Periscope not included.
(Credit: Irawoods.com)Few eating or imbibing customs are steeped so deeply in ritual as is the making of tea. From little cucumber sandwiches on one side of the world to medicinal uses on the other, tea has long been held as much more than simply being some leaves soaked in water. As tradition dictates, even a simple modern cup of tea must be attached to at least some sort of process; one that automates the steeping like a submerging submarine seems as good as any.
The Zarafina Tea Maker Suite entertains users while it brews a proper cup of tea. The automated machine features steeping settings for different types of tea. Depending on whether you are making a pot of black, oolong, green, white, or herbal tea, the time and temperature will vary.
The device--which sells online for $60 and up--accomplishes this variety of tea-making by floating an infuser basket full of tea over the heating water. When the temperature is right, the basket is released directly into the tea, sinking much like a submarine would into the ocean.
Featuring a payload of your favorite tea, the maker doesn't stop at simple mechanics when the water is just right--there is the steeping time to consider. Complete with a ceramic teapot, teacups and a serving tray, the do-it-all appliance automatically pours your tea directly into the teapot when it has been steeped for the appropriate amount of time. With or without ceremony, your favorite tea is now ready to enjoy.
(Credit:
Perfect Third)
Please forgive me if I take the easy humor route and inject a few "Twilight: New Moon" jokes into my posts over the next few days. I haven't been sleeping well and when that happens I get groggy and tend to go for the easy laugh. The problem is that some nights I just don't get enough sleep (no, not a vampire). I go to bed at different times and always try to wake up at 8.
That being said, I'd like to try the WakeMate sometime to see how it can help me be more rested so I can make better jokes for all of you. It's a cell phone accessory that monitors and analyzes your sleep and then uses the data to wake you up at the optimal point in your sleep cycle.
Sleep analytics like this have been around for a while, but WakeMate appears to be the first system that uses off-the-shelf components (Bluetooth, iPhones, etc.) to bring the method to the masses.
Sleepers wear a wristband that tracks movements during sleep. The motion data is then analyzed to determine sleep patterns and circadian rhythms and sent to a device, like an iPhone, via Bluetooth. At just the right moment in the sleep cycle, the alarm goes off, hopefully waking snoozers to a great morning. Also included are personalized instructions on how to improve your slumber.
The WakeMate is the first product from Perfect Third, a company funded by venture firm Y Combinator, which focuses on early-stage start-ups. Other noted Y Combinator-funded companies include Loopt, Justin.tv, and Reddit. WakeMate is available for preorder for $49.99 from Perfect Third's site and we're guessing we'll hear a lot more about it in the coming months--if we can stay awake, that is.
The WakeMate delivers data on your sleep patterns, as well as suggestions for getting more rested.
(Credit: Perfect Third)
(Credit:
Aether & Hemera)
With the IKEA aesthetic taking over so many homes, you might be yearning for furniture that reflects your mood. Literally. The interactive Mood Chair by U.K. designers Aether & Hemera "changes color in response to the colors that its sensors perceive from the environment and the users."
Is it accurate? We're not sure. But we give the artists props for reminding us of mood rings from our adolescent years.
Aether & Hemera play with LED lights, fiber optics, projections, and UV lamps, creating installations that explore light and its power to trigger a sense of identity or set a mood. Although the partially translucent Mood Chair may never make it into living rooms, the design would sit well in a commercial setting.
(Via Technabob)
No ice needed.
(Credit: Bed Bath & Beyond)While nothing beats enjoying a cooler full of ice-cold beverages at the park, beach, or backyard barbecue, there is a bit of a downside risk: wet cans. As drinks are plucked from the murky depths of the ice chest, ice that is no longer ice clings to the can. It's something even cold-activated cans cannot fix.
Since the dawn of mankind (or at least the invention of the tailgate party), people have looked for a way to enjoy the crisp, clean taste of their favorite drinks without the inconvenience of wet fingers. Now, finally, there is a way.
The Wine Enthusiast Koolatron Rechargeable Bar On Wheels provides a way to cool your drinks anywhere, without the use of ice. The rechargeable cooler cools contents to a "near refrigerator" temperature of 40 degrees F.
Plugging into a standard home outlet, the 41-pound portable cooler also includes an AC/DC adapter for vehicle charging. One charge is good for up to four hours of active, quiet cooling, and for easy portability, two wheels are attached at the base.
With three removable shelves and space for in-door bottle cooling, the portable party-maker has a versatile interior capable of cooling all types of beverages. Complete with a flat work area on top and a hanging basket for accessories on the side, this cooling solution is sure to be a hit at your next outdoor event.
But it will cost you--$449.99 in at least one listing we saw. What do you think? Is saving the ice for putting in your drinks instead of on them worth that tag?
Editors' note: Updated on November 23, 2009.
A few years ago, we used to do a feature highlighting some of the top DVDs that made your home theater really look and sound like one. Well, with Blu-ray in full swing, we thought it high time to come up with a similar roundup of our favorite Blu-ray Discs that will help show off your home theater in all its glory.
While my face is at the top of the column, the list was compiled with input from editors John Falcone, Matthew Moskovciak, and David Katzmaier, who look at a lot of content in their day-to-day testing of products. We also keep an eye on AVS Forum's Blu-ray picture- and audio-quality threads and have always appreciated the site's "tier" rating system.
This list is not set in stone, and we'll be adding and removing discs as new ones come out. As always, feel free to make comments and suggest your own personal favorites. They may get added to the list in the future.
Also: If you're someone who likes demoing your system and skipping around between scenes, you'll want a fast Blu-ray player. Right now, the fastest players we've tested are the LG BD390, Sony PlayStation 3, and the Samsung BD-P3600. Though not quite as fast as its step-up sibling, the Samsung BDP-1600 is among the fastest sub-$300 players we've tested. (See CNET's full list of best Blu-ray players.)
Click any of the images below to start the slideshow.
More:
(Credit:
Acousticom)
Acousticom manufactures audio communication equipment utilized by the Department of Defense and leading aerospace companies. The company is well-known for its flight helmets, but it is coming to CES 2010 with something almost everyone can enjoy--the Sound Egg.
The egg chair is back, but with a 5.1 Dolby Digital surround sound system and an intimate media experience not intended for sharing. The chair can be connected to a television or computer and its unique foam insulation means no more complaining from your significant other. Go ahead, play Call of Duty all you want--he or she won't hear a thing.
The Sound Egg was initially manufactured as a demonstration tool for trade shows. Although this is still a marketed use, Acousticom is making it available as a consumer electronics item. The $1,450 seat is not for everyone, but audiophiles might call it an "investment."
The new Pogoplug: more USB ports for extra hard drives, very pink.
(Credit: Cloud Engines)Just recently we reviewed Cloud Engines' Pogoplug, a very affordable $99 solution that effortlessly turns any USB hard drive or memory stick into an online-connected makeshift server. We really enjoyed playing with the original, although its blocky white look wasn't exactly eyecatching. We take that back--and perhaps even long for the minimalism--with Cloud Engines' new Pogoplug, available in December.
Full of funky curves and lots of pink, the new Pogoplug is clearly designed to be more of a desktop or shelf-based companion as opposed to its predecessor, which adopted more of an Airport Express plug-in brick solution. Now, it almost looks like an iMac peripheral from 1999. While the last Pogoplug had just one USB 2.0 port but could support plugged-in USB routers, the new Pogoplug has four built-in USB 2.0 ports for direct connection of hard drives, and new software tweaks more easily allow global search across all drives, as well as better category organization and even the creation of slideshows, set to music, that can be launched directly from the Pogoplug's browser interface.
The original Pogoplug: far more minimalist.
(Credit: Cloud Engines)The new version jacks up the price a little to $129, but the added ports and more prominent base could be appealing for those who want to build a little home-made server. The original Pogoplug is more of a one-stop portable shop that's ideal for travel and for one USB device, or for those who want to save thirty bucks. We're a little surprised the new Pogoplug didn't simply offer an enclosure to slot a hard drive (or drives) in directly, but it does offer a nice solution for a variety of USB devices.
Other new features include syncing with programs such as iTunes, iPhoto and Windows Media Center, a built-in updating address book for file sharing, and video streaming from within the Pogoplug browser or on the iPhone, a feature that was supposed to be available in the last Pogoplug but never really worked for us. Most cameras and video formats are supposed to be supported. Pogoplug supports NTFS, FAT32, Mac OS Extended Journaled and Non-Journaled (HFS+), and EXT-2/EXT-3 formats.
Read our original Pogoplug review, or if you're curious as to how the Pogoplug works, check out the hands-on gallery below.
Windows Home Server soon gets supercharged to better support Windows 7.
(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)Microsoft announced Thursday its latest update to the Windows Home Server, the Power Pack 3. Originally, this upgrade was planned to be rolled out prior to the launch of Windows 7, but it was delayed due to a problem found during testing.
Power Pack 3 is much like a service pack to Windows Home Server, which is a special version of the Windows operating system designed specially for network-attached storage devices, such as the HP MediaSmart servers.
Judging from a few Windows Home Server-based NAS servers we've reviewed, Windows Home Server significantly helps new consumers familiarize themselves with network-attached storage devices by providing a similar management console, features, and file system support to those of the Windows operating system for desktop computers.
According to Windows Home Server Team's blog, the Power Pack 3 will be available next Tuesday in all shipping languages (including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish). The pack will be free and can be downloaded via Windows Update.
If you plan to manually download it, the Power Pack 3 requires Windows Home Server with Power Pack 2 already installed. However, if your NAS server is connected to the Internet, Power Pack 3 will be automatically installed as part of automatic updates. Make sure you turn this feature on.
The major improvement the Power Pack 3 delivers is support for Windows 7, especially in the realms of backing up and media playback. The breakdown:
- Windows 7 Libraries integration: Now users can access Windows Home Server shared folder from within Windows 7 libraries.
- Windows 7 Action Center backup warning suppression: Windows 7 Action Center now recognizes Windows Home Server as a legitimate backup solution and stops warning you that a backup has not been set up.
- Windows 7 power settings: Windows Home Server can wake a Windows 7-based computer to do a backup, then put it back to sleep once the backup is done.
- Windows Search: Power Pack 3 includes Windows Search 4, which improves query search times, indexing times, and reliability. Files encrypted with EFS are now supported.
- TV archive: Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This is actually a very handy feature if you want to play back recorded TV shows to multiple devices, including portable ones.
For the complete details of what you can get from the Power Pack 3, check out the release documentation. It seems if you move to Windows 7, the Power Pack 3 upgrade is a must for your Windows Home Server-based NAS servers.
It's fair to say that so far Synology is the NAS maker with the fewest misses. Ever since the company joined the network storage arena in early 2008, it has earned three CNET Editors' Choice awards, with the newest one being the DS409Slim.
The new DS410j NAS server from Synology supports Time Machine.
(Credit: Synology)Synology NAS servers offer a vast number of features; signature among those are the advanced surveillance system, sophisticated photo sharing/managing capability, and a robust user interface. And now Synolgoy has overcome one of its only former missteps: by adding support for Apple's Time Machine.
The company announced Wednesday the launch of its new four-bay NAS server, the DS410j. This new NAS server carries all the features of other Synolgoy NAS servers and, on top of that, support for Apple's popular backup solution. For the first time ever, Mac users can use Time Machine (available in Mac OS 10.5 and later) with a Synology NAS server. Currently, very few NAS servers on the market support this feature.
Beyond that update, according to Synology, the DS410j is designed for busy home networks and entry-level businesses. It can house four 3.5-inch SATA hard drives of up to 2TB each, making the total storage up to 8TB. Like other models, the DS410j supports multiple RAID configurations when used with two or more hard drives. It also comes with automated backup, remote file sharing, and multimedia streaming features and is fully DNLA-compliant.
The DS410j is available now both with and without hard drives. Its price varies depending on the configuration; however, like other Synogloy NAS servers, it will not be cheap. It seems that affordability is something that Synolgoy will continue to miss for a while.
On Sale Now: $385.78 - $428.99
View the latest prices for Synology Disk Station DS409slim
Mmmvelopes sell online and at stores including Albertsons, Pick 'n Save, Raley's, and Fry's.
(Credit: J&D's)I honestly can't remember the last time I sent something using conventional mail, but it may have been more than three years ago. I hate licking stamps and envelopes and risking a paper cut in one of the worst places I can imagine. But after spotting these Mmmvelope bacon-flavored envelopes from "bacontrepreneurs" J&D's, I might start looking for reasons to send random stuff out. And for as little as three packs of 25 for $14.99, I can send a lot.
The No. 10 envelopes themselves are regular paper but the glue has a bacony essence ("it's not real bacon, mind you, so you won't have to start storing your envelopes in the refrigerator," the creators stress).
We already have bacon vodka, bacon salt, bacon alarm clocks, and a Web app that superimposes a digital piece of tasty, tasty bacon over everything you navigate. So why wouldn't we get bacon envelopes too? When they make bacon-flavored stamps I might start paying those bills I keep getting. Then maybe I can make food (bacon!) in my oven because they'll have turned the electricity back on. Bacon.
(Via Uncrate)
