HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM THE GIZ WIZ!! (Fairway too.)

Friday, January 1^st, 2010  Netcast 995

How timely is this Gadget Warehouse Friday gadget? Very! First we need a little background, thanks to Wikipedia. (If you’re in a hurry just read the “bold print” part.)

The 2000-2007 version of the Times Square New Year's Eve Ball, designed by Waterford Crystal, made its first descent during the last minute of the 20th century, at the Times Square 2000 Celebration. The Ball was a geodesic sphere, six feet in diameter, and weighed approximately 1,070 pounds. It was covered with a total of 504 Waterford crystal triangles that varied in size and ranged in length from 4.75 inches to 5.75 inches per side. For the 2007 New Year's Eve celebration, 72 of the crystal triangles featured the new "Hope for Peace" design, consisting of three dove-like patterns symbolizing messengers of peace. The remaining 432 triangles featured Waterford designs from previous years, including the Hope for Fellowship, Hope for Wisdom, Hope for Unity, Hope for Courage, Hope for Healing, Hope for Abundance, and Star of Hope triangles. These crystal triangles were bolted to 168 translucent triangular lexan panels which were attached to the aluminum frame of the Ball. The exterior of the Ball was illuminated by 168 Philips Halogená Brilliant Crystal light bulbs, exclusively engineered for the New Year's Eve Ball to enhance the Waterford crystal. The interior of the Ball was illuminated by 432 Philips Light Bulbs (208 clear, 56 red, 56 blue, 56 green, and 56 yellow), and 96 high-intensity strobe lights, which together create bright bubbling bursts of color. The exterior of the Ball featured 90 rotating pyramid mirrors that reflect light back into the audience at Times Square.

What I have in the warehouse is one of those Philips Halogena Brilliant Crystal light bulbs specially designed for the Times Square New Year’s Eve Ball! In June of 2006 at a Philips Press Event, the parting gift for members of the press was one of the run of extra light bulbs Philips manufactured as replacement bulbs for the Times Square Ball. I figured this bulb was the perfect gadget for the first Daily Giz Wiz episode of 2010!

www.twit.tv/dgw995

Creative Labs introduces the third generation of their Vado Camcorder.

Thursday, December 31^st, 2009 New Year’s Eve, Netcast 994

I haven’t done a Creative Labs gadget since we talked about their great little travel dock speakers. So when they called me to ask if I’d like to try their third generation Vado HD camcorder, I was very interested. It has some neat features carried over from earlier models in the Vado HD line such as HDMI out and a wide-angle lens, great for shooting indoors. The new model adds improved quality of video in low light or brightly lit conditions with manual exposure adjustments. Another welcome addition is an external stereo microphone support (Leo liked this a lot because the built-in mics on most mini-camcorders are just so-so) and there’s a headphone jack for private listening. Another interesting feature is the Motion Detection Mode that enables you to program the camera so it begins recording as soon as motion is detected. (Hmmm, security camera, maybe?) It’s Mac and PC compatible. With the new Vado Central 3.0 software users can upload their videos to a number of popular social media sites, including Facebook and YouTube with just one click. (Most mini camcorders can do that too.) You can also do some simple video editing directly in Vado Central 3.0. The third generation Vado HD has better compression but can still hold more than 90 minutes of HD quality video or up to 7,000 still photos. It has 4GB of onboard storage. There’s no SD card slot, but there is a removable, rechargeable battery. Creative Labs says it provides more than two hours of recording or viewing. You recharge the battery and upload videos via the flexible, pull-out USB cable. The flexible cable is easier to match up with USB ports on laptops. (Extra batteries and an AC wall plug-in battery charger are also available.) The camera is about the size of deck of cards, but a bit thinner. Available in black or white for $179.99.

For more information about the complete line of Creative Vado Pocket Video Cams visit www.myvado.com.

Here’s 6 minute tour of the Gizneyland Studio I shot with the Vado right out the box. http://tinyurl.com/yzoz3se

And other folks Vado videos: http://myvado.com/videos/video.aspx?vd=124

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw994

What could more exciting than the Traffic Sounds Alarm Clock?

Wednesday, December 30^th, 2009, Netcast 993

It started with an email from Chris.Fredette. He sent me a link to a gadget that would as Chris put it “one up Leo”. Just seeing what the gadget was had me instantly interested. It was the Traffic Sounds Alarm Clock.  Here’s the copy from the company’s website. You have to remember that this is from a Japanese website, so whoever did the English translation didn’t get it exactly right. But tell me if this doesn’t sound really exciting!

Wake Up!! Have you ever been so tired, you feel like you can just pass out in the middle of the intersection? Well, if you are having a tough time waking up in the morning, this alarm clock is well recommended! This alarm clock comes with a 4-centimeter speaker that will be more than glad to wake you up with some scary sounds from the crowded streets! If you think you can sleep through anything, see if you can sleep through noises like, screeching tires sound, loud honking noise, and some famous music that plays when you are crossing the intersections in Japan! By the way, if you get scared easily, this might not be the right alarm clock for you!

So I sent to Japan for the clock and it arrived in about 8 days. The clock looks really nice with blinking red, green and yellow traffic lights. But the sound chip is really a joke. You hear either a short tune, or the sounds made by the what I assume is the actual traffic signal in Japan. But then when the traffic sounds start, they last about 2 seconds! Scary? I don't think so! Here judge for yourself with this video from YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2Q9vz62re0

If you’re still interested The Traffic Alarm Clock costs just about $29 at the link below. I still pleased with it because I can add it to my train board as a traffic light for my miniature village.

http://www.strapya-world.com/products/35214.html

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw993

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!! I guess any publicity is good publicity, because I see the alarm clock is sold out!

Leo picks something really low-cost for this Turn The Table Tuesday!

Turn The Table Tuesday, Tuesday, December 29^th, 2009, Netcast 992

On this episode of The Daily Giz Wiz Leo talked about a bit of really neat software called Dial2do. It uses voice commands to do all kinds of useful functions like sending a text, an email, a TWEET or you can even leave yourself notes and reminders. You'll find a list of commands to use at their website. You can actually do several different things with just one phone call. There’s a barebones option that’s free, but even the full-blown account is only $39.95 a year. You start be setting up an account at www.Dial2Do.com. It’s pretty quick and easy. Then they’ll send the phone number to call to your cell phone. I put their number in my auto dial and started by calling it and sending a TWEET. My TWEET ended with: “this service is great”, but it was sent out as: “This service is late.”  However at the end of my TWEET there was a link. When I clicked on the link I actually heard my voice calling in my TWEET! So even though the TWEET had an incorrect word, people could hear the actual TWEET if they wanted to. That’s all I’ve had time to so far, but I’m looking forward to getting and sending emails, and leaving myself reminders. Leo thinks there are some human beings involved, so that if the computer can’t figure out what you said, a human might intervene. There’s a free 30-day trial of the full-blown program. If you opt for the full version it’s $3.99 a month or $39.95 year, which drops the price down to about $3.33 a month.

www.Dial2do.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw992

An easy way to install smoke alarms & change the batteries.

Monday, December 28^th, 2009. Netcast 991

It’s called Alarm Arm. The folks at Alarm Arm have some interesting information. They say that research shows 94% of homes in the U.S. have at least one smoke alarm, but more than eighty million smoke alarms in the U.S. are more than 10 years old. Smoke alarm manufacturers state that smoke alarms should be replaced after 10 years, therefore most smoke alarms in use are considered "non-functional". This problem is due to the fact that smoke alarms are often hard to reach. Smoke alarms fail most often due to simple reasons such as missing, dead or disconnected batteries, thus the Alarm Arm makes the process of removing/replacing an existing alarm to check the batteries, or installing a new smoke alarm, an easy and quick process without a ladder or other tools. You start by installing a magnetic plate in the ceiling by using the Alarm Arm attached to a handle you provide. They’re the kind sold in paint stores to attached rollers to paint the ceiling. Then you attach your smoke alarm to another magnetic plate you just clips on to the installed plate. It’s real easy to do. There a video on the company’s website that shows how to install a smoke detector in under two minutes, and how to change a battery in under one minute! The Alarm Arm kit costs $19.95. You provide the handle and the smoke detector. In a demonstration with this product, even a four year old was able to install and remove a smoke alarm from a ten-foot ceiling – completely unassisted The video, product brochure, and much more information is available at their website:

www.alarmarm.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw991