Here’s a third hand to help hold your funnel!

Monday, July 20^th, 2009 Netcast 876

If you ever had to use a funnel to transfer liquids you know it can be tricky. Sometimes just the liquid hitting the funnel can make it fall to one side or the other causing a spill. On a boat it’s even trickier as wakes and waves rock the boat as you try to pour liquids. A new product called UniFunnel makes it easy to transfer fluids without slipping or spilling. It’s the Uni-Funnel, a hands-free funnel holder designed to hold any standard-size funnel firmly in place. Here’s how it works. Squeeze the Uni-Funnel handle and place it in the container or tank into which you’re going to pour a liquid. When you let go of the handle, a spring opens the Uni-Funnel to hold it securely in place. Now you place your funnel in the holder and start pouring the liquid. It’s secure enough that you can even leave smaller contains in the funnel so they drain completely. I use it to put outboard oil in the below deck tank. It’s perfect for boaters, mechanics, and do-it-yourselfers. Since it can be used to transfer any fluid—including oil, gasoline, coolant and industrial chemicals—the hands-free Uni-Funnel Holder is an very handy tool. It’s made of reinforced glass-filled Polyamide 66—a highly durable composite material frequently used in engine parts, so the Uni-Funnel Holder is virtually unbreakable. It’s bright yellow color makes it hard to lose or leave inside an engine. Another important safety feature is the ability for air to vent, which eliminates the risk of blow back. Users can also more easily monitor the rising fluid level inside the container or tank. Another advantage: With both hands free, people will be able to use two hands to pour bigger or larger, economy-size containers. $12.95 + $2.50 shipping.

www.unifunnel.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw876

Your name in lights! Well, actually in LCD letters!

Friday, July 17^th, 2009 Netcast 875

This was a neat electronic gadget from Brookstone. It's was ideal for the desk of a gadget lover. Yes, the programmable liquid crystal display office nameplate! It has two sides. One side displays a name and job title, or anything you wish. I programmed mine to say: "Dick DeBartolo, The Giz Wiz". (Actually I think I ended up with "Dick De - The Giz Wiz" because using my full name put me over the 20 letter maximum.) Once the name/title side was programmed, it scrolled the info across the front. You could take this fun device from job to job and change your title as you wished. It’s a bit tedious to program names and titles via the three buttons on the bottom. You had to scroll through the entire alphabet looking for the letters you needed, but it got a little easier as you went along. If you didn’t feel like showing your name and title, you could turn the device around. The other side of this LCD nameplate showed time, date and year. It’s powered by 4 AA batteries. This was available at Brookstone in the 2001-02 time period and sold for $40. I thought this was a reasonable price for a device that would get folks in your workplace talking. It’s no longer available and very difficult to find info about it on the web.

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw875

Conair “Clean Head Trimmer” if you really want to take it ALL OFF!

Thursday, July 16^th, 2009, Netcast 874

In these days of saving money wherever you can, the Clean Head Trimmer by Conair can help. (I’ve been saving about $20 with each do-it-yourself haircut: $15 for the cut + $5 tip.) That’s provided you’re a guy who likes REALLY short hair, or better yet, no hair at all on top. Clean Head is specifically designed for clean and ultra-close cuts by using angled shaving heads and comfort rollers that guide the shaving foils along the contours of the head. Soft grip sides make it easy to shave in any direction. (There’s no need to use shaving lather.) Included in the kit are three attachment combs - 1/8", 1/4", and 3/8". I use the ¼” attachment comb since I’m not quite ready to shave my head totally bald. Also included is a trimmer attachment for a stubble look, fade cuts and shorter hair if you want to be fancy and have the patience to read how to do those things. The trimmer attachment has a three-position taper control. It ships with a built–in rechargeable battery & recharging stand, as well as a blade guard and cleaning brush. It’s the model # HG300, but it’s easier to remember Clean Head Trimmer by Conair. It’s about $40. It’s very new, so do a web search for the best price. There's a lot more info at the I Know Heads website. (You can skip the intro screen.)

www.iKnowHeads.com

(Humorous) Comb-Over Compensation Video http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=clean%20head%20by%20conair

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw874

Would you like to drive a new $700,000 Sea Ray 43’ Sundancer?

 Daily Giz Wiz, Wednesday, July 15th, 2009  

That was the question asked in an email sent to me with the subject line: “Giz Wiz on the Hudson River”. Although I’m already on the Hudson, it’s in a 22’ & and a 24’ foot boat, nothing like a brand new SeaRay 43’ Sundancer. The big selling point for me to go drive this boat was its joystick piloting! This boat is the first Sea Ray to come standard with Zeus, CMD's innovative pod drive system. (CMD is the company that combines the strengths of two legendary names in marine propulsion: Cummins Diesel and Mercury Marine.) Pod drives are what big ships, including the huge Queen Mary2, use. What makes pod drives amazing is the ability to use them with joystick control at slow speeds. Of course I jumped at the chance to try out joystick piloting. The joystick controls the drive-by-wire steering, throttle and shifting via an onboard computer. I was given a 30 second demo and told to move the boat from the marina out into the Hudson. The most difficult part of piloting a boat is leaving the dock, and docking the boat at the end of the trip. With wind, tides and currents, it can be a real task. But with joystick driving simple hand movements are translated into complex boat maneuvers that were once impossible for all but the most experienced captain. I put my hand on the joystick and started moving the boat away from the dock. I kept wanting to touch the steering wheel, but was told all I needed was the one hand on the joystick for all the maneuvers. It was great. I moved the 43’ Sundancer past docked boats on one side & rotted pilings on the other. Not a scratch! It’s even possible to spin the boat 360 degrees within it’s own length! Out on the Hudson I got a demo of another amazing technology: Skyhook. Engage Skyhook and it maintains the boat’s position and heading taking into account tide, wind, and current! The boat I was on retails for about $700,000. You are correct; it is not an impulse buy, but if you are in the market for a boat, this is definitely one to check out. Sea Ray offers boats with this amazing technology that start at about $170,000. It takes away the biggest fear of new boaters: crashing into things at the dock!

 Here’s a video demo of Zeus from Sea Ray: http://search.aol.com/aol/search?&query=Sea+Ray+Zeus&invocationType=tb50TB50CL

 Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw873  

Hmmm…Palm Pre or the New iPhone 3Gs?

Turn The Table Tuesday, July 14^th, Netcast 872

Two weeks ago Leo reported on the Palm Pre, which he liked a lot. www.twit.tv/dgw862

But that phone was loner and it already went back to Palm. And since he needs to own the latest, Leo bought the new iPhone 3Gs. As Leo noted (and photos show) it looks pretty much the same as the “old” iPhone. But it has new bells and whistles, which Leo likes. I’m just going to mention a couple here, because reams have now been written about this new version. It now has video recording (which Leo really missed on the earlier model) and an improved 3-megapixel camera with auto focus. Leo showed how you tap on the part of the screen you want the camera to focus on. And that’s what the camera does! Leo wanted voice commands missing from the previous model, and he got his wish. The 3Gs obeys when spoken to. Battery life is better, but Leo said the big plus is the faster data network. Apple added the “S” to this phone because it’s “super fast”. As you can imagine, the idea of what “super fast” is varies from person to person, but Leo said it’s a big improvement. When I asked him which phone he preferred, the new iPhone 3GS or the Palm Pre, he leaned toward the iPhone 3GS. Probably because he already bought it (and most likely without a discount since I don’t think that’s possible on an Apple product!) Leo is a big multi-tasker and he did like the way he could multi-task so easily on the Palm Pre. But it looks like the iPhone 3GS is his phone of choice! Available at ATT only. (And you have to decide between buying the new or the last released version at a reduced price.)

http://search.aol.com/aol/search?q=iphone%20s

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw872