Buy your land right here. Just about $5 --- an inch!

Friday, July 9^th, 2010 Back to Dick’s Gadget Warehouse. Netcast 1130

1992 must have been a great year for weird gadgets. Last Friday's Dick’s Gadget Warehouse was the drink called Orbitz. That drink was voted one of the ten worst beverage ideas. This week's gizmo is called Land By The Inch and it also came out in 1992. The idea was that you could give somebody “land” as a clever gift. What you actually gave them was a little plastic box that contained land – a couple of teaspoons worth --- dug up from all around the country. For example, you could give somebody land from Las Vegas, Miami Beach or even New York City. Or you could give them an inch of gathered from clever places like Romance Arkansas and Luck, Wisconsin. It was designed be an impulse buy and the little plastic rack with a dozen “inches of land” was intended to sit on the counter next to the cash register. Each little piece of land sold for about five dollars. On the back of the little plastic boxes is a guarantee that says: “The land contained herein, as packaged, originated from and was formally of the location for which it was named and has been registered as Land By The Inch. It is genuine collectible land.  Only 180,000 units make a 100 x 50' lot.” (I think that’s what the creator Andy did. He bought a lot in each state for which he wanted to produce “inches of land” gift boxes. You could also get a certification of the actual location by sending three dollars along with a lot number that was printed on the plastic box. The company was Andy Concepts and it bears a “copyrighted 1992”. I never did get to see this product on salei n a store and there’s nothing about it today on the Internet, so I assume it was not a wild success.

SEE or Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1130

Now only does this mask let you see underwater, but it lets you shoot video & stills!

Liquid Image says this is the world's only dive mask that has an integrated waterproof digital video camera plus can shoot photographs at 5mp. I showed the Shot videos & stills underwater while you keep your hands free as you dive! I showed the Camera Mask D1 310t operates to a depth of 65ft / 20m and eliminates the need to hand carry an underwater camera. They’re ideal for snorkeling, scuba and shallow scuba diving. The goggle lenses are made of tempered glass and have integrated crosshairs that helps you to line up shots. Turn the Camera on, and choose a mode with the a button. Simply press the shutter button to record pictures or videos. An LED inside the mask tells you if you are in still image (red) or video mode (blue). Downloading images is as easy as plugging in the mask to your PCs or Macs USB port (USB cable included) and pressing the power button. The included software (PC only) allows you to edit your content. There’s a small amount of built-in memory (16MB), which can store approximately 27 pictures, or approximately 40 seconds of video. But the microSD/SDHC card slot allows you to expand memory up to 16GB for plenty of additional pictures or videos. Powered by two AAA batteries, which are also included. Under $150.00

 www.liquidimageco.com

Hear or SEE this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1129

LEDs! Lots of them! 80 of them to be exact!

Wednesday, July 7^th, 2010, Netcast 1128

Since this was Tom Merritt’s first week subbing for Leo on The Daily Giz Wiz I explained to him that we love all things LED. Turns out I didn’t have to sell Tom on LEDs. Especially on the Might D Light, a clever new folding LED worklight. The Might-D-Light folds into the shape of the letter D when closed. I assume that’s where the D in the name comes from. When the D is opened, there’s an array of 80 LED's – 40 on each side protected by a polycarbonate lens. I wanted to try it out, so I looked for a dark place to light up. I went into the bathroom since they are no windows there. I shut the lights off & I thought they didn’t go off. But they had gone off. The Might D Light was as bright as the normal bathroom lighting. This cordless rechargeable unit comes with both an AC and a DC charging adaptor for use in the car, boat, van, etc.  It charges in about four hours. When you first plug the charger to the unit, a red light comes on. When it turns green, the built in battery is fully charged. The company, Cooper Lighting, says a full battery should power the light for about two hours.  I was surprised there was no “high-low” switch or a way to turn on 40 LED’s at a time. The Might-D-Light can stand upright; lay flat on its back or be positioned at many different angles to shine the light right where you need it. A nylon hook at the top allows you hang the device. But wait, there’s more! Powerful Neodymium magnets allow the Might-D-Light to be secured to metal surfaces like tool boxes, car hoods, car doors, pretty much anything metal. Another nice touch are reflectors on backside of the unit for increased visibility during roadside applications. About $44. I haven’t shopped here, but it’s available at the Amazon link below:

http://tinyurl.com/2a3lo9n 

Hear or SEE this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1128

This trimmer sucks because it’s supposed to.

TTTT Tuesday, July 6^th, 2010, Netcast 1127 

For his first-ever Turn The Table Tuesday, Tom Merritt picked the Philips Norelco C980 Turbo Trimmer. As another man with facial hair I thought this was an excellent choice. What sets this trimmer apart from most similar units is that tit cleans up after itself. That’s right, instead of letting your cut whiskers fly all over the bathroom, the Philips Norelco T980 has a built in vacuum that sucks the whiskers into the transparent Clearview hair chamber. It’s clear so you know when it needs to be emptied. It even has a turbo button boost button which boosts cutting and fan speed by 30%. Great for when you’re in a hurry, or you just want to play “Star Trek” and pour on the power, Captain! Tom liked the option of choosing from nine lockable length settings. But wait, there’s more! It has SteelWave self-sharpening blades. A built in rechargeable battery makes for shave-anywhere cordless operation. Tom found this device works on AC power if the battery is dead. Many units don’t do that, and if you need to trim your follicles and the battery’s dead, so are you! The kit includes a contour comb and a mini-beard trimmer attachment, neither of which really impressed Tom. He wasn’t sure why you needed them. At under $40 this seems like a pretty good deal to me, and I guess to Tom because he bought one. The link below is a Amazon link. I haven’t shopped there, but the price seems good.

http://tinyurl.com/26v3av9

Hear or SEE this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1127

A new Droid phone is coming, the Droid X. I had a preview look.

SOMETHING A TOUCH DIFFERENT THIS WEEK. This week's Daily Giz Wiz Shows features a familiar voice. But it isn't mine, nor Leo's. (Leo was away at Foo Camp. I was going to go because I thought he said "Food Camp", but it wasn't.) So I did this week of Daily Giz Wiz episodes with Tom Merritt. He's one of the new faces at TWiT but has been a fixture for a long time at CNET. Tom & I go back to the Screen Saver days, so we had a lot of fun our first time out.

Wednesday, July 7^th, 2010, Netcast 1126 

The Droid x from Motorola Droid will be the newest smart phone when it's released on July 15th. It has a built in (720p) HD camcorder, 8 MP camera (with dual flash), Skype mobile (keep in touch with the folks back home)  GPS (don’t get lost), plays movies on a crytal clear 4.3” HD screen (use on the airplane) and HDMI output so you can watch your videos on the big screen at the hotel. (Be sure to bring your own HDMI hookup cable.) It's a lot of high tech travel gadgets in one small device.  There’s also Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and of course, GPS (with turn by turn voice navigation, but not live traffic.) The Droid x has some newer initials too: DLNA which stands for wireless Digital Living Network Alliance technology. It's a way for different formats to work on a wider variety of devices.  Droid X is shipping with Android 2.1 with an updated version of Motorola's Blur coming later in the summer. It will be an over the air update, so you don’t have to take your phone anywhere to have it upgraded. Something I’m really impressed with is the Swype typing app which is preinstalled. Swipe your fingers across the keyboard to spell words and they appear on the screen with a very high degree of accuracy. I was sure the phone couldn’t figure out exactly what keys I was dragging across, but the word I wanted appeared on the screen. It’s like typing with some amazing ESP app. But wait there’s more. This gizmo has three microphones. Two are for directional audio capture and one is to add in noise cancellation. If you're eligible for a Verizon Wireless upgrade at any point in 2010, you'll be able to pick one up for $199 (after a $100 mail-in rebate) starting on July 15. The phone comes with 8GB of internal storage and a 16GB microSD card installed. A data plan is set at $24.99. the Droid X lets you create your own WiFi 3G HotSpot that can connect up to five devices, but that will cost you an extra $20 a month. It comes with a perhaps unwelcome 2GB data cap.  

www.verizonwireless.com

Hear or See this episode: www.twit.tv/dgw1126    (Yes, now there's a video version of The DGW!)