Hurricane Tape - lots of uses, hopefully a hurricane is not one of them!

I saw this tape at the 2013 National Hardware Show. They were showing a video of how a window protected by Hurricane Tape could break, but not send flying glass everywhere. The demo reminded me of a car windshield where a film holds on to the broken pieces of glass. Here's more info on this unique product from the company: Hurricane Tape's unique bi-directional weave pattern provides an extremely strong tear threshold. in fact it's 100 times stronger than a premium duct tape. Available in 1", 2" and 3" thicknesses. Hurricane tape is reinforced with a plastic substrate laminate to ensure the longevity of the product. The water-based, acrylic adhesive is ideal for application in cold and wet conditions. Features a clean release property for up to 7 days after application. Leaves no adhesion residue. Additional features include: - water and mold resistant - Adheres below water line with proper application - UV and Decay resistant - Color: white. It's widely available on places like Amazon, selling for $6 to $16 depending on width and size of the roll. It's from Bunker Industries.

http://www.bunkerinc.com/hurricane.htm

Let's see if Scott Jordan, creator of the Scott-E-Vest has a sense of humor.

Here's my satire on one of his ads!

Sadly, Roger Ebert passes on.

So sorry to hear Roger Ebert passed away. He was a fan of MAD and MAD was of his. In the forward of a book of MAD movie satires Roger wrote that MAD Magazine inspired him to become a movie critic. I met him once at a press party and I could not believe how gracious he was. While we were chatting, his movie review partner Gene Siskel come over and said the star of the movie had just entered the reception. Roger said, "Who wants to talk to the star of the movie, I'm talking to Dick DeBartolo from MAD Magazine." I was blown away to get such a great compliment from someone I admired so much. --- Thank you, Roger. When you get to heaven say "hi" to William M. Gaines.

No Rockettes this time, but Samsung uses Radio City Music Hall To Launch the Galaxy IV

I was at the introduction of the much anticipated Samsung Galaxy IV at Music City Music Hall, along with some 6500 other folks. Fortunately I got play with the new Galaxy IV for a couple of minutes, and I was very impressed. It has a crystal-clear 5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display with 441 pixels per inch. The reporter next to me was watching basketball on his demo phone and the fast action was blur-free and brought lots of "wows!" from everyone looking over his shoulder. The US version of the Galaxy IV uses a 1.9 GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor. Overseas they'll be getting the Exynos 5 Octa eight-core processor! The S IV ships with 2 GB of RAM and they'll be a choice of 16, 32 or 64 GB of memory. If that's not enough, you can add in to 64 GB via a microSD card. As a very nice gesture, our party gift was the Samsung Press Kit on a 64GB microSD card. (No, no new phones left the building that I know of.) Photos was also amazing. There's a 13 megapixel camera that shoots 1080p on the back, with a 2 megapixel front-facing camera. That's even a feature that lets you shoot using both cameras at once so even the photographer can be in the picture. The S IV’s battery is higher capacity at 2600 mAh and yes, it's replaceable! Whew! I feel better - I LOVE having a phone with a replaceable battery. Since I use the Galaxy 3, I got to compare them side by side. The IV does have a bigger screen, but the case isn't that much bigger. The bezel on the IV is narrower. The IV is also thinner, but not by much. There'll be a black or white polycarbonite case choice. Price was not announced. It be available in later in April, but no specific date was given. And yes, it will be available via all the major cell phone carriers.

ABC News checks out the Galaxy IV:

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/samsung-galaxy-s4-announced-control-phone-waves-tilts/story?id=18732190

A convenient gadgets gets an upgrade.

The Newer Technology Power2U USB outlet adds two convenient USB charging ports to their AC power outlets. There were introduced at CES about two years ago. But now the Power2U USB device has been upgraded. Among the new features: They've added 2008 National Electrical Code (NEC) tamper resistant receptacles to make the Power2U USB as kid safe as possible. It also ensures the device will meet any local home building/improvement code requirements. They've also added a 20Amp version for commercial, hospitality, education, and municipal applications, as well as installations in homes where higher powered appliances and tools might be used. That includes places like basements, kitchens, utility/HVAC rooms and garages. There are new colors too. Prices start at about $12 for the 15A model, about $24 for the 20A model. Available at:

www.macsales.com , www.newertech.com , and Ace hardware. More retailers are coming soon.