The Ecotones Sleep Sound Machine

Sleeping doesn’t always come naturally to all of us as well as it does the rest of the world.  For those of you that just can’t seem to shut down, you could probably use a little help.  You may have already gone as far as to try pills and now know the side effects that get involved with all of that.  Instead of going that route you could pick up the Ecotones Duet Sleep Sound Machine.  It’ll help you get some sleep without paying for pills.

It offers 10 natural sound recordings that attempt to seem as realistic and natural in your sleep environment as possible.  Although they don’t state what all of those recordings include.  It also offers 3 richness settings that’ll control a broad range of additional sounds.  It also has a sleep timer and adaptive as well as manual operating modes.  You can purchase this one in black for $111.66 through Amazon.

Source: GadgetGrid

Athena sofa

Normally, when you spend the night sleeping on your friend’s couch, you’re usually in for a second-rate experience. I mean, the best you can hope for is that it folds out into a bed.

In the case of the Athena sofa, I could easily make it into an office. I mean, it has an LCD in each armrest that are integrated by a multimedia PC.

As you can see, these screens pop out of the armrests itself and flatten themselves out when not in use. (I wouldn’t rest my coffee cup there, though. At least not without a coaster.)

I see that one of them has a keyboard, but if they were touchscreens, then I’d have a fun time running all my operations with Windows 7.

The Athena sofa also comes with an iPhone and iPod dock, and a set of hidden speakers that include an 8-inch subwoofer.

Like I said before, I could easily live here. I would imagine that after a few days, I would de-evolve into a giant single-cell organism and be the first actual couch potato.

Of course, there is a price to pay for such comfort. In this case, the price is about $15,436. I’m assuming that is the price without the moving cost.

DISPLAX: The touchscreen wallpaper of the future

I think that we all know that the future is full of Microsoft Surface technology, and I look forward to the day when every table or desk is a touchscreen.

DISPLAX, made by a Portuguese company, is prepared for an age where every tabletop, wall, or any large flat (or even curved) surface could be a touchscreen. DISPLAX is a thinner-than-paper polymer film that can be applied to glass, plastic, or wood and can detect up to 16 touches at once.

I don’t know about you, but I’m starting to think of some good uses already. In fact, my dream house will have DISPLAX as wall-paper in every room.

That way, any wall I want can be a television, and recipes can appear on the wall in my kitchen. I would imagine that I could check my email or social media sites from any room, including the bathroom.

Okay, I am going out of my head (in a good way) thinking about all the applications for DISPLAX. So much so, I can’t even think of a bad use for it. However, there is one thing I am a bit unclear on: how does one program this screen? I mean, is there a USB port to connect to a computer, or something?

This technology feels like it is made for an era that I will never see in my lifetime. I have heard that DISPLAX will start shipping as early as July.

USB Physical Therapy Instrument

If you’re in desperate need of some relief in your neck or shoulders, then maybe it’s time to give even the strange methods a try.  This USB device is pretty safe to toss in the strange category, but it might still do the trick.  It’ll help out those with chronic problems or just anyone who has a long work day and needs to relax those muscles while they’re trapped in the office.

It uses body bioelectricity emulation technology, which is using the lectrophysiology simulating traditional herbalism.  Now I have no idea what half of that means, but as long as it does the trick, who actually cares?  It obviously requires a USB port to keep it powered.   You can purchase one of these for $37 through USB Brando.  Although you should be warned that anyone with heart disease, atrial pacing or is pregnant should avoid using the massager.

DIY USB Bronze Bell Clock

The tragic thing about computers is that they always so silently broadcast the time.  It used to be that clocks were works of art in both sound and looks.  Now there is just a small digital clock on the very bottom corner of your screen.  It’s not exactly awe inspiring.  Instead of settling for that, now you can turn your computer clock into something much more grand.  Just make one of these USB bronze bell striking clocks and you’ll always be able to hear the time.

Every hour the bronze bell rings out and even once at the half hour mark, just like the big cuckoo clocks.  Thankfully the person that created this was kind enough to post a guideon how to make your very own.  That way everyone in your office can enjoy all of those classic sounds that clocks used to come with.  I’m sure your co-workers will just love you.

Siftables - Changing the Learning of Brain

What if computers were more like a child’s wooden blocks? Siftables are a new approach to computing developed by David Merrill and Jeevan Kalanthi. Each small square electronic tile has a small screen, motion sensors, and RF signals. The siftables interact with each other, letting you use orientation, proximity, and movement to control their performance. Developed over the last few years, Merrill demonstrated siftables at TED 2009, showing how they could bring kinetic learning and physical intuition to the human-computer interface. Earlier this year Merrill and Kalanthi launched a new company, Sifteo, to bring siftables to the market. Could these blocks represent the next paradigm in the way humans use computers? Check out videos of them in action, and some new press, after the break.

When we last discussed siftables (more than a year ago) it was in the context of many different competing human-computer interfaces (HCIs). Unsurprisingly, that race is still ongoing and each project bears much in common with its competitors. Most of these systems are tactile, most let you pick up and move 3D objects, and all of them try to make interacting with a computer more intuitive. There’s no way for me to forecast whether or not siftables will ultimately be successful in the market, but there are some things that I really like about them, and that set them apart from other HCIs. First, there’s the “neat” factor.

No special sensing surface or cameras are needed

Siftables can sense their neighbors, allowing applications to utilize topological arrangement

Imagine overturning a container of nuts and bolts, then looking through the resulting pile for a particular item. Or spreading photographs out on a tabletop and then beginning to sort them into piles. During these activities we interact with large numbers of small objects at the same time, and they utilize all of our fingers and both hands together. We humans are skilled at using our hands in these ways, and can effortlessly sift and sort - focusing on our higher level goals rather than the items themselves.