The Elettronico Faucet, designed by Carlo Frattini, allows the user to control the temperature of his or her water with a touchscreen, which had better be waterproof. The technology is similar to the Bath-O-Matic that we covered a while ago, as you can regulate the temperature and amount of water with a computerized interface.

Unlike the Bath-O-Matic, it doesn’t appear that the Elettronico Faucet has a centralized interface. As I mentioned before, the Elettronico Faucet is designed to network with all other Elettronico faucets in the house.

So if you are doing the dishes, and you want to prepare a bath at the same time, the controls for all of that are at any faucet. I have no idea how these faucets are synced together, wirelessly or with wires around the pipes.

Unfortunately, there is no word on when these nifty networked faucets will be available, or how much it will cost. I definitely think these spigots deserve some points for design. As for the touchscreen, perhaps an iPhone could be put there, but it might be hard to talk while the water is running.

Source

With the weather slowly cooling off, soon all of the flowers have died, at least the ones outdoors.  Leaving most of us with nothing but dead plants and very cold wet snow.  Well with all the plants dead, you might end up missing some of the pretty flowers.  Now you can pick up a glowing USB flower that will stay in bloom year round.  Even when outside it is ice cold and everything looks gray and white.  Yes, I’m just thrilled that winter will be here soon.  So thrilled I think I’ll just hibernate all winter and never go outside, seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Well, just surround your desk with these cute little USB flowers and not only will you have plenty of task lighting, but you’ll never get the winter blues.  The lamp comes in three different colors, red, blue and orange.  The lamp has eight bright LEDs built-in and the flower stem itself can adjust to give you lighting where you need it.  You can also power it by using 3 AA batteries instead of plugging it into your USB port.  The flower will cost you $15 from Gadget4all.

Source: GeekyGadgets

Fortunately, people at the University of Washington (Go Huskies!) are developing a vocally controlled mouse, or a vocal joystick. It is designed for people with disabilities, and I’ve included a You Tube video demonstrating it for a patient with a spinal disorder, available after the jump.

So how does one operate the vocally controlled mouse? Saying “ahh” will cause the cursor to zip to the northeast corner of the computer screen, and saying “ohh” sends it to the southeast corner. For specific directions, other vowel sounds are needed.

It turns out the vocally controlled mouse has a very simple setup. It is software connected to a microphone that can recognize the vowel sounds needed for motion. The UW developers are also working on using this voice recognition technology on robotic arms.

No word if this technology will be developed for the casual computer user, whether handicapped or non-handicapped, but you can’t deny that this could change a lot of things.

Source

Like last week there are 2 ways to win a $50 Amazon voucher, leave a comment explaining why you voted for whatever and/or tell (not spam) a friend via the Email a friend link about the contest you’ll be entered into another draw. Results and draws will take place next Tuesday, good luck and have a fantastic weekend folks.

Mini-Catamaran

“Do you want to let a cat out of the bag…and then go sailing? Check out this ‘Mini-Cat’ which is a great stop-gap until you can afford to buy a full-size one!”

The full post can be found on Zath.co.uk.

Electronic Drum Kit Shirt

The Electronic Drum Kit Shirt features actual playable drums and an embedded speaker with volume control, not just a pretty picture. Even better: since there’s 7 drums in the design, each of them makes its own sound, so with a bit of talent anyone can carry a tune right on their chest.

The full post can be found on S2999.

SteriPEN UV water purifier: drink from anywhere

Everyone loves to travel, but one dilemma faced by backpackers and adventure enthusiasts alike, is finding clean drinking water. Enter the SteriPEN, a portable water purifier that will ensure you won’t poison yourself when you’re thirsty.The SteriPEN uses ultraviolet light to destroy waterborne microbes (including 99.9999% of bacteria) from all sources of water, be it from a forest stream or a particularly dodgy-looking overseas hotel tap.

The full post can be found on Gaj-It.

Sharp Unveils Solar-Powered 52 inch LCD TV @ CEATEC

Sharp has unveiled the television at CEATEC and while a commercial version is not yet out and neither do we have a commercial name for it, this will surely set the ball rolling for solar powered LCD technology

The full post can be found on Eco Talks.

Waterproof Helmet From Evolution Lynk

The only trick to protect your head against all odds in these fun sports is to ensure safety to your head via this waterproof helmet.

The full post can be found on Lifestyle Buzz.

Waterproof MP3 Player

The new Speedo AquaBeat is an actual MP3 player that is water proof and you can listen to it while your either training to win some gold metals or just hanging by the pool. The headphones are designed to keep your ears dry while letting you listen to your favorite tunes in the pool. Incase you drop your MP3 player the Speedo AquaBeat actually floats for easy retrieval .

The full post can be found on gadgetblvd.com.

The Real Transforming Robot Car Toy

Forget those stale transformers action figures, now you can have the real thing. This remote controlled robot car can transform from a car, into a truck, and finally into a robot that rolls on only two wheels instead of four. The robot car will run for up to 30 minutes on a full charge of its rechargeable battery. Recharging the battery takes approximately four hours. It has a range of 100 feet from the remote control which requires a single 9 volt battery. If Optimus Prime had a little brother, this would be him.

The full post can be found on Robots Rule.

19-in-1 Micro Cool Tool

The Micro-Max is a great pocket toolkit that is easy to carry on your keyring, glovebox, purse, backpack or laptop bag. It is precision crafted from solid stainless steel and features a quick release mechanism that locks onto any keyring. So convenient you’ll forget you’re carrying it until you need it.

The full post can be found on RGS.

Bulletproof Handkerchief Keeps You Safe

This stylish bulletproof handkerchief is meant to keep you safe and looking good at the same time. Created out of kevlar, you can now attend your next party knowing that this hankie will keep your heart well protected from stray bullets.

The full post can be found on Coated.com.

NES Box - Super Mario Bros 3 External HDD Enclosure

What could be cooler for an external hard drive than a Super Mario Bros 3 NES cartridge hard drive. It was made using a 250GB SATA hard drive with 8MB of cache, and a Super Mario Bros 3 NES cartridge, it runs from USB power so there is no need for external power.

The full post can be found on Geeky Gadgets.

Wood Meets Laptop Technology

The Asus Eco book is a neat piece in natural bamboo brown with 1 GB of Ram, and is priced at $2000
The full post can be found on Gadgets n Gizmos.

Thanks to all the sites for their submissions now over to you guys for voting (don’t forget to leave a comment with your reason for a chance to win a $50 Amazon voucher) and tell a friend about this contest to possibly win another $50:

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If you write for a gadget themed blog and wish to be included in next weeks contest check out the CGOTW instructions page.

Alright, I have never had the urge to cuddle with my speakers.  Nor do I wish for a set of speakers that would be comfortable to cuddle with.  To me, speakers are meant to sit there and make noise, on occasion maybe have a bit of geek appeal.  A cuddly bear speaker is just taking things too far.  Besides the first time you watched an rated R movie on your laptop with one of these plugged in, it’s poor ears would probably go up in flames.  It’s sometimes difficult to see who they could possibly be marketing something like this towards, luckily in this case they just came out and said it.

They think it’s an ideal gift for lovers.  Seriously, if any guy ever bought me one of these that’d be it, frankly I’m not a five year old.  Even if I were five, five year olds don’t need laptop speakers.  The speakers plug in via USB as usual.  They are currently being sold for $22.99 on Sourcing Map, but you might want to hurry since there are only three in stock.  We all know what a horrible tragedy it’d be to miss out on these gems.

Source: SlipperyBrick

• High density Silicone
• Play-through design for full function while in case
• Anti-static coating grips the iPhone, not your clothes
• Shock absorbing silicone protects device
• Easy access to controls, touch screen and inputs

You can pick one up for $19.99.

Press Release

Source: Online WSJ

First off we have the S2 external hard drive that takes in a 2.5″ hard drive, while the S1 mini is much smaller at just 1.8″, so you can tell that the latter won’t be able to store that much data while you’re on the go, although that doesn’t mean it has diminished performance. Using a USB controller inside the conventional hard drive, Samsung has managed to churn out devices with a smaller case footprint compared to its competitors, while the on-board technology will see a reduction in weight as well as power consumption, helping your notebook battery last much longer while you’re out on the road with the S1 mini/S2 connected. Nice to know Samsung has furthered green technology in both models, boasting a power savings intelligence program that monitors the drive’s use. This technology will coerce the drive into a low power “sleep mode” whenever the drive is left idle for 10 minutes or more.

You will be able to pick up the 2.5″ Samsung S2 in 160GB, 250GB, 320GB and 500GB capacities. Just in case you’re interested in a size comparison, the S2 will be 17% smaller in terms of form factor compared to the rest of its competition. As for the 1.8″ S1 mini, that model is available in 80GB, 120GB and 160GB capacities. Look out for both in the US sometime in the fourth quarter.

Source: Tech On!

One of the most striking features about the SlingCatcher is its ability to hook up to video rental store Netflix, letting you stream movies straight onto your TV as though you were a subscriber to the service, but being the end user, you won’t be able to see anything that happens on the back end as long as the front end segment works fine and dandy, eh? Each SlingCatcher will come with a remote control that enables access and control of virtually any device hooked up to the SlingBox. some of these compatible devices include a DVR, Cable or Satellite set-top box. The good news is this - you don’t have to place the connected device in the same room, as it will work in a different room, another house or even from a remote location. With the addition of a USB port, you can connect a USB hard drive or flash drive to playback video media stored, including home videos, downloaded movies and other content. Native file format support consists of WMV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 and XviD, but you can add it extra format support for AVI, VOB, IFO, MPG, MOV and WMA.

Slingbox’s SlingCatcher will retail for $300 and works with both standard definition and high definition outputs. You getting one?

Source: TG Daily

With millions of iPhones and wifi enabled iPod Touch’s, and over 100 million applications sold, Madison Avenue is playing close attention to Apple’s success. Who wouldn’t? But the MadMen in New York are seeing opportunities, not applications. They are seeing how incorporating advertising into social networking applications like “Loopt” can turn those millions of iPhones into 21st century bill boards. And they’re betting the farm on it.

According to recent studies by the research firm Informa Telecoms & Media, the mobile ad market is on a nearly $2 Billion dollar pace for 2008, and promise to grown to an estimated $12 BILLION in mobile ad revenue by 2013. That’s a lot of ads. But how will it work?

The idea is that with smartphones that are GPS enabled, software can pop up targeted ads into social networking sites which seek to find where all your friends are. It can also be embedded into such applications as Google Maps through cell phone internet browsers. Users can see an add for a nearby restaurant, for instance, tap for directions and go directly there.

And other applications like Pandora Radio are getting into the game with major clients such as Best Buy, Beck’s and Jaguar. And using a subsidizing scheme where ads will support making more applications for free, it could be the key to reaching that 12 billion dollar ad ceiling.

But the real question is, do users want their iPhones to harass them with digital advertising pollution?
Frankly, I just want a phone that makes phone calls.

Hat Tip – CNN Money