The Weekly Daily Giz Wiz / Week of August 15th, 2011. Netcast 1327

I have at least a half dozen gadgets to charge my cell phone on the run. But they involve carrying at least one device and usually a charging cable. Normally I just carry a spare battery, which is the easiest and most convenient thing to do, except for one minor problem. You have to remember to charge the spare battery. That’s usually done by putting in the phone, charging it overnight and then switching it out for another fully charged battery. About a month ago I was looking through gadgets on the CellPhoneShop website and I saw the Motorola desktop charger. It lets you charge the battery of the Motorola ATRIX 4G, Motorola DROID X and Motorola DROID X2. I have the X2. It really makes it easy and convenient to charge a spare battery outside the phone. It’s compact with folding AC blades built right in so you can charge directly from a wall outlet. It also allows charging via a built in USB port, but the USB to USB cable is not included. CellPhoneShop says the device has built-in multi-protection circuits and that it automatically stops charging when the battery is full. There’s an LED charging indicator, but no instructions. After trying it. I’m assuming the orange light means charging, and the blue light indicates fully charged. Best of all, it’s just $5.99, plus S&H. They do ship directly from China so it can take a few weeks for your order to arrive. But the price is right and it works great so far. They have this same type of adapter for dozens of phones and you can search for accessories by phone model number.

http://www.cellphoneshop.net/mbbach.html

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Video the week --- Tapi!

This is a clever little device kids will love. Parents will love it too, because it will mean far less glasses to wash, or paper cups to buy. For about $5, Tapi can turn your water faucet into a drinking fountain. Yes, it’s a way to hygienically drink or just rinse your mouth straight from the tap with no more worry about dirty hands or cups. Installation takes about 15 seconds. Just slide Tapi on your water faucet and it’s ready to use. As the water runs through it squeeze the bottom and the water will shoot up through it and come out just like a drinking fountain. It's so much fun, your kids will want to brush their teeth just so they can use it. Constructed of water-safe rubber that will never affect or change the taste of the water. Tapi fits onto almost any tap with a straight spout. It’s available in a rainbow of colors, which SpoonSisters say will be back in stock toward the end of August. Currently only the silver color is available, but I think that matches the faucet and makes it almost invisible. Measures just 2.48 inches. A set of 2 is $9.95, plus S&H.

http://www.spoonsisters.com/product/74403.html

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1327

Anger issues? Me? What the *&^%$^ are you talking about??

What do you do when you get angry? Scream. Break stuff? Throw things? Swear out the window? There’s an easier – and probably much safer way – to get out your anger. It’s called the RageGage. Think of a slightly over-sized hockey puck. The only differences are that this hockey puck is padded, has lights and can talk!!It just sits there on your desk until you feel the next next fit ot anger is building. When you do, you slam your fist down on RageGage Smash Pad. As you work through your rage there are audio taunts to push you on to hitting harder. A row of green, yellow and red LED lights act as a gauge meter to let you know how hard you’re hitting. There’s a final audio taunt that caught me off guard. It was something like: “Wow, you just voided your warrantee!” Right out of the box I thought it was fun, but after a few minutes I began to think, this gets boring fast. That’s why I thought I better check the directions. It turns out there’s a USB cable in the box, and once you connect RageGage to your computer, you can do a lot more with it. You can download different voices, which are free, for now anyway. You can play games online, or download a game. You play the games with a combination of using your computer keyboard and hitting your RageGage. There’s a whole Facebook app too when your can Tweet your rage level and compete with Facebook friends. RageGage is available in a bunch of patterns and colors. It retails for $19.99.

www.ragegage.com

Video from RageGage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Xajl3KQIA90

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1327

And now this week's Turn The Table Turkey from Mr. Leo Laporte!

Leo’s Turn The Table Tuesday is quite unique. Sleep experts agree you need a totally dark room to go to sleep, and it’s best to wake naturally to the light of day. But as Leo pointed out, if you’re a gadget fan, your bedroom is full of gadgets that glow in the dark with all their various LED indicators. You can wear a sleep mask to block out the light, but then you’ll be in darkness when morning comes around. The answer? A LumiMask. LUMI is the world’s first sleep mask that not only blocks light, but also simulates sunrise. It focuses on two strong sleep cues, Darkness and Light, to help you fall asleep with ease and wake feeling alert and refreshed. Like traditional sleep masks, Lumi blocks out light. But, In the morning, a light unit inside the mask simulates a sunrise 30 minutes before you wake, leaving you feeling refreshed and energized. Leo said it works great. The LUMI mask is molded from soft neoprene foam, forming an eye cavity to allow for normal blinking and circulation. LEDs affixed to the inside of the mask provide a soft light source for the sunrise sequence. There’s a built in digital clock and an alarm controller allows you to set your wake-up time and the light intensity. LumiMask is a design that came out of the KickStart program. Info about KickStart and the Lumi is at the company website. $74.00.

www.lumimask.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1327

Back to Dick’s Gadget Warehouse for a look at the d_skin DVD protector.

It was CES (I think CES 2003) that I first learned about d_skin.  Surprisingly I haven’t heard or seen them in years. Then I found some d_skins at Dick’s Gadget Warehouse. When I Googled them I found they’re still for sale, although the reviews for them are less than wonderful. What are they? Here’s the hyped Amazon.com Product Description (slightly edited for space): Whether you're cautious with your CDs to the point of paranoia or you toss them casually across the room when finished, chances are a few of your music, movie, or game discs have nasty scratches. Enter the d_skin protective disc skins, which seal directly onto your compact discs, DVDs, games, or data discs to defend them permanently from harm. The skins' transparent coating forms a protective barrier around your discs, making them virtually impervious to scratches. At the same time, game consoles, CD players, DVD players, and computers can still read the discs perfectly, so you never have to remove the skin. There's nothing to take off when playing the discs, and nothing to put on for storage. – Now back to me. I did try them when they first came out and surprisingly, most discs did work with the d_skins in place. But according to the reviews on Amazon they seem to work less and less the newer playback equipment gets. One thing that’s I bet doesn’t help d_skins sales is their cost vs. the cost of just making a back-up disc. d_skins cost more than a buck each and blank DVD’s are a fraction of that cost.

http://www.d-skin.com/

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1327