On this Turn The Table Tuesday Tom Merritt picks a USB charging device that does more than charge devices

Turn The Table Tuesday, Tuesday, February 22^nd, 2011 Netcast 1292

Tom’s Turn The Table pick is the Powerstick Portable USB Charger Device Duo. Yes, you may know about the Powerstick, but the Duo adds built in memory to its charging ability. The Powerstick Duo’s charging ability is the same as the stand-alone unit. Charge it in any USB port and take it with you on the go. It’s about the size of a stick of gum and weighs only about 1.25 ounces. When battery power on your device starts to run out, connect it to the Powerstick. That’s after find the proper adaptor for your device from the nine that are included. When they’re hooked up press the button on the Powerstick and charging starts. The company says that the Powerstick doubles the battery life of most devices. The new feature is the built in memory. You can now not only carry a mini device charger, but a memory stick as well. It’s available with 2, 4 or 8 GB Memory. The battery capacity is 750mAh, so it’s not a powerhouse, but it is an easy-to-carry battery back up solution. List price of the 8GB memory/charger Powerstick is $94.50, but I did a web search and found it for under $60 here:

http://www.adorama.com/BYPS8BK.html 

Powerstick website: http://www.powerstick.com/microsite/video/

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1292

Wow! This is the first Daily Giz Wiz Netcast of year six. The very first Daily Giz Wiz Netcast was February 20th, 2006!

Monday, February 21, 2011 Netcast 1291 

Use a regular handset to make & receive calls via your Bluetooth enabled cell phone.

How convenient to be able to make and receive cell phone calls pretty much anywhere in your house using a full sized handset and keypad. You can with the Panasonic Link to Cell System. It allows you to link two different cell phone lines via Bluetooth, and if you have one, you can use your landline too. Once the cell phones are paired, you have the option to make and receive cell phone calls through either of the two handsets or via the speakerphone built into the base unit. Just hit the Cell 1 or Cell 2 button and dial. The cell phone will show a call is being made, but no one can listen in on the conversation via the cell phone. Call waiting is available for the land line, but not for the cell phone.  You can set different ringer sounds for the different lines coming in. Another nice feature is the talking Caller ID. The system announce “Please Charge Phone” when the battery is low. I like the silent mode feature too. It lets you program the times you don’t want the phones to ring. The system uses the latest Dect 6.0 Plus technology. Being Bluetooth enabled, you can download your cellular phone book to the handsets. There’s 3 way conference calling, an intercom feature and a locator for track down a missing handset. You can add up to 6 handsets to your system. Instead of using a special battery pack, the handsets just requires two rechargeable triple A batteries. And this is one of the few units I know of that can be wall-mounted. The two-handset basic Link to Cell system (KX-TG6582T) retails for about $100. I did a quick web search & found it for about $87.

http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-KX-TG6582T-Bluetooth-Cordless-Solution/dp/B0036D9YKA

See or Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1291

Dick’s Gadget Warehouse turns up the first consumer version of Bose’s famous Quiet Comfort Noise Reduction Headphones.

Friday, February 18^th, 2011, Netcast 1290 

Don't know if they sold, but this original QC1 was on sale in February on Ebay for $100.Bose Quiet Comfort Noise Canceling Headphones entered the consumer market just about 11 years ago in the year 2000. Before they were available to the public they made many trips on American Airlines where they were given to first class passengers – for the duration of the flight - they didn’t get to keep them! Then in 2003, Bose introduced the Quiet Comfort 2. This model had Bose noise reduction technology and better audio performance. But it totally streamed the device itself. It now folded flat while the original didn’t. The biggest change was to take the external electronics box of the QC1 and incorporated everything inside the headset. Another change was to make the wire you use to connect an external audio cable, removable. So if you wanted to listen to your MP3 player, or the airplane movie soundtrack, you clicked the audio cable into the jack right on the bottom of the left earcup. If you just wanted to enjoy quiet with no external audio, then the Bose QC2 (and all newer models) can be totally wireless. In 2006 The Quiet Comfort 3 came out. It’s an on-ear design for people who don’t like headphones that cover the entire ear. They’re still available, but the QC 2 has been replaced with the Bose QC15, which truly eliminates airplane noise. (The performance difference is so great Bose jumped the number from QC3 right to QC 15!) Price of the QC 15 is the same price as the original ones from 11 years ago: $299.99. By the way, recently someone on Ebay was selling their original Bose QC1 for $100.

www.bose.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/1290

What announcement did Sprint have up its sleeve?

Thursday, February 17th, 2011, Netcast 1289

After weeks of emails teasing the press by asking what does Sprint have up its sleeve, they hired street magician David Blane to unveil the mystery: the Sprint Kyocera Echo. This is the first dual touch-screen smartphone. There’s a unique hinge system that offers many options for the two 3.5” WVGA touch screens. You can place them side-by-side to form a single 4.7-inch display – assuming you can ignore the black bar between the screens. (A spokesperson said it’s easy to ignore the black bar when you start using the phone over a period of time.) The Echo ships with Android 2.2 (yes 2.2, not the latest) and additional software designed to take advantage of the two display screens. In the presentation, they demonstrated four screen modes. Standard mode uses one screen with the device folded to act like a normal touch screen smart phone. In tablet mode, the entire lower screen is a virtual keyboard, brightly back lit. The upper screen is the document, email, etc. you’re typing on. I liked this a lot! Beats slide out keyboards by a mile. Optimized mode gives you two different views of the same app. For example you can have your thumb nail photos on the lower screen and enlarge them one at a time on the upper screen. Simultask mode (newly minted by Sprint) is where can use two different apps at the same time, each displayed on its own touch screen. (Not all apps will support simultasking.) Of course all these features bring up the question of battery life. Sprint already took that into consideration. The Echo ships with a 1,370mAh lithium ion battery with a rated talk time of 5 hours. But wait, there’s more. Included in the price -- $199.99 w/ a two contract – is a second battery along with a special charging device. It lets you charge the battery in the Echo and the extra battery at the same time. And you can easily swap one out for the other. Both screens & apps share the 1GHz Snapdragon processor. Other features include a 5-megapixel camera that can record 720p HD video, mobile hot-spot capabilities for up to five devices. There’s 1GB of internal memory and a 8GB microSD card, included. It supports cards up to 32GB. And it operates at 3G data speeds, which could be a disappointment to some. There’s full HTML Web browser supporting Flash 10.1, which Sprint says has been optimized for dual screens. Supports Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR.  Coming early spring. All in all, I like this phone. It’s a lot of features for a decent price. $199.99 w/ a two-year contract. You can preorder now:

http://now.sprint.com/echo/

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1289

Another neat, new LED light.

Wednesday, February 16^th, 2011, Netcast 1288

Back on June 10^th, 2009 Netcast 848 I talked about The Magnetic Light Mine. It’s a small powerful LED light with an underwater navy mine appearance. Twelve neodymium (rare earth) magnetic posts surround a central LED. The golf ball sized sphere fits into tight areas and aims a powerful beam of light where you needed most. Since the original Magnetic Light Mine was so successful Striker created a bigger, brighter, and more powerful version. Called the Light Mine Professional the new one is about the size of a baseball. Everything about the new model is bigger. It’s 8 times brighter, lasts 4 times longer, includes a signal beacon, and even red LED night vision light. Eleven powerful neodymium magnets are located at the end of each post so you can attach and aim the light in any direction. The posts also act as tripods and quad-pods so you can position the light accurately on non-magnetic surfaces. 8 powerful LEDs are used in the front white lens and 4 red LEDs power the backlight. A four-function switch provides low power spot, high output flood, red night vision, and a high visibility blinking signal beacon. You can even attach a lanyard and use it as a magnetic pickup tool for a dropped screw, nail, etc. Use one in the garage to stick to your car’s hood for engine repairs. Keep one in your home for repairs in tight spaces such as under the counter, behind a stereo, or when working on computer equipment. Stick one on your refrigerator as your 'go-to' light for emergency situations during a power outage such as finding and flipping the circuit breaker. Powered by 3 replaceable AAA batteries. MSRP $19.99, but the manufacturer is offering a 20% discount till March 15, 2011 if you use the code gizwiz. (I make no money no matter where you buy this device.) The Striker Light Mine Professional retails for $20 (price using gizwiz code =$16) And the original Striker Light Mine retails for about $7 (price using gizwiz code =$5.60)

www.strikerhandtools.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1288