Weekly Daily Giz Wiz, Week of Monday, June 13th, 2011 Netcast 1318

Need a hard drive that can take a real beatin?! Even gunfire?

During CES a couple of years ago I attended an ioSafe demo where they burned, beat, cooked, and submerged on ioSafe hard drive. Then they retrieved photos of us that they had loaded onto the drive just before the torture test. The photos were fine. The desktop versions of the ioSafe are quite large and formidable. Now they’ve launched a new line "the most rugged in the world" portable hard drives. To prove it, at CES 2011 they offered members of the press a chance to shoot at the new portable drives at a local Las Vegas shooting range. (I told them I’d watch the videos of others doing it since it’s so hard to leave the show floor at CES.) The io Safe Rugged Portable line offers both regular and solid state drives. They’re available in a case carved from a solid billet of aluminum for HDD or titanium for the SSD. The way they’re built its no wonder the company says their drives are crush-proof, shockproof, water and chemical proof, and yes, bulletproof. The new portable comes with a warranty that includes replacement for any reason, even if you damage a drive on purpose. A free data recovery service is included too. I asked if I could drag one of the Rugged Portable hard drives behind my boat and still expect it to work. They said: “Sure, it will be fine”. They were so confident, I figured I’d save the money on gas and not do it. Besides it wouldn’t be as harsh a treatment as what I already witnessed in person. The new ioSafe Rugged Portable 2.5" hard disk drives are available with 250GB, 500GB, 750GB, or 1TB of storage. You can choose between USB 3.0 or FireWire 800 interfaces. Prices range from $149 for 250GB to $399 for 1TB. SSD Rugged Portable Drives are also available, but as you can imagine the prices soar for that technology. Especially since they boast Titanium cases.

www.iosafe.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1318

Video the week --- A do-it-yourself sort of Swiss Army Knife-type device.

Pocket tools with all sorts of fold out attachments are great for trips, in the workshop, etc.  But you don’t need all those attachments all the time. That’s where Switch comes in. It’s the ultimate modular pocketknife for gadgets lovers or any one who likes to tinker. Basically you build your own Switch for whatever job you need it for. In the box you’ll find a small, medium and large Switch frame. It also comes with 18 different attachments so you can mix and match your most frequently used tools. Customize your Switch’s width by swapping out the inner axles, or group your tools into different “themes” – home, office, outdoors, etc. When you have it exactly the way you want it, you put on the colorful end caps and secure it with the included fasteners. $79.

www.quirky.com

Giz Wiz "Make Your Own Switch" Video:

http://youtu.be/niO62HDsCFI

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1318

Hate power strips that have no room for those big transformer plugs?

Do you have a lot of electronic devices with those big transformer plugs? You know the deal. You buy a power strip and find you can only use half the outlets because those big power adapter plugs ends up covering 2 or 3 other outlets. Pivot Power comes to the rescue with an easy solution: a flexible power strip that can bend and flex so you can find the most convenient angle to handle those monster transformer plugs. Because there’s a hinge between every outlet on the strip, you have a lot of flexibility of which way to face the plug. Currently it’s only available in white and it ships with six feet of heavy duty cord. There's also a flat plug at the end so it takes up less room at the outlet you plug it in. There’s 672 Joules of surge protection built in too. $29.99.

 www.quirky.com

 See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1318

Leo's Turn The Table Turkey of the week!

Leo’s pick this week is far from being a Turkey. It’s a innovative software program from Boinx called iStop Motion. This program, that costs less than $50,  lets anyone from kids to adult produce their own stop action movies. (One of my favorite movies is filmed using the stop action technique – Wallace & Gromit.) One of the features of iStop Motion that Leo showed up is the Tilt Shift Filter. It takes regular video then uses an optical effect to make your scene look like a miniature -- just like you were looking at a toy version of your scene. Leo gave us a link to complete overview of the product.

http://www.boinx.com/istopmotion/overview/

See or hear this Netcast:  www.twit.tv/dgw1318  

Back to Dick’s Gadget Warehouse to find the Take-It.

Umbrellas and attache cases aren't a good match.

It was about 15 years ago when I came across a little roll-up device called the Take-It. The Take-It solved a problem for the business person who carries an attache case and an umbrella on a rainy day. And that problem: what do you do with a wet umbrella, and/or how do you carry an umbrella that's a little too big to fit inside your attache case. The Take It was designed to slip over the handle of the attache case. Then you placed your dry or wet umbrella in the leatherette-type case, rolled it up, and secured it with the built-in velcro straps. Now, not only could you carry your umbrella without it taking up space inside your attache case, you wouldn't forget it anyplace you went. Of course if you forgot your attache case, the umbrella goes too. Although I thought the Take-It was a simple, but clever idea, I never did see it on sale. The back of the device says K-5 Industries. I did a Google search, but I don't see any products like it from any companies I found with the name K-5 Industries.

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1318