We did it! We made our way through the 1st Weekly Daily Giz Wiz! New theme, new MAD minutes, same old Leo & I.

XtremeMac's 3 in 1 Microdock adds speakers to your iPhone or iPod Touch. and provides a good-looking docking station, snooze control and some other neat features. You start by downloading the free XtremeMac alarm clock app at iTunes. Yes the app works without the 3 in 1 Microdock, but you won’t be able to use a lot of the features without the speakers or external controls. The two very small neodymium drivers offerr surprisingly good sound from a docking station that weighs less than five ounces. You can wake to chime, your own music from your iPhone or Touch, or waves or rain, which are included with the free app. A sleep timer lets you fall asleep to sounds too. There are many personal settings, including how bright you want the clock display once you go to bed and how long you want to snooze when you hit the onboard snooze button. Also on the Microdock itself are volume up/down rockers and play/pause music controls. You also have your choice of several designs and colors for the iPhone or Touch clock face. But wait, there's more! A nap timer lets you sleep for whatever number of minutes you selected in settings. The Microdock ships with a cloth travel pouch too. The only downside is that you have to take along the transformer plug for AC power. There's no battery option. List is $59.99, but if you do a web search you can find it for about $45. All in all, this really beats those awful hotel clocks in style, sound and ease of use. And when you head out in the morning, (hopefully after a good night's sleep) your iPhone or Touch is fully charged!

www.xtrememac.com

See or hear this netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1306

A luggage scale + flashlight + 24 timer!

Magellans Balanzza 3 in 1 Luggage Scale

With most airlines charging for every piece of checked luggage, plus a higher amount for overweight luggage, you want to know the weight of your bags before you start out. The Balanzza 3 in 1 Luggage Scale can not only help, it adds a couple of other neat features for travel. First there the ergonomic digital luggage scale with a comfort-grip handle and a large easy-to-read digital display. Find out the exact weight of your luggage up to 100 lbs. or 44kg. That way you’ll know instantly if your bag exceeds the international weight limit. A strong webbed strap secures the luggage to the scale, so there are no hooks to catch on things. The scale holds the weight in memory so you can put the bag down and still see the weight on the display. But wait, there’s more. The BZ300 also doubles as a flashlight. Push a button to turn on the bright 3-LED flashlight. And yes, still more! There’s a built in 24-hour timer and alarm, so it can double as an alarm clock. Instead of dealing with those ungodly hotel alarm clocks, just set the count down timer for the number of hours you want to sleep and it will chime at the appointed amount of time. And it’s compact enough for packing so you can weigh your luggage after you bought all those souvenirs. Uses 2 AAA batteries which are included. $29.85. Size: 6-1/4 x 2-1/2 x 1-1/4"

www.magellans.com

If you don't need the flashlight and the timer, there's a much smaller unit from Balanzz called the mini. It's available at the link above for about $5 than the 3-in-1 luggage scale.

See or hear this netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1306 

Tags for Bags! I know, it sounds like a joke, but it's not.

Yes, it sounds like a joke --- you know "I’d like to get something for my wife - a tag for my bag" .  But these Tags for Bags are a great way to identify your bags easily. They are 7" woven polyester tags with a choice of your own words embroidered on them, or you can order 'tude tags with snappy slogans like “DON’T TOUCH MY JUNK” -- OY VEY, WE’RE ON OUR WAY. Inside each tag are 2 clear pockets for ID and itinerary. Tags for Bags are produced by Desert ARC, a Special Needs Workshop which helps special people help themselves. Made of heavy duty polyester webbing with a welded steel triangular no catch ring (to prevent getting caught in the baggage handling systems) , and tried and true plastic loop that is stronger and far more catch free than leather straps with buckles. Inside every "MyTags™" are two clear pockets, the first for name and address, the second for your current trip itinerary so that if your bag gets separated from you, the carrier knows how and where to get ahold of you or to forward your bag to you.  3/ $ 29.99   

www.tagsforbags.com

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1306

Leo's Turn The Table Turkey!

Leo still gets to a pick a gadget every week on the Weekly Daily Giz Wiz.

And for the premiere episode his pick is something that's from being a "turkey". It's his iPad2! Leo was out at SXSW in Austin, Texas last week and Apple was smart enough to create a pop-up store right across the street from the event. I'm sure they didn't lack for customers, but I guess they figured the nerdy crowd who attends SXSW would appreciate the iPad2 best. Leo, of course bought the top-of-the-line iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G for $829.00 + service. Leo says he loves the 9.7-inch LED-backlit screen. It features 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch. Leo also likes the new 1GHz dual-core low-power system-on-a-chip. And he likes the addition of FaceTime, although he thought the camera on the back of the unit wasn't really great, but he said video recording, HD (720p) was pretty good. Leo was especially impressed with how Garage Band ran on the iPad2. And he said the Smart Cover is very clever. It's magnetic so it just clicks onto the iPad. It's made in four sections and when you fold back the first section the iPad goes on. It also turns into a stand when folded into a triangle. That was an additional $79 because Leo bought the leather version. The plastic version is about half that price. Check out all the details at the Apple website. As of this writing - March 19th - there is a month to 6 week waiting list to get units.  

www.apple.com/ipad

See or hear this episode: www.twit.tv/dgw1306

We still visit Dick's Gadget Warehouse on the Weekly Daily Giz Wiz.

It’s belongs in the Gadget Warehouse because it’s 21 years old, but it’s way too beautiful to sit in the dark.

It’s the Lionel Chessie Steam Special. This impressive Lionel 0 Gauge train is a Berkshine 2-8-2 steam engine and tender. It  dates back to about 1990. Lionel advertised the features of this train as having electronic whistle, electronic mighty sound of steam, puffing smoke, magnetraction, transformer controlled forward-neutral-reverse, working headlight, die-cast body, white sidewalls on drivers, authentic Chessie steam special markings and powerful Lionel pullmor motor. The matching tender features die-cast six-wheel trucks. I got mine about 1990. The engine is still around for about $500. I couldn’t find any info on the wood/plexy exhibition case with motors and pulleys that lets the train run in place. The whole package sold for about $2,000.

See or hear this show: www.twit.tv/dgw1306