Probably all the US treehuggers ignored this but yesterday there was an international call for a five-minute blackout to save some watts and call attention to the staggering energy consumption on the planet. Too little you say? Try Blackle, a non-official version of Google, which claims to have saved 307,326 Watt hours by using a black background instead of the classic white. Anything that may save some cents from my bill and minutes from my monitor life is welcome, but is this real?

AU: The guys at Techlogg tested 27 monitors and found absolutely no power saving on flat panels. There was a genuine saving on CRTs, but not the 15 watts the site claims. Techlogg averaged 10 watts. So if you're on a CRT, bookmark it. If not, ignore it. -SB

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Zumreed's raindrop-shaped iPod dock is waterproof, so it's perfect for singing along to sad songs in the shower, if you're that kind of person. Available in three colors, white, turquoise and orange, it weighs just over a pound, costs $49.95 and is compatible with most 4th- and 5th-gen iPods. [AudioCubes via Sci-Fi Tech]

If you are a virtual console fan, a Club Nintendo member and live in Japan, here's the perfect retro gamepad for your Nintendo Wii: a Super Nintendo Entertainment System controller for the Wii. It will be out in April of next year and hopefully it will be such a raging success that Nintendo will have to rerelease it commercially all over the world, may Godzilla destroy their headquarters and kick Satoru Iwata's butt if they don't do that. Verdict: Gimme. [Gamebrink]

A wireless gaming chair for desktop gamers is a cool idea, although it's not as cool as this massage gaming chair from a few weeks back. In the sheltered little life that I scuzz around in, gaming chairs are floor-height cack-magnets, rocking delights such as sweat patches, condiment stains, popcorn husks that look like toenail clippings, toenail clippings and other assorted umska that acts as girlfriend repellent, not to mention the sweet smell of eau de sweaty butt crack. Full specs and price below.

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Anke Weiss has designed these neat lights made from packaging, by pricking holes in soap boxes and juice cartons. There is one problem, however:

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More E-Book News, this one a prototype from Seiko Epson, makers of the cool E-ink watch. The device's form factor is at least as thin as Sony's Reader, but it has a 1200x1600 display. That's a lot of res on that 6.7-inch screen. UPDATE: Res independence, good point brilliant readers. [MobileRead via TechnoBob]

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The Thanko USB Heating pad has the unique position of being potentially useful as we enter the colder months. Then again, there's no way this thing puts out more heat than a modern CPU/GPU combo. Just put your notebook on your lap, and watch your man-bits. [Akihabara]

Lars & Ivan's entry into the iPod Dock market is not the typical do-it-all, moderately-powered device. Instead, the PA-40Ti Hybrid is a tube-based 40-watt amplifier that hooks up to whatever speakers you so desire. It also looks like some sort of utopian alien fortress, but I digress. Additional features include RCA inputs, subwoofer preamp and dock connector output (for video and usb connectivity). Belgian retailer designgadgets currently has the Hybrid available for about $342 USD. [designgadgets via technabob]

As car geek icons go, there's the Tesla, the Prius, and for me the Japanese Nissan GT-R supercar, which was unveiled at the LA Auto Show yesterday. Ray at Jalop calls it the GTR-Zilla, but I'll prematurely call it geek car of the coming year, lack of electric power be damned. I swear, this post gets gadgety somewhere through.

He keeps telling me the Corvette Z06 will kill it dead, and who am I to argue with a car meat head like Ray. But I still love this thing. A lot of that has to do with the instrument cluster, designed in conjunction with game-designers from the Playstation's Gran Turismo series, pushing a driver into stat and chart overload. A lot of that also has to do with the factory-spec's insane 480HP from a twin-turbo charged V6. Of course, getting that power to the ground for it's 3.5-second zero-to-sixty time takes a lot of rubber or a lot of technology, and in this case it has to do with an increasingly complex electronically-managed AWD system that in detailed function is one of the last remaining tech secrets of the car.

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Duracell's new PowerSource Mobile 100 could be the new best friend of anyone who tends to carry a lot of gadgets around. It can extend the runtime of just about any portable devic—and even provide up to two hours of additional juice for your laptop. If that wasn't enough, it also has one AC outlet and two USB charge ports so you can charge multiple devices simultaneously. I would completely fall in love with it if not for the $140 price tag. Unfortunately, convenience never comes cheap. [Product Page via Ubergizmo]

After a five month beta, iPod owners can finally look outside of iTunes for their video content thanks to RealPlayer. As part of the RealPlayer Plus package, it is now possible to transfer downloaded video content to the Apple iPod Nano, iPod Classic and iPod Video. Naturally, that opens up a world choc-full of non-DRM protected videos for users to enjoy. A beta version for Mac users is also available. The RealPlayer Plus package will set you back $39.99 —a small price to pay if you ask me. [RealPlayer]

Firefox 3.0 Status meeting notes have revealed that Mozilla will leave about 8 in 10 bugs untouched before the final version is released. Instead, they have decided to devote their attention to correcting the most serious bugs in order to strike a balance between stability and the impending release schedule. [Mozilla via NYT]

Sure, straps can be handy for those of us with overly buttery fingers, but for the rest of us they serve little purpose (unless being massively annoying is considered a purpose). However, the folks at WirelessGround may have changed all that with their new USB enabled Leather Hand Strap. The idea is simple —a strap with hidden mini and standard USB connectors to facilitate sweet electronic love making between your phone and your computer. Plus, it can charge any other compatible gadgets you have lying around. On sale now for $12. Addtional photo available after the break.

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A source in content creation has informed me that the Reader is coming on Monday or Tuesday, just in time for the holiday season. Information was limited, but apparently "a dozen media partners" were to be involved with launch, which implies non-book providers.

That could be interesting if weekly and daily news sources could be downloaded over the Kindle's EVDO data connection, which was discovered in FCC docs so many months ago. If you know more, please drop me a line—this thing could destroy the Sony reader if it has connectivity and I am hungry for details.

Winning the Green Tech Grand Award and "Innovation of the Year" nods from Pop Sci, Nanosolar PowerSheets pack a whole lot of potential into their Paris Hilton-cheap, Nicole Richie-thin panels—we're talking solar power for 30 cents a watt, compared to the $3 it costs now, without silicon or laying the panels on glass. "You're talking about printing rolls of the stuff—printing it on the roofs of 18-wheeler trailers, printing it on garages, printing it wherever you want it." If you wanna know more about the black magic coating the panels, check out Pop Sci's spectacularly detailed coverage. [Pop Sci via BBG]

Lysandre Follet's watch concepts assume the identity of a pair of Nixon timepieces, throwing pong or tetris into the inner workings while avoiding excessive nerddom. The watches balance throwback games with simple, clean designs that don't look to irony for their appeal (like the designer retro-reissue of the Casio Databank). If this were ever real, I'd seriously consider buying it. [Yanko Design]

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Two billion images uploaded to Flickr. The 2,000,000,000? A photo of the golden tree on Market St in Sydney's Chinatown. Big up for the Aussie connection, and to 'yukesmooks' for pinging their shot up at just the right moment.

Imagine being able to store every second of your life on a computer and then calling up digital snapshots of individual moments with a quick search. If Gordon Bell, the head of Microsoft's Media Presence Research Group has his way, this technology could become a reality. The idea behind MyLifeBits or "surrogate memory" as Bell has dubbed it, is that people should be concerned with living life, not "maintaining our memory systems."

MyLifeBits consists of a "Sense Cam" developed by Microsoft that takes pictures when it senses that the user may want a photo, sound recording equipment and a complicated software program that can help the user recall information using simple keywords. According to the researchers, a 1TB hard drive could easily hold all of the text documents, voice files and photos over the course of a person's life —but would only be able to store four hours of video a day for a year. Naturally, that reality wouldn't make MyLifeBits very cost effective in a more complicated form. It may be just as well though, do you really want video floating around of that time you got drunk and hit on that dude with long hair?

On our blink-and-you'll-miss-it visit to the world's largest building site, aka Dubai, we stopped for a gawk at this, the Burj Dubai. Currently the tallest structure in the world, it stands at 156 stories and 585 meters high, but is expected to reach around 800 meters when finished. Designed by Adrian Smith, the tower continues the Armani-Samsung love-in, as the Italian designer is putting his name to a sexy hotel, while the Korean mega-corp is one of the three constructors on the skyscraper. But the cruelest cut of all is that Burj Dubai (burj means "tower" in Arabic) will be dwarfed by Kuwait's Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir, which will measure 1,001 meters when it is ready. But that's not expected to be until 2012 so, until then, size queens will be eyeing up Dubai. [Burj Dubai]

PhotoVu is doing what they do best with the new 1765w, namely develop cool RSS- and Wi-Fi-enabled digital photo frames —except this time they are cramming it all into a relatively compact 17-inch form factor. The frame comes equipped with a 1280 x 800 LCD display, built-in software to handle apps like iPhoto and Picasa, an RSS reader, support for services like Flickr, SmugMug, and .Mac as well as the ability to organise it all remotely via the internet. The whole package clocks in at a not-so-affordable $US699, so make sure you have some photogenic friends and family. [Product Page]

It's been on the market for a while now, and we've taken it for a good spin - so how does the eyeball test place the hooked-on-cpp Kodak Easyshare 5300? Very nicely indeed.

I'll plant my flag in the sand and state I've had a 'thing' for HP printers. I've always liked their colour reproduction and how I could get grey point goodness, plus I've rarely had issues with banding. Meanwhile, my first encounter with this particular printer back at PMA in Melbourne didn't go too well.

Getting this into the office, it was a breeze to setup - far and away the easiest printhead and cartridge install I've encountered. An included calibration sheet was the first print out of the gate (it scans the sheet then prints it out) and on first run there was some scary smearing from black into yellow - things were looking grim. A first photo print saw noticeable banding issues in flat colour areas. Read on for the good news that was to follow.

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If traditional hangman wasn't morbid enough for you, kick the fun up a dimension with this 3D version. With each wrong guess, a magnetised limb is added until a fully-formed dead man swings from the gallows. A great way to teach kids about the gruesome consequences of being a poor speller. Available for $US18. [iwoot via OhGizmo]

The $400 Mac laptop just got even sexier with the arrival of the Asus Eee PC in Galaxy Black at Newegg. If you've wanted a cheap black Mac, now's your chance. Better still, there's no "black tax" on this baby. Sorry early adopters! [Newegg via I4U]

Visa and SCX Global have just launched an awesome new virtual card for those who still don't like the idea of dropping their credit card details online. More of a virtual debit card, the Visa Virtual Prepaid (or VCARD) works by letting you buy a card with whatever value you want on board (plus a $5.50 setup fee). Pay now, buy later.

You can buy these online, but of course that defeats the point for many this is targeted toward. So you can buy at your nearest Mobil/Quix and then activate the details online. You get a card number, expiry date, and three-digit security code. All smartly delivered part online, part via SMS or email, for extra security.

These are proving popular overseas, with Visa claiming over 100,000 active customers in Ireland where the concept has been live for about two years (and that's around 15% of the Irish online buying population).

I'm fine with using my card online, but I know this will be a big winner with many older folks - and with no credit checks, bank accounts, etc involved, I can imagine plenty of anti-credit or bad-credit people will be keen on it too. Safe bet for buying from the seedier corners of the net, too. Use once, then dump and never use again? Could these be a tool in the grey markets and black markets of the future? [Virtual VCARD]

The worst part of going apeshit extreme sports style is that all your awesome moves are left out there in the wilds. This camera is all about taking those smooth moves home to prove you really did kick some butt (just be sure to delete the bits where you bit it hard before you share).

The camera can be mounted to a helmet, or handlebars, or even your arm. I'm not sure that sort of footage will translate to anything more than vibrating, nausea inducing stuff. So getting a bud along too to focus the attention of the camera on you is a good idea. In this sense, the camera's waterproof and shockproof construction is the key. That, and it's just $199 so unlike other cameras you can take a few more risks with its safety. More details plus helmet and handlebar mount shots after the jump.

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The ads are popping up all over (even here) with the news that iiNet has really, truly, rooly launched naked ADSL services. Starting from $49.95, you can now get ADSL2+ from iiNet and you don't have to pay the line rental tax to do so. The intro plan gives 2GB+2GB, and then plans range up to $119.95 for a 65GB+65GB option. I think the prices do get a little hot a little too quickly for the usage limits on offer, but this is still a good deal considering you aren't adding dollars for a phone you never use (or don't want to use, but use now and then because it is there - and that just costs you more dollars).

The deal also includes unlimited local and national VoIP calls through iiNet's VoIP service. Gravy on top, and perhaps that is the key to why the plans are higher than my brain was expecting. Will be very interesting to see how the competition positions when TPG and Internode, and no doubt others, start to offer their plans in coming months.

I'm shocked we haven't seen the iiNet guy wearing nothing but an ADSL router! C'mon, iiNet, the joke needs to be done. Actually, lets hope they hold a press event at a strip joint. Hey, it's a better excuse than some I've heard!

[Full naked iiNet plan details]

Steve Jobs' options case has been thrown out of court. The judge let the case go since there's been no drop in the stock price as a result of the backdating. [Apple Insider]

Because of the WGA strike, there's no Daily Show, which sucks. But if you think you're suffering, think of how the writers of that wonderful program feel! In this video that the writers of our favourite mock newscast made on the picketline, they clearly explain why this strike is happening and how the studio chiefs are total hypocrites. And they have a point! I mean, how can Viacom go around suing YouTube for one billion dollars and then turn around and say there's no money to be made on the internet? Scumbags! [Defamer]daily

The fat lot of nothing done about Comcast's alleged-but-shiftily denied P2P blockage has been kicked over by a hot plate of lawsuit action. Filed by Comcast customer John Hart in the most consumer-friendly state around, it hits them for "breach... Read More »

The EcoStrip promises to save precious energy and even more precious cash by turning off your peripherals, lamps and any other gadgetry you have plugged in when it senses that your computer is off. If saving a little extra cash on electricity each month sounds good to you, the EcoStrip can be had right now for $US34.95. [Product Page]

Today Amazon launched their 2nd annual special holiday edition of customers vote, and this year there are six rounds of rock bottom prices on some truly awesome gear. Starting today, customers can put their two cents in (or $US79.99 as it were) on the console wars by deciding which gaming system should get this huge discount. Once a decision has been made, voters will be randomly selected to receive one of the 1000 massively discounted Wiis, XBox 360s or PS3s available. Check out the complete rules and the items available in rounds 2 through 6 in the press release after the jump.

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I don't know if it's the sheer devotion or a matter of numbers, but Guitar Hero controller hacks tend to be some of the slickest around . But they all just got beat: Fungus amungus's coordinated, LED backlit buttons are a simple but powerful mod, making button-bash shredding look that much sweeter. It's a simple formula: more lights=more sweeter. Close-up still after the jump.

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I go into a conniption when I show someone something on my notebook and they press their dirty, oily finger into my screen, knowing I'll have to bust out an LCD wipe to restore its pristine state. No more! LG Philips LCD's latest LCD panel—which takes after non-stick frying pans&dmash;will let you wipe off smudges, fingerprints, ink (!) and other stickiness (ew) with your shirt, just like an iPhone. They go into mass production in the first half of '08, so they should start making touch computing a little less greasy by next summer. [AP/Yahoo!, Flickr]

We've seen amateur idiots turn industrial robot arms into their own personal amusement park ride before, but now a real amusment park is using a robot arm by German industrial giant Kuka to power a ride. Apparently, it's the most powerful robotic arm in the world. It looks like fun, but perhaps a little less fun than the half-assed dangerous version. Although the music on this video is awesome, so I guess it's a tossup. [New Launches]

Word of warning if you have an Apple-shaped twinkle in your eye: Lo-jacking the Asus Eee PC with OS X is legally dubious (like a lot of worthwhile tech endeavours tend to be) thanks to licensing restrictions and whatnot. Dan's method more or less follows Adam Pash's awesome Hackintosh tutorial over at Lifehacker, but an already PC-patched copy of OS X floating around on BitTorrent mercifully lets you skirt a lot of the hack and slashage for a moderately easy install.

The Eee's pint-sized specs make Tiger a better choice than Leopard for your $US399 ultraportable Mac. If only Apple pumped these out themselves—a low-cost ultraportable Mac would sell so well they'd have to hire people just to count the money. [UNEASYsilence via TUAW