Auto Off Energy Savers
Watt Stopper/Legrand (www.wattstopper.com) vacancy sensors give homeowners a simple way to save energy by automatically turning lights off in empty rooms. Vacancy sensors replace wall switches. Think of vacancy sensors as being simple toggle switches, but with the brains to know when the room has been left empty and with the automation capability to turn the lights off without human intervention. Users can manually turn lights on and off at any time by operating the on/off button.
Watt Stopper/Legrand vacancy sensors come in three types: The 2-wire vacancy sensor with no neutral required and a 25-watt minimum load; the three-wire vacancy sensor with no minimum load requirement, compatible with compact fluorescents but requires a neutral; and the three-wire vacancy sensor with nightlight, which includes an innovative built-in nightlight that is bright enough so there’s no need to turn on bathroom lights at night.
E-Cards in New Shades
A new e-greetings service is available for people of all races and ethnic backgrounds. MushyGushy (www.mushygushy.com) allows anyone with a computer to seamlessly integrate a digital photo into a GushyGram using the site’s user-friendly “head-cutting tool.” After heads have been cut and sized, users then select matching skin tones and gender assignments. Finished heads can then be saved for future use in your “Head Case,” which automatically remembers skin tones and gender assignments.
Teach Kids About Books
Preschoolers are targeted through a free Language Arts course titled, “About Printed Books.” The course, which features colorful illustrations, novel animation and interactive activities, teaches what a printed book is, how to use one and all about its construction. The course helps children discover key concepts such as the front and back covers, how to read words in English from left to right and top to bottom, and how words combine to make sentences. “About Printed Books” is available worldwide through the Internet at www.e-learningforkids.org.
E-Learning for Kids is a global, nonprofit foundation dedicated to fun and free learning on the Internet for children ages 5-12. The foundation is rolling out best-in-class, free courseware in Math, Science, Reading and Keyboarding and is building a community for parents and educators to share innovations and insights in childhood education.
Expand Notebook Storage
Roughly half the size of current PC Card solutions, the Lexar ExpressCard SSD from Lexar Media is a high-capacity removable solid state drive (SSD) that delivers high-performance, lower-cost storage expansion to notebook computers. The Lexar ExpressCard SSD comes bundled with auto-backup software, a solution for protecting laptop computer files and data that allows for automatic backup without user intervention after the initial setup. The automatic backup software can also support multiple computers by recognizing the computer name and the appropriate backup setting for each computer.
The Lexar ExpressCard SSD works well with Windows Vista as it is enhanced for use with ReadyBoost, a Vista feature that improves your system performance without having to add DRAM to your computer. The ExpressCard SSD serves as an additional memory cache, which is a reserve section of memory that the computer can access faster than if it were accessing data from the hard drive. Additionally, the ExpressCard SSD interface supports a direct connection to the chipset, allowing users to enjoy all of its extensive backup and ReadyBoost capabilities without having to unplug the card after every use.