A Two-in-One Gadget Great For Travelers.

The AirScale is a great combination of two gadgets travelers can use. A travel scale and a large capacity external battery charger. The scale alerts air-travelers of excess weight problems before airport check-in. It can calibrate weights up to 40kg or 88 pounds which you'll see on the LCD screen. In charging mode AirScale can recharge most mobile phones fully for about than 2 cycles or more. With a capacity of 6,500mAh (built with LG battery cells), the charging time is 2 times faster than many power banks found in the market offering 2A input and 2.4A output. Included in the box is a detachable hook strap that easily converts the unit to a convenient scale. And you can seamlessly switch between metric and imperial units with the push of a button. MSRP: $59.00. 

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/QxGdXxNEjUw

Company product page: https://shop.oaxis.com/products/airscale-power-bank-with-digital-scale?variant=18495265671

Amazon link: http://amzn.to/2bjoP8C   (Was not available on 9/25/2016 on Amazon.)

Your kids will most likely be attracted to these magnetic kits!

Kids can build a walking robot or even dream cars. In the video we look at the Magformers XL Cruiser Car Set. It's let a kid (or anyone into fun) create colorful, original cars that are durable and fun to play with. Special silver bordered pieces enhance your designs and give all your models a super sleek look. The starter set includes 16 squares, 12 triangles, 2 hexagons, and 2 wheel sets. The company says their kits are made from high quality ABS Plastic and 1/3" rare-earth NEODYMIUM magnets. This kit did very well on Amazon with 4.6 out of 5 stars from 267 customer reviews. List Price: $54.99 It's $48.99 on Amazon. They're are dozens of other kits there too. 

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/Ny_5UEwjX84

Company Walking Robot Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knvG2UDO8Tc

Whoa, talk about a knock-offs! Check out how many companies are doing it:

http://www.magformers.com/counterfeits

Barbie adds STEM leaning with her new Barbie STEM kit.

Science Saves the Day! (Hopefully.) The new Barbie STEM Kit is story based and aimed at girls. The idea is that the Annual Animal Shelter Gala is just hours away! Girls have to help Barbie and her friend Nikki prepare for the party as they learn important STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) skills. A full-color storybook manual guides their journey through seven building projects and more than seven experiments. They build a spinning closet rack, washing machine, jewelry holder, hammock, dress designer platform, shoe rack, and greenhouse with fan. And they make a chromatography dress, leaf-print dress, and optical-illusion origami dresses. The kit lets them build one project at a time since many of them use the same pieces. MSRP: $29.99, but it's already at Target for $24.99. It's on Amazon for more than the retail price, so don't buy it there until it's in wider distribution and the price drops. That should should have in September 2016. 

Giz Wiz Video: https://youtu.be/Qivv2IDpzbw

Company website: http://www.thamesandkosmos.com/index.php/product/category/science-kits/barbie-stem-kit-barbie-220

Acer's First Aluminum Case Chromebook

Chromebooks are not full-fledged computers, but they do a heck of lot, and cost a lot less money. And they're becoming increasingly popular for back to school. The Tech Times says that Google Chromebook now owns over 50% of educational tech market share. Acer is huge in that marketplace and their newest model is their Chromebook 14. It has a 14” IPS HD screen. It's large enough to enjoy videos and use multiple tabs for various projects. And it's still portable enough to fit in a backpack or book bag. It features Acer's first all-aluminum Chromebook case that adds protection, while remaining lightweight. Acer says their new model (CB3-431-C5FM) is the industry’s first Chromebook with up to 14 hours of battery life on an HD display and up to 12 hours of battery life on a full HD display. More tech specs: The ACER CHROMEBOOK 14 (CB3-431-C5FM) has an Intel Celeron N3160 Quad-Core processor / Full 1920X1080 HD Widescreen IPS LED-back lit display /16:9 aspect ratio /4GB ram / 32 GB eMMC memory. Integrated Intel® HD Graphics, Built-IN webcam, 2 built-In speakers; built-In microphone. 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2 / 2 USB 3.0 Port / HDMI with HDCP Support / Headphone/Speaker Jack / 3-Cell Li-Polymer Battery (3950 mAh) / Dimensions: 13.43 (W) x 9.31 (D) x 0.67 (H) Inches / Weight: 3.42 lbs. MSRP: $299.99!

REMEMBER, THIS RUNS CHROME OS, NOT WINDOWS. To use all the features you should be in a WiFi area, but there is a lot you can do offline too. Read the article (link below) to understand the difference between a laptop and a Chromebook.

Amazon: http://amzn.to/2aR21eH  ($299.99) -- OMG. The Amazon price is changing daily! It was $269.99 last night, now $319 12 hours later, 8/16/2016. The price is probably steady - $299.99 at Best Buy.

Company website: www.acer.com

This model is also at Best Buy Stores at the same price, $299.99.

This is about Chromebooks from Google: https://www.google.com/chromebook/about/

Here's an article from Laptop Magazine with a good look at the differences between a laptop and a Chromebook. I have nothing to do with Laptop magazine, although I'm a fan. I picked it because it's from May, 2016 and it was the latest date I found.

http://www.laptopmag.com/articles/chromebooks-vs-windows

Just in time for back to school.

I hadn't heard of Bixbee before, but I was glad I stopped by and found out about them. Not only do they make colorful, fun and practical backpacks, they have a great 'give-back' program. As you learn in the video, their mission is called "One Here. One There." That means that for every backpack purchased, Bixbee donates a school bag filled with school supplies to a child in need. Bixbee is their brand name as well as the name of their mascot, Bixbee the bee. To us older folks backpacks probably don't mean too much, but here's what Bixbee CEO Luis Manuel thinks: “We can all remember the days before school started, when you packed and readied your backpack for that first day. Then on that day you placed your backpack on as if it were a magic cape that was to start you on a new adventure. Have you ever stopped to have an actual conversation with a kid? Their imagination serves as an endless source of inspiration for my work. Wings, sparkle, sharks, zombies in a smart design combined with our buy one, give one mission makes for a feel good, ‘gotta have it’ product.” And some of them feature LED's! That's the Space Racer LED Kid's Backpack in the photo; the pink backpack is the Fairy Flyer, each $43.99. Bixbee has many other creative backpacks starting under $30. Check out their website.

Company website: http://www.bixbee.com/

Here's a Bixbee video I shot at the Blogger Bash Press Event:

GizWiz Video: https://youtu.be/gaDrVxWVPps