Weekly Daily Giz Wiz – Week of May 21, 2012, Netcast 1365

Let there be light -- 30 days of light!

At the National Hardware Show, eGear launched the newest edition to their line of LED Lighting products: the 30-Day Lantern. The lantern, as the name plainly implies, will run for thirty days using three standard “D” size alkaline batteries when set on “low”. The folks at Revere said no one has ever produced a lantern could run for 30 days. The lantern is water-resistant lantern and protected from shocks with rubber padding. The 30-Day Lantern has four settings (high, medium, low and SOS Flashing). Even set on “high” the batteries will last 32 hours, 3.5 days on “medium” and 15 days when in the SOS flashing mode. The lantern houses an unbreakable, 300 lumen LED. The lantern can be easily converted to a down light by simply unscrewing the globe, turning the unit upside-down and hanging by a built-in hook. This is great energy-efficient LED light for an outdoor adventure, or a home power outage. You should be able to get through your camping trip without worrying about carrying, or looking for a set of spare batteries. It runs on 3 D cells, which are not included. The 30-Day Lantern will be available for delivery June 2012. MSRP is $59.99. 

It’s not on the eGear website yet, but it should be up there soon on this page: 

http://www.egear.com/egear_site/Root/led_lanterns_lobby.html 

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Video of the week --- An easy way to transfer gas from a container.

During the winter a lot of people at the marina where I keep my boat have to refuel their gas tanks using portable fuel cans. That’s because it’s just about impossible to find a marina still selling gas after the close of the boating season on October 31^st.  That’s why I was very interested when I saw the No-Spill Gas Can at the National Hardware Show. The No-Spill Gas Can is a quick and easy way to fill the lawn mower, outboard motor, or an empty vehicle fuel tank with gas. You just push one button to start the flow, then when it’s full, the auto-flow-stop, stops it. You can save spilled gas the Auto Stop feature. And at the demo I saw their patented nozzle, which flows up to twice as fast as other nozzles. There was no gurgling, spitting or interrupted flow. The smaller No-Spill Gas Cans (1 ¼ and 2 ½ gal) have double wide view stripes on the front and back so you can see the fuel level from across the yard or garage. The spokesperson at the booth said the No-Spill Gas Cans have the thickest skins; 70-100% thicker than most cans. They’ll range in price from about $20 to $32. The same company is making another line of gas cans with not quite as many features for mass-market stores like Home Depot. They’ll be sold under the brand name Easy Can.

Giz Wiz Video with the No-Spill Gas Can: http://youtu.be/pgxWL_Ty_Wo

More info at the company website: http://www.nospill.com/

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How to avoid that bad draining experience!

PF Waterworks has focused on making plumbing fixes easy. In the past I reported on the Perma-Flow – a clear plastic drain that lets you see and clear what might be caught in a drain pipe http://www.pfwaterworks.net/product-perma-flow.html and a very weird device to clear clogged toilets, that really works well: PlungeMax http://www.pfwaterworks.net/product-Why%20PlungeMax.html. One of their newest helpers is the DrainEASY.  A common problem faced in the home is a slow-draining or clogged bathtub drain. This is usually caused by the accumulation of hair and debris on the bathtub drain stopper. Instead of using chemicals DrainEASY offers an easier, greener solution. This clever device eliminates slow and clogged bathtub drains with something the company calls Grip-n-Rip clog prevention technology. The DrainEASY Stopper replaces the standard bathtub drain stopper and its unique design captures and rips the hair that would normally go down a drain and cause a clog. It operates by a simple push of the hand or foot. The ripped hairs easily flow through the drain eliminating the need for plumbing snakes, drain cleaners, etc.  It will sell for under $15 and will first be on the company’s website in June 2012, and then in the big retail hardware stores shortly after.

http://www.pfwaterworks.net/

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Leo’s Turn The Table Turkey – or Turn The Table Treasure?

The folks from Buffalo Technology were in town this week to show off the next generation of routers. They said they’re the first to market with the newest technology; their 802.11ac wireless router and 802.11ac media bridge. Buffalo said their 802.11ac router delivers speeds up to three times faster than current wireless technology, so it’s ideal for streaming uninterrupted HD video to multiple devices. And fear not, this router is ready for the future of home networking, while remaining backwards compatible with your current legacy devices. While I appreciated their stopping by, I thought there was someone better equipped than me to understand all the benefits of the new 802.11ac wireless. So I asked them to send a pair to Leo. That was a good move because Leo loves them! So I don’t mess up the exact specs, here’s the description New Egg is using on their website since they’re the first to sell them. Other companies will be joining with this technology, including Apple. If you’re interested, you should watch or listen to this episode so you can hear Leo’s comments!

AirStation AC1300 / N900 Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Router is a versatile dual band solution, ideal for high speed data streaming. With two wireless radios for extreme performance and backward compatibility, WZR-D1800H supports 802.11ac and 802.11n, offering simultaneous transfer speeds up to 1.3 Gbps in the 5 GHz spectrum and 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. On the 5 GHz band, 802.11ac offers transfer speeds up to 130 Mbps, ideal for faster, uninterrupted HD video streaming and concurrent Internet access. Simultaneous dual band 802.11n operation at 450 Mbps (N900) offers greater bandwidth for high speed access from multiple devices. With five gigabit Ethernet ports and backward compatibility, WZR-D1800H offers extreme performance and upgrades any existing wireless connection to provide greater coverage and blazing fast transfer speeds. $179.99

AirStation AC1300 / N450 4-Port Gigabit Dual Band Wireless Ethernet Bridge is a versatile dual band solution that extends the capabilities of your wireless network. Connect up to four network-enabled wired devices, such as media players and gaming consoles to your existing wireless network for high speed data streaming. With two wireless radios for extreme performance and backward compatibility, WLI-H4-D1300 supports 802.11ac and 802.11n, offering transfer speeds up to 1.3 Gbps in the 5 GHz spectrum or 450 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band. With four gigabit Ethernet ports and backward compatibility, WLI-H4-D1300 offers extreme performance and is a perfect addition to any existing wireless network. Each unit is $179.99. Available here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=11ac&x=0&y=0

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And now, back to Dick's Gadget Warehouse!

Wow --- wireless headphones!

Back in the early 90’s Recoton came out with their 900Mz WOW headphones, WOW standing for “WithOut Wires”. Actually they were pretty neat. Unlike infrared headphones which worked only “in line of sight”, 900Mz headphones worked through doors and walls. So you could walk around a large part of your house listening to your music without losing the signal. For their time, Recoton WOW headphones sounded really good, even though the advertised frequency response was just 50 to 15KHz. They were kind of bass shy, especially compared to the majority of headphones today. You charged the headphones via the charger built into the base unit. The base unit hooked up to your stereo via RCA jacks. They sold from $120 to $160 back then, depending on the features. The cheaper model had no charger and no rechargeable battery in the headphones. Instead they used AA batteries. On Amazon I saw a pair of Recoton W500 headphones on sale for $99.00! Not only are these no longer made, but Recoton has ceased operations. In January, 2007, AudioVox brought Recoton and their sub-divisions like Spikemaster, Ambico and Discwasher.

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