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New York Comic Convention news roundup

From Friday through Sunday, the New York City Comic Convention took over Manhattan's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and Will Greenwald and I were there to brave the hordes of Star Wars cosplayers to bring you plenty of super sweet news coverage. Actually, scratch that. We get along just fine with Star Wars cosplayers. No horde-braving is necessary.

--Digital age plays villain, hero in future of comics (CNET News.com)

--Halo ActionClix and other nerd games (Crave)

--Web comics, print comics, and really really big print comics (Crave)

--More than comics at comic convention (CNET … Read more

Headlamps can light up the 'hood

It may be the season of power outages, but you'll never have to worry about stubbing your toe in the dark if you have one of these lamps. In fact, you can light up the whole neighborhood just by turning your head.

FoxFury, which makes industrial-grade lighting products, is offering some serious LED headlamps for personal use as well. Its "Signature Series" includes various versions that are designed for such activities as hunting, hiking and even diving, according to OhGizmo, with different LEDs for each purpose. The scuba model, for instance, has blue and green lights that … Read more

USB purifier claims to clear the air

It's been a banner week for germaphobes. Just the other day we pointed to a device that purifies water with UV rays, and now we get word of a product that filters out airborne germs from the air within its immediate vicinity.

The "Ionic USB Air Purifier," according to Fareastgizmos, "discharges negative ions to absorb second-hand smoke, odors, clean airborne dust, and eliminate bacteria, germs, viruses." The device circulates air silently without a fan and needs no filters. All you need, apparently, is faith.

A gadget to improve your memory

Ever heard of Gary Small? He's the neuroscientist who wrote the The Memory Bible, the best-seller that claims to improve your memory with five mental exercises. But what if you forget what to do?

Dr. Small has an answer for that too with his "Handheld Brain And Memory Fitness Trainer," which includes the brain games necessary to execute his program. On its LCD, the memory-challenged can play games that "simultaneously exercise the left-brain (verbal memory and logical skills) and the right-brain (visual memory)." It also monitors progress automatically along the way--a good thing, because that … Read more

Trusty BlackBerry is there for Britney

Say what you will about Britney's relationships (including the one with her hair), but there's one love where her loyalty has never wavered: her bond with the BlackBerry.

Just as it was instrumental in her final text message to K-Fed, the trusty device has never left her side through the latest rehab stint (and escape), as the paparazzi found out. And she's not alone: the BlackBerry 8700, according to GeekSugar, is apparently the smart phone of choice for scads of other celebs, from Brit-buddy Jamie-Lynn Sigler to Lindsay Lohan, Jennifer Aniston, and the ubiquitous Paris Hilton.

We'… Read more

A baby monitor that claims to work

If you're a parent, chances are you've tried a baby monitor. And chances are even greater that you've tried one that sucked. That, at least, has been our experience and that of practically every other mom and dad we know.

Hammacher Schlemmer is trying to right this widespread wrong with a $200 "Superior Baby Monitor" that does address one obvious flaw in many other models: This one uses "digital enhanced cordless communication" (DECT) that will automatically find an open frequency among 60 channels, avoiding interference from phones, microwaves and other electronic appliances. (In … Read more

'Lightsaber Umbrella' for dry nerdiness

We're almost afraid to post any information about this item because more people might actually buy it.

Some of us at Crave happen to think that the undying popularity of the Lightsaber is a sign of societal decay--or at least depressing nerdiness. But being equal-opportunity bloggers, we feel obligated to mention the "Lightsaber Umbrella" featured on Red Ferret.

There's not much to say, really--it's name pretty much sums it up. It lights up and keeps you dry. Or, more important, it keeps your DS Lite dry. (More photos here.)

UV lamp zaps bacteria from water

Good news, fellow germaphobes. We've seen all manner of gadgets that sterilize surfaces but none that address what we ingest. Until now.

The "SteriPEN UV Light Water Purifier" treats H2O with a germicidal lamp, supposedly rendering it bacteria-free with no chemical aftertaste and "99.99 percent safe to drink," according to Mobile Magazine. With our luck, we'll probably be among the remaining 0.01 percent.

Behold the power of the LED home lightbulb

She's holding a lit lightbulb in her hand. Is the prophecy true? Is she the chosen one?

No, that's just Amber Nystrom, founder of Social Fusion, holding up the Pharox, an LED light by Lemnis Lighting that's designed to fit into an ordinary lamp socket (there's a battery in this one; the home models just screw in). It offers about the same amount of light as a 40-watt bulb but consumes about 90 percent less energy. If you haven't heard by now, lightbulbs waste a lot of energy. Around 95 percent of the energy turns … Read more

Need silence? Get Snoop Dogg's drywall

You may not have Snoop Dogg's private collection of weapons or the ability to pay for limousines to drive you everywhere, but you can have the rapper's drywall.

The picture shows off samples of QuietRock and QuietWood, wall coverings from Serious Materials that dampen sound. If you outfit a room with this stuff, no one can hear you rap inside, according to CEO Kevin Surace (who, needless to say, is not the model in the picture). This sort of drywall also allows you to put a home theater in a room that's next to a bedroom.

Customers … Read more