Ecobee’s new Smart Thermostat not only has a nice futuristic look compared to your current thermostat, but helps you save some money on your power bill. It becomes part of your home network operating via WiFi and comes with optional ZigBee expansion slots if you want to integrate it more completely.

At $385, it may take a bit of time for it to pay for itself. Ecobee says 12 to 18 months. It gets better as you get to know your energy usage patterns and make adjustments. The Ecobee Smart Thermostat ships early next year. Which is good because in this economy, it may take you some time to save up the $385.

Chinavision is at it again, offering up a strange dual band smartphone that is part Nokia phone and part iPhone, with a projector thrown in for good measure. Features an interactive touchscreen, WAP, bluetooth, and a 1800mAh battery for extra long talk time between charges, MP3 and MP4 player, 1.3mp Digital Camera, Image Viewer, Video Recorder, and rich media environment messaging options, micro SD card slot complete with a 1GB card.

The projector can be used from a distance of up to 5 feet and will project an image about 32 x 40 inches. It should be “available soon”. I hope they aren’t waiting for the green light from Nokia and Apple.

According to the World Health Organization, glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide. Glaucoma is basically a build-up of pressure in the eye. It can not be permanently cured. Now researchers at UC Davis have designed a special kind of contact lens that can measure pressure build up in the eye and they’ll even give you a warning if anything is wrong.

These smart contact lenses use an organic polymer called PDMS that acts like a pressure sensor. UC Davis says that they will start clinical trials of these lenses in humans very soon. But this isn’t the end of the breakthrough, they’re also working up to one that will dispense medication automatically.

The dumbbell hasn’t had an upgrade in a long time, if ever. Well, now suddenly they are getting smarter. What if you could have an entire set of dumbbells in one compact design? That’s the idea behind this concept by Sang-Hoon Lee.

You can digitally adjust the weight of the dumbbell. There are tiny balls inside the dumbbell that spin. The faster the balls spin, the heavier they weigh, thereby beefing you up so you don’t look like a girly man. You can adjust the speed of the balls, which adjusts the weight, simply with a dial and pushing buttons. The set comes with a charger cradle..

Myself, I don’t feel the need to spend more than about $35 on a pair of shoes. However, if you are into cutting edge sneakers and the whole tech/foot experience, maybe a pair of VectraSense Technologies’ new $700 Verb for Shoes will get you excited about putting these in the closet.

For the $700 price tag, you will have shoes worthy of the Bionic Man himself. They feature an embedded computer with “Auto Comfort”, which means that they automatically adjust to the wearer’s feet, becoming firmer or more cushioned based on movement. They also feature “Contact Sharing,” which allows them to trade information with other smart shoes in the area.(Hey, what up? You stink as bad as I do? Damn this fool got nasty feet!) Through a wireless link, users can even sync information between their shoes and a PC. At $700, they better put themselves away when you remove them too.

The students at Virginia Tech are a pretty intelligent bunch. They’ve come up with a new system for automobile braking lights that will indicate whether you are stopping, or just slowing down, based on how quickly you put your foot down on the brake. The solution for a better brake, as it turns out is really pretty simple.

The concept uses an array of horizontal LED lights. When you start to slow down, the center lights will glow orange and after a pre-programmed time, the side lights will turn red. If you slam on the emergency brake, then all the lights turn red instantly. If we could just get it to flash the finger for those people who stay way too close behind you, I’d be happy. They think these will be easier to add as additional indicators on commercial vehicles at first, but who knows, one day soon all cars may sport these.