The Home Crowd

Sony recently showcased their newest OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) display.  The display boasts an 11 inch 960×540 pixel resolution screen, but most importantly a screen that is 0.3 mm thick.

Now, we all know there will be some will see the as both “Must Have”, and “Must have right now” and will shuck out major bucks to have a pretty, thin TV first.  But do yourself a favor, wait it out a bit.  Enjoy the giant LCD/Plasma you bought last christmas “for the family” (yourself) and have nicely affixed to your living room wall.  There’s still debate going on with which to get of those two “should I have a bright picture or better picture, or better picture and not so bright?”.  You can almost bet though, that by the time that battle has been won, OLED TV’s or possibly the next ‘big’ thing in TV’s will be available.  Right now, as it stands, LCD’s and Plasmas consume alot of energy.  Plasmas suck alot of energy, and LCD’s use a backlight as a source of their brightness.  The OLED screens, however generate their own light and are more energy efficient.  The downside right now of the OLED is that the organic materials used in manufacturing degrade and break down over time, rendering the picture diminished much sooner than the LCD/Plasma units on the market today.

But inevitably, you’ll be able to replace that bulky flat panel on the wall, which of course, replaced that giant plastic box you had sitting in an entertainment center with something that resembles the thickness of the posters on your kids’ walls.

From Engadget

There was a time, shortly after graduating college when the idea of just packing up the car one day and moving from sunny California to the east coast.  But what to do with all my stuff.  At the time I had a bulky desktop computer, alot of furniture, TV’s, and tons of junk.  Who’d want to move that?  No, sell it, give it, toss it in a dumpster if necessary.

Start over, start clean.  But that takes time, lotsa shopping, and lots of lost weekends searching for the next great coffee table.  Seems like this might be a good product for those brave enough to just go off the grid, leave in the middle of the night, take their clothes and pictures, and leave town with a full tank of gas.

Although it’s just a concept from the designers at Casulo, based out of Germany, it seems as though this would be a great product for those sending the kids off to college (not in furnished dormitory housing), or just someone who needs to relocate and have the basics until they’ve replenished their living environment piece by piece.

(From Casulo via eUpgrader)

Unsightly speaker wires are just expected for those in apartments but it’s understood as it’s a temporary home. But FlatWire has another option for those tenants/homeowners looking to clean up the mess of wires without punch holes in your walls. And perhaps even that’s not an option sometimes. Perhaps you have shared walls between condo units you don’t wanna pierce, wall cavities full of spray foam insulation, or as in the case of many high rise apartments, a concrete wall.

(During Installation)

(After FlatWire is applied to walls, finished, and repainted over)

But what about folding the wires 90 degrees, just fold it upon itself. My big concern about this would be the heat generated by electrical cables as it is, but it seems to be directed at speakers, and low-voltage lighting, not providing the juice to that 500 watt home theater receiver, so I can’t imagine the paint or wallpaper bubbling itself off the wall. Seems like this may be useful for some of us, but just make sure you remember where you ran the FlatWire, so you don’t go and drive a nail through it years later while hanging a painting.

You can order it off their site, but it’s a little steep. 37$ for 25 feet of the speaker wire, or a home theater package for 250, plus their special adhesive, tape, labor (mudding, sanding, repainting or wallpapering if you choose)

Or you could just just run a wire, and paint over that. Sounds terrible, but you know you’ve seen it done before…

FlatWire (via Lifehacker)

Lifehacker also has a great post of “10 ways to get cables under control”, a how-to guide to keeping those cables under control and out of sight.

DB Fletcher Design out of the UK, has this table which I saw for the first time a couple of years ago, but I still find it impressive with its circular expanding action, for which I can’t even comprehend the machinery within the table itself.

Its intended uses are for the home and the deck of a yacht. I don’t have a yacht, so I’m not even getting into that discussion, but I could imagine how great it’d be to have one of these at home. How? Well, you’re definitely volunteering to host thanksgiving dinner upon delivery for one. Difference is, you likely won’t set up the table until after all the guests have arrived. And as soon as all the oohs die down, you can bust out the ol’ centerpiece. The kid’s table, would be of course, your previous dining table.

Here’s a video of the Fletcher Capstan Table

At their site they have 3 videos available, but I found that one to be the best, as it is the only one with sound. And for good reason, that thing’s loud! I’ve heard quieter pin-setters at a bowling alley.

Anyhow, interested? It’ll set you back about 50-70K according to their website. And it only comes in circle-shaped. Seems like a square shaped table would be great also, so long as it could shape-shift on a 90 degree turn so as to still keep you squared off in whatever dining space you place it in.

DB Fletcher – Link.

Thinkgeek has the best April fool’s gag I’ve seen this year. They usually have very obscure and brilliant gadgets and gifts, and these April fool’s day specials are no exceptions. I thought the Betamax to HD-DVD was a great deal for $29.99, until you realize of course that both are very dead formats. And also, it doesn’t really exist.

Here’s the page. The production value is great, looks like a real product you can buy with and “in-use” video clip and everything. Not until you try to “Add to cart” will you be notified of the April fool’s shenanigans.

Other great (Fake) products incclude a USB pregnancy test, which I can’t guess as to how well your office may appreciate having that plugged into the company hardware… And caffeinated breakfast cereal (for those really on the go). Come to think about it, I think my mornings could benefit from caffeinated cereal.

But my personal favorite of the bunch is the Super Pii Pii Brothers Wii game. Basically a party game/urination simulator along the lines of whack a mole. The toilet humor ends here, but yet another great false page with a hilarious video to boot.

Congratulations to everyone at Thinkgeek for putting together a great April fools day prank.

-Link to Products Page.

Anyone wanna cut down the time spent waiting to get a spot in the household primping line, and you don’t have the counter space for a multi-user primp-fest? Seems like a quick gift idea when you get stumped but need something for that well groomed wife, daughter, emo-punk son, or just a husband eager to check how well his bald spot is spreading.

360 Degree Mirror – Available at Amazon