Watts Up with My Cable Box

I was measuring the power consumption of several electronic devices I have with a Watts Up power meter and I came across something very interesting with my Motorola digital cable box. Take a look at the power consumption when the cable box is turned on:



Now take a look at the power consumption when it is "turned off":



And I thought I was saving energy by turning it off when I wasn't using it...

What's bulky, white, and red all over?

Unfortunately, my Xbox. I hadn't played my Xbox 360 since I took it home for Christmas vacation, so I figured it was about time to relax and have some fun. So I hooked it back up to my monitor and turned on the power...hmm, that's weird, what are all those funny vertical lines on my Xbox LIVE dashboard? I haven't seen that before.



My Xbox 360 was frozen. Oh well, must just be a glitch. Time to reboot.

Second boot attempt: After shutting down the console and turning it back on, nothing happened; the power was on but the console wasn't outputing any video.

Third boot attempt: Third time a charm? Not unless you consider big red rings charming...



...the famous Red Ring of Death.  Hooray for 3 year warranties!