Seriously though, computers waste a lot of energy while performing such tedious tasks. But fear not, Mother Earth, a bunch of geeks are working on an energy saving device that will maintain a computer’s essential functions while consuming as low as 10% of the power normally used by a regular PC.

Computer scientists at the University of California in San Diego and  *gasp* Microsoft Research have come up with the Somniloquy, a USB dongle that is basically a barebones PC, complete with an OS, flash memory, and network connectivity. The idea behind Somniloquy is simple: if your computer has to perform nothing but a single time-consuming task – downloading all episodes of Top Gear for example – Somniloquy will take over while your computer goes to sleep: “Somniloquy essentially takes over as the computer’s presence on the network while the actual PC is asleep by operating at the computers’ network interface. In effect, it impersonates the sleeping PC to other hosts on the network.”

What’s more, Somniloquy can wake up the “main” computer if needed. For example, if its flash memory gets filled up, it can wake up the main computer and transfer its files, and then tell the big guy to go to sleep again. The people behind the device hope to shrink it further so that it can be installed into a network card, and hopefully into all computers.

[via apc via GetUSB]

Thanks to a new design that’s surfaced at Zazzle, friends, you can do just that. These t-shirts combine Star Wars references with eco-friendly imagery with hilarious results. Ride to work? You bet I would, if a Tauntaun came with the deal. I hear they’re particularly useful in cold climates.

These particular designs aren’t limited to t-shirts, and you can make changes, as Zazzle is all about customization. Unfortunately, these shirts don’t seem to come in a cheap version–they’re priced at $30.80. Sounds like it might be time for a rebellion against t-shirt pricing. Admiring, however, is always free.

[Zazzle via Super Punch]

Aqua Power System is of course a Japanese company. They call their leaktastic invention NoPoPo, short for No Policeman don’t arrest me I’m Powering my batteries. Actually it’s Non-Pollution Power. Both sound stupid but mine is funnier. Inside each NoPoPo battery is a combination of magnesium and carbon that generate electricity when mixed with certain fluids. The batteries come with a pipette so you can inject fluids into the battery.

According to James Sherwood of Register Hardware, the life span of an AA alkaline battery falls between 1700 and 3000 mAh (milliamp-hours), while an AA NoPoPo battery lasts only up to 500 mAh. But Sherwood also says that existing zinc-carbon batteries have the same life span as the NoPoPos, so we’re not looking at some blue sky technology here. I do hope they refine and extend the technology so that it can power larger devices such as phones and PMPs. Would you buy an iPee?

Ready to whiz in your batteries? You can grab a pair over at HimeyaShop for $15 (USD).

I think that one of the reasons why this shirt is so cool is because it’s actually from the future: it’s set to be released in March 2009, but you can already pre-order the shirt for $25 over at Star Wars Shop.

[via Fashionably Geek]

The Rainbow Stone (which looks more like a clam than a stone to me) uses a set of colored LEDs which are bounced off of a curved mirror to produce an ever-changing rainbow of fruit flavors colors. As is almost always the case with these type of gadgets, the effect works best in a totally darkened room.

Available from Korea’s Gadget8, the Rainbow Stone is currently on sale for KRW 35,000 (about $38 USD.)

It may not be the prettiest media player ever made, but that’s because it needs room for the mechanical device that converts your energy into power. One minute of winding will give you about forty minutes of play time.

It’s not the fanciest player either, but it does offer a 1.8-inch color screen, and can play both audio and video clips. There’s even an FM radio and an emergency LED flashlight on board. It comes with 2GB of internal memory, but is expandable using an SD memory card.

Designed to be both eco-friendly and pragmatic for situations like camping and hiking, the crank powered Baylis MP3 player will set you back a pricey £170 (about $345 USD) from the Ethical Superstore. I guess that being environmentally-correct isn’t always economically-correct.

[via Hippyshopper via Tech Digest]

Rather than trying to just deal with differences in surfaces and obstacles as the robot approaches an area, the ‘bot can actually take data from its recent surroundings to predict what might be next and store that information in its internal map. By doing this, the robot can better prepare to navigate ahead of time, reducing the likelihood of getting stuck or slow progress through challenging obstacles.

Currently, the algorithm does add a bit of processing overhead to the robot’s software, meaning that it can’t cover as much ground as less intelligent robots. In future, the researchers plan to link up multiple robots to share their knowledge and to improve prediction capabilities.

[via softpedia via robotster]