Starting in 2008, every home in the UK will be able to request a free real-time energy monitor from their power company in order to keep track of how much power each appliance is using. However, real-time energy monitors aren't even the best way to keep track of energy consumption—smart meters are.

These smart meters one-up energy monitors because they can be remotely read by the power company, can be calibrated to record information for billing, and even be monitored over the Internet to see what devices you've left on standby. Plus, they're presented in meaningful graphs like the one above so you can figure out what's what.

Do we have your attention, US energy companies? We want these. We don't care if they're energy monitors or smart meters, but we want these by 2008. – Jason Chen

Homes to get free energy monitors [BBC via Treehugger]

When we took our first look at the Asus EcoBook back in March, we knew the laptop was going to be constructed out of bamboo but we didn't know much else. Now we know that it's probably going to be the greenest laptop available to date. Here's why:

Not only is the outside covered in bamboo, the inside is all plastic and recyclable. Plus, all the parts are labeled and lined with cardboard, and there are no "paints, sprays, or even electroplating," which means it's even more eco-friendly. Add to that the ability—like the Asus C90—to be user-upgradeable, you've got yourself minimal waste and maximum recyclage.

Hippies take note. This is the laptop you want. – Jason Chen

Cnet Photos [CNET via Treehugger]

Fujitsu has brought out a Spring range of desktop PCs that look all white and fresh and lovely (if you ignore the repulsive screen graphics that the pics have been issued with). The one above is the Deskpower LX, which can work as an all-in-one video tool. The LX will cost you around $2,250 and is available from the end of this month.

Kubrick's 2001 Space Odyssey looks aside, it also includes a face recognition software developed by Fujitsu that analyzes and tags every photo loaded into the computer, so you can later find pictures using people as your search criteria. There are four more machines to check in the gallery below, and specs of each of them are after the jump.

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Lexmark is the Butters of the printing business. Though it regularly gets stomped on by Canon (Kyle), Epson (Stan) and HP (Cartman, of course), it manages to keep an insanely chipper attitude. And like Butters' alter ego Professor Chaos, though it remains consistently behind the pack on such small matters of print and paper quality, Lexmark has in the past used interesting technology to draw attention.

A couple of years ago, Lexmark put a CD burner into a compact 4x6 printer, a first that was later copied by HP. Today, in hopes to draw more positive attention, Lexmark is introducing a lineup of Wi-Fi printers, starting with the $79.99 Z1420 (shown above).

In a demo, the Wi-Fi feature looked easy. The key, of course, is not that it's Wi-Fi, but that it's Wi-Fi that you don't need to be proficient in print-server lingo to set up. Like I said, the demo looked good. When we get our hands on one, we'll report back to see just how good it really is. –Wilson Rothman

Lexmark delivers breakthrough in wireless printing with affordable, easy-to-use inkjets [Lexmark]

Despite the fact that listening to the radio on our DS is a distant seventh- place activity behind playing DS games, listening to MP3s, playing GBA games, pictochat, charging it and putting it away neatly, we realize some weirdos still do like FM. So here's a $14 FM adapter from Brando.

It's entirely self-contained, which means you don't need an AA battery or external charger, but it does mean that your Nintendo DS's battery life will go down a bit faster than usual. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Brando]

Hori's relatively giant 12-inch, 720p LCD docks with your XBox, bringing it half way towards being tote worthy. I especially appreciate the fact that the screen is essentially the same width and length as the console's side.

The Japan-only screen launches in July, and takes component outputs. It costs around $300, nearly as much as an XBox 360, but other screens tend to range in the 7-inch range, coming in low def res, so let's hope this one comes stateside. One more shot, post jump.

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Horizon's Hydrocar, the follow up to their H-Racer fuel cell toy, uses a next generation polymer electrolyte membrace based fuel cell. The tech is characterized by operating at lower temperature and lower pressure, making it a safer tech if it were to be used in full sized cars. That's good, because this little model only turns after it bumps into things. It ships next month for $79.

Check out the Minority Report design and the twin oxygen and hydrogen tanks that fill as the water tank is electrolyzed into gas.

–Brian Lam

Product Page [via Gizmag]

For awhile, Gizmodo had been wondering if the $17K Red On 4K camcorder was genuine or just another piece of vaporware. Which is why we're glad to see the camera at NAB 07 in front of our faces, with support from Apple, Peter Jackson, and others. We had a chance to talk with Red One "Leader of the Rebellion" Ted Schilowitz, allowing him to calm our worries about the historically problematic shipping dates and 4k support that may or may not be available at launch.

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B&O components usually require a hefty bank account, but the company's latest HDTV claims it's worth the splurge featuring something no other TVs have—realistic speakers.

You see, rather than have sound emanate from the side speakers (like most TVs do), the BeoVision 8 claims its sound comes from the mouths of the people on screen, giving it a more realistic feel. B&O doesn't say how they pull this off, but for $3,582, I wouldn't be willing to find out. – Louis Ramirez

"Affordable" Luxury from Bang & Olufsen [Shiny Shiny]

Sitting on their own outside was a collection of satellite trucks, news vans, remote location vehicles; basically, a car show for broadcast geeks.

Varying in size from Hummer H2 all the way up to semi-truck sized rigs, we were shooed away when the subject of pricing was broached. "If you have to ask, you can't afford it." Well, maybe if we blog really really hard, Santa will bring us one for Christmas. – Curtis Joe Walker and Charlie White

If you thought Philips' Ambilight TVs were impressive, check out what this guy has done with his fireplace. He basically got some LED strips, an RGB controller, and then mounted it all on the sides of his fireplace. The end result: a fireplace the folks at Philips would be proud of. His step-by-step guide is available at the link below and he's willing to help out anyone who e-mails him, that is if you don't mind a little ghetto ambilight. – Louis Ramirez

An Ambilight Fireplace [via Gadget Lab]

Soyo's latest LCD is locking arms with the Vizio's of the world (specifically this model), offering 47-inches of 1080p real estate for $1,900. The TV marks Soyo's first step in the 1080p arena and will include an 8ms response time, 2,400:1 dynamic contrast ratio, and dual HDMI inputs. We wouldn't recommend it as your primary set (you're better offer splurging a bit more if performance matters), but if you're strapped for cash this should save you a few bucks. – Louis Ramirez

Product Page [via Gadgetell]

Here it is, the Red One 4K camcorder, tucked away in its crimson booth at NAB. In addition to showing the camcorder, the company also announced a smaller camcorder it will call "Mini Red" shipping at an unspecified date, a line of 4K projectors, and a not-quite-complete digital cinema camera that's still in Beta, yet "nearly ready." More details later—take a gander at these pics, hot from the show floor.

Getting our hands on the camera, we noticed it's not as heavy as we thought it would be due to the carbon fiber construction of its rail mounting system. It's small, about the size of a normal prosumer video camera with a fixed lens. Hang a lens up front on the Red One, and it's a bit bigger, but still surprisingly small. The grips were quite knarly, like off-road tires or hand grips on a BMX bike. It's extremely configurable.

Speaking of lenses, Red will offer a 5-lens prime kit for $19,975 available in Fall 2007, consisting of 15mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses, and all have an f/1.9 aperture except for that 15mm lens, which will be f/2.8. There will also be an $6500 18mm - 50mm f/2.8, available this summer, according to Red. Finally, there's an f/2.8 300mm for $4950. – Charlie White

Red at NAB [Studio Daily]

Rub-a-dub-dub, a convergence ducky in the tub. This rubber plastic ducky has a couple features. It has an LCD display that will show the current water temperature in Fahrenheit or Celsius. It also acts as a radio to make bath time that much entertaining. $25. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Ubergizmo]

For those of us who aren't lucky enough to make it to the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing this week, the big news is that Intel will be announcing support for WiMax in its 2008 mobile chipset, called Montevina. If all goes well, Montevina will come out in the first half of the year, and replace the Santa Rosa chipset that launches soon. Eric Bangeman at Ars Technica did not mention when Ernest & Julio Gallo became the chief product namers for Intel. He did, however, say that the mobile WiMax support should manage 2-4Mbps average download speeds by the time Sprint has the network up and running. He also added that later versions would likely include gigabit WiMax, though the standard hasn't been ratified by the IEEE. There was no mention of battery life, but that must still be a pretty big concern.

WiMax has been slow to take off, but Bangeman seems optimistic. He notes that WiMax's competitor, HSDPA, was left out of the Santa Rosa platform, because Nokia and Intel agreed they couldn't get a good enough return on investment. I can see Intel saying that, but Nokia? Come on, guys—first EVDO got a head start, now this? Who feels like harrumphing about the best technology for a high-speed wide-area wireless network? –Wilson Rothman

WiMAX coming to Intel laptops in 2008 [Ars Technica]

Despite not being a huge fan of standard pink gadgets, this powder pink Zune is turning out to look snazzier than we thought. It's a different shade of pink than the limited edition Willy Wonka Zunes we saw last year. That was a super-limited edition only for employees who worked on the Zune and 100 lucky contestants who found them in standard Zune packages.

Instead of retina-scarring pink, it's a soft baby pink that makes you feel oh-so-pretty. We're digging this one.

Catch more nicely photographed shots over at Zune Scene. – Jason Chen

Pink Zune Photos [Zune Scene]

Given it's egg-like design, you may think Iconix's HD-RH1 takes crap images, but think again, 'cause this tiny shooter packs a punch twice its size, capable of shooting in high-definition (1080p). With the new RCP-160 remote, you'll be able to connect up to 6 RH1s to one another for the ultimate voyeuristic high-def setup. The remote is expected to ship this fall. – Louis Ramirez

Egg-sized HD Camera Can Be Used for Good, Evil [Sci Fi Tech]

Everyone's favorite phone leaker, the FCC, has let slip a new Sony Ericsson Cyber-shot phone, the K818. Remember the K810? The K818 is it's half brother, featuring a 3.2-megapixel camera on board with zoom, auto-focus, brightness control and the BestPic shooting mode that captures a range of nine pictures. With the K810 presumably just headed to Europe, this might just be an American version that drops the videophone connectivity to keep us from hurting ourselves, as this version is missing the prominent camera on the face of the K810.

It supports Memory Stick Micro (M2), just in case you don't like using the industry-standard memory cards that many computers come with readers for, and it has USB for transferring data. It's also a music phone that can handle most formats as well as being loaded with an FM receiver. No word on release dates, but the FCC gave it their approval so it shouldn't be too far off. We'll keep you updated.

Hit the jump for a couple more shots of the phone.

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Leave it to the Brits (probably from Hackney) to come up with a hooded sweatshirt all lined in Dupont Kevlar for "added protection against knife attacks." For your next street fight however, keep in mind that the appropriately named Bladerunner Hooded Top is not knife-proof, only having a "high slash/cut resistance." In other words, you still will need to dodge, duck and jink like Deckard fighting Pris after sinking $130 on one.

In any case, if you are getting one, don't forget to check out the gallery for the $80 old-design Kevlar Gloves with extra knuckle protection (a favorite of Darth Vader) or the metal-friendly detector $80 S.W.A.T Air Wit boots. – Jesus Diaz

galleryPost('kevlargear', 7, 'kevlargear');

Bladerunner Kevlar Protected Hooded Top [Bladerunner]

...we find our heroes cramped in their seats even more thanks to this extremely awkward "Freedom" concept. The so-called freedom concept would allow planes to add another row of seats thanks to reversed seating arrangements. The reversed seats would reduce needed width by overlapping shoulders. The only way I would consider something like this is if the price of the ticket were, say, half of what it would normally go for with regular seating. I can't wait for the day that airplanes eliminate seating altogether and just do standing room, you know, like the subway. –Travis Hudson

Airplanes to become even more uncomfortably close [Gearfuse]

This alarm clock is an exercise in efficiency, using the box that it comes packaged in as a casing once you get it home. Made of corrugated cardboard, it would be able to be taken apart and then put back together with a space for the actual clock component.

It's a pretty neat idea, although I can't say I'd want a cardboard alarm clock. –Adam Frucci

Alarm Clock From Its Own Packaging [Yanko Design]

Unfortunately, I have never had the luxury of working in an office environment where computers are locked down tighter than Alcatraz. The Mouse Jiggler is the perfect solution to the office PC that is locked out after so many minutes of inactivity. Sick of having to re–log in after you go socialize with the secretary for five minutes? Plug in the Mouse Jiggler and it will simply make your mouse spaz out around the screen, preventing the computer from going to sleep or locking you out. Security, schmurity. $30. Thanks, Craig. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Wiebetech]

Maybe I am just smarter than the average bear, but this rainbow-making device could net quite the profit. You place the device in a window with sun shining in and a rotating Swarovski crystal will split the light into the rainbow spectrum. Then simply find the end of the rainbow and the pot of gold will be yours. Hopefully the gold is worth more than $38 so you can profit, but if not, no biggie. –Travis Hudson

Product Page [Via Nerdapproved]

Here's a video from Apple showing the only truly new application introduced as part of Apple's Final Cut Studio 2 rollout yesterday: Color. This sophisticated color correction tool looks like a $100K tool, but everyone gasped when the Applians said it was included with the software suite. It's rather derivative of many other color correction tools for pros, but still, that price is right.

Okay, I hear you asking: To recap that pricing, the full price of the whole suite will be $1299, available next month. To upgrade from Final Cut Studio 1 will be $499, and an upgrade from any version of Final Cut Pro since its beginning (1999) is $699. – Charlie White

Here's the Apple-produced video from yesterday's presentation that shows how footage from that lower-cost (meaning starting at $17,500) Red One camcorder works with Apple's Final Cut Pro 6. We'll be finding out more about that Red camcorder as NAB progresses. – Charlie White

Like Gizmodo, Benjamin Franklin was a lover of all things steampunk, so these spectacles would definitely tickle him pink. They are spring-loaded out the wazoo would definitely give the wearer instant sex appeal. These glasses are the work of deviantart user Y4G3R. –Travis Hudson

Mechanical spectacles [Via BoingBoing]

Panasonic is talking the talk and showing the results with its P2 HD cards at NAB, and also rolled out a solid-state HD camcorder to go with them, the HPX500. This mutha tops Panasonic's hugely successful HVX200 camcorder introduced a couple of years ago, the pro-level HD shooter that also uses those P2 flash-based memory cards. The difference is that the HBX500 has interchangeable lenses, letting you get all film-like with specialized lenses for unique looks. It uses four of those 16GB P2 cards instead of tape, giving you 64 minutes of DVCPro HD footage at a time.

The camcorder has three 2/3" progressive-scan CCDs, and can handle 32 different types of HD and standard-def formats, plus it can handle variable frame rates of every type. This is a $14,000 camcorder, but this kind of flexibility and quality is amazing for that price. Panny says we'll be seeing the HPX500 on the streets next month. – Charlie White

galleryPost('hpx500', 11, 'Panasonic HPX500 Camcorder');

Still stumped on what to get that orthopedic doctor in your life? How about a pen-holding femur bone? The femur bone is one of the best bones in the body because of it's size and durability, and now it can be the perfect accessory on your desk. Sit it on the desk, fill it up with pens, tell every sucker that asks that it is a real bone and then proceed to slap them in the face. –Travis Hudson

Femurs are great for holding pens [Medgadget]

Video shoots are long, tedious affairs, filled with boring down time as the crew sets up for the next shot and the actors get their soy self-worth massages in their trailers. So while a video camera that can play video games might seem kind of dumb at first, it's actually a pretty brilliant idea.

DXG's new DXG-589V is a video camera with a 3-inch LCD screen and 20 built-in video games. Sure, it can take video and 5-megapixel snaps, but the real story is the strangely familiar Playstation buttons and SNES-quality games built in. I'd say it's the perfect camera to keep your Director of Photography occupied during boring shoots, but no self-respecting DP would shoot on something with webcam quality 640x480, 30fps stats. Oh well, for you savings-accountless aspiring YouTube auteurs, this $199 camera/game player could be just what you need to actually stick to a hobby for once.

Hit the jump for another picture of the copyright-infringing buttons.

–Adam Frucci

Product Page [DXG USA]

For all of you stuck in the middle of this crappy April showerama (or down under, preparing for winter), here are 10 umbrellas we have covered over the past year or so. Surprisingly, not all of them are lightsaber-themed.

1. A projector in an umbrella, so you can collide with even more people than usual

2. This one glows different colors to tell if it's raining or not, in case you couldn't already tell

3. Is there an umbrella with a built-in MP3 player? Why, of course there is!

After the jump, you get seven more.

4. Another inevitability, an umbrella that's Made for iPod ^TM

5. Aerodynamic umbrella makes you the Lance Armstrong of walking in rain

6. Nanotech means one shake and it's dry

7. Umbrella for uncomfortable-looking couple

8. Umbrella for uncomfortable-looking dog

SW freaks, you've been very patient. So here you go:

9. Lightsaber Umbrella Number One

10. And finally Lightsaber Umbrella Number Two

There you go. Happy puddle jumping! –Wilson Rothman

Umbrellas [Gizmodo]

I'm not sure what the recent trend is, but everyone seems to be life-sizing my childhood. Remember the game Mousetrap? Yes, the game that was fun for 30 seconds, and not worth the effort and time it took to set it up. Someone has created a life-size replicate of the Mousetrap Rube Goldberg machine. Rather than dropping the cage on the mouse and cheese, like in the original, this monstrous version will drop a safe on any object of your choosing (to crush and destroy). It will be on display at the Maker Faire next month. –Travis Hudson

Full Scale Mousetrap Kinetic Sculpture [OhGizmo!]

PNY jumped the gun a little early today announcing its new GeForce 8600 GT cards before Nvidia's official blessing. The new cards will pack 256MB of GDDR3 memory and according to PNY will go on sale tomorrow. If true, this means we should hear an official announcement from Nvidia any second. The cards are expected to go up against ATI's RV600 and RV630 models (once those come out). There's no mention of pricing, however, although previous rumors had these cards coming in at around $150. – Louis Ramirez

PNY Pre-Announces Nvidia GeForce 8600 [Reg Hardware]
Image Courtesy OCWorkbench

Mitsubishi, Citizen, Sharp, Hitachi and Tanita are working together to create networked exercise equipment, which would track your progress across multiple machines and over time, giving you a detailed report of your time at the gym to go along with your anecdote about that dude who never wipes his sweat off the butterfly machine.

It's an interesting idea, and one that hardcore gym rats are sure to jump all over. It's also something that people with health conditions will probably use to give their doctors more info on just what happens to them when they're physically exerting themselves. Look for the project to pay off sometime next year, at least in Japan, with the results presumably making their way over to the US eventually. –Adam Frucci

Project Page (in Japanese) [via Digital World Tokyo]

Someone's figured out a way to combine gadget obsession with chocoholism, and it doesn't bode well for people with self-control issues. A company called "Corporate Gift Showcase" will sell you many pounds of chocolate molded into the shape of iPods, BlackBerries, laptops and HDTVs. They're ostensibly meant to be as gifts from companies purchased in bulk, but there's nothing stopping you from ordering 1,000 chocolate remote controls. That's right, nothing stopping you. So what are you waiting for?! –Adam Frucci

Product Page [via CrunchGear]

We're not sure what kind of person would enjoy this outsized watch from MUSK (even Biggs had a limit), but if he's out there, he's got one big wrist. The makers claim that this watch is the world's largest, and at 1.57 pounds, that's pretty believable.

Despite the gigantic size, it's only 24,900 yen ($209). Which makes it, sizewise, actually quite reasonably priced. – Jason Chen

Product Page [storemix via Nexus404 via Nerd Approved]

In the video-download world already confusingly crowded by the likes of Joost, YouTube, iTunes, Windows Media Player and others, Adobe hopes to kick some ass with a new obviously Flash-based desktop player. The lightweight download will offer the ability to watch protected Flash content offline. Adobe says it will allow for a "higher" quality of video, and that the cross-platform player will be built on open standards such as RSS and SMIL. Noted is the "powerful Favorites feature," which automatically downloads new episodes of shows you say you like. (We've posted an alleged screenshot, found on Mashable, above.)

The player will be available as a free beta later this year, with full availability by year's end. However, the confusion over which player and/or service you should use to get your legal broadcasts will most likely not be cleared up by then. –Wilson Rothman

Adobe unveils new Media Player [Monsters and Critics]

If you ever wanted to get five USB devices onto your 802.11n network, the Belkin Network USB Hub is the way to do it. It's not quite the same as the Belkin CableFree wireless USB hub that uses ultra-wideband, since this uses 802.11n and hooks into your WLAN network so any PC within range can access the devices.

Being able to hook up USB printers, hard drives and doohickeys and access them from all the PCs sounds pretty great, so we'll gladly cough up the $130 Belkin's asking for it when it goes on sale in June. Oh, and we'd also be remiss if we didn't mention that it looks like the exact opposite of the Apple TV. So there it is. – Jason Chen

Belkin 802.11n hub to link up USB add-ons remotely [Reg Hardware via Slashgear]

Intel has lifted the veil on a conceptual laptop dubbed the Metro Notebook. Aside from being under an inch thick, the notebook will come with a cordless charging pad that'll let you juice up any of your gadgets just by placing them on the notebook.

The notebook is meant to be worn like a messenger bag and has an external e-ink display that gives you quick access to email and calendar info. Inside sits a hefty Core 2 Duo CPU along with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WiMax radios. Now if only they could get all ultraportables this slim. – Louis Ramirez

Intel Restyles Laptop as Wireless Fashion Accessory [Reg Hardware via GearFuse]