So "yesterday"

We thrive on technology!

We carve our Turkey the Light Saber Way!

New from Ronco!

Batteries sold separately! (Uses 400 AAA's.)

Here's the ad I received in an email: “Health-O-Meter HM2115Q Men's Micro Suede Slippers with Massage. Medium, has soft fabric and lining to keep feet snuggly warm. These slippers have powerful massage motors that soothe stressed, tired feet with vibrating massage. There is a cushioned memory foam sole support to deliver extra support to the heel and sole. This product is battery operated for ultimate convenience.”

These were a ‘deal of the day’ at www.Dealmonger.com for $15.99.  They sounded good to me, especially since I did a quick web check and found that on Amazon.com these slippers are selling for up to $45! So I paid my $15.99 and ordered them. Turned out to be not a good deal. The "massage" is a little motor that vibrates in one part of the foot and feels like you’re standing on a “joy buzzer”. And you have to take out the vibrator inner soles in order to insert the memory foam inner insoles. And if there’s memory foam inside them you certainly can’t feel it through the thick faux fur covering. All in all, I think at $16 I paid maybe $15 too much! But if this glowing review has you longing for a pair, here’s the listing on amazon.com. They’re sold out at DealMonger.com.

 http://www.amazon.com/Health-Meter-HM2135-Massaging-Slippers/dp/B000FEXXX2  $45

 Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw969

I’m a big fan of the Capresso Coffee Team Therm. But about two months ago the folks at Capresso asked if I’d like to try to new machine that was about to hit the marketplace. Me, try out a new gadget? I guess that sounds okay. Of course I told them: “Yes!!!”. The new machine is the Capresso CoffeeTeam GS. It’s a fully programmable 10-Cup Coffee Maker with a built in conical burr grinder.  As soon as I mention burr grinder on the Daily Giz Wiz, Leo jumped in with – “burr grinder - that’s the best kind!” And it is to get the most aroma and favor from coffee beans without heating them the way some other grinders do. My last two Capresso coffee makers had a mechanical arm that moved the filter with the freshly ground beans into place over the carafe before the brewing process started. In this latest GS version the beans are custom ground and the water flows through them with no mechanical arm necessary. It makes for a very high tech, streamed look. (It’s black with Stainless Steel accents.) Clean up is still quick & easy. There’s a 6-ounce capacity bean container with a detachable see-through cover for easy cleaning of the grinder channel. The Digital Control Panel has a programmable Clock/Timer, 5 programmable brew amounts for 2-10 cups, and 3 programmable coffee strength settings. There are 2 Mode settings: “Grind/Brew” - for grinding programmed amount of whole beans directly into the Gold Tone Filter, (I’m using paper filters) or “Brew” if you’re using coffee that’s already ground. A filter release button opens the swing out filter holder for simple cleaning or changing. If you need it, a charcoal water filtration removes up to 82% of chlorine and other impurities from tap water. The filter holder and one charcoal filter are included. And if you leave in a hurry and forget to shut the pot, a 2-hour safety shut-off will do it for you, Finally, I can’t live without the Stop-and-Serve feature. You can grab a quick cup of freshly made hot coffee before the brewing cycle is finished. The nonstick-coated warming plate holds the coffee at a nice, hot 200-degree brew temperature. $180.00

http://www.capresso.com/coffee-makers-coffee-team-gs.shtml

Here’s a listing on Amazon, but I haven’t shopped here:

http://www.amazon.com/Capresso-464-05-CoffeeTeam-Digital-Coffeemaker/dp/B002EVOVPI

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw968

Leo got the new Motorola Droid cell phone and he likes it a lot! Although he’s not sure why it has to make such weird “monster” type sounds on start-up. The case is mostly metal and is very rugged. And it has something I like in almost any device – an external volume up and down key. (I hate having to go into a menu to change the volume.) The Droid has an impressive 3.7″ WVGA 854 X 480 high quality touch display that Leo says is probably the best cell phone screen he’s seen so far. Even though it’s a touch display, Leo said you can’t do the squeeze and expand motions with photos like you can on the iPhone. Leo likes this Droid phone better than the Palm PRE. He was not so positive on the slide down keyboard. He said he might get used to the keys that are pretty close together, but in the meantime he’s perfectly happy using the virtual keyboard. (The slide down keyboard has backlit keys.)  Even though it boasts a 5MP camera, Leo said he feels picture taking is better on the iPhone. I asked Leo about multi-tasking on the phone – one of Leo’s favorite things – (He was eating as he was talking about the Droid and running the studio video equipment!) The Droid lets a user have three different custom screens, which Leo says is just okay. He’d like more! All in all, he’s happy with the Droid and thinks this could be a much-needed hit for Motorola. Price is $199.00 after rebate with a two-year contract.

http://phones.verizonwireless.com/motorola/droid/?cmp=KNC-PaidSearch#/home

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw967

Gadget of the day in a moment, but first ---  If you’re up for voting in the PODCAST AWARDS, the Daily Giz Wiz is up for both People’s Choice and Best Comedy Podcast. It would be great if you had the time to vote to check us in both categories. If you have a lot of free time you can vote once every 24 hours until November 30^th.  Thank you!  Dick De, The Giz Wiz

Monday, November 23^rd, 2009, Netcast 966

Dual Electronics (Yes the folks who were wildly famous for their turntables many years ago) have introduced the GPS Navigation & Battery Cradle for the iPod Touch (model XGPS300). The Cradle, which resembles a battery case in size and weight, provides a complete GPS navigation solution for the iPod Touch, including the NavAtlas turn-by-turn navigation app and a car mount. But wait there’s more! The Cradle also includes a rechargeable battery, amplified speaker, audio out connection and mini USB port. An adjustable windshield mount is also included for in-car use. The NavAtlas app, which works exclusively with The Cradle, includes all the features commonly found in PNDs and more, and is available on the iTunes App Store for free. The Cradle is ideal for in-car or handheld use, and it complies with the requirement from Apple to provide GPS location data to any app which requests it, including apps for hiking, bicycling, social networking, geocaching,  as well as other navigation apps. Dual says that there are approximately 24 million iPod touch owners worldwide who are missing out on the ever-growing number of location-based apps. But no more, thanks to the folks at Dual. The Cradle with the latest U.S and Canada maps from NAVTEQ has a MSRP of $179.99. More info at the You Tube Video – you may have to lower your volume - and the company's website.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApAOFyAynnE    YouTube Video

http://gpscradle.dualav.com/      Company Website for The Cradle.

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw966

The Getaway is a sleek- looking carry-on bag with a frame covered in durable quilted water repellant treated nylon. But the thing I like best about this bag is that it has four wheels that spin in any direction. So instead of pulling it behind you, you can walk it along, right at your side. This is perfect for long lines like at the Security Lines at the airport. It’s at your side where no one trips over it. The company, Swany, also calls their bags The Lean On Me “Walkin Bags”. Dimensions (HxWxD) are: 18'' x 9'' x 18'' & it fit easily in the overhead compartment on my recent Continental flight to the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show. There’s a roomy interior compartment; and three detachable pouches that Velcro in place. Another clever feature is a lightly padded pocket that can be quickly accessed through the convenient “by-pass” pocket on the outside of the bag. This makes it easy to “get in and get out without having to unzip the main compartment” The company says it’s fine for a laptop, but my guess is that it’s better for a netbook or a light laptop.  According to the specs, the bag weighs 8 pounds. It’s available in two colors:  black and red. The question is, for how long will it be available? Mine’s been in the warehouse for more than 7 years, and I just re-discovered it when my even older suitcase gave up the ghost. Since The Gateway seems to be on close-out at the company’s website, my guess is it won’t be around for much longer. The MSRP is $199.00, but it’s on sale for $119.00. (At least it was when I checked their website on November 19^th, 2009.) 

http://www.walkinbag.com/cases/limitedtimeoffer/getaway

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw965

A new solution is a product called Fit & Fold. I met the inventor, Cooper Hipp, who gave me a demo of how easy it is to use his product on fitted sheets Here’s pretty much how he describes his product: Normally to fold your fitted sheet, you have to know how to get its rounded edges to take the shape of straight, foldable corners which takes a lot of patience and skill.  Without FIT and FOLD, you have to locate each corner of your fitted sheet and tuck the bottom left and right corners up into the top left and right corners, giving the sheet foldable corners. How many times have you put the first corner of your fitted sheet onto your mattress only to realize that, when attempting to fit the second corner that it wouldn’t fit because you got the alignment wrong? You rotate the sheet, hoping that it will fit.  It can take up to three tries before you get it right. With Fit and Fold, the corners are easy to locate and the snaps are colored either blue or green. This lets you know which corners snap together. Blue snaps to blue and green snaps to green.  This lets you easily achieve the squared corners that let you fold your fitted sheet. It’s that easy to make fitted sheets folding hassles a thing of the past. You put them on the sheets once and they stay there. You leave them on even when you wash the sheets. When you take them out of the laundry the corners of your fitted sheet are still labeled. Now when you make the bed, grab any corner of the folded fitted sheet. Because each snap is labeled top right, top left, bottom right and bottom left, you know exactly where to start. There’s a demo at Cooper’s website that makes it easy to understand. They come in a variety of colors to match your fitted sheets. Price is $9.99, plus S&H.

www.fitandfold.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw964

So you haven’t back up all your files because it’s “too hard”, or “you don’t know how”. Then check out the new Clickfree C2. It’s the next generation of the Award-Winning Clickfree Portable Backup drives. It features their Smart Automatic Backup features. Plug in the USB cable and it backs up your files. You don’t have to click anything. It’s Click Free – just like the name says. This new all-in-one design has an integrated USB cable, offers iPod music transfer, and advanced backup features including 256-bit hardware-based encryption and email attachment extraction. You can schedule backups, import iPod Music and Playlists and even use it to backup multiple computers. I can’t recall another backup system that lets you do that. PC or Mac compatible. You can also use it to share photos on Facebook or My Space directly from the Clickfree Viewer. And burn CD's and DVD's of your backup using the computers DVD burner. And if you’re moving to a new computer or operating system, use it to transfer your files to the new computers, and new Windows Operating Systems. Works with Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. System Requirements: Windows-based PC or Macintosh. Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Macintosh OS X 10.5 or later, Windows 7. Prices: $139.99 / 250GB   $189.99 / 500GB. You can do a price search. These are brand new, so the price might stay close to suggested retail for a while.

http://www.clickfree.com/products_c2.php#

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw963