. That’s part of the beauty of the iSeat. At the Consumer Electronics Show, they were one of the few products that contained no electronics whatsoever.

Their bottom of the line were simple plastic thrones. They can be engraved with your logo or name. They are being heralded as great giveaway gifts for employees or customers. I liked their simple design and their bright colors. It felt a little like 1986 all over again seeing hot pink and bright yellow in one spot together.

With a minimum order of three, these plastic iSeats are about $12 each, so actually ARE an affordable giveaway for customers that you REALLY like, but they weren’t what attracted me to the booth in the first place. I fell in love with iSeat because of their executive series. You can see them here:

They are like glass paperweights with iPod thrones attached. When I saw these at their booth, I had a vision of my grandma with her paperweight collection and my vision instantly transported to the future where I’M the grandma and I have a huge collection of glass iSeats for all of my gizmos. Here is a closeup:

These units are approximately $20 each with an order of three, so they don’t come cheap, but they are a beautiful addition to your desk. They may not be as useful as the iPod thrones with speakers and chargers, but they are the loveliest we saw at CES this year.

Joan and Henry from The Smart Show learn about alternative energy sources from Ben Luce in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Joan: How come we’re not completely solar and wind powered?

Ben: We have to overcome a 150 years of tradition of producing power from coal, uranium, and sources like that. You can make giant solar farms which could power entire cities. It would only take an area of 59 by 59 miles to provide all of the energy for the United States. We actually have the means to do this.

A swath of land 59 miles by 59 miles is HUGE. Really, Ben? Would it really ONLY take an area of 59 by 59 miles? Are YOU willing to give up that much? What about the beautiful wild areas near your home town of Santa Fe? Are you willing to put a gigantic black square on the face of your state between Santa Fe and Farmington?

Ben Luce has worked hard in New Mexico with the New Mexico Coalition for Clean Affordable Energy to help get the state running on cleaner fuels. Solar power is an alternative and adding a panel or two to your home would certainly help keep your footprint lighter, but the biggest problem is that adding solar panels to homes is difficult and expensive. We’re not trying to overcome 150 years of tradition. We’re trying to overcome the costly and complicated process of adding solar power to our homes.

The best use of your time, Mr. Luce is to work with a manufacturer to create solar panels that are EASY to install and work EVERYWHERE, not just sunny climates like New Mexico. Fighting against legislation is just a waste of effort.

One of the highlights of the Ion Audio booth at this year’s CES was the Rock Band video game. Now, Guitar Hero and Rock Band were probably featured in about 50 booths this year—many companies faced the fact that a video game was far more exciting than their own products—but Ion had a unique take on it.

Ion made a professional drum kit for use with Rock Band. This kit not only has higher quality drums than the ones that come with the game, it also has separate cymbal pads you can use for authenticity. (The game doesn’t know about the cymbals specifically, but each one is the same “color” as one of the lower drum pads.)

Ion makes “real” drum kits—electronic drums that can trigger samples—and here they’ve adapted one of them to play Rock Band. This was a prototype, but with any luck they’ll turn it into a real product. The only potential issue is that electronic drum kit prices start at about $300, but they can probably get the cost reduced. I’m sure there are a few Rock Band fanatics out there who will want it regardless.

[That’s Dan Amrich of the Official XBox Magazine playing the drums. I tried them myself, but Dan is a Gaming Professional and did a much better job.]

The biggest problem with huge International conferences like CES is that you are suddenly exposed to EVERY virus and bacteria on the planet. I am finally back home, nursing a sore throat and trying desperately not to lose my voice. While I’m sick, I won’t be posting.

I have SO much to write about CES and everything I saw there that this comic from Ballard Street really rings true for me today. Hopefully, I’ll be able to make my way out of the dark forest and show you the things I found along the way!

Another product showcased at CES Unveiled was InternetVue by AddLogix. The InternetVue devices allow you to show the video output of your computer on any TV or monitor, without a wired connection.

Here’s how it works: the InternetVue software on your computer compresses an image of the the video display, sends it over WiFi, and the InternetVue device plugged into your TV receives the data and displays it. The compression is lossless so the signal quality should be good.

They have two models: one with composite and component video outputs for regular TVs, and a more expensive model for business with DVI-D and VGA outputs for monitors and larger plasma TVs.

Unfortunately, since it relies on custom software, this appears to be a Windows-only product. Other than that it looks like a handy device since people are getting more and more of their video from computers.

Another innovative product I saw at CES Unveiled was the NRG Dock. Gadget docks were a popular present this holiday season, but the NRG Dock takes the idea one step further. You place it near a window and the solar panels will charge your iPod, Blackberry or Nintendo DS. You do not need to plug it in. You can keep all of your gadgets charged with the power of the sun.

Unfortunately, the photos from the event were unusable, so all I have are the pictures from their brochure and website.

These pictures really don’t do it justice. This is a tasteful dock to store your gadgets, wallet and other pocket items. The solar panel has four suction cups (which are not shown in these photos) so you can attach it to a southern-facing window.

If you have ever lost power completely and worried that your phone will become a useless brick, then the NRG Dock is for you. You could also use this camping, but it looks WAY better than something that you would have sitting in your car, gathering sunshine to keep your gadgets charged. If you want to be completely off the grid, the NRG Dock will work.

They also carry a version of the NRG Dock that you can just plug into the wall and charge your cell phone, MP3 player and handheld gaming device. It’s a beautiful addition to any dresser by the the bed and keeps all of your gadgets charged and in one place.

CES is the Consumer Electronics Show and it happens once a year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The writers of The Gadgets Page are attending the show again this week and we were invited to CES Unveiled, which is a pre-show event, showing us some of the gadgets that will be highlighted at CES this year.

It’s a very busy event and it’s hard to see anything there because of the crowds. Fortunately, Mike and I were able to find some really cool items. The Powramid is one of them.

The Powramid is a new kind of power strip. Instead of putting your power outlets on a strip, they are in a circle, with plenty of room for your power bricks. Most of the time, a power strip will only hold two huge power bricks, but the Powramid will allow you to use every one of its outlets, no matter how big your power bricks are.

Here is a Powramid fully loaded:

Sadly, the Powramid isn’t available for purchase right now, but coming next month, you’ll be able to buy them from their website. If you are sick of the huge tangle of cords underneath your desk, the Powramid might be for you.