lighting

Well, the new Sony PRS-505 Reader I ordered last week arrived today, quite promptly, even with the optional engraving.

Here it is. (I blurred out the email address I provided; it doesn't get any spam, and I want it to stay that way.) The screen is showing the only complete book Sony provides with it-- a public domain "classic" that I haven't yet read, and probably never will. The PRS-500 came with a few complete ebooks plus a lot of excerpts. Apart from Wuthering Heights, the PRS-505 is preloaded only with excerpts.

But that's no … Read more

We've never quite understood the appeal of mobile phone straps and charms, but maybe that's just another sign of our advanced age. But now we've finally come across a trinket that we can relate to: a mini-lava lamp.

And this isn't just any lava-lamp charm, according to Popgadget, but one that lights up when you get a call. The "Astro Light" from British designer Mathmos is also available as a bulb, but it's the lava lamp that holds a special place in our heart. The only other icon that would be more appropriate … Read more

Wow. This one ranks right up there with the "Light Head Magnifer." If you thought the iPod hat cited yesterday was dorkworthy, you'll probably want to avert your eyes from the "BrimLight."

As its name indicates, this battery of five LEDs attaches to the brim of your hat, according to Book of Joe, lighting a 120-degree radius with a range of up to 30 feet. Those stats may be impressive, if you're really into lights, but they come at a rather brutal price of fashion victimization.

If you really need a coal miner's light … Read more

Most lightbulbs create light with a pair electrodes. Luxim does it with radio waves.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based start-up has come up with a way to get rid of the parts inside of high intensity discharge (HID) lamps that are often the first to fail. As a result, Luxim's LiFi (light fidelity) lamp provides more lumens per watt and lasts longer than competing products, according to the company.

In traditional HID lamps, high voltage pulses pass between two electrodes. The energy creates plasma from the ambient gases trapped inside the bulb and you get light. The electrodes, however, degrade … Read more

Did it ever occur to you that light switches could be warm and cuddly? No, I didn't think so either, but apparently nothing's impossible these days. This Essential Wall Dimmer, which retails for $99, looks a bit like a fuzzy caterpillar but promises to actually turn your lights on and off.

Here's how it works: give it a nice little stroke, and its "Plush Touch Screening Technology" will turn the light on or off, or dim it to suit your personal illumination preferences. Simple as that--at least it's supposed to work that way.

The … Read more

Every computer user needs a basic text editor for Readme files and simple note-taking capabilities. That's why Windows comes with Notepad and Mac OS X comes with TextEdit. However, if you want a program that is useful for more than just looking at Readme files, you need to look elsewhere. The best type of text editors come with numerous features and work great for writing quick notes, keeping a journal, coding Web sites, and pasting excerpts from the Web when aggregating research for a project.

While Notepad and TextEdit are useful in their own right, if I want added … Read more

Tobias Wong was probably the kid who kept lightning bugs in a jar for far too long.

He's designed a nifty gadget for summer that doesn't require electricity, candles or the imprisonment of bugs.

It's the Sun Jar from SuckUK for $40.

Leave the mason jar in the sun and a solar cell inside the jar absorbs the solar light and charges its companion battery. You then have 5 hours of lovely glowing illumination that evening. A light sensor turns the LED lamp on when it gets dark and, if need be, off when the sun comes … Read more

Given that we're long past the age of piano dancing, this might be the closest we get to playing any type of keyboard that's not connected to a computer. Yamaha, which is proving itself in the digital music world with products like its virtual drum set, has developed the equivalent of painting by numbers for the piano to debut in August.

Its EZ-200 keyboard has a "follow-the-lights" system that even tone-deaf types like us can handle, as well as touch-sensitive keys that sound louder as they're struck harder. "All you have to worry about … Read more

Wow. It's not often that we're left speechless by the sheer dorkiness of an item, but this one almost had that effect on us.

The very name of the "Lighted Head Magnifier" screams date-repellant, but it still can't come close to conveying the image in the photo shown here. In case anyone cares, Coolest-Gadgets says this piece of headgear provides 3.5x magnification, a spare light bulb and "non-slip fit." That may be so, but it still looks like a poor man's combination of a "Shade Blade" and an LED baseball cap, … Read more