Gadget news

Those of us who talk to our plants are used to one-way conversations. Now, thanks to the Communication Flower from Japan's E-Revolution, the human-horticulture rapport is about to get more reciprocal.

The gizmo is a small box with a speaker and 200 words and phrases in its memory. Touch the flora and a little guy sitting atop the cube spouts the preprogrammed sentiments randomly. We're having a little trouble extracting the nature of the phrases from translated Japanese promotional materials, but one blurb explains that you can expect to hear "the word which gives vigor to you, … Read more

NOTE: From now through December, every few days a different Crave expert will be posting his or her top 10 gadget picks for the holidays. See what we crave, and maybe you'll get some ideas! Here's our seventh installment.

Erica Ogg is an unapologetic Dodgers fan living in San Francisco, has found herself hopelessly addicted to Starbucks chai lattes (with 2 percent milk), and readily admits to being a history geek. And no, she has nothing to do with Ogg Vorbis.

1. LG Chocolate. So the first version was panned by a lot of critics, but the second … Read more

Here's a bright idea that we found on The Gadgets Weblog: if people can't figure out how to conserve energy, maybe showing pictures of cute animals conserving energy would help them get the idea. Indeed, it's being implemented in an ad campaign by a French electricity company--see, the penguin is turning off a computer, and the meerkats are installing solar panels on the roof! As you may know already, I have a thing for penguins, so of course I think this is a cool idea. And seriously, how cute are those meerkats? (Bigger versions of all the … Read more

LicketyShip, a.k.a. Kozmo 2.0, is offering its service for free today. LicketyShip combines the best of online gadget shopping (easy browsing from your office while you appear to be working), with the one good thing about physical retail: You get the product right away. Today and tomorrow, LicketyShip is free. Use the code LSFREE at checkout.

When you buy something on LicketyShip, the service gets the product for you at a retailer it has a relationship with and delivers it into your hands by courier within four hours. At the moment, the service is in beta and … Read more

The dual phenomena of video games and the Internet have spawned all kinds of odd subcultures. There are the obvious ones, like the l337 haxx0r bunch, or "Final Fantasy" cosplayers; and the not-so-obvious ones, like Vox bloggers with Blythe doll infatuations. (Apparently it's really big over there.)

And then there are Indie Ninjas, which Notcot recently devoted some attention to. We all know at least one or two of them. They're too geeky to be hipsters, a little too off-center to be straight-up geeks, and they have some weird interests. Maybe they're really into Homestar … Read more

We're beginning to think that some avant-garde watchmakers are pulling our legs. In just the last few weeks we've seen watches with fake radiation meters, weird LED scopes, pimped-out displays and systems that tell time backwards.

Now the latest model from AudioCubes, called the "Eleeno Graphic 9Blocks," is about as easy to understand as its name. In fact, its "time reading instructions" don't even include any text--just pictures. We think the joke's on us.

The next frontier in technology may be your lawn. Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but we're definitely seeing more products aimed at helping modern suburbanites be the envy of the Joneses and everyone else in the 'hood.

Just a few days ago we wrote of the "Droplet Electric Mower/Mulcher"--which, despite its painfully utilitarian name, sports a beautiful design created by Australian artist Ashley Marsh-Croft. Now, according to EcoGeek, a U.K. company named Flymo has created a line of hovering lawnmowers.

The electric Flymo Turbo is made with a lightweight design that "… Read more

With plasma screens getting bigger all the time, it might be time to start a new trend and go in the opposite direction (and save a few thousand bucks at the same time). Try the "Pocket Plasma" on for size. At 3 inches in diameter, it may not be as small as phone, camera or media player LCDs, but this mini-screen can do something that the others definitely can't: You can wear it on your clothes. As Red Ferret notes, the $45 "sound-sensitive" Pocket Plasma will light up io voices and music. For more discreet … Read more

As alternative energies finally become more mainstream, wind power often remains an afterthought compared with solar and other sources. The Elica lamp, made by an Italian design firm, is taking one modest step to raise wind energy awareness among the masses.

The lamp can be turned on and off by blowing on its "helix," or propeller. Mobile Whack says an "airblow censor" can help keep the lamp from being switched on accidentally. We have only one issue with this otherwise innovative appliance: According to the Elica site, it must still be plugged into an electrical outlet--which, … Read more