We all have to pitch in to save the Earth from slowly burning to death – luckily, now we can — one power strip at a time. The USB Ecostrip is a power strip that connects to your computer via a USB cable. When the strip senses that your computer is off, it’ll turn everything else off as well — meaning, monitor, speakers, and whatever other delicious toys you’ve got plugged in, will be stopped from wasting precious, precious energy.
The device is set to come to the US soon (we don’t quite know how soon yet) for $34.95. Easy, simple and probably a good way to save some money on the electric bill, the Ecostrip is, if nothing else, a good way to pitch in and maybe indirectly save a polar bear. [EverythingUSB via SciFi]
Reckless
October 2, 2007 at 9:22 AM
I actually bought a product like this from Jaycar last year. Shame that they won’t work on a lot of computers whose 5V rail is live all the time, even when the computer is shut down. This one might work differently I guess, but until I find out otherwise I’m gonna just assume it’s the same basic design.
Also, similar products have been out for ages. Ask anyone in the US who’s built a MAME* cabinet and they’ll tell you that power strips like this are indispensable. Again, I’m not sure how well they work if your power supply is always drawing a current, but I don’t think.
I’m not sure where I was going with that post, except to say that the idea isn’t new. They’re just the first to get decent publicity and to court the greenies among us.
Report Permalink