World's First Dual Microphone, Folding Bluetooth Headset.

Thursday, September 24^th, 2009, Netcast 914

It’s from Jabra and it’s call the Halo. This headset has a very high tech look and is capable of folding to take up less space in your backpack, luggage, etc. But, as you can see, it doesn't fold tightly. When you unfold the Halo you push inward at the hinge on each side to lock it in the open position. There is no “on/off” switch because the Halo goes on automatically when you push in the lock mechanism. And yes, it goes off automatically when you fold the headset. These are on-the-ear headphones so they’re comfortable to wear. There’s a touch of inward pressure to keep them from falling off, but not enough pressure to give you any deep bass notes. The headphones can play deeper bass than you hear. You can test the bass yourself by push them tight against your ears as your tunes play. But obvioulsy this is awkward to do for more a minute or two and it certainly ruins the tech look. Leo loves the new A2DP and AVRCP Bluetooth profiles and these headphones have both. The latter profile enables music playback control assuming you have an AVRCP-compatible device. With this feature you can skip forward and back through different tracks and pause playback. The Halo's controls are on the right side, easiest for most people to reach. One button lets you receive and reject calls. It also starts and pauses music playback on compatible devices when the call comes in. There’s a touch sensitive slider that controls the volume and forward/back functions. This took a bit of practice before I was able to use it easily. Inside the headband are two LED lights to show battery level and Bluetooth status. The Halo can be paired with two Bluetooth devices at the same time. Like most Bluetooth headsets, music playback is muted when a call comes in so you can answer it in quiet. The music comes back on after the call ends. When I first opened the package I didn’t even realize the Halo could also answer phone calls. The twin built in mics are so built-in you can’t even see where they are. I made a couple of calls, including one to my answering machine to judge quality and it was great. The only downside is the lack of bass on music playback.  Price is $129.99. But they’re on Amazon for $99.99

http://www.jabra.com/Sites/Jabra/na-us/Headsets/Pages/JabraHALO.aspx

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tvdgw914

A Clever Green Device, The Reduce Compactor Can.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009, Netcast 923

The Reduce compactor Can is a new product I found at the Gift Show while I was in San Francisco. It’s an attractive stainless steel trashcan that comes with a built in manual compactor. It’s manual because it’s the owner who pushes down on the lid, which compacts the trash in the can easily and safely. A heavy silicone rubber baffle extends as you press down. This means you no longer need to put your hand or your foot into the trash to make more space. The company says you can fit two times more trash into a trash bag with this trash can, so you’ll use half as many plastic trash bags as you normally would use. This cuts in half the amount of trash bags going into landfills, and the time it takes for the garbage to be picked up and processed. Now when I wrote this on September 20^th, the Reduce Compactor Can was not yet on sale. At the show the company spokesman said this device might sell for as much as $200, but that seems high to me. I checked Bed, Bath & Beyond to price a regular stainless garbage can. They had a 30-liter model for $70. This can is 40 liters, but I’m hoping they settle for a lower price than $200 to get people to start using these clever devices. The company has other “green devices” in the marketplace already, so check out the other products on their website.

http://www.reduceeveryday.com/reduce_products/product.php?id=83

 A little demo of the Compactor Can:  http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=20070370809

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw923

A Really Nice Turn The Table Tuesday Gadget! The Roku Box.

A Really Nice Turn The Table Tuesday Gadget! The Roku Box.

The back of the Roku Box offers 4 ways to connect to TV sets, including HDMI.Leo couldn’t believe he never picked the Roku Box as a TTTT gadget. But a check of GizWiz Search and the help of the folks in the chat room showed he never did. The Roku Box is a small, affordable (about $100) way to stream movies, TV shows and now baseball games to your TV. You don’t even need a computer. For a while it was called the Netflix Roku, but the selection of things to watch has broadened quite a bit since it’s introduction. You can now watch Amazon Video On Demand movies and TV shows as well as those of Netflix. (An unlimited subscription-viewing package can be as low as $9 per month.) The Roku box setup is simple. It includes built-in wired and 802.11g WiFi networking. Roku says you need at least 1.2 Mbps to watch movies instantly on the Roku digital video player with decent quality. You can hook it to just about any TV with a variety of connections: Composite video, S-Video, Component video (Y/Pb/Pr) or HDMI. The sound is stereo. You can upgrade the firmware to get new features, interface improvements, and bug fixes. It’s not a done-deal, but Leo hinted at another new use for folks who own a Roku Box. If those go well you may soon be able to stream much of the video content from TWiT! And that includes The Daily Giz Wiz. So you don’t catch us when we record the shows on Tuesday afternoons, you can just hit your Roku remote and watch it when you want!

 www.roku.com

 Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw922

Handy Dandy Zune - But that’s not why they call it the Zune HD!

Monday, September 21^st, 2009 Netcast 921

This week we have a strange coincidence with the show numbering. Each day the Netcast number matches the date!  Today it’s Netcast 921 for 9/21  (09)

He I like the new Zune HD. It’s easily the best Zune Microsoft has come out with. Rather than update the old Zune, it seems they wisely threw it out and started over. The high tech-look black metal back, and 3.3” vivid 16:9 OLED display is bright and attention getting. It weights just 2.6 ounces and is only 8.9 mm thick. A press-once on/off button on the top and a home button at the bottom of the screen are the only controls on the front. Once on, use the touch screen to slide your screen-saver up and the navigation screen choices are revealed. You can wirelessly buy, stream, and update your music and games via a WiFi connection. You also can stream songs over WiFi directly to your Zune HD. With my so-so eyesight websites seemed small, but you can tap the screen to zoom in and make things bigger. You type via a QWERTY touch-screen keyboard. It took a few minutes for me to get the hang of where to hit the screen to type the letter I wanted. A unique feature is the built HD Radio. You get better sound, a lot of choices and it’s free. There are two models right now. The Zune HD 32 GB ($220)holds up to 10 hours of high definition video; 48 hours of standard definition video; 8,000 songs; or 25,000 pictures. Double that for the 64GB (Platinum) model ($290). You can use your Zune to watch 720p HD movies on your HDTV. To do that you’ll need the optional (About $90) Zune HD & AV Dock. (It’s video out only, you can’t use the dock to record shows to the Zune.) The Zune HD also plays your HD videos on the go on its own bright OLED screen. But on the player videos are downscaled to 480 x 272.  Music wise, Leo loves Zune pass. You pay $14.95 a month to play all the music you want. Like other play & pay systems when you stop paying, you lose your music. But, Zune Pass has a nice difference! You get to own 10 songs you downloaded forever! So it’s more like paying $4.95 a month assuming you buy a lot of songs monthly. There is a ton more features, which you can read about here:

 www.zune.com

 Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw921

An ATM in your home? Well sort of.

Friday, September 18^th, 2009 Netcast 920

The battery still works 12 years later to show my $0.00 balance.It was October 1997 when I received a Visa Cash Card kit as part of the New York Smart Card Program. It was being test marketed only on Manhattan's Upper West Side where I live. This is was largest smart card program rollout in the US since Schlumberger Smart Cards supplied similar cards for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. (Leo knew the Schlumberger name right away. It was new to me at the time.) At first I thought: “Wow, how exciting to be part of test program.” But then as the details unfolded in the literature they sent along, I thought this is too much trouble to even bother with. So the Smart Cash Card kit went right into Dick’s Gadget Warehouse. Here’s how it worked: You were asked to use the reloadable stored value Cash Cards at “selected merchants”. The cards contained a chip that could keep track as you added funds or spent money with the card. You could even add funds at home via a phone line if you applied for the home ATM Kit. It would deduct money from your Citibank account and add it to the card. Or you could add funds to the card at any upper west side Citibank. As you spent money you could use the included electronic card reader to know how much money was left. The electronic card reader hooked to a key chain so you’d have it with you all the time. It just seemed like so much effort just to avoid using cash for small items. It was shortly after Citibank gave up on the Smart Card concept that debit cards and cards you just waved in front of a register terminal came into use. I never even activated mine. But surprisingly, the key chain card reader still works. It shows my lifetime balance: $0.00.

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw920