GeekSugar

Solar-Powered String Lights: Love or Leave?

GeekSugar — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 12:15:24 -0800

If you want to pimp the outside of your house with a ton of Christmas lights but don't want to spend a small fortune on the electricity bill, consider Solar-Powered Lights.

When Popgadget compiled their Christmas gift guide, she added these versatile lights to the list. With 102 bright LED bulbs on each string, these solar-powered lights can be used on trees or on your front porch. You don't even need to put them on timers since they have day and night sensors that will turn them on automatically. On a full charge, the lights will last up to eight hours. Priced at $75 each.

What do you think? Would you ever go solar with your Christmas lights?

Lights, Camera, Smoke!

GeekSugar — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 07:00:01 -0800

You'd think that smoking Christmas lights would be something only Clark Griswold would have to deal with in Christmas Vacation. Guess again! I was totally shocked when TeamSugar told me that her new Micro Lights short-circuited and melted the outlet plug. Yikes! TeamSugar noticed that the lights went out around 5pm, and she could smell melting plastic. When she came back at 11pm, the entire plug had exploded. It's better to be safe than sorry this holiday season. Keep a close eye on your new lights and if worse comes to worse, trade in your real tree for a fiber optic USB Christmas tree, you know, just to be on the safe side!

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Xmas Eve Time Waster: Light Up Tree

GeekSugar — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:00:16 -0800

If you're at home today twiddling your thumbs, here's a fun way to not only get into the Christmas spirit, but to get your game on as well! Light Up Christmas Tree is a skill-testing logic puzzle that provides some quality time wasting fun.

The object of the game is to connect all the wires and lightbulbs to the electrical source. To rotate the bulbs and wires, just click on them. Just start at the bottom of the tree and work your way up. Good luck!

Motherboard Christmas Tree With Flashing Lights

GeekSugar — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 10:00:11 -0800

Go Urban Outfitters for getting their geek-on this holiday season! For only $10 you can score a pretty sweet Motherboard Christmas Tree at U.O. to go alongside your Circuitboard Ornament Set.

Adorned with flashing LED lights, this battery-operated tree is the ultimate geek gift or Christmas decoration for serious computer nerds.

As you can see in the pics, the battery is used as the trunk which holds the tree upright. You'll also notice that the lights flash red, unlike white which I had expected-and hoped!

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Mark Your Territory With Marquee Alphabet Lights

GeekSugar — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 05:48:11 -0700

I really do love the vintage alphabet blocks I found last year, which would go perfectly in a little geek-in-training nursery. But since I'm not planning to add to my family anytime soon, I wanted to find a more grown-up, flashier alternative for my apartment. So when I stumbled upon these letters, I realized the missing component was - lights!

Now I'm totally craving these Marquee Alphabet Lights. The only downside? They are $178 dollars each! But after a little thought, I figure these alphabet letters wouldn't be too hard to DIY with a little planning and elbow grease. See how I would do it myself when you read more.

There are a ton of vintage tin alphabet letters available for much cheaper on sites like Etsy and eBay, so why not pick up a full set for the amount of one letter from Urban Outfitters? Then, all you have to do is drill a few holes with a drill bit, and fashion it with some white Christmas or decorative lights, and voila! You're good to go to hang it on your wall, or post up your letters on your mantel.

geeksugar's Christmas Tree Tech Tips

GeekSugar — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 11:02:49 -0800

If you plan on rocking around the Christmas tree this holiday season, here are some techie Xmas tips to ensure you have a bright, safe, and energy- and money-conserving Christmas!

Popgadget offers some nontraditional Christmas tree suggestions including this pink prelit artificial tree from Treetopia.
Wondering whether or not you should switch to LED Christmas lights? Gizmodo provides a condensed list of the pros and cons of LED lights from Consumer Reports. Did you know that LEDs use 3–33 percent less power than traditional lights, saving you up to $10 every 300 hours?!
Storing Christmas lights can be such a headache - broken bulbs, tangled cords, ugh! Never struggle again with the $10 Christmas Light Storage Kit featured on Coolest Gadgets.
Looking for a geek-chic outdoor Christmas tree? Check out this multicolored LED tree that was featured on 7Gadgets. Soaring 4-ft. tall, this $56 Christmas tree comes with 100 lights and a star top that changes color continuously. Bulb life is said to last up to 100,000 hours.

Merry Christmas From geeksugar!

GeekSugar — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 06:27:20 -0800

Fa la la la la, it's finally Christmas! I just want to wish everyone a very safe, jolly and festive Christmas. May you have a fun-filled day with friends and family. Play the Wii, bust out some Guitar Hero III, and if anyone in your family was lucky enough to get a Kindle, be sure to take it for a serious test drive!

Looking for ways to spend your Christmas gift certificates and cash? Check out geeksugar's holiday gift guides for some great ideas.
Have some fun with family pics by turning everyone into elves with Elf Yourself.
Between rocking around the Christmas tree and eating turkey, try to keep a close eye on all your Christmas lights!
Don't forget that Jajah is offering one hour of free talk time today!
Learn how to take beautiful crystal clear pictures of Christmas lights.
Get a head start on Christmas for next year by scooping up one of these USB Christmas Trees!

How a Shutter Cable Will Keep Your Hands Warm in the Cold

GeekSugar — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 14:35:42 -0800

Toss this Geek Tip in the "Duh, why didn't I think of that before?" file! Digital Photography School's blog has opened my eyes to many photography tricks, and this one is no exception. Here's your scenario: you've gotten your fill of food and Christmas light photos, and you want to get some nice landscape or nature pics. This, of course, would mean that you have to go outside. . . where it's likely to be 10 below, factoring in the wind chill. Even if you've bundled up enough to keep from shivering, what about your hands?!

When it's too cold to risk your appendages, try this tip I learned from DPS Online: keep your hands covered with your mittens or gloves, and still hit that shutter release button via a shutter cable. You can find them on Amazon for nearly every digital camera model, and they are pretty inexpensive. Duh, right?

Geek Tip: Taking Great Photos of Xmas Lights

GeekSugar — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:20:30 -0800

By the time Christmas rolls around each year, I'm usually too busy having a jolly ol', good time with friends and family to be paying attention to my photo skills. Thankfully there are easy tips and tricks like the ones below from the Strobist blog that will turn blurry Xmas pics into beautiful clear images.

If you are taking pics outdoors, make sure you shoot them before it gets totally dark for proper exposure.
Turn off your flash and set your camera on a tripod or steady surface.
Shoot a test shot every minute so you can watch the Christmas lights appear as the ambient light level goes down. You'll notice how much the light changes in each photo.
If your photo appears too orange for your liking, adjust the white-balance settings to tungsten. For capturing outdoor light displays, use the same exposure as you would for indoor shots, but switch the white-balance settings to outdoor.

Source

Weekly Recap: Decking the Halls With Lots of Gadgets

GeekSugar — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 10:30:15 -0800

It's hard to believe that Christmas has already come and gone. Thankfully we had a very memorable week filled with lots of lights, cameras and gadgets. Here on geeksugar we suggested the perfect website for last minute shoppers, posted a
festive concept iMac commercial, talked about a NES ornament that we'd rather hang from a keychain than our Christmas tree and asked you what gadgets you got for Christmas.

Wondering what else happened on the site this week? It's time to take our quiz to test your knowledge!

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