We’re often surprised here at the ‘Brick by the different types of things that companies come up with which are powered by a USB connection. Most do seem to make a lot of sense though; people are spending more and more time at their computers and most of these devices don’t require a lot of juice to power them. This far infrared heating pad is a good example, offering the benefits of infrared heat through the convenience of a USB connection.

You like to buy your gadgets and electronics using your credit card, right? It’s convenient and quick. You don’t even think about it. But it’s not always safe. The chip in cards and the PIN have been a security and safety problem for some time now. How do they intend to cure these problems and make you safer?

If Innovative Card Technologies and eMue Technologies have their way, you will be using their new card system, which will be shown at the Cartes & Identification in Paris this November.

Rumor has it, spurred by this ad copy for Rogers Wireless, that folks in Canada may have the opportunity to get their legitimate hands on an iPhone from Apple before the end of the year. According to this advertisement floating around, the iPhone would be available exclusively through Rogers Wireless for $499.99 CAD (about $519 USD) with a 3-year contract. Rogers and Apple would start taking pre-orders on the iPhone in Canada on November 20th.

Of course this is still falling under our Rumor category but the ad looks like it could be for real. The fact that the text is actually legible makes us feel like the it’s not an intentional leak by Rogers or Apple, but you might not want to plan on getting in line for anything quite yet. We’ll keep watching.

We geeks like Christmas just as much if not more than most people since its the time of year when our favorite gadgets, components and games all drop in price and we place specific orders with relatives hoping someone will give them to us. We also don’t mind getting into the holiday spirit but who wants a fluffy, cheesy-looking ornament or tree on their desk?

Luckily someone is thinking ahead for us and has come up with this Dekstop LED Christmas Tree to allow you to show off some holiday spirit without bringing your geek-ability into question. The LED Christmas tree has LED blinking, colored lights on it which are powered by a 9-volt battery. The battery also doubles as the stand and the branches to which the lights are attached are made to resemble circuit boards. The little 4-inch tall tree retails for just $9.95 and even comes with a battery.

As far as USB gadgets go the iSharpener USB pencil sharpener could be considered one of the more practical ones. It actually has a practical use although I can’t remember the last time that I actually wrote anything with a pencil. The device of course is powered by your computers USB connection but if you’re all your ports happen to be occupied at the time your lead breaks it can be backed up by 4 AA batteries.

The iSharpener seems simple enough and personally I think it should have been called the iSharpen, but they did add a nice little “spin” to the device. Instead of just a boring old grinding noise while watching wooden shavings fall into the plastic bin, the makers added 3 colorful LED lights inside the light up when you’re sharpening! How’s that for adding excitement to your day?

Sony has announced today that the 40GB Playstation 3 that was recently announced for Europe and Japan will indeed be coming to the US this fall as well. The new 40GB PS3 will retail for $399 and start selling on November 2. It looks like it has the same configuration as the other releases as well including the lack of backwards compatibility for PS2 games, no memory card reader and two USB ports short. No word on a white version of the console for the US, but the 40GB PS3 will also come bundled with Spider-Man 3 on Blu-ray disc.

Sony states in the press release that those wanting backwards compatibility should look to the 80GB model which is also receiving a price cut effective immediately. Sony has given the 80GB PS3 a $100 price drop from its original launch price of $599, pricing it a $499 today. We can never complain about price drops but even with the cut the PS3 is still the most expensive latest-generation console on the market compared to its rivals Wii and Xbox 360.

It looks like that USB Mini Fridge we saw earlier this year, not unlike Spiderman, has had it’s suit changed from red to black and has come up with some advanced powers. Now this little fridge that snugly fits a single 12 ounce can will not only cool it down, but can also heat it up.

The USB Mini Fridge and Heater appears to carry the same shape and always-on blue LED lighting, but now with the flick of the inline switch on the cord can heat up its contents by by 34°F or cool it down by 28°F. The little refrigerator/heater can achieve these temp changes in a matter of 5 minutes and is powered by a standard USB connection to just about any computer.

A 13 year-old hacker has reportedly developed a program called iJailbreak which will allow 3rd party applications to be installed on the Apple iPod Touch. Since Apple released the 1.1.1 firmware upgrade last month for the Touch and the iPhone installers for 3rd party applications have been foiled until now.

According to the young hacker going by the name of AriX, after only about 9 hours of coding he was able to make iJailbreak into a program that doesn’t even take a technically savvy person to install. In information sent to CNET regarding the program, AriX stated “the only user interaction required for iJailBreak to work is to restart the iPod Touch using the button on the top of the iPod. The application does the rest.”

The secret to competing with the iPhone may just be a low price/low tech approach. Last week, Google acquired and got all social with the Finnish start-up Jaiku, holder of key Short Message Service patents. And though Google isn’t talking, we know they want advertisers to sponsor Google search results on mobile devices just like on Internet-connected PCs.

Jaiku is of course, key to their strategy. In addition, they also acquired the mobile social network Zingku and expanded “Google SMS,” which is a free service that sends answers to texters with questions.

Samsung has actually developed a water powered cellphone. A micro fuel cell and hydrogen generator make it possible. They will be capable of powering all kinds of small electronics, in this case cellphones, for 10 hours on nothing but old fashioned H2O.

When the phone powers on, metal and water in the phone react and produce hydrogen gas. They envision beginning with hydrogen cartridges that would have to be changed roughly every four days, if you use the phone for four hours a day. After that, their plan is to improve on the design until all you need to do is squirt some water in your phone and you are ready.

We’re one week away from the “Transformers” movie arriving on DVD and we thought it would be time for a related story. A pair of gearheads in Nanjing must be really big fans of the Transformers franchise because they turned a real-life Citroen car and turned it into a Transformer-looking robot. The project cost the geeks in disguise about $8,000 while the actual Transformer model weighs in at 600 kilos. The thing looks awesome and more than a little like Bumblebee in the “Transformers” movie. Now if these guys could build Soundwave next they would forever be my heroes.

We’ve already showed you one story yesterday showing off a gold and diamond covered MacBook Pro but if you have other gadgets not made by Apple and want them forever AU’ed now we know the source where to go.

Goldstriker prides itself on being a family owned business that specializes in gold plating whatever brand name electronic device you want. The company will take your Zune, iPhone, iPod or Newton if you’re old school geek and plate it with 24 caret gold. They also stand behind their work with a one-year warranty and they will also encrust diamonds on your swag if you want to go that extra distance. The prices range on what the piece of technology is and then if you want jewels on it or not, just don’t go expecting fire sale prices and you will be fine.

If there is one gift that you need to open first on Christmas Day morning it has got to be the Zibra OpenIt. This lifesaving tool looks like it should be used for gardening but in fact it was designed specifically as a one-glove-fits-all solution to hard to open packaging like clamshells, tight plastic twist-ties, or the hard plastic coverings on CDs, DVDs and battery containers.

The OpenIt works like a pair of scissors on the hard plastic clamshell cases. In the base of the unit is a retractable boxcutter blade that comes in real handy when it’s a taped-up box that requires your attention. There is even a mini-screwdriver with flathead/crosshead tips that can pop out from the handle of the OpenIt in case you need to remove some screws to get at your newly arrived product.

Without much fanfare Nike has let loose the new Nike Amp+ Sport Remote Control. The Amp+ wears on your wrist like a watch and actually will tell the time, but that’s the least impressive of its features.

The watch works in conjunction with the Nike+ iPod Sport Kit and Nike+ iPod Ready shoes (if you want shoes with a special pocket in your shoe for the sensor) to give you audible feedback while your walking or running of your time, distance, calories and pace. This is very convenient and saves you from toggling through menus and viewing the data on a little LCD screen. The display shows the time and when connected to your iPod nano will show navigation controls for the player. You can even set up a particular “power song” and hit a button to play it during the tougher times when you need a little extra motivation.

Here’s something that every emergency kit shouldn’t be without. The Capsuli is a concept design for a tiny rechargeable solar powered LED light that produces a great amount of light. Eight Capsulis are housed on a package that has a solar cell strip so they are powered up when needed. When you pop out a Capsuli you give the LED a slight twist and it turns on, immediately providing a burst of white light bright enough to see your surroundings. How many hours of light long would each Capsuli give off? A good question to be certain and one that isn’t answered on the original site along with an estimate of the price a Capsuli pack would be in the real world. We think it would be great fun to take 30 or 50 Capsulis, twist them on and then scatter them across a beach at night. Of course we care about the environment and we wouldn’t just leave them there…