The Treatball Talks To Your Pet In Your Voice.

Every pet owner knows that the time you're away from home might seems like forever to their dog. Time drags on more for young dogs and puppies who like to play a lot. You can make the separation more bearable with the Talk To Me Treatball. You pop out the little recording unit and record a message in your own voice (actually anyone's voice) that can last up to 15 seconds in length. Then you put the recorder back in the Treatball, and load the ball with doggie treats. (They should be small doggie treats, or broken up bigger treats.) Later, when your dog plays with the Treatball and pushes it around, they'll hear your voice. But wait, there's more! As your pooch pushes the ball around, treats fall out at random intervals making it worthwhile for him or her to play even longer. It's a fun way to keep your dog occupied and hopefully from doing anything naughthy while you're away. Available in Medium/Small (for dogs 15-40 lbs.) and Large (for dogs 40-120 lbs.) sizes. It's available in plastic or in rubber, and in two color combinations. Prices range from about $12 to $20. Best prices are found by doing a web search on Amazon.

www.talktomepetproducts.com

Hear or SEE this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1148

Never owned a car in my life, but now I have my first scooter.

The scooter craze of several years ago seems to be making a comeback. I see a lot of people darting about town on scooters. Hmm, I wondered if I would I like a scooter. I remembered I had a Razor Spark from a press event a couple of years ago and I figured it was time to actually use it. The Spark has a folding frame, and it was fun to try, but it’s really not designed for adults. Weight capacity is just143 pounds and it has small 3.85” wheels. At Toys R Us I found the Razor Cruizer Scooter. The surfboard-inspired design features include a fiberglass and wood deck and 5.5” wheels (50% larger than the wheels of the original Razor scooter). The weight limit for the Cruizer is175 lbs and the handle extends higher than the one on the Spark. Then I learned about the Razor A5 Lux. It has extra large 7.8" urethane wheels, a super strong aluminum T-tube and a deck that supports riders up to 220 lbs. Designed for ages 8 and up, the folding adjustable handle bar rises to true adult height. Of the 3 scooters, this is hands-down the winner for an adult. The large wheels make it go faster over more varied surfaces. I found it was so fast on hills l often keep my foot on the convenient rear brake. And at 13 pounds it’s still easy to carry when you’re done riding or you're running errands you have make a stop. List price is $99.99. It’s $10 cheaper at ToysRUs, but Leo bought one on Amazon.com for $72.00.

Here’s a Giz Wiz video showing all three razor scooters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJpxNN2ds4c

Razor website: www.razor.com

Hear or SEE this episode: www.twit.tv/dgw1149

A laptop cooler that not only adds USB ports, but a card reader too.

The Cables Unlimited Super Laptop Cooler adds some extra features you normally don’t find. There are 3 USB 2.0 ports, but other coolers have those. But this cooler also adds a Card Reader. It has two 1600rpm fans, which for the most part are very quiet. For some reason every once in a while you can suddenly hear them, but they get quiet again if you unplug and restart them. In addition to the fans, the special aluminum should help dissipate heat. The Plug & Play built-in multi-card reader/writer support most popular flash card formats, including compact flash. Perfect for power laptop users who require advanced functionality while cooling their laptop. The dimensions - 3.94" x 12.91" x 0.79" – make it small enough to take on a trip. It weighs 1.3 pounds. In some of the reviews people say you only gain one USB port because you need two ports to connect and power the laptop cooler. You actually just need one. One of the two cables supplied lets you piggyback one of the connection cables so you only need to use one of the USB ports on the cooler. Prices are all over the price. I found it on a one-day close out at www.buy.com for just $10, but it normally sells for about $30 to $35, so do a web search to see the current lowest price.

www.cablesunlimited.com

If you record a lot of movies & TV shows, you most likely need this!

I love old movies! Every week I check the Turner Classic Movies Guide & record a half-dozen or so. Then I record ABC 90-minute World News Now daily. You can see how easy it is to fill up the memory on my DVR. That’s why I really use Western Digital’s My Book DVR Expander. It lets you stores lots of favorite movies and TV shows without having to erase favorites in order to record more. And now there’s a new version: The 1 TB My Book AV DVR expander allows customers to expand their DVR recording capacity even more! TiVo Verified, the new My Book AV DVR expander can store up to 120 hours of high-definition (HD) television programming. It’s also been tested and is compatible with Dish Network and DirecTV DVRs1. I use mine with a Scientific Atlantic 8300 HD DVR and WD will be adding more DVR boxes as time goes on. Just connect one cable & your TV will ask if you want to use the additional storage. Click “yes” and your new storage area becomes available. When I connected mine, my DVR storage was 98% full. Once the DVR Expander was connected, it went to down to 48% full. The new drives feature WD GreenPower Technology so they produce very little heat, great for today's cramped, gadget-crammed entertainment centers. But wait, there’s more! A camcorder storage companion allows users to transfer videos from compatible cameras to a My Book AV DVR Expander without a computer. USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces for maximum compatibility with DVRs and AV devices. $149.99 MSRP, but as low as $119.00 if you do a web search. That’s a low price for 1TB of storage! And yes, you can just use it an additional hard drive for your computer. 

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=828 

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1159

Forget new gadgets! See how far we've come in just 7 years, especially price-wise!

The Samsung SyncMaster 172MP 17” LCD flat screen monitor came into the marketplace in April, 2003. It was a big deal in high tech monitors and one of the first that included a TV tuner card. It offered pic in pic so you could use your computer while watching your favorite TV show in any corner the screen you wanted. CNET reviewed it in July, 2003 and concluded: “The SyncMaster 172MP is pricey, but its built-in TV and video-input capabilities make it a good option for multitaskers, students, and anyone with limited space.” And the price? Sit down and let that CNET review tell you! “For less than $800, this cleverly designed, Mac- and PC-compatible multifunction display doubles as an HDTV-ready television--once you attach the included TV tuner. The 172MP offers only an analog connection and ships with the necessary cable. You can also hook up a VCR, a DVD player, or a camcorder via the composite, component, and S-Video jacks on the back panel. The SyncMaster 172MP goes beyond the functionality of a typical LCD, but it costs more and sacrifices adjustability.” Imagine what you can get today for half that $800 price! Heck, you can get a decent monitor for a quarter of that price from just seven years ago. But the Samsung Monitor did serve me well and friends did come by to see when I first got it. I used as a TV and computer monitor for almost seven years. It had decent sound too for its size. But it wasn’t wide screen, and it was getting a little long in the tooth, so it was time to retire it to (echo) Dick’s Gadget Warehouse-e-e-e! 

SEE or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1160