RSS Feeds
Gadgets
LeaveMeAloneBox is Douglas Adams-esque in Its Simplicity
Posted by Addy Dugdale at 12:45 AM on April 25, 2008
Inspired by Claude Shannon and Marvin Minsky's Ultimate Machine, the LeaveMeAloneBox is made of a couple of hobby R/C servos, a switch, a microcontroller, and a battery pack, all contained in a little box and with a sprinkling of code. "I get a pretty consistent reaction," says Michael, the guy who made it. "First no one wants to touch it. Next, someone reaches out tentatively and flips the switch. After that, all you hear is laughter and everyone's trying it out." And this is how it reminds me of The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
Do you really need that light on to not trip over your coffee table and break your leg? Let's find out, shall we? The Consumption Feedback Switch is a device that monitors your electricity usage. If it feels you're within your light quota when you flip on the lights, you'll see a small, harmless spark. But if you've been one of those dolphin-unsafe villains from Captain Planet, reading a few minutes too long at night, a gigantic stream of deadly electricity will mend your ways pending you not die.
We like our 
If you're thinking about dropping more than $1000 on a fancy new receiver just because it has four HDMI inputs, wait a doggone minute. This IOGear Automatic HDMI Switch has four HDMI ports going in and one going to your TV, and it's pretty smart, too, automatically figuring out which component is on and then sending that (up to 1080p) signal directly to your HDMI-equipped TV set.
If you want to control things yourself, there's also a remote that lets you select the source manually, and then you can also teach that remote's commands to your universal learning (cough! Harmony! cough!) remote, too. IOGear was even nice enough to include a six-foot HDMI cable, but was a little bashful about pricing thus far. We'll update this post with the price as soon as their reps get over their shyness attack.
UPDATE: Whoa, it's $189. That's a lot of cheddar. [
