Weekly Daily Giz Wiz, Week of October 17th, 2011 Netcast 1336

A charging station for all your Apple gadgets.

If you like all things Apple and you travel with a MacBook, an iPhone/iPod Touch and an iPad, this is a gadget you should know about. It’s the new iSurge Travel Charging Station from Energizer. It’s an all-in-one charger with surge protector, USB charging port and even a nightlight. It lets you plug in and/or charge 6 of your devices once. At the top of the device there’s a 30-pin dock connector for mounting your iPhone or iPod touch. Then there’s a USB charging port with a 2.1 Amp output. That’s powerful enough for charging your iPad. For some reason almost all the blog descriptions I’ve seen indicate that the iSurge Travel Charging Station has two USB charging ports, but there’s just one. This gizmo is on the large size and it will cover two AC outlets in most cases. But not to worry, because it adds 3 surge-protected power outlets for your computer, etc. The built-in nightlight has it’s own on/off switch and the entire iSurge has a plug that rotates 180°. The Energizer iSurge Travel Charging Station just became available. As of October 14, 2011, I don’t see it listed on Amazon or even on the Energizer website. But it should start appearing in retail channels soon. MSRP is $59.99, but I assume it will be discounted once it’s in the marketplace.

www.energizer.com

It just appeared at one place on Amazon at the full MSRP:

http://www.amazon.com/Energizer-iSurge-Charging-Station-Generation/dp/B005V11VPG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1318734448&sr=8-1 

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This link usually goes live on Sunday afternoon, the day after we record the Netcast.

Update on October 17, 2011 by The Giz Wiz

After this Netcast went online, I received this email from the folks representing Energizer:

You’re right that early plans for the iSurge included two USB ports, but as the product progressed into tangible form one of the ports was removed and the amperage was lowered as well. The iSurge features a 1 amp port, so not ideal for charging an iPad. However, a user could easily charge his or her iPad via one of the three AC outlets.

Video of the week - The Giz Wiz "Plays" The Yamaha P95 Digital Piano

Dennis Wunderlin, who designed the Giz Wiz logo, was looking to buy an 88-key electronic piano small enough for his NYC apartment. On the web he found many excellent reviews for the Yamaha P-95B Digital Piano. He went to Sam Ash Music where there’s a large selection of digital pianos set-up for customers to try. He found the P-95B Digital Piano provides an authentic acoustic piano playing experience at a reasonable price. The sampled piano sound is excellent and Dennis said the 88 full sized, weighted keys feel exactly like playing a full-sized piano. At only 12.5 lbs, and 11.06” x 58.15” x 15.03”, the Yamaha P95 Digital Piano doesn’t take up very much space. Really decent sounding built-in 4.5” x 2.5” full-range speakers are powered by twin 6 watt amplifiers. There are two headphone jacks so you can play in private or share with a friend or piano teacher. Along with 2 different acoustic piano sounds, there are 8 additional sounds onboard. 2 Electric Pianos, Jazz Organ, Pipe Organ, Strings, Choir, Harpsichord and Vibraphone. You can layer any 2 sounds and play them simultaneously. There are 50 built-in songs for listening enjoyment or for use as a practice/study tool. If you want to record your own song, there’s a built-in 1-track/1 song recorder. The built-in reverb effect offers 4 different types and the Chorus effect adds dimension and depth. But wait, there’s more! Additional features include a built-in metronome, a keyboard touch sensitivity control and a sustain pedal which is included. And there are ports for MIDI I/O. It's available in black or silver. MSRP $899.99, but it sells for about $549.99. Dennis bought his at Sam Ash for that price.

http://www.samash.com/p/Yamaha_P95B%20Digital%20Piano%20in%20Black_-49951587

Giz Wiz Video Of The Week: http://youtu.be/Ie33bpbL5M0

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This link usually goes live on Sunday afternoon, the day after we record the Netcast.

If you watch a lot of commercials, you should do well playing The Logo Board Game

Pretty much every product you buy has a logo. But could you name them if you saw them? Could you give the slogan that goes along with some of the world’s most famous logos? We must see hundreds of them everyday, especially if you watch a lot of television. Logo is a game that puts your consumer knowledge to the test. The object of Logo is to show off your knowledge of popular brands and pass your fellow players so you can be first in the winner’s circle. The first person to make it into the winner’s circle by answering the most logo/brand questions correctly wins. It’s really a lot of fun. Sometimes you’ll say something that you’re sure is wrong, but some how it just comes to mind – and it turns out to be correct. There are 400 game cards with a total of 1200 questions. The rules are simple and the game consists of the question cards, the board and the playing pieces. No lights, bells, spinners or batteries needed. Ages 12+.

I had several questions about Logo and Rachel Griffin at SpinMaster was kind enough to answer them.

How did Logo come into being? The product was launched by a company by the name of Drummond Park in 2010 in just the UK market.  Spin Master obtained the rights to develop and distribute a game for the North American market starting in the fall of this year.

Did you need to get any company’s permission?  For all cards in the game that have images (200 cards total), we needed to get permission from each one of those brands.  This was a very robust project as licensing agreements had to be signed and images / questions needed to be approved.

Did companies have to pay to be on the box cover?

There was no royalty paid to any of the companies for permission… not those included in the game or those featured on the box cover.  Most companies fortunately saw the value in having their brands included in our game for the exposure that it would bring.

MSRP $24.99.   As of 11/17/11 it is under $19 at ToysRUs:

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11815456&CAWELAID=924885805 

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1336  (This link usually goes live Sunday afternoon, the day after we record the Netcast.)

Leo's Turn The Table Turkey!

Lots of people were very interested in Leo’s pick for this TTTT. Leo had his new iPhone 4S. He spent a lot of time exploring Siri, the new feature that lets you use your voice to send messages, schedule meetings, place phone calls, and more. Ask Siri to do things just by talking the way you talk. Siri understands what you say, knows what you mean, and even talks back. You’ll have to watch or listen to this episode to hear all the strange things Leo asked Siri!  Leo loved it. He also pointed out that the iPhone4S probably has the best camera ever on a phone. It offers 8-megapixel resolution and a custom lens with a larger f/2.4 aperture. Video’s improved too, letting you shoot 1080p HD. There’s a ton more info in this episode, including something I never knew before. I asked Leo if he stood in line to get his iPhone 4S on the first day. He didn’t. It turns out that you can pre-order online, pay the regular price, and have it delivered the same day it goes on sale in the stores. Price will depend on your carrier and your model.

www.apple.com/iphone/

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This link usually goes live on Sunday afternoon, the day after we record the Netcast.

Back to Dick’s Gadget Warehouse for the amazing JumpSHOT!

This gadget from Dick’s Gadget Warehouse goes back to 1999. It’s the JumpSHOT from Lexar and at the time it was referred to as the worlds smallest flash memory card reader. The JumpSHOT was a cable, a little more than 2’ long, with a housing that contained a CompactFlash slot on one end and a USB plug on the other. It was powered by the computer’s USB port, which helped keep it simple. The reason that it could be small was that the USB controller was actually located inside the Lexar JumpSHOT CF memory cards. That’s why it didn’t work with all CompactFlash Memory Cards. You needed software drivers along with the special USB cable. Because the USB functionality was in the CompactFlash card, the JumpSHOT USB cable was low-priced for its time. It sold for about $18 to $20 and included the necessary software drivers. The JumpSHOT CompactFlash digital filmcards featured 8X speed, which was up to three times faster than the generic digital film available at the time. Once the software was loaded the JumpSHOT showed up as an additional drive on your computer. LOOK HOW FAR WE’VE COME IN 11 YEARS. Here’s an Amazon Review from Dec 2000: “The Lexar 128MB USB-enabled compact flash card is really great for my 3 mega-pixel camera. Its capacity is relatively large, and it is faster by far than the earlier cards I had.”  And if you hurry, you still might find this “bargain” on the web: (It was there on 10/15/11!) Lexar Media 48MB 8X USB Compactflash Digital Flash RAM Card with Jumpshot Cable by Lexar $220.06. I hope no one decides to order this!

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1336   

This link usually goes live on Sunday afternoon, the day after we record the Netcast.