Soon your health club might let you generate electricity as you 'spin your wheels'.

If you take a spinning class, here’s a way to exercise and generate electricity at the same time! No, it’s not a joke and it’s not the EnterTrainer we talked about a couple of weeks ago. An group called The Green Revolution connects health with energy and the environment by turning human effort within the health club into usable energy.  I know, I thought it was weird too at first, but it seems several clubs, including New York Sports on West 23^rd in Manhattan, have already signed on. If you want to talk to your health club about adding a green component to their classes, the company says there are 5 good reasons health club owners should join the Green Revolution:

1.Set their club apart from other facilities

2.Attract new members

3.Lower energy costs

4.Play a leading role in adopting a "Green" Platform

5.Enhance public image

So that's the goal of the Green Revolution. To convince health clubs to differentiate themselves from the pack with “a powerful enticement that will be a magnet for members who care for the environment.”  My big question was “how much electricity could a group cycling session generate?” Here’s the answer: “There are a number of factors that go into the amount of energy that is produced. These factors are: The intensity of the workout (intensity includes resistance setting and the cadence level), the duration of the workout and the number of people in the class. A typical Group Cycling class with 20 bikes will create about 3 kilowatts (KW) per session. A Group Cycling room that runs four classes a day has the potential to create close to 300 KW a month. This is equivalent to the amount of power needed to light a typical home for half a year.” Although this isn’t a gadget for the home – it doesn’t make economic sense – you could tell your health club about it if you want to join the Green Revolution. That way you’ll be exercising and giving back all the time you’re “spinning your wheels”.

www.egreenrevolution.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1312

Painting with light. A lot faster and easier than using paint!

Giz Wiz Video of the week:

When you think of redoing a room you might not think of lighting. But lighting is an easy way to change the feel of a room almost instantly. And you change it over and over again with the Philips LivingColors Generation 2 lamp. This is probably the most unique lighting fixture you’ve seen in a long time. The outside is a clear orb with a strange shaped conical lamp inside.  If you buy one, you don’t have to decide what color bulb you want because LivingColors lets create 16 million colors. If you need max light for work, switch it to plain white light. Because LivingColors comes with a remote you can sit there and constantly change the feel of your room any time you feel like it. If you want to be surprised, set the remote to automatic. You can even adjust the speed that the colors change. At Eco-Focus the Living Colors lamp was set to demo mode, so I didn’t get to make my own color choices. But it was fun to watch, even in a room that had bright lights. This new generation uses 7 LEDs to produce a light intensity that's 50% more intense than the original model. Philips builds TV’s that change the wall behind the set to a color that matches or enhances what’s the on the screen. If you want you can do the same with LivingColors remote. Change the color of the wall behind the set to reflect what you’re watch on the screen. For the holidays you could turn a white wall green in seconds!  $199.99 at Amazon. (I haven’t bought anything here:)

http://tinyurl.com/3z3hwyw

The second product in the video is Philips Imageo Rechargeable Table Lights. It’s a way to create atmosphere at an outdoor table at night without the risk of open flames and hot wax. The set includes two rechargeable LED candles lights, a charger and integrated adaptor. If you want the full, catchy name of this product it’s: Philips Imageo LED Rechargeable Color Changing Table Lights with Charging Plate. These lights offer a relaxing; even romantic glow and change color when you flip them over and back up again. Or simply tilt it to turn it on and off. After an initial charge on the wireless induction charging station, these lights will glow for 6 hours. A set with two lights and the charging station is $74.99 here on Amazon. (I haven’t bought anything here.

http://tinyurl.com/5skam8d 

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1312

See 3D on your iPhone or iPod Touch!

Hasbro’s my3D turns an 2^nd, 3^rd or 4th generation iPod touch, iPhone 3G, 3GS or iPhone 4 into a 3D viewer. The my 3D device looks like a pair of plastic binoculars, but when you look in it you’ll actually be viewing the screen on your Apple device. If you remember the ViewMaster, this is kind of an updated digital version. It comes with four adapters for the different Apple devices. The packaging is strange. When you open the box, one of the adapters says: “Insert your iPhone or iPod touch here!” So I inserted my 4^th Gen Touch, but it doesn’t seem to fit correctly. That's when I figure I better check the instructions. I can’t find the instructions until I notice some printing showing through a hole in the plastic tray the device comes in. Under the tray I find the instructions and -- what’s this? Another adapter - the one I should be using. Before you can use my 3D you need to visit the iTunes app to download games, a demo and 360-degree panoramic apps. Even though the apps are free you need to activate them with the code that’s printed on the viewer. I downloaded some apps and found using the my3D is a lot of fun. 3D photos looking amazingly deep! The movie trailers look a little less 3D, but they’re pretty good. The panoramic scene I downloaded was great. The view is a pier on the ocean and as you turn or look up or down your iPhone or Touch accelerometer makes it possible for you to see the view as if you were there. Friends enjoyed playing with the My3D too. I think the novelty will wear off quickly for adults, but kids will probably find it fascinating for a long time. Right now there are only about a half dozen 3D apps available. In case you're wondering, all of your device buttons are accessible when it's in the my3D, but using the on-screen menus can be tricky. The my3D device has two thumbholes on the bottom so you can press the buttons on the screen. Sometimes I found using them a bit tricky especially when a menu choice said: push both buttons with both thumbs at the same time. Even though it uses no batteries the construction of the plastic case seemed to make the sound of my Touch more robust. Right now it’s available at Target for $34.99. In June it will be in wider distribution.

http://www.target.com/Hasbro-MY3D-3D-Viewer-White/dp/B004T7VIPG

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1312

And now it's time for Leo's Turn The Table Turkey! And it's a hot, new phone!

Leo’s gadget pick  this week isn’t a turkey at all. It’s the T-Mobile G2x with Google by LG. The G2x is made for speed and mobile entertainment, with built-in support for 4G speeds. Leo said the phone is really fast with its NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor with dual-core CPU. It features a bright 4-inch capacitive touch screen display and ships with preloaded content, such as Electronic Arts Need For Speed SHIFT HD. Leo said many of the latest phones like this one  are moving into dual core technology, great for multitasking and multimedia. The G2x comes equipped with an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and autofocus, and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera paired with the T-Mobile Video Chat application. Leo was very impressed with the phone’s 1080p high-definition video recorder. He was a little disappointed that the operating system was the Android 2.2, expecting such a powerhouse to have something newer.  The G2x includes 8GB of internal memory with a microSD card slot that supports up to 32GB. If you watch the video version you'll see how fast the phone responds to whatever Leo asks the phone to do. The T-Mobile G2x with Google is available for $199.99 at T-Mobile retail stores and online at 

http://www.t-mobile.com 

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1312

This was the first VHS to DVD recorder I owned.

Back to Dick's Gadget Warehouse.

Go-Video entered the market place around 2003 or 2004. They made a line of dual-format DVD/VCR recorders. They were the first decks that I knew of that could copy VHS tapes to DVD and DVD’s to VHS with two one-touch copy buttons. (No it didn’t copy copy-protected movies!) If you had a digital camcorder, a fold down door on the front of the model 2940 revealed an IEEE 1394 DV input and video/audio RCA inputs. The 8-event, 1-month timer let you choose where each show you recorded would go -- to tape or disc. It handled DVD+R (write-once) and DVD+RW (rewriteable) discs. A feature I liked, but didn’t get to use because I didn’t rent movies, was their AutoPlay. On DVD movies it could automatically skip ads, trailers and menus, and go right to the start of the movie. I wish my current DVD player could do that! (I wish I could do that when I go to the movies!) It also offered a wide selection of hook-ups for its time, including S-video, component, and composite video outputs. The 2940 also featured YES Video which could help identify the beginning of new scenes from your recorded video. It was a great help for easy editing. I had good luck with my GoVideo, but the web is full of reviews of people who had a lot of trouble with their GoVideo equipment. The company is gone now. It seems S3 Graphics bought the GoVideo name, but currently doesn’t use it. Back in the mid-2000’s, the 2940 sold anywhere from about $340 to $450.

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1312