The Weekly Daily Giz Wiz for Jan 30th, Netcast 1350

Photo via our friends at Chipchick.com

An easy way to charge up to four gadgets at one time.

The Joy Zip Mini Charger is a small, sleek black, 3 inch round magnetic charging pad. Charge multiple devices at the same time with its “ZipTail” charging dongles. It’s simple to use. Just plug a mini Zip Tail into the phone, PDA, iPod, iPhone, etc. Then hold the dongle near the charger pad and the ZipTail is automatically locked in place magnetically, and then the charging starts. The Joy Factory says they designed the Zip Mini to offer consumers the ability to easily charge an arsenal of mobile devices including smartphones, cameras, and e-Readers effortlessly, without the clutter of bothersome cords and cables. Keep in mind that it can only charge devices that use a micro or mini USB or 30-pin iOS cable (for iPod, iPhone, and even the iPad.) The Zip Mini comes with a starter kit that includes one micro USB and one Apple 30-pin connector. Additional receivers can be purchased separately. The Zip Mini will be available shortly at the MSRP of $49.95.

http://thejoyfactory.com/product/pau101

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1350

(This link usually goes live the Sunday after we record this show.)

Video of the week - My first video shot with the upcoming Droid 4.

Want a Droid with a physical keyboard? Check out the new Droid 4!

The Droid 4 according to Motorola, is the thinnest and most powerful 4G QWERTY smartphone on the market. Well, on the market soon. The Droid 4 should be available February 2012. It runs on the Verizon 4G LTE network, has a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. There’s a bright, beautiful 4″ screen, a front facing camera for video chat and an 8MP rear camera. If you prefer a Droid phone with a keyboard, this Droid 4 could be for you. I really like the slide out five-row PC-like keyboard. The keys are both back and edge-lit for fast, precise typing, even in the dark. A light sensor activates the backlight when it's too dark to type. I only had about a day to play with this impressive phone and it’s a great performer. As a little web speed test, I used a Droid X2 on Verizon’s 3G network as a comparison. I loaded web sites with the phones side by side. I’d say the Droid 4, using Verizon’s 4G LTE network, loaded web pages about 20 to 25% faster. At least that’s my estimate. I think the HD 1080P Video I shot looked really great too. It lost a bit of resolution with YouTube's conversion which for some reason took a full hour. The Droid 4 will be available soon. Price TBA. At CES most folks were guessing between $200 & $300 with a 2 year Verizon contract. Therefore I’ll go with $249.99 as my guess! It’s not on the Verizon website yet, but it should show up there soon:

Giz Wiz Video the Week Shot with Droid 4: http://youtu.be/4WA1D00O_GI   

Still photos from the Droid 4 http://gizwiz.smugmug.com/Hobbies/Photo-from-Droid-4/21224132_FwvXrS

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1350

(This link usually goes live the Sunday after we record this show.)

A feature-free cell phone - developed for emergencies.

Spare One Emergency Phone Under $50. What do you do when you break down in your car and your phone is out of power. Just power up your Spare One phone. This emergency phone runs on 1 AA battery. It comes with an Energizer Ultimate Lithium battery, which can hold its charge unused for up to 15 years. But it can use any standard AA. Just insert your SIM card & you can have up to 11 hours of talk time. The phone will make emergency 911 calls without one, but all it can do. For calling other numbers you’ll need an SIM card to put into the Spare One phone. You can use your own SIM card or purchase one from any GSM network carrier, like T-Mobile or AT&T. (Verizon customers don't have SIM cards in their phones ) The phone’s design is super simple. An emergency number can be programmed into the center button. If you need to call that number, just hold the red button for 2 seconds to call. You can also add speed dial numbers for emergencies. And finally, there’s one other safety gadget built in – a small LED flashlight. Retail will be about $50, and it will be available some time in March. You can read more about this the Spare One and be put on the “notify me” email list at the company website:

http://www.spareonephone.com/product.html

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1350

(This link usually goes live the Sunday after we record this show.)

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

Leo said he would only talk about this week's TTTT gadget because it was too big too show and too big to get into his office. He is, however, going to show it on Live! With Kelly on Friday, February 6th, 2012. Instead of giving you a hint, I'll just let you read the headline from the press release of this huge new gadget:

BEHRINGER Explodes into Consumer Electronics Market with iNuke Boom – The World’s Loudest iPhone®/iPod® Dock with 10,000 Watts of Power

Yes, this is an iPod dock that is so big a person could climb up on it - probably using a step ladder - and sit on top. To help you judge how big this is - see that little device to the left of the woman in the picture -- that's an iPod! The entire rest of the iNuke Boom is the dock /speaker system. Below is more info from the company press release. I especially like the part about 'affordable professional audio and music equipment' & 'amazing value' -when you consider Leo told us this device cost $30,000! Here's the press info:

BEHRINGER, award-winning innovator of affordable professional audio and music equipment, is excited to announce the launch of the Eurosound consumer electronics brand — concert quality sound at an amazing value. To celebrate the launch, BEHRINGER will unveil the iNuke Boom, the loudest iPod® and iPhone® dock you’ve ever heard at CES 2012. The $29,999.99 (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) monster speaker system measures a whopping 8 feet wide by 4 feet tall, weighs over 700 pounds and pumps out over 10,000 Watts of power.

I asked Leo what the market for this device might be and he thought perhaps professional ball players who earn millions would run out and buy one. Since Behringer is producing the iNuke Boom, I'm assuming they did some market research and maybe even lined up a few customers before they started building them. I'm afraid it's a bit out of my price range - and the available space in my NYC apartment! I don't see it listed for sale on their website yet, but here's the link to their press info:

http://www.behringer.com/news/behringer-explodes-into-consumer-electronics-market-with-inuke-boom/

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1350

(This link usually goes live the Sunday after we record this show.)

A trip to Dick's Gadget Warehouse For A Look At The Note Teller.

Note Teller from BRYTECH dates back to the late 1990’s. The Note Teller is a gray, rectangular box roughly 6” long, 3” wide and an 1” thick. It’s designed as an aid for the visually impaired. There’s a slot toward the top of the device where a bill (bill as in US Treasury notes) is inserted. Inserting the bill automatically turns the unit on, and a voice announces the denomination, from $1 to $100 via a built-in speaker. There’s a headphone jack for privacy and a slider switch that can adjust the volume to low, medium or high. Note Teller can be set to make announcements in English or Spanish. The Note Teller I have from Dick’s Gadget Warehouse is pretty much useless today. Although it still worked when I installed a new 9 Volt battery, it can’t identify any of the newer US bills. I only was able to get it to identify old $1 bills. There is a newer version available now; Note Teller 2, which not only can recognize the newer bills, but also be upgraded by the manufacturer (for a fee) to identify new bill designs that may enter circulation. If the Note Teller cannot determine the bills denomination, it says "cannot read." The unit also announces, "replace battery" when the battery’s weak. It cost about $300. Info on the newer model is here:

http://www.brytech.com/noteteller/

While doing a web search on Note Teller I came across a device called iBill Reader that costs $100. I haven’t seen this device in person, or used one, but it could be worth checking out. 

http://www.independentliving.com/prodinfo.asp?number=541602

And Leo mentioned you can buy a money recognition program for smart phones that only costs about $10. You hold the money in front of the camera, and a voice idenitifies it.

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1350

This Netcast usually goes live Sunday, the day after we record it live.