The first thing I have to say about this is: About dang time!

USB has become the defacto standard for charging all sorts of gadets and gizmos, and each one come with a wall adapter or expects you to find one on your own, or plug it into a computer.

Now, there is another option! This seemingly normal AC wall outlet has two USB plugs as well for direct USB power. Genius.

They can be pre-ordered now, and will become available in early 2010, once approved by the UL.

Sign me up for a 12-pack!

(via Gizmodo)

Tech blogs everywhere are buzzing with the rumor that Hulu, the groundbreaking TV Streaming venture, may start chargin subscription fees for content. Gizmodo has a rather dismal article about it. Crunchgear has a somewhat more apathetic view on the topic.

This is a very interesting topic. Many people have strong feelings about this. My personal opinion is that Hulu should stay free. It seems to stand as a testimony that free, legal, online television works, and works well. They still have advertisements, and still have commercials, if limited in number compared to broadcast. But the basic idea is solid.

There is a place for paid content however I think. And if you think about it, it is the most logical place for it. When Hulu first launched, they started putting up entire seasons and back catalogs of shows. People loved this! But now, after a couple years of success, most shows on Hulu are now limited to the five most recent episodes aired. No more going back to watch whole seasons of shows, or catching up after a vacation. Once an episode is expired, its gone.

A nominal subscription fee to unlock the back catalog of episodes would be a very good idea, as long as they don’t remove the current functionality of the 5 most recent episodes available to free as they have always been. If Hulu does decide to go to a paid model, I sincerely hope that they adopt this kind of strategy. But I would much prefer they stay free like they started.

I have to admit, I kind of want one of these… While they may seem useless, they have that kind of geeky charm that make them seem more useful than they should be. Notepods are basically just regular notepads, that look like iPhones. The backs of each sheet are printed with grid lines, perfect for sketching app ideas, or schematics for the next atom bomb… or something like that.

It’s amazing how people can make something so entirely mundane, and make it into something so nerdtastically cool!

Now THIS I am interested in.

The DFI Hybrid Motherboard is two systems in one. It has a low-power netbook style on one side, and a high-end desktop style on the other, allowing you to run both at the same time. This is something I could see as being very useful… somewhere…

Personally, I would use this as a combo home media server/gaming rig. With the low-power side, I could serve music, movies, and photos to other computers and devices around my house. On the high-end side, I can play any game I want and never have to worry about slowing down the media server.

This is one of those products that I think many people would buy, set up, and then be stumped as to what to do with it. There are many possibilities, one just has to figure out what the best one is.