If you are like me, you probably hate the "a portion of the purchase will be donated to charity" line because they never really tell you what that portion is. We stumbled upon BlueFlip Art, a company that donates 10% of all sales to charity -- stated clear as day. You get to support an independent artist, you get to support a charity, and you get some kick ass art at the same time (like Brian Taylor's "Sparky" art featured above).

Scope out BlueFlip Art for some cool independent art.

You'll be as impressed as we were when we saw the videos of Golden Shellback waterproofing an Apple iPhone. Golden Shellback coating produces a vacuum deposited film that is nonflammable, has low toxicity and has the ability to weatherproof electronic devices and other surfaces. The technology was developed by Northeast Maritime Institute in Fairhaven, MA and we don't really know exactly how it works (they are being tight-lipped about it). We will supposedly hear more in a few months time.

Check out the crazy video here and learn more about it here.

Unlike indoor cleaning robots like the iRobot, the Solar Breeze Skimmer benefits from being outside: it is 100% powered by solar power. And since this robot is exclusively powered by sunlight, you will never have to pay a dime to charge this. Best of all, it makes cleaning your pool easier since you won't need to constantly take it out of the pool to recharge it. Leave it overnight and in the morning it starts doing the work all over again. Such is the life of being a robot.

There is one downfall to the Solar Breeze Skimmer though. The robot does not clean what is in the bottom of the pool, just what is on the surface, so you will still need to use your pool pump for some of the time.

In addition to picking up the garbage, the Solar Breeze Skimmer also contains a chemical dispenser which uses standard pool chemical tablets.

At $450, the Solar Breeze Pool Skimmer does not come cheap, but it will help take care of most of your cleaning duties without taking a toll on your energy consumption.

You've probably seen these type of heaters at restaurants with outside seating, what you probably haven't seen is one that does both. So, the The Patio Palm Heater and Mister finally does what the do-only-one-thing should have done to begin with. The heater provides 40,000 BTU of heat, enough to keep you cozy in your chilly back yard. The unit is powered by propane and features an easy tank exchange mechanism.

Just don't turn both the heater and mister on at the same time or the universe will implode.

$759 will get you one at the manufacturer's web site.

Solar Electrical Systems has produced the first solar panel for the Prius Hybrid so you can literally drive on sunshine. The panels were created with the idea of increasing the range and efficiency of the hybrid vehicle.




The system collects clean renewable solar energy and utilizes it to charge the supplemental and HV battery pack. The system can produce up to 1200 watt hours per day through the use of solid state electronics (no moving parts). It has an electronic mode range of 20 miles which is more than most Americans use in one day. You can expect it to improve your fuel economy anywhere between 17 and 29%, which is pretty nice with today's outrageous gas prices. The system will function on the HV batteries and once the batteries have been depleted the hybrid system will pick up and go with the electrical mode and internal combustion engine. The solar panels will continually charge the battery pack as long as it is under direct sunlight, giving you wireless power if you will. There is no need to worry about how long your panels will last as they can last up to 30 years, which is more than we can say for most vehicles today.

If you are handy with tools, odds are you can install the system yourself in about 2 to 3 hours, but Solar Electric Vehicles (SEV), the sister company of Solar Electrical Systems, recommends that the system be installed by a professional technician.








Their web site states that the system cost can be recovered in about 3 years since the SEV system grants you the ability to apply for Federal renewable energy tax credits of up to $2,000 or 30% if purchased with a residential solar electrical system. Not sure if that will fly somewhere like Florida where your residential solar electrical system may fly off with a hurricane, but hey it just may be worth a shot.

SEV is also working on the Toyota Highlander, Toyota Rav4 EV, Ford Escape Hybrid, and Dodge Sprinter Hybrid.

New York graffiti artist James Marshall (aka Dalek) designed this sweet silk-screened PVC shower curtain out of his popular Space Monkey character. The 72" x 70" curtain is see-through with a dazzling display of color from the vector artwork. Sold in both blue and green for $50 a pop at Velocity Art + Design.

We've all wrestled with the kitchen knife while removing corn kernels. We are glad someone was smart enough to come up with the OXO Corn Strippers to put this annoying task to rest. You take the device to the cob push the stripper down the cob and the fall into the 1/2 cup container in the unit.

Thanks.

The PU-8W sold by Portable USA is an elegant wooden frame. The frame features speakers for music playback as well as a remote to guide you through the menus.

THE HARDWARE
The construction of the frame is solid (we feel better than the WB models) and the display is protected by a glass over a matted frame that hides the infrared sensor for the remote. The frame accepts SD/MMC/MS/CF cards.




THE SET UP
As far as simplicity the frame passed the test. When the unit arrived for review we plugged it in and inserted an SD card with some MP3 files and some jpg image files of our Service Villa annual picnic and instantly the pictures started to display. MP3's didn't start playing immediately, but according to the manual it is all based on the file name. The digital frame sorts your media in alphabetical order and plays it like that in auto mode. Although this feature is not a default feature, you can select an mp3 to play via the audio screen.

THE DISPLAY
The 8 inch display is really bright and clear.

The test images we used were all taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D300, so they were high resolution to begin with. We enjoyed the quality of the pictures being represented as they appeared with little or no distortion. The colors were actually better than we had expected, with nice saturation and decent blacks. Unfortunately the audio playback failed to impress us as the quality of the speakers was not great.






These pictures don't do the frame justice as it was hard to capture a screen shot that would show the quality of the display when showing off the pictures. If you are interested in purchasing I would get a memory card ready with some of your favorite pictures and take it to BJ's Wholesale club, Ritz Camera or Circuit City. All three of these stores carry the Portable USA line of digital frames. Once you have decided which one you like, go to Amazon and purchase it there since it is much cheaper.

The frame can also play videos of the following formats MPEG1, MPEG2, and MPEG4 If you really wanted to you could probably watch a full length film as long as it fits in your memory card.

THE INTERFACE
Looking deeper into the frame's inner workings we found ourselves looking at a not-so-nice user control panel. The menu offers you all the necessary controls such as speed for slide show and transition type selection. You can choose transitions that range from: slide from the top towards the bottom, fade in and out, open like a door, or random, which is what we used to make use of all the transitions.




And the following are accessible via the remote only.
















Here are the menu buttons on the unit.




They don't give you freedom from the remote. These buttons are strictly for volume and display setup such as brightness and contrast. If you want to go to the actual setup for your media you are forced to use the remote provided.




We tried putting the frame in portrait view but there is no option in the setup to do this. You can have all your pictures in either portrait or landscape but your menu will always be in landscape. This makes it a bit hard to see the menu.

The PU-8W has a list price of $199.00, but we have seen them on Amazon for about $129.99.

Specifications
Specifications
- Bright 8" diagonal TFT Active matrix LCD display
- 640 X 480 resolution
- Compatible with CF, SD, MMC, MS, XD
- No PC needed to enjoy pictures


In the Box
- Digital frame
- Stand
- AC power adapter
- Remote control
- User's manual

THE GOOD
- Nice bright display
- Speaker to listen to audio mp3 files
- Full function remote control (priceless)
- Somewhat easy to use (if you use the remote)
- Good price in comparison to similar models

THE BAD
- Can't get to menus if you loose the remote. Only display settings can be changed with on board menu.
- Sound from speakers is not so great.
- No ability to make menu display in portrait mode.

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Portable USA PU-15WB digital frame is almost identical to the Portable USA PU-10WB digital frame. The only differences between the two frames are the screen size (PU-15WB has a 15.0 inch screen size and the PU-10WB has a 10.4 inch screen size), screen resolution resolution (PU-15WB has a screen resolution of 1024x768 and the PU-10WB has a screen resolution of 640x480) and the on-board controls. Aside from the increased resolution, both frames performed the same way and functioned the same way. As such you will find that both reviews are almost identical in nature, with the only changes being references to screen size, product name and specifications.

The PU-15WB sold by Portable USA is an elegant wooden frame. The frame is wireless via bluetooth technology and features speakers for music playback as well as a remote to guide you through the menus. A bluetooth adapter is not included in the box, but can be shipped to you free after filling out a postcard and submitting it to Portable USA.

THE HARDWARE
The construction of the frame is good. Its display is protected by a glass over a matted frame that hides the infrared sensor for the remote. The frame accepts SD/MMC/MS/CF cards as well as USB memory sticks, and the bluetooth adapter that uses the USB port. It can also be plugged in to any PC or Mac to have images transferred over to its 256 MB of on-board memory. The bluetooth is useful for transferring pictures from your phone and makes it fairly easily. All in all it is pretty solid in the media format acceptance category.




THE SET UP
As far as simplicity the frame passed the test. When the unit arrived for review we plugged it in and inserted an SD card with some mp3 files and some jpg image files of our Service Villa annual picnic and instantly the pictures started to display. A couple of seconds after the images started, the mp3s begun playing in the background. The whole process took no more than 30 seconds.
As far as simplicity the frame passed the test. When the unit arrived for review we plugged it in and inserted an SD card with some mp3 files and some jpg image files of our Service Villa annual picnic and instantly the pictures started to display. A couple of seconds after the images started, the mp3s begun playing in the background. The whole process took no more than 30 seconds.


THE DISPLAY
The 15.0 inch display is really bright and clear.

The test images we used were all taken with a 12 megapixel Nikon D300, so they were high resolution to begin with. We enjoyed the quality of the pictures being represented as they appeared with little or no distortion. The colors were actually better than we had expected, with nice saturation and decent blacks. Unfortunately the audio playback failed to impress us as the quality of the speakers was not great.






These pictures don't do the frame justice as it was hard to capture a screen shot that would show the quality of the display when showing off the pictures. If you are interested in purchasing I would get a memory card ready with some of your favorite pictures and take it to BJ's Wholesale club, Ritz Camera or Circuit City. All three of these stores carry the Portable USA line of digital frames. Once you have decided which one you like, go to Amazon and purchase it there since it is much cheaper.

The frame can also play videos of the following formats MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, AVI, and DivX. If you really wanted to you could probably watch a full length film as long as it fits in your memory card.

THE INTERFACE
Looking deeper into the frame's inner workings we found ourselves looking at a not-so-nice user control panel.














The user interface lacks the crisp-looking graphics you should expect from a fancy digital frame. and it was somewhat difficult to navigate through the menu using the buttons on the frame itself. The full function remote however takes care of this problem. You can actually do more things with the remote than you can with the on-board buttons. The only thing we found the on-board buttons useful for was raising and lowering the audio volume on the frame.




The menu offers you all the necessary controls such as language (Chinese, English, Dutch, French, and Spanish), speed for slide show and transition type selection. You can choose transitions that range from: slide from the top towards the bottom, fade in and out, open like a door, or random, which is what we used to make use of all the transitions. Your clock could be set from the control panel along with a one time use alarm to remind you of something or wake you up in the morning. We didn't find the alarm useful because it has to be set every day since it is linked with the date on the frame.

We tried putting the frame in portrait view but there is no option in the setup to do this. You can have all your pictures in either portrait or landscape but your menu will always be in landscape. This makes it a bit hard to see the calendar, alarm clock, mp3 audio player etc...

The PU-15WB has a list price of $399.00, but we have seen them on Amazon for about $199.99.

SPECIFICATIONS
- Bright 15" diagonal TFT Active matrix LCD display
- 1024x768 resolution displaying up to 12MP images
- Compatible with CF, SD, MMC, MS, XD and USB media cards
- No PC needed to enjoy pictures
- 256MB on board memory
- Bluetooth wireless transfer compatible with cellphones, PC and MAC OS (requires separate adapter)
- Direct connection to computer with included USB cable.
- Ships with rich cherry and true-black frames, suitable for every decor.
- 12 month FULL warranty, parts and labor

IN THE BOX
- Digital frame with cherry wooden surround
- Alternate black wooden surround
- Remote control
- AC power adapter
- USB cable
- Locking Stand
- User's manual
- Card to submit to Portable USA to get your bluetooth dongle

THE GOOD
- Nice bright display
- Speaker to listen to audio mp3 files
- Full function remote control (priceless)
- Somewhat easy to use (if you use the remote)
- Good price in comparison to similar models
- Bluetooth compatibility is great.

THE BAD
- Alarm clock not very useful to have to set it daily
- Cheap looking setup / menu interface
- Good luck figuring out how to use the menus if you loose the remote.
- Sound from speakers is not so great.
- No ability to make menu display in portrait mode.

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
Portable USA

If you are on the market for an iPod enabled alarm clock make sure you take a look at the iHome IH9.

After looking at other alarm clocks like the Emerson iTone iC200 SmartSet Alarm Clock Radio for iPod this one beats them all hands down. Sure it costs a little more, but up to now we haven't found anyone offering a product of this caliber at this price. The iHome iH9 features two alarm clocks that can be set independently and can be configured to "alarm" you either every day of the week, Monday through Fiday, or just on the weekends. Waking up to your favorite playlist is great and being able to shut up the alarm clock without getting out of bed using the remote control is priceless, but can also have a downfall: We think that one day you might shut off the alarm in your sleep without noticing and sleep right through your morning meeting.

The iHome IH9 allows you to wake up to your favorite tunes on your iPod, AM/FM station, or an old school buzzer. When it is time for the alarm to activate, it gradually increases the volume and wakes you up without a jolt. A feature that is my personal favorite is the full-function remote control. The remote allows you to control your iPod's menu as well as almost all aspects of the iHome IH9 alarm clock. The sound quality is also excellent for the price.

The display is bright blue on black and has several levels of dimming so you can set it to your favorite brightness. The iHome IH9 also features a backup battery, that allows your clock to function while the power is out (the radio/alarm features will be disabled during a power outage even with the back up battery). It is also a shame that you can't power this device completely by battery since it would have been great to take this little guy with us to the beach.

All in all the iHome IH9 is great unit and we would easily recommend it. The villa gives it two thumbs up based on its price and quality.


Features
- Wake to your iPod playlist, AM/FM radio, or buzzer
- Fall asleep to your iPod or AM/FM radio using the adjustable sleep timer
- Bass, treble, 3D, and balance controls
- High-fidelity stereo drivers in specially designed Reson8 speaker chambers
- Play and charge your iPod
- Auxiliary port for connecting other audio devices such as CD players
- Six watts total output
- High-fidelity stereo drivers in specially designed Reson8 speaker chambers
- Full-function remote control that interfaces with iPod and radio
- Universal dock with inserts to fit docking iPod models
- Gradual wake or sleep gently increases or decreases alarm/sleep volume
- Extra-large, backlit custom LCD display with dimmer
- DST switch for quick daylight savings time adjustment

Specifications
- AC power, 10V, 1.4A
- Dimensions (WxHxD): 9.05 x 4.25 x 3.54 in./23.0 x 10.8 x 9.0 cm

In the Box
- iHome IH9
- Docking inserts
- Remote control
- AC power adapter
- Two AA batteries (for power backup)
- User's manual

THE GOOD
- Alarm volume gradually goes up (no jolt)
- Full-function remote control (priceless)
- Full control of your iPod
- Great sound quality
- Nice display
- Easy to use

THE BAD
- A little bigger than a typical AM/FM alarm clock
- Price is a bit higher than we would like to pay for this kind of device
- You might mistakingly turn off your alarm while you are asleep using remote (read review for what we mean)

WHERE TO BUY
Amazon

MANUFACTURER
iHome Audio