Have kids 3 years old & up, but not old enough for school yet?

Thursday, September 10^th, 2009, Netcast 914

Here’s a fun tech toy: Leap Frog Text & Learn. This new toy looks like an oversized PDA. Just like the parents have. (And maybe if the kids have their very own PDA, they won’t try to play with the real one. Leap Frog says 1 out of every 10 kids get a hold of the parent’s PDA at one time or another. Some PDA’s have been found in the toilet! Ugh!) Text & Learn is brightly colored and has built in games. There’s even a QWERTY keyboard. Kids can send a text message which really doesn’t go anywhere, but is acknowledged by Scout, the built in puppy dog! Scott can also send messages to your child. It has sound so Scott can talk to your child. Kids can check Scout's planner to see what his week entails and more in the pretend browser mode. Other learning modes offer practice with letter matching and shape identification. There are also silly animations and sound effects. I enjoyed playing the “break the letter balloon” game. Scout announces a letter and you have to pop the balloon that has that letter on it before it floats off the top of the screen. Heck, it kept me interested for several hours! If they want, parents can connect to the online Leap Frog Learning Path for customized learning insights and ideas to expand their child’s learning. It’s available at Amazon.com and Toys R Us for $21.99.

http://www.leapfrog.com/en/preschool_toys/text_learn.html

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw914  

Logitech’s New Anywhere Mouse – it even works on clear glass!

Wednesday, September 9^th, Netcast 913

Leo & I love the Logitech Nano mouse. Heck I did as the gadget of the day a long time back, and about a year later, Leo did it! Well the Nano has been replaced with a mouse that looks very similar but has some brand new technology. I never knew that optical and laser mice used irregularities in the work surface to keep track of exactly where it is. (With all the junk & dust on my desk I thought it would hinder, not help a mouse know where it was!) It turns out there aren't enough irregularities or “points of reference” on clear glass for the standard mouse to work. That was until now. Logitech has introduced a new technology called Darkfield Laser Tracking. They use two lasers, which are aimed in a V shape to reveal microscopic details, even in class glass. Those lasers allow the new Anywhere Mouse to track on glass desktops that leaves other mice lost. And there’s another new feature called the Logitech Unifying Receiver. It’s great for people who are using other Logitech wireless devices. This newest version USB receiver can connect up to 6 compatible devices. Perfect if you use a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse, or even more than one Logitech mouse. The receiver is still one of the smallest on the market. It’s so small you can probably leave it plugged into your laptop when you put it into its travel bag. (But it also has it own place inside the mouse for travel.) Price is $79.99. Because it came out early September, I only found a discount of $5 on Amazon. But do a web search before you buy for the latest lowest price. 

Logitech Anywhere Mouse: http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/349/6094&cl=us,en?WT.ac=mb|6170||hp&creative=16528|Darkfield

The Anywhere Mouse Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw913

This new mouse means the Logitech Nano will be greatly reduced soon. If you don’t need a mouse that operates on glass, check out the Nano Netcast:

http://gizwizbiz.squarespace.com/daily_giz_wiz_gadgets/2009/6/8/the-logitech-vx-nano-yes-again.html

Leo comes back to earth on this Turn The Table Tuesday!

Turn The Table Tuesday, Tuesday, September 8^th, 2009

Last week Leo made his new $70,000 audio console, the Telso Axia Element Control Console (on loan) his pick of the day! With today’s pick, Leo goes into the other direction. It can be found on the web for under $20. Leo discovered and loves his new iFrogz EarPollution Timbre noise isolating earbuds. They are standard looking earbuds, except that they sport a natural wood sound chamber. Leo says they really offer superb sound and that they are now his favorite earbuds. The iFrogz website claims “Timbre earbuds feature clean bass and outstanding audio ‘timbre’ as well.” Well, it seems that Leo agrees. He says they are as good as his earphones that cost hundreds of dollars. Each pair comes with three earfit pieces so you can customize them for ultimate comfort and ambient noise control. And the price? No, not hundreds, not even $50. Although the list price is about $50, ($40 without the mic) they can be found on the web for under $20. Leo has the model with the built in mic so he can use them with his iPhone. Without the mic, you can find them for down around $15.00! Tech Specs from the company website: Driver unit: 10 mm / Impedance: 16 ohms / Sensitivity: 103 dB / Frequency Response: 20 Hz to 20Khz / Cord Length: 1.1 m / Plug: 3.5 mm. The company website is below. There is an entire line of EarPollution Earbuds, but only the Timbre uses wood.

http://ifrogz.com/earpollution/

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw912

SanDisk Updates Their Popular Sansa Clip.

Monday, September 7th, 2009. Netcast 916.  Happy Labor Day!

The new version is the Sansa Clip+, as in “Plus”. It has a 1.5” LCD display and it’s still small. About 2” high, 1.4 wide and .6” thin. It weighs only 0.9 oz. A nice new improvement is the addition of a memory card slot. It accepts blank microSD and microSDHC memory cards (up to 8GB) for endless recording with the built in mic or from the built-in digital FM Tuner. This new model is also slotRadio Music card-ready. That means you can buy 1,000-song albums from San Disk for about $40 each. The songs are Billboard compilations in categories like Rock, Music of the 70’s, Daily Mix, etc. These songs cannot be copied but hey, you’re paying about 4 cents per song! (See the slot music website for full details.)  On a single charge San Disk says you should get about 15 hours of battery life. (There are 2, 4 & 8 GB models available.)  It ships with ear buds, USB cable and owner's manual. And yes the new clip still includes a clip that lets you attach the MP3 player to a pocket, backpack or purse strap. PC and Mac compatible. The 4GB model is available at Best Buy for $49.95.  

Here’s info on slot music cards:

http://sandisk.com/consumer-products/music-player.aspx

Here’s the link to the Clip+ on the San Disk website:

http://www.sandisk.com/products/sansa-music-and-video-players/sandisk-sansa-clipplus-mp3-player-.aspx

Best Buy has it listed on their website, although it was on back order on September 6^th, 2009.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9448537&type=product&id=1218106627473 

What could be more powerful than an air conditioner that runs on flashlight batteries?

Dick’s Gadget Warehouse Friday, September 4^th, 2009, Netcast 910

I put the mouse in the photo so you can see how massive this "Air Conditioner" is!I have two mail order “portable air conditioners” in Dick’s Gadget Warehouse. The Cool Wagen and the Port-Air-Conditioner. To call these battery-operated toys “Air Conditioners” is really a joke. They hardly work well as a fan! The object here was to fill the top of each unit with water. Then as the water ran down little tubes in front of the fan it was supposed to create “chilling” air. It didn’t. It often did leak however, so you had a nice puddle of water on your desk! Also battery life was fairly dismal, so it didn’t cost “pennies a day”. Replacing 4 D batteries every couple of days was not “cheap”. If you heard this Netcast  (you can hear it at the link below) I held the Cool Wagen up to the microphone, so you can hear for yourself that it was far from silent, or even quiet, when running. About 20 minutes of that noise and I’m sure you would shut it off. But then again, I guess that would save power! Also the artists who helped create the printed ads for these crappy devices would add their own touches to make them seem grander than they were. In the ad, one unit has a “Master Control” panel shown. There is no such control on the actual product. Some 25 years ago they cost about $10 each plus $5.95 for shipping. Yes the shipping raised the price by about 60%. In today’s money, they would cost about $25 to $30. A rip-off then, and it still would be one today! But people today are a lot smarter about shopping.     

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw910