The Emotional Lamp is a WiFi-connected device that can be programmed to respond to real-world events by emanating sequences of gentle color. It can be programmed to respond to various data, such as the health of your stock portfolio or the business of the morning commute. Cost: 790 Euro (about $937). "It's very cool to do a telnet to a lamp!" according to the article.
Post a Comment
Laughing is the only thing that comes to mind about this Emotional Lamp. Why would I want to see a calm color representation of my stock portfolio or telnet a lamp??
This thing cost as much or more than a WiFi iPAQ PDA.... Wich I find more usefull....
Its very clear that the article writer didn't do any research - this sort of thing has been availaboe for years.
Hell, there's even one listed on ThinkGeek somewhere from Mathos, or Mathmos, whatever they're called.
I'm sure this one is infinitely more customizable, but the price tag is too freaking expensive - even the Mathmos one costs around $300 bucks.
Should've figured the name would come to me after I clicked 'submit.'
You'll have to google for it - Thinkgeek has no reference to it anymore, as if it had never existed. Still, this thing was $150 compared to the outrageous price these people are asking... tch.
Yes, the person who submitted this claimed that it was the "first" but I know that there have been things like this before. I believe that the difference is that the others were USB devices that need to be plugged into a PC. Presumably this one is a standalone that can actually be set to retrieve the information by itself directly. Not that it isn't a bit silly or wildly expensive. But that's why I posted it under the "laughing jack-o-lantern" icon, which is for funny stories.
Sheesh, it'd be cheaper for me to buy a red lamp 
Why telnet to it when there is ssh with ssl support so your sure you have the right lamp?
Nope. ThinkGeek's (they made it themselves if I recall correctly) Ambient Orb Device was also Wifi. For a buck a week you got all the information you wanted; you could even use a web-based interface to setup all the stuff it responds to, or use an API to do a bit more "hardcore" stuff.
They're not selling it anymore. I don't think it was very popular with people priced at $149, so good luck to someone trying to sell the same thing for almost a thousand bucks.
Well, not wifi - it used a celluar network, I think. They took down the page and the Google cache didn't record the 'technical details' section.
You can get info about the Ambient Orb here:
http://www.ambientdevices.com/cat/orb/orborder.html
http://www.ambient411.com/
The pollen forecasts are an example of a good use for this technology.
The Linux zealots finally have thier own oracle.
LOL!
"The Linux zealots finally have thier own oracle."
They should name it GNU/EmotionalLamp then
but there would be no point, lately I have just been having bad luck, so it would just be black all the time.
I will just go out and buy a cheap lamp and keep it switched off
:(
my last post is even the THIRTEENTH post here. My bad luck continues 
Awesome, I could have it show the current terror level here in the states.
Color me cynical but it seems like a waste of time, money, and tech to me. A toy for the rich, but of what actual value? You buy one on the geek value, it works as advertised but eventually it just blends in with the woodwork and just becomes yet another "thing" you own and yet no longer pay attention to. But whatever, it is "neat" but I have no use for it. Bravo for those who do I guess.