At NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program Spring 2008 show, graduate students were exhibiting some interesting and unusual projects. Like Oscar G. Torres’s Helios Power Tree, for instance. The leaves are constructed from thin solar cells that are all connected to a battery at the tree’s base from the branches and trunk. The battery uses solar power to charge and powers blue lights around the tree. There are USB outlets on the base.

The idea is that the tree would sit in a public space so that people can use the solar energy that it collects to charge any of their USB-powered gadgets. Money may not grow on trees, same with gadgets, but it turns out that juice to power those gadgets can grow on trees.

Some of us just can’t get enough TV shows no matter where we are. For those people, the Asus My Cinema U3100 Mini is an awesome device. Your computer just needs a free USB slot. It’s bus powered, so there’s no need for an external power adapter, and with Asus’ Pop-Up TV technology, you will get instant display TV channels on your monitor without having to manually launch programs.

It’s compatible with the Asus Eee PC, so you can watch your favorites anywhere, never missing an episode again. It also works with all Windows XP and Vista platforms. Show recordings are also easy, just make sure you have enough storage space.

Let’s face it, if you’re a hamster it doesn’t get much better then this. It’s either riding in the self-powered Critter Cruiser, or passing your time between defecating in one corner of your cage and drinking precious drops of water from your dripping IV bottle in the other corner.

This self-powered Rat-rod is the highlight of your life, my furry friend. But sadly, your rodent brain doesn’t seem to know the difference between this and the wheel in your cage. Which, frankly, sucks for you. So, in conclusion, this is probably more fun for us humans to watch. I think we should probably harness hamster power to charge our gadgets. Check out the video below.

Often the most sought-after gadgets are a little on the spendy side, and to help out a little with your consumer electronics addiction the IRS has started issuing Stimulus Payment checks recently. The event has raised seemingly numerous questions from tax payers wondering mostly how much their check is going to be and of course when it’s going to arrive. You can find answers to these and a whole lot of other questions at our sister website, WealthyReader.com.

Here’s a look at some gadgets and gear that would be right at home in Batman’s world. It isn’t easy fighting crime, you need every gadget and tool at your disposal. This is just a look at a few things that might make life as Bruce Wayne easier.

This already-shrunk-down version of the All Spark from the Transformers movie has a few less powers than its likeness in the movie and probably won’t turn your gadgets into small Autobots and Decepticons. It does however have the ability to expand your USB ports by 3 as its main purpose is a 4-port USB hub. As if that’s not quite enough for Transformer fans, the hub will also spout out All Spark phrases from the Transformer movie. I don’t think I remember the All Spark doing a lot of talking during the movie but I suppose that was the next best thing to having the device auto-expand into the full-size All Spark.

The USB hub retails for £17.99, but can only be pre-ordered at this time and isn’t expected to be available until the end of August.

It used to be that when those loud ass birds assault your ears at the butt-crack of dawn, you’d have to get out the shotgun, take a shot through your window, and upon the sweet sound of silence, go back to sleep and save the glass cleanup till you get up at noon. Not anymore though. For one thing it’s not socially acceptable to kill small animals. Use the BirdXPeller Pro bird repeller instead.

It won’t kill all the birds. It just repels them by emitting different noises that make them believe a predator is near. It will scare off birds within one acre. Three different types of the BirdXPeller Pro frighten away different birds. $239.

When pimped out swarovski mp3 players and the like haven’t assaulted your senses quite enough and you feel like your life could be gaudier, you can always start bedazzling your kitchen. The Nespresso Crystal Edition coffee machine is smothered in 3100 Swarovski crystals and will only cost you about $4,000.

It will still make a mean cup of coffee and comes with a removable grill for macciato lattes, an illuminated collecting pan for your used coffee capsules, and it does it all with the single press of a big blingy button. A few more shiny gadgets like this in your kitchen and you will be blinded when the sun shines in.

Jedis aren’t real. Despite that fact, there are more lightsaber gadgets floating around the solar system then you can shake a… lightsaber at. These particular lightsabers won’t slice through flesh, but they will give you a sugar high that will have you bouncing off the walls like Yoda in a rubber room.

Hasbro’s Candy Lightsabers are based on the authentic movie weapons of Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker (red and blue). They’re filled with some sort of gooey, glittery, edible nastiness known as “Spliquid”, which comes in fruity flavors. If that dude who played Anakin in the prequels had sucked down a few of these, his acting would have been a lot less wooden and far more “I’ll kill you all with my candy lightsaber.”

Here’s another one of those ideas that is so simple it’s amazing no one has come up with it before. It’s actually the work of a genius. It’s a plastic bottle with a special cap that holds 1.4 grams of a powder, like powdered green tea for instance. It’s released into the water below when it’s twisted open. So, you can mix fresh powdered drinks from a standalone bottle that you buy at the store.

I know, I know. In a way it’s pointless. Powder doesn’t need to be fresh and you can already buy your drinks premixed. But it’s just the kind of cool thing we would have seen Marty McFly do in the future.(Had the writers thought of it.) I see more of a future in using the caps with bottles you already reuse so you can have something on the go, when you need it.

The Levi’s ultra limited edition Red Tab mobile phone sports an interesting look. The red tab at the top will get people’s attention and they’ll say, “Hey you like your phone like your Jeans as well. Awesome.” I like the style of the buttons against that background.

It comes with an integrated MP3 player, stereo Bluetooth and 2.0-megapixel camera with flash. The fashion phone will include a premium presentation box, case for the handset, stereo hands free kit, a metal chain and as an added option, you can customize it with your name.(13 letters maximum) The phone is limited to 100 units only. It’s available online for about $870.

Like the DS Lite, the Sony PSP will be receiving the Colorware option starting April 14th. So for those of you who aren’t thrilled with the usual color palette, this is good news. It probably means that the new Bronze color and the Mint aren’t doing it for you. I don’t blame you. Bronze? Mint? The first is a statue color, the latter should be reserved for Girl Scout cookies.

There’s no word on what it will cost just yet to jazz up your PSP, but I would think that it’d be equivalent to the price for the DS Lite. Let’s face it, it beats th hell out of taking a can of Krylon to your console.

Some of us love antiques and at the same time appreciate modern gadgets. With this one, you get the best of both worlds. It’s designed to look like the Rolleriflex 2.8F, but it’s really modern technology. With this kind of camera, you hold it at about your chest and look down into the lens and take the picture. It’s all automatic, except the crank which is used to ready the camera for the next shot.

It’s only 3″ tall and the viewfinder is a 1.1 inch TFT. It will take miniSD cards as well. Sadly, it’s only 3mp, so it’s not the best quality camera (They probably should have given it at least 8mp). Regardless of the quality, it will surely get some conversation started. It will cost you $400. It certainly has looks.

I bet you never pictured this in your bathroom. The WashUP concept puts a washing machine directly on top of your toilet. The idea here is recycling. No one really cares where the water that you use for flushing comes from, after all. When the washing cycle is complete, the water that just cleaned your clothes is stored in a reservoir where it will be used again to flush the toilet. It’s a pretty ingenious way to conserve water and get twice the use out of a given amount.

One selling point is that the washing machine is higher off the ground, so it’s easier on your back as you load and unload clothing. Plus, this is good for apartment dwellers who don’t have room for a typical washing machine. I assume it can’t back up and filth up your clothes.

Every now and then I swear I can spot which gadgets potheads are designing. Like this iPod sound bubbler. It looks alot like a bong. In fact, if Cheech and Chong were still making movies, this would probably be featured in some weird scene where their iPod got stuck to their bong, while they trip out about the bubbles matching the rhythm of the music. “Dude, look!”

It’s from Spi and features a column of bubbles that flow out according to the rhythm of the current track being played. Like a Lava lamp, you also get red, yellow and blue lights changing continuously to help create the mood. It works with more then just the iPod, being compatible with just about any other device with a 3.5mm audio output, like CD players and portable media players.