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Toshiba forced to pay up in class action DLP lawsuit
Just what Toshiba needed, right? As if the economy wasn't hammering the company's bottom line badly enough, United States Magistrate Judge Steven M. Gold of the Eastern District of New York has just entered a decision that'll force it to pay up over $1 million in order to settle a class action lawsuit it just lost. Originally filed in 2007, the suit alleged "that the lamps of certain Toshiba DLP televisions were susceptible to premature failure causing purchasers to repeatedly expend hundreds of dollars for replacement bulbs, which allegedly suffered from the same defect." After a thorough investigation, it was found that Tosh would be responsible for reimbursing those who purchased a bulb replacement that failed prematurely, and the warranty on replacement bulbs has been pushed from six months to a full year. Naturally, the law firm representing the 265,000 or so affected individuals was quite stoked with the outcome, as should you be if you're in that mix.
WoW Moviewatch: The Lamp
Today's Moviewatch is The Lamp, by Innovatif. Here's a tip that will help you from the beginning. The two characters are credited as "Blue Idiot" and "Red Idiot." They're not stand-ins for kids or anything, they're just a pair of idiots. That being said, I'm shocked and aghast that Alliance was used for token idiots! The Lamp is pretty amusing. I'm not sure I laughed out loud, but I was definitely grinning at watching the clods go through their Christmas morning. It doesn't hurt that their excitement over a found lamp reminds me of my favorite phrase - I love lamp! (Or, for me, I love Tank!) And is often the case when a pair of idiots find a shiny object, the story progresses and hijinks ensue. "The Lamp" is decent to watch, but I think it struggles a little bit against the recent rash of astounding films. I hope to see more from Innovatif, as I think this shows a lot of promise. If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.Previously on Moviewatch ...
First Look: iLava for iPhone/iPod touch
The lava lamp was an icon of 70s pop culture, and that same idea has made it into the 21st century, right on the iPhone. iLava [iTunes link] imitates both a lava lamp, and the demo that Jeff Han gave us at the TED conference. The iLava application is completely multi-touch, meaning that anything you touch will have an action. Touch the lava, move it around. When you tap and hold your finger in a specific area, you'll add heat and see the lava rise. You can also stretch the lava apart, or pinch multiple pieces of lava together. Shake or tilt the iPhone to move the lamp, just as you could a real lava lamp. If you're looking for a cool iPhone application that could bring a few minutes of enjoyment, then look no further than iLava. You can download it from the iTunes App Store for $0.99US. Update: The developer of iLava contacted us to let us know that this application is essentially the same thing that Jeff Han used at the TED conference. Both applications use the same codebase, and was developed by Llya Rosenberg (the same name mentioned in the demo video) over the past few years. Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Solar Vertical Lamp: one more reason to close the blinds
Could everyone just dole out a round of golf claps for Yoon-Hui Kim and Eun-Kyung Kim? Swell, thanks. These two designers have conjured up something that any second-rate hotelier (we kid... kind of) would love, as the Solar Vertical Lamp provides an eco-friendly (and eye-catching) alternative to those drab lamps from the 1980s. With the blinds open, you'll hardly notice anything unusual, but all the while tiny solar pads are being charged up; when time comes to shut these very blinds, a lighting instrument appears to brighten the otherwise darkened room. Brilliant, right?[Via Inhabitat]
X-ray Light exposes our failure to be super
It's a shame that the amazing always becomes ordinary given enough time and popular exposure. Case in point: the x-ray. Childhood longings to possess such visual power are ultimately replaced by painful memories of leaden-concealed trips to the emergency room. Until this, the X-Ray Light from designer Wonsuk Cho. A whimsical look through the lampshade for eyes eager to see. Unfortunately, these lampshade / lights aren't yet available to purchase -- another dream dashed by cruel reality.[Via Technabob]
Rohm brings super-bright OLED out of the shadows, literally
Kyoto-based company Rohm impressed us at last year's CEATEC with a mega-tiny OLED display but it didn't rest on its laurels. A larger prototype exhibited this year emitted ambient light at 3,000 to 4,000cd/m² and a brief flash at 100,000cd/m² -- that's respectively 10 and 250 times the brightness of a typical LCD display. But the impressive bit was this: nothing illuminated cast a shadow. Obviously a light like that is a poor match for a haunted house or romantic restaurant, but surgeons use shadowless lamps at the operating table, so there are applications. The short shelf life of OLED materials is still a nagging disadvantage, but as Dr. Eldon Tyrell would say: "the light that burns twice as bright burns half as long, and you have burned so very, very brightly." Then again, he was talking about cybernetic killing machines, so, maybe not such a great endorsement.[Thanks, Erik]
Philips Wake-up Light simulates sunrise, still can't call in sick for you
Some pretty extreme methods for waking up are out there, but for those of you who'd prefer something a bit more natural, have a passing glance at Philips' Wake-up Light. This admittedly brilliant device simulates the rising of the sun by gradually getting brighter as your desired required wake-up time draws near. If that's not enough, your windowless apartment can become the middle of Central Park with the inclusion of bird sounds, babbling brooks and millions of citizens yapping on mobiles. Okay, so maybe that last bit will come with a future firmware update, but if the current iteration is good enough for you, it can be acquired now for around $120.[Via UberReview]Update: Seems this has been around for at least a bit in some parts of Europe. Share the love!
Crapgadget: USB back massager, limbo string and more obviously terrible ideas
Remember those battery-operated vibrating ladybugs that people used to pass around (multiple times) as office gifts? Yeah, that critter ain't got nothing on this stable of patently awful gizmos. We've seen a remarkable amount of garbage pass under our noses in the past few weeks, and we've rounded up the worst of the worst for your consideration. So, is a USB shell speaker really more embarrassing than a V-Sports console for folks tired of searching for a Wii? Is the i-Knock personal IM notifier more unnecessary than the Encore Rockin' Music Lamp? Or does the OMG-inducing Limbo String walk away with the gold here? We know, each and every item is a festering turd in one way or another, but which of the ones below just exemplify the word "crap?" Choose carefully.Read - USB shell speakerRead - USB back massagerRead - V-Sports consoleRead - i-Knock IM doohickeyRead - Encore Rockin' Music LampRead - Limbo String %Poll-17998%
5.5 designers put eyeball details on lamps, weird us out
It's hard to say what kind of individual seeks out lighting instruments that even look like eyes, let alone lighting instruments with cloned details of their own eyes, but just in case you know one such person, here's the perfect FYI for 'em. Paris-based 5.5 designers are offering a service that enables you to send in images of your eyes (along with a very large sum of money, we presume) in order for the craftspeople to construct eyeball lamps with hints of you splashed all over. Sure gives Rockwell's one and only jam a whole new meaning, yeah?[Via ShinyShiny]
Hand crafted cassette tape lamp turns old tech into fresh lighting
Remember that hundred pack of blank cassettes you bought back in '93 when they hit 90-percent off? Man, those were the days. Unfortunately, you only got around to making three or four mix tapes, leaving you with quite a few unused hunks of junk cluttering up the closet. If you've managed to hang onto 'em just knowing a worthwhile use was just around the bend, congratulations. The ingenious cats over at Transparent House have glued an assortment of old tapes together and inserted neon lights within to keep things cool and create a rather impressive source of lighting. Oh, and if you can't figure this one out sans a how-to guide, maybe DIY work just isn't your bag.[Via technabob]
Duck Hunt lamp will inspire thousands to hunt for cheap Zappers
One reason that the NES Zapper, even in orange, is superior to the Wii Zapper: it makes an attractive lamp. Craftster user fluffypants happened upon one of the clangy gun controllers and, somehow, saw the potential for a lamp. A real Duck Hunt cartridge would have been too small to function as a sturdy base, so she made an imitation NES cartridge from cardboard and affixed it to the Zapper lamp.As if turning controllers into furniture didn't impress us enough, fluffypants turned a store-bought shade into a faithful 3D Duck Hunt scene with layers of cut foam. In fact, the shade is so awesomely Duck Hunt that the actual lamp seems a bit like overkill.
OSRAM unveils Ingo Maurer-designed Early Future OLED lamp
Though we've seen OLEDs used for interior lighting purposes before, OSRAM and designer Ingo Maurer have churned out what's possibly the world's first dedicated OLED lamp. Aptly named Early Future, the creation is being produced as a limited edition and unveiled at the Light&Building Fair in Frankfurt, Germany this week. Each OLED tile measures in at 132- x 33-millimeters, but we're not told exactly how energy efficient this desktop illuminator is (nor where to find one). Leap on past the break for a closeup of the tiles.[Via OLED-Info, thanks Ron]
Hasbro's Room Tech Clock is in kahoots with the Lamp: be afraid
Despite numerous technological advancements in home automation, it's never really seemed to catch on with the mainstream. Now it's time for the children -- our future -- to take things into their own hands. Hasbro is launching the Room Tech Clock (left) and Room Tech Lamp (right), which put a bit of wireless conspiracy to good use by having the Clock turn on the Lamp when the alarm goes off. Sadly, these kids aren't really dreaming big yet, since that's about all this duo can do, other than an audio jack on the alarm to play tunes off your portable audio player. The two Room Tech devices will be out in September, at least in the UK, for £39.99 ($79 US) a piece.
Mushroom LED lamp appeals to gamers for some reason
You may see similarities to a certain famous item in a well-known video game series when you look at these LED touch lamps, but those similarities are coincidence only. Brando, a company that sells video game accessories, among other gadgets, is stocking these lamps only because they enjoy the whimsical design and the convenient method of operation (you just push on the top.) Not because they perceive any relation to video game iconography, no sir.We felt compelled to post these lamps on Wii Fanboy because we enjoy their aesthetic, and we get the feeling that others who take part in our hobby may have similar tastes. We're sorry to post content that in no way relates to video games. Perhaps you can get one of these lamps and pretend that you're playing Wii in some kind of magical forest or something.[Via Siliconera]
Koncept's Z-BAR LED lamp: 40,000 hours of industrial grace
More LED goodness for ya, this time in the form of a desk lamp, not a backlit LCD. The Z-Bar won I.D. Magazine's "best of category" award which is pretty sweet considering the category wasn't just lamps, it was furniture. The Z-Bar's 66, long-livin' LEDs pump 100 lumens in pretty much any direction you want thanks to that 47-inch, finger-thin neck loaded with hinges and rotational joints. Sure, 100 lumens doesn't seem like much when compared to an incandescent's 500–800 lumens. The Z-Bar's trick is to focus the light in a 50-degree viewing angle instead of the 360-degrees of waste emitted by standard light bulbs. The lamp can stand alone on its weighted base or clamped to a table edge -- your choice after forking over $130. [Via Inhabitat]
Robotic AUR desk lamp doubles as collaborative lighting assistant
If you've just not been in the DIY spirit of late, and would rather your lamp console you than just brighten up your surroundings, the AUR desk lamp should do the trick. Concocted as part of a Ph.D thesis on human-robot fluency and nonverbal behavior, the robotic desk lamp "serves as a non-anthropomorphic robotic platform," and was conceived around a 5-DoF robotic arm to "evoke a personal relationship with the human partner without resorting to human-like features." The so-called objective lamp seeks to "explore the relationship that can be maintained through abstract gestures and nonverbal behavior alone," and is animated using a "custom pipeline enabling the dynamic control of behaviors authored in a 3D animation system." A lot of fancy phrasing, we know, so click on through to catch it on video and let things sink in.[Via Pasta and Vinegar]
McKenna's battery-powered DEK create iconic lamps
Sure, we've seen a plethora of design-inspired lamps before, but the biggest (and most refreshing) difference between the prototypes we typically see on expo floors or in the back of one's imagination is that Mark McKenna's iterations are actually for sale. Big shock, we know, but somehow Mr. McKenna has crafted five slightly different Design Emulation Kits (DEK) that "pay homage to some of the greatest modern designers of our time" by allowing customers to create their own masterpiece using pre-printed parts. Once assembled, the light is then attached to a 9-volt battery to light up the LED within, and at just $29 apiece, these would have that engineering cousin of yours occupied and off your back for days. Click on through for a few more selections.[Via Inhabitat]
Artsy 8AM task lamp strikes a pose
These days, a lamp needs to be more than just a lighting instrument, and while the 8AM task lamp doesn't sport integrated speakers, an FM radio, or solar panels, it does go a long way in cleaning up clutter and reaching hard-to-light areas. Constructed from braided electric wire and an aluminum clamping system, this design-centric light allows users to create their own lighting scenario by bending and folding the post, and the rigid structure enables some fairly eye-catching poses to be struck. Furthermore, the device brightens your day more and more each time you touch the clamp, but we're sure a clap-sensitive setup could be installed if that's your thing. Apparently, this creation is still in the prototype stage, but the commercial appeal on this one is pretty glaring.
Maria Hamprecht's SW solar lamp can take it in, dish it out
The concept isn't difficult, the design ain't nothing fancy, and we're sure the "I totally had that idea first" bystanders are numerous, but all the same we've gotta give Maria Hamprecht props for her simplistic SW° Solar Lamp. The cute little bit of furniture sits in a window and soaks up sunlight all day with its solar panels, to be dispersed as electric light at night. No plugs or clunky attachments needed. Unfortunately, there's no indication this lamp is much more than a working prototype at the moment, but hopefully Maria will sell out to The Man before too terribly long and get these things produced, with a $20 Wal-Mart version soon to follow.[Via Inhabitat]
MAMP Pro due to ship today
If you're in the web application development world, you know what LAMP means; for everyone else, it's Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP, the core technologies of gazillions of websites and the defacto "standard stack" for any database-driven project. While every Mac OS X Server install includes all the AMP components, and you can easily install the missing pieces on a standard OS X configuration, it's always nice when someone goes to the trouble of putting everything together in one handy package.The kind people at living-e (makers of webEdition and timeEdition) have been making that handy package for a while now in the form of MAMP, a free bundle of the AMP tools that runs as a standalone website, separate from the default Apache configuration. MAMP is intended for prototyping and development but isn't powerful enough for production use. Now, living-e raises the ante with MAMP Pro, shipping today (price TBD$49 US). The pro version lets you set up unlimited virtual hosts, with individualized MySQL and PHP "sandbox" configs; you can even choose to run sites on PHP 4 or 5, depending on the target environment. The new setup tool also allows you to register your servers with dynamic DNS providers and set up the postfix email server to test mailer scripts.If you've got several projects cooking and you need more capable prototyping than the built-in Apache server can deliver, MAMP Pro might be a good option. As some readers have pointed out, you can accomplish some of the same tricks by combining the free MAMP with the Headdress sandboxing tool, or with the (still in early beta) XAMPP package; your mileage may vary.
