Gizmodo: Dimmers

Essential Wall Dimmer Video Hands On, Soft as a Baby's Butt

Charlie White — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:17:30 EDT

When we first told you about the Essential Wall Dimmer from International Fashion Machines, we were wondering if its carpet-like conductive switch felt like a Brillo pad. The company sent us a demo unit, and we can now definitively tell you that it feels soft as silk, just like a fine piece of carpet. The $99 switch works well, and is extremely easy to turn on and off. We only noticed one slight downside to these pretty wall switches.

The only drawback we saw was the inability to have two or three of these switches together in a dual-gang or triple-gang arrangement, a common configuration around here. Some of us wished the conductive-fabric switching part was available in more than just that gray color, but the rest of us thought the whole concept was way cool. Big thumbs up! [International Fashion Machines]

Star Trek Voice Activated Light Dimmer: Pretend You're Talking To Computer

Gizloco — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 07:46:37 EST

Just one day after a voice activated answering machine comes a voice activated light dimmer, complete with wholly unnecessary Star Trek (no, not that smartphone from HTC, silly goose) branding. It plugs into any power outlet then responds to Star Trek-themed commands like, "Computer, Off." Magic! It even has the voice of the show's computer. I guess that's neat, but never having seen an episode of the show, it doesn't particularly impress me. Now you have to ask yourself if the device is worth $40.

I won't judge you if drop all that money on this. I mean, it's not like you can spend your money on, I don't know, helping to cure diseases or anything. But go on, no one's looking. – Nicholas Deleon

Product Page [Vos via Newlaunches.com]

Voice-Activated Dimmer Does What It's Told

Charlie White — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 17:51:10 EST

Hey look, it's the new Clapper for 2006. This $14.99 Intela Voice Dimmer works by voice control instead of clapping, obeying your commands with whatever word or phrase you teach it. Perfect for that outlet way back behind the Christmas tree.

If our experience with cheap voice-control devices in the past is any indication, you might be doing a lot of futile shouting at the wall with this thing. But it might even be too sensitive. In that case, to keep the lights from turning off every two seconds here at Gizmodo HQ, we'll be sure not to pre-program the words STFU. – Charlie White

Product Page [Solutions, via ubergizmo]