Getting up at this time of year is tough - at least if you live in the UK or northern Europe. In London it doesn't get light until around 7.30am, which isn't great if your boss likes you to work in the mornings or you have to get out to walk the dog before he pees on the floor!

Enter the snappily titled Philips HF3485 wake up light. It's been designed to help those 2 million people in the UK and Ireland who, according to SAD.org.uk suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) - a medical condition known to reduce energy levels, even cause depression, as a result of light deficiency.

'SAD' lights have now been around for a little while, but most of these are purely lamps that you switch on and off to inject a bit of artificial sunlight into your life. They are great, especially for those who work in dark offices where there isn't much, if any, natural light.

This latest model, however, is more like a 'new age' alarm clock in that it combines all of the functionality of a SAD lamp with the traditional functions of an alarm clock radio. And while the lamp isn't the brightest around (up to 250 lux), it is pretty good at getting you going in the mornings thanks to a number of innovative, if somewhat quirky, features.

Unlike a conventional alarm clock or even mobile phone which relies on an earth-shattering sound like a fog horn to blast you out of your slumbers, the Philips wake up light does things in a slightly more civilised way.

The 'sunrise' mode means that the light comes on gently around half an hour before you need to get up by gradually increasing its intensity until you wake up naturally - much like you would if the sun shone in through the curtains. Then if you are still not awake after the sunrise period (this can be adjusted between 20 and 40 minutes), the alarm switches on.

Wake up, face the moo-sic

But this is no ordinary alarm, no sir-ee. Instead it's one that will play you various sounds like a cow mooing in the field or birds tweeting in the forest, both of which are clearly very authentic for life in the London suburbs!

Alternatively, if you like your alarm clocks a bit more old skool, there's an FM (not DAB) tuner to wake you up or you can listen to music from a USB stick as long as it's encoded in the MP3 or WMA formats (Apple's standard AAC format isn't supported so you may need to convert your iTunes library.)

Another option is to download various wake up tones from Philips's website here. These are grouped into various themes such as 'Waking up in the city' and 'Waking up in nature' and include tones with names like 'rainforest', 'morning in a monastery' and 'lazy Sunday morning'. All sound like good fun.

For those who like to fall asleep with the light on there's also a Sunset mode which operates a bit like the Sunrise mode in reverse, except of course the alarm doesn't come on just as you are nodding off! Instead the light gently dims in stages to suit those who like to drift off to sleep reading a book at bedtime.

Verdict

So is the Philips wake up light worth buying? Well yes it's pretty good, actually. The lamp isn't as powerful as some we have tested, but it's good enough in most bedroom environments. And while it's a shame the radio is FM, rather than DAB, that's not going to bother most people - except BBC Radio 6 Music fans maybe.

Certainly the built in speaker is better than that of most alarm clock radios and the wake-up tones, while a little gimmicky perhaps, are a lot more civilised than the buzzers you get on standard alarm clock radios and mobile phones.

My only slight criticism is that it is difficult to set up. The menus are slightly fiddly and it could really do with a remote control. However, once you've programmed the time, alarms and FM radio stations, the HF3485 is straightforward enough. There's a handy lever button on the side for toggling between the two built-in alarms and separate buttons to control the radio and change the intensity of the light (betweeen 1 and 20).

If you really aren't a morning person then this wake up light is perfect. Even if you are a morning person, it should help increase your energy hormones and give you an added spring in your step to help you through these dark winter days. Recommended.

For more information go to the Philips website here. The recommended sale price is £132.77, but currently on special offer on Amazon for £84.99 (including free delivery).

ShinyShiny and sister site TechDigest have teamed up with the O2 Recycle team this Christmas in order to raise some money for a pair of great causes.

Collecting all our old tech gear from the Shiny Media towers, the O2 Recycling gurus are going to re-sell the items, and ethically dispose of the ones that have no value, pushing all profits made to two separate charities.

The Tech Digest/Shiny Shiny profits will be going towards the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, who work tirelessly to help our little loved ones battle illness. O2 will be giving their share to Think Big, their initiative which empowers youngsters up and down the country, giving them funding to run their own community projects

But we can't do it alone! We need your help to raise as much cash as we possibly can for these two great causes.

According to the O2 Recycle team's research, we throw away 17.5 million perfectly usable gadgets every year, with a potential value of £750 million!

We're asking if you can pool together any unwanted gadgets lying around your house to put towards the fund raising effort. Just pop them into the post, to the address found at this link, and we'll do the rest. We'll make sure that the owner of each profitable item sent gets credited on the site, so that you're hard work is recognised.

O2 offer a full price-match service on your recyclable gadgets too, meaning if you're offered a better price for the item elsewhere, they'll match it to the penny.

The recycling scheme can of course also be used personally if you've got a charity you'd like to support, or just need a little extra cash of your own. But you'd be helping out a great cause by teaming up with the Tech Digest and Shiny Shiny teams!

For more info, check out the video below, and then head over to www.o2recycle.co.uk to get started

At IFA tonight, Improv Electronics is set to launch its new eWriter, officially named the Boogie Board Rip LCD Writing Tablet.

No, it's not some kind of crazy dance machine, but the latest device to join Improv Electronics' range of eWriters.

It's similar to all of Improv's other Boogie Board eWriters, but the Rip part (which stands for Record Image. Preserve) means that you can write things, make notes, doodle and then transfer everything to your computer for any kind of storing or editing at a later date.

Although I'm not wholly convinced everyone will soon stop using paper and turn to eWriters instead, it's good to see Improv pioneering the eco-friendly, Boogie Board range.

There's no official indication of price just yet, but other Boogie Boards retail at around £30. The Boogie Board Rip will be available from the beginning of November from the Improv Electronics website and from other retailers shortly after.

Here's a quick rundown of the specs:

• A 9.5" writing surface
• Lightweight casing
• Integrated stylus holder
• Lock button
• Rechargeable batteries (that apparently last a week)

That plastic bottle on your desk could have a second life as a bag. People have been able to make fabric out of recycling plastic bottles for a while, but Greensmart is one of the first companies making a consumer business out of it.

Plastic bottles (PET #1) are a serious environmental issue - they don't decompose and in the United States alone, 230 bottles per person go to landfill per year. That's more than one every two days and as Greensmart say is enough crushed bottles to fill the Rose Bowl Stadium in California every two weeks.

It's a problem. So while making laptop bags out of recycled cola bottles won't solve the whole issue, it's a step. Bag-making company Greensmart have come out with a process to get fabric from bottles which goes a bit like this: used bottles are collected, then ground up into flakes, the flakes are washed separated from impurities and made into fiber by a process of polymerization, then spun into yarn and woven into their fabrics. According to Greensmart, the overall process uses less energy than making polyester out of refined petroleum.

Paul from Greensmart promises me that his bags are not just green, they're actually good too: "It's all minus the crappy quality that most "green" gear suffers from."

They do a range of products: laptop sleeves, messenger bags, lunch bags (dinky) and laptop friendly rucksacks. And though I've seen a fair few laptop bags in my time, I do like the designs here. Their rucksacks are above, lunch bags below. But they are a little pricey at £58 ($89) for the Kea rucksack for example.

But 10% of each sale benefits the WWF, and each item has an animal name if you're into that kind of thing.

See the Greensmart bag range online on Greensmart.biz

There was me thinking "Vampire Power" was what made Robert Pattinson so sexy! No, friends that's not what it is at all. It's actually a term people in green tech use to describe power wastage.

When you leave your charger plugged in but you're not actually charging anything for example. The electricity dribbles out of the electric socket like blood from the neck of a punctured virgin, and whatever way you look at it, it's a big old waste.

Anyway one company - iGo - have come up with a way to reduce Vampire Power drain and no it's not garlic [I'll stop with those jokes now], it's a charger that detects whether a device is plugged into it, and switches itself off when it's not in use.

"Whether we realise it or not, devices continue to draw precious power from the wall, even when they are not in use," said Rob Falconer, MD of iGo. "Whilst it can be impractical for consumers to unplug their devices every time they are not being used, iGo Green Technology makes it easy for consumers by automatically regulating power, thereby reducing the standby power that each device draws."

They claim that another advantage of the charger is laptop battery health:

"iGo green chargers may also protect the Laptop's battery by not continually trying to charge; only when the battery requires power does the Green charger switch back on."

Compatible with most popular laptops, the charger also comes with a USB port so that low power devices can be charged at the same time using either the USB charge cable that came with their Blackberry, iPod, Iphone etc or by using one of iGo's power tips, this reduces the need to carry a separate charger or a voltage converter.

Stop the bleeding!

The iGo Green Charger is £69.90 from igo.com
Check the site for compatibility with your devices.
For more on the amusing VampirePower metaphor, see the website

Not content with developing an augmented reality iPhone app for Glastonbury, Orange has also been developing a rather low tech prototype - a mobile phone charging device for your Glasto wellies.

At first I thought this was an April Fool. But seemingly not, given we are half way through June. Billed as perfect for this weekend's Glastonbury festival (handy given your mobile phone normally runs out of charge after a few hours of texting/phoning your mates to find out where they are) it apparently works by converting the heat from your feet into electric current.

Twelve hours of stomping through the mud will give about 1 hour of charge (not much really), but you can increase it by dancing around because the hotter your feet get the more energy you produce.

Developed in conjunction with Got Wind, the Power Wellies are unfortunately still in prototype form. But you can recharge your devices (mobile phones, even laptops) in the Orange Chill 'n' Charge area. For more information go to www.orange.co.uk/glastonbury

Here's a video featuring a geeky guy from Got Wind explaining how the wellies work. Though after watching it I'm still no clearer how it all works or whether the product will ever see the light of day. Probably not I'm guessing.

Name: Infinit Solar Charger Bag

Type: Backback with solar-powered gadget charging technology

Price: £89.99 (Infinit)

As the Summer sun slowly begins to peek through the ever-present layer of British cloud-cover, you're probably looking to head on out, tastelessly displaying your milk bottle legs in a pair of shorts, beer in hand, ready to catch some rays. You'll probably want to bring an MP3 player with you for a few tunes and your mobile to call your mates on too. But what if a technophile's worst nightmare comes true and you suddenly find yourself without any battery power for your many gadgets? Enter the Infinit Solar Charger Bag to save the day.

The bag features a 2.4w photovoltaic solar panel on its outside to harvest the sun's rays ,which it then stores in a high capacity 2000mAH Li-ion battery, safely stored away in a pouch inside. Detach the battery from the solar panel and you're then free to use its stored energy to power hundreds and hundreds of devices using the myriad included connections. These include anything from a Nintendo DS to an iPhone or TomTom GPS device (click here to view the full list of compatible devices). You can even plug the battery into both the solar panel and the gadget to be charged at the same time, giving you continuous power providing you stay in quite strong sunlight. The battery can also be pre-charged from a mains supply if you want ready portable energy before you leave the house.

It's a great, green way to stay charged while on the go, and requires very little fuss to attach the many compatible devices it's capable of powering. The battery itself has a great capacity, offering roughly enough power to charge an iPhone twice-over when it has maximum solar power stored. Charging the battery is not always a smooth process though; the length of time it takes to fully power up the battery is very dependant on the amount of sunlight you expose the solar panel to. On a day of bright weather it hit maximum capacity within a reasonable 8 hours, but on a dark, wet, overcast day it was closer to 11 or 12 hours, give or take. It's also worth noting that the Infinit Solar Charger Bags currently don't support charging abilities for laptops or netbooks, though Infinit have suggested this will be on the way in later designs.

As a rucksack, the Inifinit Solar Charger Bag can't be knocked. It's a little weighty at 1.4kg, thanks to the built-in solar panel, but it seems more spacious than its 25 litre capacity would suggest. There are copious amounts of pockets and pouches, including an elasticated spot for laptops up to 15 inches in size. Straps are heavily padded and adjustable, and there's a clever mesh air-flow system for keeping your back cool while the bag is being carried. All in, it's a well built bag that should easily see you through some rugged usage.

How useful you'll find the Infinit Solar Charger Bag is, quite obviously, down to how much time you spend in the sun. It's a great rucksack by conventional standards, with plenty of space and useful pockets, and it is very comfortable on the back, even during prolonged, intensive journeys. But if you live in a dreary corner of the world weather-wise, you may feel that the extra premium you pay for the solar tech wont be worth it. On the other hand, if you're an outdoors type who is always out hiking, is looking to do a bit of globe-trotting or are even planning on attending a couple of music festivals this year then it really comes into its own, providing on-the-go power from Mother Nature herself.

4/5

By Gerald Lynch

Cars and eco friendly don't really tend to fall into the same category as each other- unless you're talking about electric cars that is. Even so, style normally seems to be lacking from these economical numbers (for example) but the latest model from Smart has managed to tick all the right boxes.

Not only does its lush green and white leather interior look eminently desirable, they've also given it some features that would make the most hardened eco warrior feel all warm and cuddly inside.

It's been a while since green gadgets have hit the headlines, but they're back with an eco-friendly bang as Sony Ericsson announce the launch to two new green phones, to be out later this year. They've gone back to basics with the handsets and have steered clear of solar panels and associated malarkey, and opted instead for recycled materials and environment friendly materials.

Festivals can be a great experience. They're full of fab bands, over priced booze and girls wearing wellies, but power friendly they ain't, and most electronics tend to die on the hardcore 4 day visit. Well worry about your mobile staying in juice no longer! Sure you may have already invested in one of the great solar chargers available, but if you haven't got the spare cash for that another good choice might be to use a PowerPump.

Orange are unveiling the Orange Power Pump at Glastonbury, which is a foot powered battery charger that works with your own legwork! It uses kinetic energy from an air bed foot pump to power your mobile and will boost your battery for around five minutes.

If you're lucky enough to be going to Glasto this year you can try it for yourself in the Orange tent.

More eco gadgets here.

Technology has long been used to aid and enhance our life. At its highest (and yes I do mean most expensive) form there are tools available to cater for your every whim - you can have a robotic maid, automatic dishwashers and computers that wake you up with a personalized hello and back massage tailored to your needs... There are also toilets that analyze your waste matter and suggest what type of nutrients you're lacking..if you must go that far!

Computers have shifted from being lumbering behemoths to super sleek devices which continually keep shrinking and the word netbook is now all the rage. Everything is slimmer sleeker, and shinier nowadays, but how does this actually affect you?

Love Honey have brought us a a fair amount of entertaining products over the years, with everything from a pedometer style cock ring to the We-Vibe in their arsenal, but their latest creation really takes the biscuit. It's a vibrator aimed at eco ladies, and is completely self powered, meaning you'll never spend a frantic half hour looking for batteries at the worst possible time (not like I'm speaking from experience or anything).

Happy Earth day my friends! For the clueless, the term relates to April the 22nd, and is a worldwide day that's meant to raise awareness and appreciation for the Earth's environment. And how should we celebrate this? By purchasing green gadgets that let us cut down on our impact on the Earth. Wattson have given their fab energy monitor a designer overhaul, as designer Richard Nicoll has pimped out their Wattson monitor with a variety of retro stars and quirky colours.

The recession has everyone in thrift mode - well apart from the more affluent amongst us - and it's all about saving money in anyway we can, even if it means forgoing your favourite brand of bacon for the cheaper brand (*sad face*). Lighting is also another area that can be sacrificed in order to save on the leccy bill. And this particular method, thought up by a man living in a Brazilian village, will definitely save those pennies. Without sounding like a Blue Peter presenter, all you need is a few two litre water bottles, clean water, bleach and a camera film dispenser.

Following the apparent Blue Peter theme that's underlying this post, in true 'here's one I made earlier' style, there's a video demonstrating how it works. It's pretty impressive stuff.

See it after the jump...

I'm lucky enough that when there are transport issues/ I have an evil hangover I have a job that means I'm able to work from home. There's something uber special about working in your PJ's with your laptop on your knees, but were I to invest in an OfficePOD I might have to don a suit to feel comfortable. The Office POD brings a whole new meaning to the idea of remote working as it comprises a rather sleek workspace in an all inclusive capsule. It's not actually available to buy- these pods are designed to be rented by employers as a cheaper alternative to office space.

Here's a bit of electrical trivia for you. You may think that leaving your mobile phone charger plugged in isn't doing much harm or couldn't possibly be the cause for your annoyingly high leccy bill, but you'd be WRONG. Did you know that being unkind to the environment and leaving your charger plugged in, wastes around 95 percent of the energy used? Not only is this unfriendly to the environment, but it's your wallet that ends up bearing the brunt of your energy homicide.

There is the recently announced universal phone charger, designed to standardize all phone chargers with a micro USB connector. But considering 2012 is being touted as its release date, perhaps the Carphone Warehouse's solution will suffice for now. It's called The Eco, and this thing is all about being green.

Having batteries die on you at a crucial moment is right up there with going to the fridge only to find there's no milk for your cuppa, or getting to the cash point and realising it has no £10 notes, only £20s during financially hard times. The SunCats however, have been designed to alleviate your dead battery rage and serve as a reminder that a dead battery doesn't mean you need to shout like a demented cerazy person, and run the risk of bursting a blood vessel. It's a shame then, that this great idea didn't make it further than the design stage - so there's a possibility these batteries will still make your blood boil.

Sadly, wrapping old NiMH rechargeables in a flexible photo voltaic cell and exposing them to sunlight simply isn't good enough to make the batteries rechargeable in the traditional sense. They certainly won't do much for you impatient side, but on the plus side, you will be waving the green flag and doing your part for the planet and saving those polar ice caps - even if you do only manage to squeeze 5 minutes of battery life out of a weeks worth of charge.

It looks like Samsung isn't the only one with a planet saving agenda this year. Also grabbing a piece of the solar powered mobile action at MWC is Chinese manufacturer ZTE and its super green Coral-200 Solar handset. It's just been launched and promises to be a saviour for emerging markets where electricity is scant, or not readily available. Much like Samsung's Blue Earth, particular specs are a bit hazy, but we can tell you there won't be that many specs to take in anyway, as its main principle is simply all about making calls, which given its target market is completely justified.

Unlike Blue Earth however, it does sport a rather bog-standard looking (and almost unappealing) candy bar design, with the solar panels on the rear. But again this is completely justified, as I can't imagine eco-friendly mobile owners wanting their phones to resemble and pack all the battery guzzling software and features that come hand in hand with a lot of the standard phones on offer these days (and if they do, they'll be waiting quite a while before that's even considered a possibility).

Understandably, news of a solar powered touchscreen phone from Samsung was met with high levels of scepticism. But it's not April Fools Day - it's not even close, so why was my initial reaction that someone is yanking our chain? I'll tell you why. It's because, let's face it, an energy efficient, solar powered touchscreen phone sounds just a little bit far fetched, don't you think?

But scepticism aside, it appears Samsung's eco friendly phones, dubbed Blue Earth, is real and being green is at the top of its agenda. For a start, there will be no charging via an AC outlet for this bad boy, oh no. Just like the process of photosynthesis, this phone requires sunlight via the solar panels on the back. And apparently, it'll generate enough juice to call anytime anywhere - which is an ambiguous statement to say the least! Is this after only a few hours of sunlight exposure, or days?

If you're a car owner who's eco-conscious the Econav is a great way of assuaging your guilt. The idea behind it is that you're purchasing a premium looking satnav, equipped with the usual features such as GPS, gear change indicators, speed indicators and traffic alerts, but you're also getting their customised Econav technology built in.

And what does that mean exactly? Well the idea is that it will help save you money on fuel and cut your carbon emissions, and it does this by analyzing various route options and giving you an eco-related readout of the potential cost to yourself and the environment.