Giz Wiz Show 1603 for December 30th, 2016, Our 87th Independent Production. The Best & Worst Gadgets of 2016!

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And now on to our special year-end show: The Best/Worst Gadgets On The Giz Wiz Shows Of 2016

Some Viewer Best Gadgets Via email:

The absolute best was the reading glasses from "ThinOPTICS". Use them daily and they are very durable. Love them. Trent Young

Giz Wiz: I do a year end show with Stu Shostak (http://www.stusshow.com/). Stu's show is mainly about TV history, but on the year end show, we talk gadgets. Stu's favorite gadget of the year was also Thin Optics. 

At CES 2016, I discovered ThinOPTICS, easy-to-carry “Always with You” reading glasses. Up to June 2016, there were three ways to carry them. You could buy the ThinOPTICS glasses with a universal pod to attach to the back of your existing phone, phone case, e-reader, tablet, etc. That's about $20. Or you could buy them as part of a smart case for later versions of the iPhones and Galaxy phones for about $30. Then mid-summer ThinOPTICS is introduced a new convenient keychain model. It carries a pair of ThinOPTICS reading glasses folded inside a convenient pod that easily hooks onto your key ring. With a swipe of a finger, the glasses are pop up and unforld so users can use them for perusing emails or any small print. The glasses are so durable and indestructible that the company backs them with a Free Replacement Forever policy. Multiple strength options including Low Range (+1.50), Mid Range (+2.00) and High Range (+2.50). The keychain version retails for about $25 and currently includes two pairs of glasses. Company video: https://vimeo.com/170081434

You can buy them on Amazon, but they don't offer the second free pair, so I'd opt to buy them at the company website: http://www.thinoptics.com/ 

Another viewer 'best of':

The best gadget of 2016 was fasta pasta. I got it as a gift and like it. Ben from omaha.

Ben, yes, this is one of my favorite gadgets too. I probably use it once a week to make all kinds of pasta. (Everything but fresh pasta, that is.) The original one came out a couple of years ago, but this year they added Fasta Pasta Family for cooking pasta for larger families.

If you buy the family size Pasta Fasta let us know if they corrected the mistake on the lid. The instructions refer to opening "1" to measure out pasta for smaller servings and opening "2" to measure out pasta for larger families. Except the cover is marked "1" & "3". That had me confused, so I called the company. Yes, it was a mistake, and they didn't catch until the shipment from the factory arrived at the shipping department. They said it would be corrected on the second production run.

Pasta Fasta Family: http://amzn.to/2i4MHij 

 The original, smaller version: http://amzn.to/2iJ1zQI   As an Amazon Associate Giz Wiz Biz earns from qualifying Amazon purchases.

This never affects how we rate Amazon gadgets since we mostly buy everything we review.

See or hear this show: www.gizwiz.tv/episode/1603

A look at some games of 2016. Good and bad.

Worst Game of 2016. Out loud (that game where you insert a mouthpiece, say a phrase) DANGEROUS!!!!! emails Rick Lawr.

Giz Wiz: Actually Rick, the game is called Speak Out from Hasbro, although it looks like they bought the game when it was called Out Loud, or something like that. Either way, I would never demo it, or play it because I have too much dental work I don't want to show. But here's a video that shows what it looks like when you play it: 

TTPM Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Vz0hSQnt2I  

Chad found a video of a Grandpa playing Speak Out and losing his dentures! You'll see it when you watch this show.

The Giz Wiz adds, My favorite game of the year is Wet Head. At Toy Fair winner of the best board game for 2015 was Pie Face. Fans of the Giz Wiz know all about Pie Face. Well Pie Face was 2015 and I found what just might be a new winner for 2016, Wet Head! Fill Wet Head, which looks like a hard hat, with cold water. Then strap on the water filled Wet Head. The first player spins the top to find out the number of rods keeping the water back he or she has to pull out. If you stay dry, pass Wet Head to the next player. You can make Wet Head the perfect game for any season by adjusting the amount of water you use to play. Fill Wet Head to brim when outside in the summer heat, put in just a little when it's cold out, or you're playing indoors. Great fun to see who will end up being the next “Wet Head'". Available now. MSRP is $19.99, but it's on Amazon for under $15.00. 

See or hear this show: www.gizwiz.tv/episode/1603

More of the good stuff of 2016.

Rick Lawr emails: The BEST of 2016: So many! All the coding toys, STEM Barbie, pet treat maze dish, folding bike. After Christmas Rick emailed me to say: Great nieces (7, 4,10 mo) loved the Fisher Price code-a-pillar & Stem Barbie!!

Glad Rick had mentioned the folding bike, because I have two favorites from that show. I think the smartest Giz Wiz product of 2016 is Rack Stand from Interbike.

RackStand is a 4-in-1 device - a luggage carrier, a fender/mudguard, kickstand, and work stand. A quick release allows it to rotate under the rear wheel on a specially designed axle mount. When in the lowered position it acts as a kickstand or workstand. If you have a folding bike, it makes it easier to be stored or displayed upright. RackStand connects to the rear axle on a standard quick release or bolt on hub. A replacement skewer or set of nuts is all that’s needed for attachment. The front attaches to the seat tube and just a push of the lever will allow you to rotate it to the lowered position under the wheel. It comes standard on several Montague Bikes, and should be available soon as an accessory for other brands of bikes and will retail under $100. I saw RackStand in November, 2016 and it's expected to be out early 2017. I didn't see it on sale yet when I checked on 12/29/16.

Giz Wiz Video:https://youtu.be/8ORjTS1lc94

More Info: https://www.montaguebikes.com/rackstand/ 

See or hear this show: www.gizwiz.tv/episode/1603

Here's another gadget from Interbike 2016 that brought a lot of interest from fans.

And that interest raised the price quite a bit, especially on Amazon!

Visijax goes above and beyond the bare essentials of road safety. They have developed the most visible cycling jacket I've ever seen. Not only are there flashing lights on the front and back so you will be seen at dusk, at night, pretty much any time, but the jacket also features motion activated turn indicators on the arms. Simply raise your arm to indicate as you would normally and the built in amber LED's light up on the front and back of the sleeve, displaying your intentions to the traffic around you. The indicators switch off automatically ten seconds after you lower your arm. The Commuter jacket has 23 high intensity, integrated LED's in both white and red to alert other road users to your presence. All of the electronics are powered by a provided rechargeable USB battery with up to 20 hours of continuous use. When we showed this as a prototype a couple of years ago, I recall the price was over $170.00.

It's now available in black or florescent yellow for a much lower price. As of 10/4/16, the jacket was on the company website for $82.99. It's now, as of 12/28/16 about $116 plus shipping which will depend on where you live.  

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/KNvZlydFQJI

Company website:

https://www.visijax.com/product/commuter-jacket-with-turn-signals/

See or hear this show: www.gizwiz.tv/episode/1603

A viewer tells us his favorite gadget of the year, and one he hated most.

Dave Martel says the greatest gadget he saw on the show and purchased this year is the Kangaroo "pocket pc". Still using it and loving it. Dave Martel

The Kangaroo has a lot of features, especially for a PC only about the size of a large smart phone. In addition to Windows 10, it offers a Windows Hello fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, WiFi, and an integrated battery. By connecting a mouse, keyboard and monitor a user can access all Windows 10 desktop programs and files. It's powered by a Intel Cherrytrail (Z8500) processor and has 32GB of memory, along with a micro SD card slot to add more. The included Kangaroo Dock has port access for HDMI and USB, with one 2.0 and one 3.0 USB port available. Users simply connect a Kangaroo Dock to existing screens and devices – from PC monitors and big screen TVs all the way to projectors via the HDMI out port. It can also be connected to an iPad so you can Windows 10 there too. Four hours of “casual battery use” (whatever that means) makes the Kangaroo better than PC sticks that can't operate away from power. But wait, there's more! There's also WiFi, Bluetooth, plus something something they call a hardware Action Switch. That allows users to access to the Windows 10 desktop even when there is no WiFi. You can buy an additional Kangaroo dock for $39. That way you can leave the extra dock connected at the office and just transport the Kangaroo unit itself in pocket or backpack. It's available at Newegg.com, the Microsoft Store Online and a few other retail locations for $99.00. To learn more about Kangaroo visit 

www.InFocus.com/kangaroo

GizWiz Video:   https://youtu.be/oE8GYYKm0fA

There's a new Pro version too: http://www.kangaroo.cc/kangaroo-mobile-desktop-pro/

The worst gadget of 2016 says Dave, was Chad's cheap smart watch. 

Chad's July theme (As voted on by our loyal patrons) is “Cheap Bluetooth Gadgets”! Chad's 4^th gadget of July is the Pandaoo U8 Bluetooth Smart Watch for Android Smartphones. (There's a version for iOS too.)

Here are some of the features as listed on Amazon.

HANDS-FREE PHONE CALL - When you watch the show you'll see Chad a demo of the voice quality.

FITNESS WATCH -Various health tracking app designed to monitoring the situation of your sleeping,walking. (Accelerometer,Passometer)

EASY BT CONNECTION -This watch complete compatible with Andriod smartphone(4.2 and Above) through Bluetooth(version 3.0)

MORE FEATURES -Bluetooth Phonebook & Message Sync,Calculator, Alarm Clock, Anti-lost Alarm, Music Player, Call History, Set Time/Date, SMS, MMS, Wechat, QQ. all functions fully supported by Andriod smartphone. but few functions not support by iPhone(Include Text Message, SMS, BT Music,Wechat, QQ, or Remote Camera)

KEY CONFIGURATION -1.48" TFT LCD Touch Screen to save the power, full charging the 230mAh rechargeable battery take about 1 hour, could support 3-hour phone call,6-hour music play,stand by 160 hours. And the cheap price? As low as $16.99!

And Chad's take? Chad, along with most of the chatroom, thought this was a pretty good deal for a smart watch that cost less than $17.00 and looks pretty good. Chad bought the red version but said it's also available in black or white. The voice quality as you'll hear when you listen to this show is not the best, but hey, the watch is under $17.00! Chad pointed out that you have to download an APK app in order to use several of the features on the watch. The listing adds this about the app: Plz notice that Pandaoo U8 watch is compatible with iPhone and Android by bluetooth function but APK is only for android not for iPhone, which means part of functions can't work with iPhones. Chad also went through most of the features on the watch and they looked very good on camera. If you need a second smart watch, or an inexpensive smart watch for the kids, this is definitely one to check out.

See or hear this show: www.gizwiz.tv/episode/1603

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