Here’s the latest in desk pets that plug into your usb port. This owl is cute, but kinda creepy. Sure, he comes off all wise and all, but I get the feeling that the minute you turn your back on him, he gets all evil. And we all know owls are nocturnal creatures. That means that while you are asleep, this bird is wide awake, plotting your eventual demise.

He has a clip that allows him to perch on top of your computer monitor, or you can use the optional tree-stump. He blinks and moves his head from side to side, while he watches you. He’ll also move his eyes around. He’ll be available on May 5, 2008 and will cost you about $26. If you give a hoot! Video after the jump.

Six American film studios have filed a lawsuit against the Chinese file-sharing firm Xunlei Networking Technology for copyright infringement. They were offering hundreds of movie downloads illegally. The firm is part owned by Google. The studios are seeking more than $1 million in damages and costs, according to the Motion Picture Association, though that seems a low number.

The MPA trade group said in a statement on Friday that in addition, the plaintiffs are seeking a public acknowledgement of the infringements and a pledge from Xunlei to stop them. The MPA said that Xunlei facilitated the unauthorised transmission of hundreds of Hollywood movies produced by its members, like “Spiderman 3,” “War of the Worlds” and “Miami Vice.”(Who the hell watches Miami Vice? Now that they have, I assume they have learned their lesson. Some movies aren’t worth the trouble.)

Here’s a pretty cool conceptual idea for a cell phone powered by kinetic energy. The Atlas Kiinetic Cell Phone has a mechanism in the center behind some glass that you can actually see work. As you move the phone around, a weighted piece rotates around to wind up a spring which powers the phone.

According to the designer, only a few times of turning the phone upside down and back will power it up. This same kinetic type of mechanism works great to power watches and is actually not that uncommon. The only difference is that watches for the most part need very little power to run compared to a phone.

Wynn Las Vegas has sold this one of a kind watch by Girard-Perregaux, one of the oldest and most respected Swiss watch manufacturers in the world. The price? $625,000. The slot machine function is fully functional and fully mechanical. It’s activated by a lever arm on the side. The watch is known as the Vintage 1945 Jackpot Tourbillon. Yes, that’s a ton of money, but they don’t call it gambling for nothing.

This was no easy watch to make. It took nearly three-and-a-half years to develop from concept to production. In all, there are 501 pieces in the watch. Don’t be sad that you missed your chance at this beautiful watch though, the company plans to make 40 similar watches.

LG Electronics showed off their Watch Phone concept during the Mobile World Congress 2008. Apparently, they want us all to communicate Get Smart style in the future.

Not much is known about these at the moment, except that it supports voice recognition function by using Bluetooth, enabling users to make calls or send text messages without using a keypad. Check out the video after the jump. These are nice looking watches as far as the face goes and since they are from LG, I’m sure the quality would be better then others on the market. Unfortunately, these will likely never come to market. At least, not as they are. But we can hope.

Citizen’s Eco-Drive line of watches run on natural sunlight as well as any artificial light absorbed through the crystal and dial. They claim that it converts any kind of light into electrical energy and that runs the watch. As long as it gets regular exposure to light, the watch will continuously recharge itself for a lifetime. The Radio-Controlled aspect comes into play with the ability to have radio synchronization on demand, or you can let the watch do the synch automatically.

The Citizen Alterna VO10-6573H features a durable aluminum case and is water-proof up to 100m. The watch is 10.2mm thick and only weighs 104g, with an accuracy +/- 15 seconds a month . It’s got a nice eye catching design overall, which it better have, since it will cost you $339.

Here’s a great watch for DJ’s or record enthusiasts that want to proclaim their undying love for vinyl. Designed by FludWatches, the TableTurns watch sports a face that looks like a miniature Technics 1200 turntable. The visual details are all there in retro glory, but it won’t play tiny records, much to my sadness.

The clock hands rotate, so in a way it may look as if the record is spinning…very slowly. Each watch ships in it’s own miniature flight case for added coolness. The watch comes with either a black leather or stainless steel band, and is available from TurntableLab for only $59.This is definitely one of the cooler watches out there right now. If it actually played tiny records, I’d be sold, but for now I’ll stick with hoping someone comes out with an actual mini iPod watch.

This stunningly good looking watch from Seiko Japan uses a series of spinning aluminum discs to display the time. And unlike many of the newer watches coming out of Japan these days, this one makes it very easy to read the time. Three numbered discs continuously rotate to display hours, minutes and seconds.

The Discus is part of Seiko’s Moving Image series, a line of automatic timepieces with great contemporary style. This one is available in two versions: one with a stainless body and white face, and one with a black metal body and a smoked glass face. It’s amazing what they are doing with watches these days. Makes me wish I had 10 arms.

Like moths to a flame, the circuit board face and LED lights on this binary circuit board watch are sure to attract other geeks, who will surely compliment you on it and then quickly order one themselves. I don’t blame them. This is one cool watch. It displays time in binary format, using LED lights. The watch face contains 10 red LEDs that are used to indicate the numbers of the binary sequence (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32) and the values of the lighted LEDs are added to determine what time it is.

The top row of LEDs is for the hour and the bottom row for the minutes. It shouldn’t take long to master the art of telling time in this fashion. Aside from it’s cool circuit board face and flashing lights,(They had me at circuit board) it also has a stainless steel back and casing. Did I mention that it’s water resistant to 3 atmospheres and comes with batteries. So you could probably take this thing to another planet and it would be ok. Great looking watch.

TimeFlex is a unique concept idea for the watch. It uses a “self-gumming” sticker(I know, that sounds wrong) like watch which is capable of sticking on to any surface like your hand, arm or even clothing. The idea is that sometimes you need a watch, but there are some situations where it’s not good to wear one. Like when you are swimming for instance or in a laboratory.

I don’t think we are likely to see this anytime soon and I can’t imagine any kind of a market for it. It’s basically a slightly thick band-aid that tells you the time. How many times have you cut yourself and simultaneously needed to know what time it is? Of course, maybe people want disposable watches for some reason I can’t fathom.

Finding a Wi-Fi signal won’t be a hassle anymore with this watch, plus it actually manages to look good. It will give you the wi-fi signal strength at the push of a button. The strength is displayed as a number from 0 to 8 and lets you know if you need to move a little closer to the access point.

The Watch also has some other features like an alarm and countdown timer, plus a bright EL backlight. To me it’s main selling point is that it actually looks good while finding Wi-Fi. It’s not just a weight for your wrist that’s been hit by the ugly stick and given a strap. The price is a very respectable $30. Never be without Wi-Fi again.

Clearly inspired by Captain Nemo’s adventures, this timepiece from HD3 Complication would look right at home in some steampunk Sci-Fi flick. It is so cool in fact, that only 11 were made apparently. Which seems appropriate. Only some ultra-secret society could have watches this cool.

Very nautical in theme, you can tell the time using the rotating wheel cylinders on the left with the minutes on the sextant-like disc. Each moving section is a work of naval engineering art. All of the working parts can be seen from the front and the rear through sapphire glass panels. Forget gaudy gold, the case is made of titanium and platinum. Whatever the materials, the look of this watch is simply stunning.

In William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream” the name of the King of the Fairies was Oberon. He is also the King of the Shadows so something dark might be befitting of a name worthy of this deity which is precisely what the makers of the latest new watch design from Tokyoflash were probably thinking. Like most of the watches offered by these fellows the Oberon dispenses with the tradition two hands and minutes/hours number divisions in favor of patterned LED lights. When you read the time on the Oberon you start by looking at the outer ring of LEDs to determine the hour, the second ring of lights determines what minute it is and the third inner ring is devoted for grouping minutes into blocks of ten. It might sound complicated but picking it up is fairly simple and only takes a few glances at your watch. The watch will also tell you what date it is, all you need do is press a button and you can do that by LED lights too.

We may have to wait quite awhile for color e-ink displays, but in the meantime, B&W e-ink displays are hitting every product you can think of, including watches. The PHOSPHOR Ana-Digi Watch sports a traditional analog clock face with your typical hour, minute and second hands, with a digital e-ink display.

With the e-ink display, you can have a standard analog clock face, a digital face, or your choice of several other faces at the push of a button. It’s available for a hefty $250, but at least for that price you have a choice of leather or polyurethane band. It’s not a bad looking watch. I like it, but it seems like they could have done something a bit cooler, instead of simply slapping “E-Ink” on the face. After all, with E-Ink technology you can finally make branding a product a little cooler.

The Oberon LED watch is certainly easy on the eyes. It’s like wearing a small starfield on your wrist. Any watch that looks like it has stars on the face catches my attention right away. It looks very stealthy with it’s white LED display and streamlined black stainless steel body and strap. The outer ring of lights tell you the hour, the next ring is for single minutes, and the third shows minutes in groups of tens.

You can read the date in the same way. It takes some getting used to, but it’s worth it. Aside from looking awesome, it’s water-resistant down to 50 meters. The price is about $135.