Weekly Daily Giz Wiz, Week of August 22nd, 2011, Netcast 1328

A new kind of sleep machine.

If you’ve ever used one of cheap sleep machines that generate sounds of rain, waves, etc. you usually find out something annoying about them quite quickly. To save money, they use a digital chip that repeats the same computer generated sound every 5 seconds or so. You suddenly find you’re more awake than sleepy because the sound becomes more annoying than relaxing. I spoke to the inventor of SOUND+SLEEP and he told me they use high-quality, mostly natural and lengthy recordings of relaxing sounds from ocean waves to crackling fires. But what makes this sleep machine very different is its Adaptive Mode. A built-in computer and microphone continuously “listen” for intruding noises such as barking dogs, automobiles, overhead airplanes, or loud roommates. In Adaptive Mode, SOUND+SLEEP dynamically adds sounds to the SoundStory and automatically adjusts volume to offer superior sound masking or neutralizing capabilities. As the intrusive noises subside, SOUND+SLEEP gradually and automatically returns to normal playback settings. The sound itself is very rich and full with its high quality top-facing speakers. More than just a single sound, each of SOUND+SLEEP’s 10 SoundStories has a library of dozens of enhancing sounds. There’s a “Richness” setting which determines how many sounds are added to augment the base SoundStory. Other features include the ability to turn Adaptive Mode OFF and ON; four sleep timers with automatic, gradual off; and even the ability to turn display lights completely off. $99.99.

www.soundofsleep.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1328

Video of the week - Techie Looking Gear Clocks

Kikkerland Gear Clocks.

The New York International Gift Show didn’t have many electronic gadgets on display. It’s a show where owners of gift shops go to find every kind of book, pillow, picture frame, bookend, etc. to stock-up on for customers to buy and give as gifts. But over the Kikkerland Booth, I was drawn to a series of “gear clocks”. They are wall and desk clocks with moving gears. Some of the gears move independently of the clock in order to create more visual interest. If you’re into machines and mechanical things, these Kikkerland Gear Clocks will perk up your interest.  They're made of plastic and metal parts. In the video I said the bezel was stainless steel, but it’s actually polished steel. All 3 of the Kikkerland Gear Clocks run on two D batteries, which are not included. Although the retail of the two biggest clocks, including the one I focused on in the video, is $100, you can find them online for about $75. The desktop clock is online for about $50. I don’t own any of these clocks, so I don't know how long they’ll last, or how accurate they are, but for eye appeal, they are great. I just might get one for Gizneyland. Leo already bought two on Amazon for the TWiT Brickhouse!

Company website: http://www.kikkerland.com/category/clocks/

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1328 

Charge two devices at one time - even if one's an iPad.

There are many devices on the market that can charge your cell phone when you’re away from AC power. But not many of them can charge larger devices like an iPad. The Tekkeon MP1860A TekCharge Dual Port Power Pack not only can charge an iPad, it can simultaneously charge two devices at the same time. This gizmo features Tekkeon's Intelligent Design, which enables the TekCharge MP1860A to identify and provide exactly the right output power for the connected device, from less than 100mA up to 2.1A. Because it contains a 4400 mAh lithium ion battery, the TekCharge lets you use your portable devices for much longer than their normal battery life would allow. The MP1860A kit includes an Apple Dock Connector to USB cable for connection to your iPad, iPhone, or iPod, and Mini USB and Micro USB adapter tips for connection to current models of BlackBerry, HTC, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson mobile phones. These USB adapter tips also can be used to charge Kindle2, Nook, alternate MP3 players, PDAs, portable media players and other 5V devices that use a Micro or Mini USB cable to charge. But wait, there’s more! There’s a built-in flashlight to provide emergency light. Non-slip sides and bottom make it easy to hold in your hand, and it shouldn’t slip when sitting on a dashboard or airplane snack tray. My only compliant is that there are only two tiny LED’s to let you know what the unit is doing. One blue LED tells you when the unit is on. In the charge mode, if the other LED is orange, the battery has less than 80% charge. If it’s blue, the charge is between 80 & 100%. The kit includes the dual port USB charger, AC power adapter and several adapters for connecting and charging other devices. MSRP is $79.95, but do a web search and you can it for about $50 to $55.

www.tekkeon.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1328 

And now it's time for Leo's Turn The Table Turkey!

If the camera in the picture looks old fashioned, it was designed to look that way. It’s the new Fujifilm FinePix X100 and it’s a runaway hit. How big a hit? The suggested retail price is $1200 and it’s selling for about $1500! That’s because the supply is low and the demand is very high. But you can guess who already bought one. Yep, Leo! He has a  love/hate his new Fujifilm FinePix X100. It features a custom 12.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS high-performance sensor and can shoot HD video. You can find all the camera specs online, so I just tell you what Leo loves about this camera. He loves the retro look; it looks exactly like the camera his dad wore around his neck back in the 70’s. He likes the fact that it has an old-fashioned range finder. But the newly developed EXR Processor combined with the high-sensitivity sensor achieves incredibly high resolution photos. Leo loves the photos it takes. But he said some of the settings are awkward and knobs and buttons are not laid out intelligently. But some things are quite amazing. For example as you look through the viewfinder, you can see exactly what’s out there, or flip a switch and get a video image of what the camera is seeing. I’m probably not doing this justice, so it’s best you actually listen – or better yet, watch this episode! 

Everything about the Fujifilm Fine Pix X100:  http://www.finepix-x100.com/

See or hear this episode: www.twit.tv/dgw1328

Interested in new versions of old fashioned film cameras at reasonable prices? Check out this website. I haven't shopped here, but I saw many of the camera at the International Gift Show:

http://usa.shop.lomography.com/cameras

Back to Dick’s Gadget Warehouse for the World's 1st Video Cassette Recorder.

It’s 1971 and Sony introduces the VO 1600  The Sony VO 1600 featured the UMATIC video system. UMATIC was the first videocassette system and it used ¾ inch tape. (In another edition of the Daily Giz Wiz I talked about a reel-to-reel Sony video recorder I bought even earlier than this machine.) The VO-1600, with its metal and wood cabinet and three motors weighed a lot. It had both UHF and VHF TV tuners. It also had a crude number counter that could get you close to the spot in the tape you wanted to find. But it did not have a timer and it was also very expensive. If they were using the word “pro-sumer” back then, the Sony VO 1600 would fit right into that category. It used 3/4 inch tape which was associated more with professional formats and than a home format. And it cost about $1500. That’s why it was bought by professionals and not by the average consumer. It recorded for just one hour on cassettes that cost about $25 each!

I did buy a Sony VO 1600 back in 1971 so I could record The Match Game which I was writing at the time. Since I was working at Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Productions while the Match Game was the air, I really needed a timer and this machine did not have one. The company that sold me the Sony VO 1600 said they could build a timer for me and they did. That's it in the photo on the left. What a antique it is today. It just might be one of the world's first video recorder timers. It wasn't very accurate because it depended on setting that dial to the start time. But it did turn the video machine on within about 2 minutes of what you set the dial for. There were no digital clocks back then. And the cost to have it built ---- $200!!! The machine itself had to be modified. That big jack below the timer wheel plugged into the back of the machine when you wanted to use the timer. And you had to push down the "play" key and jam it in place after you set the timer!! Mechanical keys couldn't be triggered automatically. About a year later Sony came out with a more professional looking, but huge timer add-on.
 
The photo of the Sony VO 1600 is from the Rewind Museum. This museum is a great source of infomation about first achievements and they have some really fascinating info and photos there! They cover all kinds of early gadgets, even computers.

http://www.rewindmuseum.com/umatic.htm

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1328