10 Must Have Green Gadgets for Your Home

by Luanne Bradley

In the mad dash to go green, grow green and glow green, some energetic gadget makers are marketing devices that are so darn friendly, we might as well ask them to move into our homes. Plug into these and see:

Philips Eco TV

A 42-inch, flat-panel LCD, this TV broadcasts power-saving features, such as a backlight dimmer the viewer controls for darker scenes. It also has a power-saving mode for capping peak light output. It retails for around $1,400 at Amazon and other electronics suppliers. (Shown above.)

Bamboo Laptop



How chic can a computer get? The green batteries in the Asus boast a 35 to 70% longer life. The bamboo exterior houses all the usual extras of a notebook. Check it out at Ecomoves.

The Studio Hybrid Eco-Friendly Small Desktop


Ideal for the little green home office that could, this engine has optional upgrades to include built-in Wi-Fi Blue Ray™ and a wireless keyboard and mouse. This PC is Dell's greenest and most powerful desktop to date, using 70 percent less energy while arriving 80 percent smaller than a typical desktop minitower. Beginning at $499, it's available in cool color options. It gets a 4.0 Energy Star rating with packing material made from 95 percent recyclable material.

Jonta LED Flashlight



Described as one of the best "human powered" flashlights, you can recharge this wind-up toy by cranking it to your heart's content. Keep one handy in your nightstand drawer, the kitchen cabinet, in your kid's room. Let it shine the new fashioned way. $49.99 at Green and More.

Solar Christmas Lights



If you are inclined to deck the halls and the roof, opt for these solar lights from Eco Geek Living, $39.97 for a set.

Spin-X Spindryer



This will cut down on drying time so much, it will make you dizzy. It costs $599.95 (plus shipping) but saves an estimaed $1,104 in three years. I believe it. The Spin-X can remove one quart of water from clothes taken out of your machine. The extracted water goes into a storage container. It also removes soap, detergents, perfumes and chemicals into the container. You can order one at Spin-X.

Helios Solar Grill



Invented by Sean McGreevy, this energy-efficient outdoor grill (great for that Thanksgiving turkey in Miami) has a coil inside that heats up like the hottest coal. The dish looks like it should be receiving your favorite show, Top Chef, but instead it collects the solar power while you cook away. Fire up your curiosity at Coolest Gadgets.

Eco Fan 800



No batteries, cords or chargers required for these blades of glory. The Eco Fan generates its own electricity using the heat of your wood burning stove. The thermo-electric module inside acts as the generator, letting you cut down on those insane power bills. $119 at Northline Express.

Barbar Ceramic ECO 8000 Blow Dryer


A hair greener than other styilng tools, the ceramic ECO Dryer is equipped with a low EMF heating output, negating radiation while keeping your locks soft and shiny. $109 at Beauty Choice.

Kill-A-Watt



It's the favorite gismo of Alter Eco's Darren Moore. This tool lets you test how much energy is being sucked out by your appliances, helping you to calculate and cut costs. $23.89 at Smart home.

Categories:storage, laundry, kitchen, home, gadgets, electronics, bamboo, appliance, accessory

20+ of the World's Most Manly Rigs [PICS]

Majestic Rigs and Custom Truck Interiors
Interview with the photographer Roger Snider

The Legend of the American West lives on in the subculture of Big Rigs and trucks stops... The majesty and the immensity of the land gets its perfect expression in these location shots of the most outstanding rigs:





Here is your chance to peak inside some of the most spectacular custom rigs:

Roger Snider is a Los Angeles based photographer who's currently putting together a project (with an accompanying book) called Ultra Rigs of the World. We asked him some questions, and he told us about his fascination with these big and beautiful machines (which simply beg to be customized!) -






DRB: How did you come up with the idea for this project?

Roger: At first I had a few of these big rig photos on my www.rogersnider.com website and this little gallery got a really great response. I added more galleries and after a year realized that most of my Google traffic was from people searching for cool custom rig photos. I thought, why not make a stand-alone site that is specific to this subject matter. I was concentrating on celebrity /fashion portraits before this.

I googled trucks shows and went to the Las Vegas Truck Show in June of 2006, where I saw real show trucks for the first time in my life. It was at that moment that I knew this would be a subject I would be working on for years to come.





DRB: Do you only cover American rigs? Any plans to feature European super-rigs?

Roger: I have covered rigs in Canada, the US and Japan thus far. I plan to travel the world photographing custom rigs from as many countries as possible. "Ultra Rigs of the World" is the working title of the first definitive photo book about this lesser known artistic subculture. So the website is a teaser to the book project, designed to attract attention (and hopefully) funding - so that I could complete and publish the book.

DRB: What about truck trains in Australia, South Africa, any plans to cover these?

Roger: Yes, it will probably be my next stop out of the country. I really look forward to photographing them (I just love the cattle grates on the front of the rigs, for example). I think an aerial photo will also be needed to properly show the length of some of the trucks.





DRB: Do you own a rig yourself?
Roger: No, but if I did it would probably be a Kenworth Aerodyne COE.

DRB: What do you think is the best movie about trucker culture?
Roger: Well I worked on "Big Rig" which was the documentary that just come out this June. I got the gig after a chance meeting with the director on an airplane across the country. I was shooting documentary photos of the LA Derby Dolls at the time and thought working on the film with him could be a really interesting project. It took them 6 years to make the movie, and they hired me to come along on the last leg of the filming. I drove with them from LA to Seattle, and then over into Montana. We went to trucks stops and tried to pick up riders with the drives - to conduct interviews on camera, with them driving. I came away with a great documentary-style portfolio of images, but what I really want is to shoot more trucks. See the gallery here.



In case you wondered, this is how much it costs to fill up a big rig (or rather how much it was in May 2006 somewhere between Los Angeles and Seattle) -



DRB: What is the best truck / car chase scene, in your opinion?
Roger: "Convoy" is tough to beat. It's what got most boys interested in the bad-ass nature of the truckers. The Japanese Peterbilt you see in this gallery is owned by a guy in Japan who doesn't understand English, but grew up loving the movie (which inspired him to buy the Peterbilt). The truck is just a RV for him, as it is too long to pull a trailer on the roads in Japan.

Speaking of RV big rig conversions...



Trick My Trailer: - an incredible RV big rig machine, built by Everett Transportation and Bloomers Trailers for the "Rodeo Spin to Win". See more pictures here.




Roger: I spend my summers flying all over the US (and even to Fergus, Ontario), taking pictures of trucks at various truck shows for a show rig magazine called Large Car Magazine. "Large Car" is trucker slang term for a tricked out truck that resembles a luxury car rolling down the highway.

The Night Comes Alive - The "Big Iron Classic" is the largest truck show in the Midwest. It also features a spectacular "Truck Pull" event (big diesel trucks compete to pull a weighted sled as it digs deeper into the track the further it is pulled) -




Decotora - Japanese Art Trucks

We wrote about Decotora - uniquely Japanese electric light truck decoration before, but Roger Snider's photography is simply unbelievable, just as the trucks are certainly other-worldly.




Roger: "I love the trucks in Japan and intend to return there and photo more of them. It's fascinating that after all the decor is applied - they don't even look like trucks! Way back in the 1970s they started to resemble boats, and now they have evolved into the "spaceships" you see today.

"Over the top" is fine, in my opinion. The lights and sounds are really something you need to see in person."



These are not trucks, these are spaceships!




So much chrome in one place should really tilt the planet... or cause chrome shortages on the global market.


(all images are copyright, courtesy Roger Snider)

Now you know how fantastic truck interior can be, when you pass some custom rigs on the interstate... Although some trucks look unreal without any customization: check out this one, possibly "International RDFC" -


(image credit: shftat6)

On a side note:
Does anyone know where this incredible huge truck train comes from? -



Also Read:
Scary Trucks , Steam Buses and Trucks
Concept Trucks by Luigi Colani, Huge Off-Highway Road Trains
Big Rig and Truck Accidents, Anti-Roit Police Vehicles

First Look at Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter?

Source:Johnny-Depp.org

Here is your first glimpse at what appears to be Johnny Depp as he'll look in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Depp is playing the Mad Hatter and he'll appear alongside co-stars Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Sheen, Mia Wasikowska, Matt Lucas, Crispin Glover, Stephen Fry and Alan Rickman.

Burton's latest is written by Linda Woolverton and based on the Lewis Carroll classic "Alice in Wonderland." The film will combine performance-capture imagery, currently seen in Beowulf, with live-action footage. Look for it in theaters on March 5, 2010.

Wanda Sykes says she's 'proud to be gay'

In this Thursday, June 21, 2007, file photo, comedian Wanda Sykes, who portrays a congressional aide in the movie "Evan Almighty, " appears on the NBC "Today" television program in New York's Rockefeller Center. Sykes says the passage of a same-sex marriage ban in California has led to her be more outspoken about being gay. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Comedian Wanda Sykes says the passage of a same-sex marriage ban in California has led to her be more outspoken about being gay.

"You know, I don't really talk about my sexual orientation. I didn't feel like I had to. I was just living my life, not necessarily in the closet, but I was living my life," Sykes told a crowd at a gay rights rally in Las Vegas on Saturday.

"Everybody that knows me personally they know I'm gay. But that's the way people should be able to live their lives," she said.

Sykes, who is known for her feisty and blunt style, said the passage of California's Proposition 8 made her feel like she was "attacked."

"Now, I gotta get in their face," she said. "I'm proud to be a woman. I'm proud to be a black woman, and I'm proud to be gay."

Sykes' appearance at the Las Vegas rally surprised organizers. She was in town performing at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino.

Iraq's Cabinet approves U.S. security pact

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi Cabinet on Sunday approved a security pact that would set the terms for U.S. troops in Iraq.

Members of the Iraqi Cabinet vote on the security agreement Sunday in Baghdad.

Negotiators had been working for months on a deal that will set terms for U.S. troop presence in Iraq.

The agreement sets June 30, 2009, as the deadline for U.S. troops to withdraw from all Iraqi cities and towns, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said.

The date for all troops to leave Iraq will be December 31, 2011, he said.

These dates are "set and fixed" and are "not subject to the circumstances on the ground," he said.

Twenty-seven of the 40 Cabinet members in attendance voted in favor of the agreement, said Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari. One minister abstained.

The Cabinet consists of the prime minister, two deputy prime ministers and 37 other ministers.

The approved draft will be sent to the Council of Representatives, Iraq's 275-seat parliament, where it will be put to another vote. "There is great optimism that they will pass it," said Industry Minister Fawzi Hariri.

Al-Dabbagh said the parliament speaker and his deputies will decide when the parliament will vote on the agreement. He said there were "positive attitudes" when the major political blocs met to discuss the draft plan on Saturday.

Under the Iraqi constitution, parliamentary approval is required for measures such as this agreement to take effect.

Al-Dabbagh told CNN it appeared that "most of the political parties had approved and agreed on the final draft. ... It is a good agreement that fulfills both Iraqi and U.S. interests and respects the sovereignty of Iraq."

Zebari said the parliament will reach a decision before it takes a 15-day recess on November 25.

In Washington, a spokesman for the National Security Council described the agreement as "an important and positive step."

"While the process is not yet complete, we remain hopeful and confident we'll soon have an agreement that serves both the people of Iraq and the United States well, and sends a signal to the region and the world that both our governments are committed to a stable, secure and democratic Iraq," said Gordon Johndroe.

"While there is still much work to be done, U.S. forces continue to return home and there will be 14 Brigade Combat Teams at the end of this year, down from 20 at the height of the surge," he added.

Earlier, Sami al-Askari, an adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, said the draft included changes that made it "satisfactory" for the Iraqis.

For months, the United States and Iraq have been negotiating a proposed status of forces agreement. It would set the terms for U.S. troops in Iraq after the U.N. mandate on their presence expires at the end of this year.

Many Iraqi officials say they will oppose any deal that hints at compromising the country's sovereignty.

Iraqi cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani said in a statement on his official Web site last week that he will "forbid any stance that targets the sovereignty of Iraq no matter how small it is."

In late October, Iraqi officials submitted several amendments to the draft plan to U.S. negotiators in Baghdad.

Zebari said at the time that the proposed changes called for a fixed timetable for U.S. troop withdrawal; a specific number of sites and locations that would be used by the U.S. military; and Iraqi jurisdiction over U.S. forces who commit certain crimes in Iraq.

Al-Dabbagh said the Cabinet on Sunday also approved a "draft framework" agreement between the U.S. and Iraq.

This agreement "establishes the principles of cooperation and friendship in the political, diplomatic, educational, health and environmental fields in addition to economic, energy, information technology, communication fields," al-Dabbagh said.