On this Turn The Table Tuesday Leo Talks About His New GPS Photo Tracker

TTTT, Tuesday, August 25^th, 2009 Netcast 902

The AMOD AGL3080 Data Logger is not for everyone. But for folks who take a lot of photos in dozen of out of the way locations, this device is an easy way (so says Leo) to Geo-tag their pictures. I have to be honest. I do most of my shooting in big cities. So when I look at a photo and see the Brooklyn Bridge, I kind of know where I took it. But Leo goes everywhere and shoots photos with very high-end cameras. Notice I don’t even use the word “pictures”! Leo shoots ‘photos’! But he doesn’t always remember exactly where he shot them. That’s where the AGL3080 GPS Data Logger/Photo Tracker comes in. It’s about the size of a small cell phone and although it doesn’t attach to the camera it keeps track of where the photographer is. It can record more than 1 million data points to provide location information for digital photos (in EXIF 2.0 or later format) from all digital cameras and camera phones. There is a process that Leo described (and I didn’t understand) of how you match the info from the Data Logger with the photos you’ve taken. But if you want one of these, you probably know how it works. It works with Mac and Windows with true USB plug and play functionality – according to the manufacturer! Leo bought his on Amazon for under $60.

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw902

Verbatim’s new Tuff-N-Tiny USB drive is --- well, tough & tiny!

Monday, August 24^th, 2009 Netcast 901

The Tuff-‘N’-Tiny USB drive is so small you could hide it under two pennies! And the thickness is about the same as that of a penny. It’s most compact, durable USB flash drives I’ve seen so far. It’s small enough to put in your wallet or change purse without creating much a bump. Verbatim Tuff-N-Tiny USB Drives are significantly more rugged than standard flash drives because they feature SIP technology, which encapsulates all of the electronic components into a single miniaturized and sealed unit. As a result, the tiny drives are resistant to dust, water and static discharges. They include a key ring lanyard which you should attach immediately so you don’t misplace the entire drive! The Tuff-N-Tiny USB drives are available in 4GB (emerald green) and 8GB (royal purple) capacities. For security conscious PC users, the Tuff-’N’-Tiny USB Drives also include password security features to protect sensitive data in a user-defined private zone. The public zone is for open access and sharing of non-sensitive content. Since it’s so tiny, it’s easy to put T-N-T drive in the USB port upside-down. That won’t damage the drive, or the computer. With no room for a light on a drive this tiny, you’ll know it’s installed correctly when the computer recognizes it. Leo said a person could install www.portableapps.com on this device and be able to have a ‘personal PC’ anywhere they plug in their Tuff-N-Tiny USB drive into a PC. When you take it, your apps and files go with you, leaving nothing behind. Works with PC, Mac and Linux. MSRP US price is $29.99 for the 4GB drive and US $49.99 for the 8GB drive. But if you do a web search you can find them for a lot less!

www.verbatim.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw901

We did it! We made it to Daily Giz Wiz #900!

Friday, August 21^st, Netcast 900!!

Thanks for all the great "thank you" emails! I know you would have enclosed cash if it was possible, but it’s the thought that counts!

From Dick’s Gadget Warehouse we go back to a mail-order ad for Copper Botton Cookware from 1986!

Here’s a few of my favorite copy lines from the ad:

Why are we giving away Famous Nationally Advertised J.A. Bornschaft Cookware for only $19.95 (I thought “giving away” something didn’t involve paying money! And $19.95 in 1986 is equal to about $55 today.)

These are the most popular and expensive copper-bottom cookware of their kind ever sold by this multi-million dollar firm. (Wanna bet they are also THE ONLY copper-bottom cookware of their kind ever sold by this multi-million dollar firm!)

Heat resistant handles let you lift them quickly and safely while cooking. (I thought lifting a pot quickly depended on the person, not the pot! And why does lifting a pot quickly even matter??)

There is a limit of 2 sets per address at this price, but if you order in the next 11 days, you may order up to 5 sets. (Gee, I wanted to order 12 sets! Damn! Fortunately they don't say which 11 days you have to order by.)

Actually over time I bought about a dozen sets of these pots and pans. The quality was so bad and the metal so thin I could bend the frying pan in half. And doing that was a great visual for TV. So I bent Bornschraft frying pans for Sally Jesse, Phil Donohue, Regis, even for Leo in the TWiT studio! In a way I probably keep Bornschraft in business for a few extra weeks because I had to keep ordering new sets to bend!

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw900

A message from the Giz Wiz:

Thank YOU for listening to our silliness! Many of you have listened to all 900 episodes! And fortunately continue to listen.  I LOVE doing the Daily Giz Wiz, and I appreciate your emails and your support. The lovely and talented Leo Laporte and I have already made plans for Daily Giz Wiz 1000! We expect to record it “live” at CES in Las Vegas, around January 8^th or 9^th, 2010! We'll keep you posted in case you can join us!

Here’s a pocket camera so small it can fit a shirt pocket easily.

Thursday, August, Netcast 899

It’s the new Casio EX-FS10 and it has a lot of features. There’s a slow-motion movie mode and a high-speed burst mode that can shoot 30 images per second.  In the high-speed mode, it shoots photos at 6 mega pixels, not the full 9.1 megapixels the camera is capable of. On the Wine Train I shot some slow motion video, which looked neat. There’s a separate button for slow motion, which I accidentally pushed, but I liked the results. (Of course I didn’t bother looking at the instruction book first.) Other features are High Speed Anti-Shake and High Speed Night Scene. I didn’t try any nighttime shooting. The camera body is less than 0.65 inches thick. Casio says the EX-FS10 is the world's smallest High Speed camera. (Wonder how long that claim will last, but it’s a lot of camera for such a thin design! There’s a 2.5 inch color LCD screen and a optical zoom. The zoom works totally inside the camera case, so nothing sticks out the front even when you’re shooting photos. If you like to show off your videos, there’s a YouTube Capture Mode! And finally a couple more neat features: Face Detection, HD Movie, and of course, regular movie mode. It’s uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Unfortunately, the battery charger uses its own docking station, with a heavy-duty power cable. I wish this mini digital camera had one of those mini battery chargers with a flip out plug that requires no cable at all! There’s a little bit of built in memory, great if you forget the memory card at home. Otherwise it takes SD memory cards. When I showed this camera to Leo he said it would be ideal for his son, Henry, who wants a tiny, easy-to-pocket digital camera. And this is small! Dimensions - 3.8 W x 2.4 H x 0.6 D (97.1 x 59.4 x 16.3 mm) Weight - 4.3 oz. (121g) Casio says the “street price” is $299.00. But I did a web search, and at B&H photo it’s only $235.00 once you put the camera in your “cart”.

http://tinyurl.com/nw72zy

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw899

The Giz Wiz tries his first Netbook. The Acer Aspire One 11.6" Wide Screen.

Wednesday, August 19^th, 2009, Netcast 898

The Acer Aspire One AO751h is a dandy litte Netbook with some big features. It has a bright LED-backlit 11.6-inch high-definition screen (16:9 ratio) and a full-sized keyboard. I had no idea how powerful a Netbook would be so I put the Aspire One through a couple of mini-tests. It has an integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam and built in mic, so I downloaded Skype and make a couple of calls. Skype worked well. My second big test (for me anyway) was downloading Slingbox. Nothing makes me feel more at home when I travel than watching my own cable box programs. There were a few glitches here and there, but in general the audio & video was fine and I was able to watch an old movie on my home DVR. Now as you can image, the speakers in this unit are small, but in a hotel room, the sound is fine. On an airplane you’ll be listening through headphones so you’ll be able to enjoy the Dolby Headphone technology. There’s a Multi-Gesture touch-pad that enables you to pinch, flick and swirl your fingers for photo viewing, sort of like using a touch screen. The AO751h-1192 (I wish it had a model name instead of letters and numbers) is powered by the 1.3 GHz Intel Atom Intel processor. Acer says you can expect about 7+ hours of computing from their 6-cell battery. Other features include a 160 GB hard drive, 1 GB of RAM, a multi-format memory card reader, WiFi networking (802.11b/g), and three USB ports. This model comes pre-installed with the Microsoft Windows XP. It’s one-inch thin and weighs less than 3 pounds with the extended life battery. Display resolution is 1366 x 768-pixels, which Leo said, is higher than most other Netbooks. Although some press materials say the price ranges from $349.99 to $379.99, depending on the battery, it seems to be selling for closer to $399.99 at most online stores. Once this Netbook gets into wider distribution, the price is apt to come down a bit. So far, I love this Netbook!

http://www.acer.us/showrooms/aspireone/

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw898