A Nifty New ToolBox.

I was down in Orlando, Florida for MAATS, the Marine After-market Accessories Trade Show.I was looking for new gizmos for both the Daily Giz Wiz and my Powerboat Magazine column www.powerboatmag.com. At the show I found a neat toolbox called the Lift-n-Lok Professional Tool Box. I figured Leo would like it, and he did. He ordered one before I finished talking about it on the Daily Giz Wiz! Here’s the story: The current portable storage devices on the market frustrated a guy named Paul Purdy and he decided to design one for his own use. He came up the Lift-n-Lok Tool Box. It offers the normal thingsfound on toolboxes todaylike drawers for small parts and a storage bin for larger parts and equipment. But Paul wanted to add new features, like having no small parts mix between compartments and nothing able to jam the drawers while lifting or carrying his toolbox around. Paul went to workand produced a wooden model. The system worked so well he rushed outand filed for a patent. Here’s how his new design works. A cam attached to the ends of the handle lifts the drawers as the handle is raised. This closes the clearance gap between the drawers and interlocks them; it also fastens the lid. The handle can then be moved to the forward position for storage. With zero space between the drawers, nothing is able to shift around.To demonstrate how secure small parts areonce the handle is secured, Paul turned the toolbox upside-down & shook it up. When he released the drawers and opened them everything was still neatly where it belonged, and nothing got in the way of the drawers sliding open easily. For safety, the drawers and lid can be locked with a single 1.5” (40mm) padlock, which is not included. The Lift-n-Lok is 11.25" deep, 15.9" high by 16.5" wide. It comes in six color combinations. Price is $59.95, but there’s a $10 less introductory deal at the link below.

 http://www.leisurercmodels.com/id12.html Intro price here: $49.95

Here’s a good demo video: http://pdysystems.com/tool_demo.php

Company website: www.pdysystems.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw881

Websites gadget lovers should know about.

If you don’t have good sales resistance these are probably not good websites to know about, or worse yet, visit! They often have really good buys, so good that I’ve bought stuff I don’t need. But it was such a good buy, I bought it and gave it away. Not much saving money in that, but it seems I’m not alone in not being able to resist a good deal. On all of them you can sign up to get daily emails with the “bargain of the day”, or sometimes you can follow them on Twitter!

The Daily Deal on Ebay is my favorite. I like it best because the bargain price always includes standard shipping. There is nothing worse than thinking you’ve nailed a bargain on something for $10 to find out the shipping charge is another $10, or even more! But with the Daily Deal you must act fast. They’re serious; the bargain of the day is only available for 24 hours and then it goes back to its normal price.

http://deals.ebay.com/

Woot is good too. Although shipping isn’t free, it’s always just $5 no matter how big or heavy the daily sale item is. Once you check out Woot you’ll discover they have other Woot divisions. Shirt.wootsells a different exclusively designed tee shirt every day of the week for $10. After 24 hours, if any shirts are left they go to $15. I've bought shirt there. And there's also wine.woot, which I haven't tried.

www.woot.com

Graveyard Mall advertises itself as the place “where high prices come to die…” I’ve found some nice stuff at Graveyard Mall like the coin counting jar for $9.99. Graveyard Mall charges various shipping fees, and unlike the other two websites above, Graveyard Malloften keeps the bargain of the day at the sale price until they’re sold out. If you like the coin counting jar just type it their search box to find out if they have any more left.

www.graveyardmall.com

An easy way to charge four devices from one AC power source.

Charge4All is a new portable charging mat that makes it easy to charge four handheld device at one time for a single AC power source. True to form, as soon as I started to describe this device Leo was on the web buying one! It’s really simple to use. You unroll the soft, silicon mat, which is used as a secure place to lay out the small electronics you want to charge. The AC adapter plug goes into the wall socket and the other end plugs into the multi-charger, which has four charging ports. The Charge4All ships with the mat, the multi-charger and five of the most popular smart charging plugs, including: iPod/iPhone, Mini USB, Micro USB, Samsung SCH, and LG Chocolate. Even though they say LG Chocolate it works with other models. I used it earlier today to charge my new LG EnV3. This is an easy way to recharge all of your electronic devices, including iPhones/iPods, cell phones, mp3 players, Bluetooth devices, PDA’s, digital cameras, portable GPS's, and more. The company will offer up to 29 different additional smart plugs via its website that adapt to almost all handheld devices on the market today. You get the five smart plugs mentioned above with the kit, and can buy additional plugs for $4.95 each. A car adaptor is also available for charging devices on the road. (I believe Leo bought that too!) Remember that this is for charging small devices only. The company wants reporters to make sure people understand that the Charge4All Portable Charging Mat is not designed for charging laptop computers or other high-current devices. (But you knew that!!) Price is $29.95. (I was originally told $39.95, so the new price is really good to my mind.)

For additional information, please visit www.charge4all.net.

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw883

A very easy way to set your clock. Just talk to it!

This is a real easy to use clock. You can check or set time and alarms using only your voice. Just say: “Hello iTalk” and then the command you want. It recognizes 8 voice commands. “What time is it?” - “Set time” - “Set alarm” - “Alarm sound” (you can choose 1 of 3 sounds after the clock demos them for you) -“What time is the alarm set to?” -“What day is it?” - “Help” (In case you can’t remember the commands – and “Snooze” (when the alarm is sounding, say “Snooze”. Alarm will sound again in 9 minutes.) I like the Snooze command best because you don’t have to even turn over to see the clock. We reviewed another talking clock the iMoshi a month or two ago, but this one has an advantage over the iMoshi. The iMoshi was very tech looking, but it was difficult to see the LCD numbers from certain angles, or in bright light. The iTalk clock has large 2” numbers on red LED with a hi/lo dimmer. This makes it a big help for the visually Impaired. It uses standard AC power (120V 60Hz 5WA) and you can back up the time with 3 “AAA” batteries (not included). Dimensions: 8” Wide x 4-1/4” High x 2-3/4” Deep. $49.99

 www.maxiaids.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw863

Weather Direct. Direct to your desk, nightstand, or table.

This new device, The 4 Day Internet Powered Wireless Forecaster, does exactly what it says. The device provides 4-day accurate weather for over 60,000 locations. It also shows the inside and outside temperatures. You don’t have to worry about setting the time and the date because that’s done automatically. And there’s no subscription required. Set-up takes about 10 to 15 minutes. Be sure to follow the directions. It took me a bit longer because I never looked into the instruction book. I just hooked everything together and then I looked at the instructions to find things like: “don’t put the batteries in yet”, “don’t plug the unit into your WiFi yet, etc., etc. So unpack everything and then follow the Quick Start Guide. I spoke to someone at the company who told me the way to keep the price of a weather station down was to have all the weather equipment at the company’s end, and then feed the results to the various units (each unit has it’s own unique ID) across the country and Canada. Once it’s set up, you can pick a very local area as your weather location. You can get 4 day weather for Over 60,000 Locations including your hometown, parks, sports venues, golf courses and more. I picked Riverside Park from the menu because I’m located just half a block away. Temperaturesare shown in °F or °C. The indoor temperature is shownconstantly on the unit. The outdoor temperature is shown as part of the scrolling LCD weather bar at the bottom on the LCD screen, so you may have to wait a minute or so for it to zip by. In addition to the desk unit, you get a wireless outdoor temperature sender and an wireless interface, which is connected to your router. The company says the wireless range is up to 330 foot. I have the router in my office and I able to bring the display unit two rooms away while still getting weather data. Info also includes sunrise and sunset. If you want you can also monitor your backyard temperature from anywhere in the world with the included Weather Club Membership. There’s no software installation necessary. But you do need a high-speed Internet service, anetwork router and a computer for the web-based set-up. There are about a dozen differentmodels. I havethe WD-3103U and right after I talked about on the Daily Giz Wiz, Leo bought the same unit They even make a talk model which can speak the weather without you having to turn on the radio, TV, or computer! The model WD-3103U is about $60 at Amazon.

Here's the Amazon link. I haven't shopped here, but it may be where Leo bought his.

http://www.amazon.com/Weather-Direct-WD-3105U-Internet-Powered-Technology/dp/B001AQWNQ2

The company website: www.weather-direct.com

Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw863