But the upkeep sucks. All that constant checking to see your tree needs water can cramp your feel-good holiday ya-yas. But miss a watering or two and that thing of beauty will up and die on you, lickety-split.

The Thirsty Light is a clever little gadget that’s part tree life-saver, part decoration. Hang the green bulb on your tree, where it’s camouflaged to look like just another Christmas ornament, and then dunk the attached sensor into your tree stand. That’s it. The Thirsty Light blinks to alert you when your tree needs water. There’s even a new Snowflake model (pictured) that works the same way but blends in better with your existing ornaments.

The cord between the bulb and the sensor is five feet long, so you won’t be able to hang it at the top of your tree. And it requires 2 AA batteries to work. But at $8.99 for the Snowflake or $9.99 for the original version, your knees and back might just love you more for not having to bend and kneel to constantly check the water level.

Additional models are available that include three, six, or nine bulbs to string across your tree.

Image: Trident Design, LLC.

Post from: EveryJoe

Thirsty Light blinks when tree needs water

Bendi Board

The latest addition to Bendi Board’s lineup is this novelty keyboard that has letters on its keys made to look like the cut-out letters from a blackmail letter. The Blackmail Board retails for $45, the same as all of Bendi Board’s products, so it’s a little too expensive to qualify as a stocking-stuffer, even though it would easily roll up to allow for placing inside a Christmas stocking.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the appearance of the keys on the keyboard is purely decorative; there’s no corresponding font that displays on your computer or smartphone.

Image: The Conran Shop.

Post from: EveryJoe

Think blackmail with this keyboard

It’s a light bulb. The size of a credit card. For reals.

This clever little number from UK gadget maker Brando Workshop is exactly the same size as a credit card, but a hair thicker (exact size: 52mm x 85mm x 3mm). It comes with its own battery (type CR1216), and to turn it on, all you do is flip up the light bulb-shaped part and the built-in LED light switches itself on. The remaining part functions as a stand.

ThinkGeek is selling these bad boys for just $4.99, so can easily afford to get one for all your friends.

But wait. What would you use it for, you ask?

Who cares! It’s a light bulb that fits in your wallet!

Images: Brando Workshop.

Post from: EveryJoe

Credit Card Light Bulb

Genius, right? I mean, how many peripherals do we all use that are powered by plugging into a computer via a USB cord? Exactly! So why bother your computer every time you need to power-up your iPod, when you could just plug right into the wall?

FastMac.com is selling the “TruePower UCS Power Outlet” for pre-order, with shipping expected to start in January ‘10 (after it passes that pesky UL Approval for safety). The best part? It’s priced at just $10. Come on, at that price you could put one of these bad boys in every room in your house.

Image: FastMac.

Post from: EveryJoe

Power outlet + USB ports: genius!

Just out today for $19.99, the Gboard makes for a great little stocking stuffer. The 19-button keyboard makes those time-saving keystrokes even faster. Common functions like search, reply, and trash are mapped to color-coded keys. It’s powered by a USB connector, and doesn’t need any software or drivers to make it work on Windows or Mac.

Image: Gboard.

Post from: EveryJoe

Gboard: the keyboard for Gmail

The funny thing is, Universal attempted this exact same thing a while back when the company still supported the now-defunct HD-DVD format. So it’s not too surprising that they’d resurrect the idea now that they’ve thrown their weight behind Blu-ray.

These “flipper” discs, as they’re called, allow consumers to not have to choose between old-school and high-def, since you’ll get both on a single disc. The first release on the flipper format will be the three films in Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne trilogy — The Bourne Identity, The Bourne Supremacy, and The Bourne Ultimatum — all of which arrive January 19, 2010.

If the idea catches on, additional “flipper” discs for other films are a sure bet.

Post from: EveryJoe

DVD & Blu-ray on a single disc

The CrunchPad was an ambitious, brilliantly obvious idea. Who wouldn’t want to have an easy-to-use, open source touchscreen pad with wireless connectivity and ease of use? Surf the net, watch video, play games, etc. The CrunchPad was poised to be a major competitor against Apple’s impending iPad device. But the dream has ended.

According to the story posted on TechCrunch, the CrunchPad was being designed by a small startup called Fusion Garage, which apparently turned on TC due to pressure from its shareholders. Fusion Garage basically attempted to shut TechCrunch out of the project that TC first conceived of, abruptly informing them that Fusion Garage would be releasing the product themselves. This, despite the fact that TC jointly owns the “CrunchPad” intellectual property along with Fusion Garage, and TC owns CrunchPad trademark alone.

It looks like the folks at TechCrunch are still scratching their heads in confusion over this attempted theft of intellectual property. The whole business is sure to be mired in lawsuits for a long time as the legal system sorts the mess out. There’s a lot more to this sordid tale — click here if you want to read it.

Image: TechCrunch.

Post from: EveryJoe

CrunchPad is D.O.A.

The LaCinema Classic HD offers Ethernet or WiFi connectability (WiFI requires an available accessory) through which you can output your content to your television with an HDMI cable. It plays back at full 1080p HD, working with a wide array of media formats. It can even act as a media server to stream content to other devices, such as your Xbox.

The LaCinema Classic HD is available now at the LaCie Online Store.

Image: LaCie.

Post from: EveryJoe

LaCie’s HD media player

USB Geek is selling a controller that has both a touchpad and a Blackberry-style keyboard on the bottom. It connects to your PC via wireless USB that has a 30 foot range. The touchpad works like your mouse or the trackpad on your laptop, allowing you to move the cursor on the screen, and the keyboard lets you type just like you would with a full-sized version.

It’s only available for the PC, and it’s available to buy for $62.

Image: USB Geek.

Post from: EveryJoe

A universal remote for your PC

Costco is offering Vizio’s VBR110 Blu-ray player for $99 on Black Friday. It’s important to note that the VBR110 is considered an “entry level” Blu-ray player, meaning it doesn’t come with some of the bigger bells and whistles that other players are sporting these days, like streaming Netflix digital rentals. But Vizio’s player comes with an Ethernet port for BD-Live capabilities, and they throw in an HDMI cable.

Walmart has the best deal I’ve seen so far, with a bargain-priced $78 Magnavox Blu-ray player available on Black Friday. (I’d suggest getting there early if you want to score one of these — they’re sure to go fast!) The Magnavox player upscales regular DVD videos up to 1080p, so they look more like the quality of Blu-ray discs, but it includes no other major extras. But it does not include BD-Live capabilities, so you won’t be able to download any additional content that way. Still, it’s the best Black Friday price overall, and that’s likely to go unchallenged by any other retailer.

Best Buy is offering a $99 Blu-ray player from its own brand, Insignia. The Insignia player upscales DVDs to 1080p, streams Netflix if you connect it to an Ethernet cable, BD-Live, and even plays BD-ROM discs. Best Buy is also throwing in a free Blu-ray copy of either Superman Returns or Beetlejuice. If you want the most options for the best price, the Insignia player is my recommendation.

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Black Friday: best chance to go Blu-ray?