Episode 968

Capresso
The last time Dick talked about Capresso was in Episode 113, the Capresso CoffeeTEAM Therm.

The New Roku Software
A couple of weeks ago Dick had a meeting with Brian Jaquet about the new Roku software, and Dick was thrilled to see TWiT would be part of it.  Leo explains that Roku has 2 new players, apart from the old Roku Standard Definition player: the Roku HD for hi-def and the Roku HD-XR which also supports wireless-N transmission.

Yo! Sporks
Kevin Yeaux Dupuy, of Kevin's Word and a high school student in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, writes about the advance of the spork in public schools.  Due to budget cuts, schools have since last year given up in favour of paper plates and, wait, plastic sporks.

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Episode 967

Leo Reviews the Droid
Watch excerpts of Leo's demo of the Droid. Video courtesy of odtv.me.

A Plethora of Gadgets
After wondering if he should do the Logitech Anywhere MX Mouse (Episode 913) and the TVclean (Episode 961), Leo suddenly finds a plethora of gadgets to choose from, including the Vizio 24" LCD HDTV and the Slingbox Pro-HD.  But he settles on the Motorola Droid.

Saratoga of California
Leo will be spending Thanksgiving with his family at Calistoga.  Legend has it that the town got its name from a spoonerism.  Someone had meant to say the Saratoga of California, because of its hot springs, but it came out as the Calistoga of Sarafornia.

Episode 1005
Dick and Leo will be doing Episode 1005 at CES.  Since Leo was replaced by Alex Lindsay for a week, it will be his 1000th episode of DGW after all.

A Heavy-Duty Audible Device
Mike Knox from Toronto, a long-time listener of the show (see Episode 725) has been an Audible listener since July 2000 and probably has the most expensive Audible-compatible device, and the heaviest.  It's a Cadillac.

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Episode 966

Podcast Awards Voting
Leo’s gently competitive streak has made him waver over whether listeners should vote for the Daily Giz Wiz for People’s Choice, as This Week In Tech has been entered in the same category, for the Podcast Awards.  Since This Week In Tech has already won before, Leo is inviting listeners to vote for the Daily Giz Wiz.  You can vote every day until voting closes.  Please use a valid email address as you may receive an email asking you to verify your vote.

Steering Wheel Desk
Peter Costello, from Central New Jersey, loves the chemistry between Dick and Leo, and wishes them good luck at the Podcast Awards.  Peter suggests that listeners check out a gadget on Amazon, the Steering Wheel Desk, particularly the tongue-in-cheek users' reviews.

Steering Wheel Desk

Weekend Themes
We haven’t heard the weekend themes for a while.  Before this week’s recording starts, Leo plays the Saturday and Sunday Themes.  Video courtesy of odtv.me.

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Episode 965

Oh, Brother!
Dane's brother Jay Golden, of Gorilla in the Greenhouse, who appeared in Jumping Monkeys Episode 49, was the first Skype video guest on any TWiT Network podcasts.  He's in the TWiT Studio during the recording session.  Jay's mother-in-law is an avid MAD fan, and has the entire collection of MAD magazines.

Fixing the Market
Listener John found that the latest Daily Giz Wiz shows were not showing up on the Zune Marketplace.  He emailed about it to Dick, who forwarded it to Dane Golden, and it had been fixed by the time John checked again an hour later.  John hopes that the Daily Giz Wiz will go on to 7 digits, and by the one-millionth episode, they can do the Hover Spork.

A New Convention for Files Names of TWiT Shows
The problem at the Zune Marketplace was possibly due to TWiT's new file naming system.  The file name for any DGW show (starting with Episode 956) is now dgwnnnn, with 4 digits (such as dgw0965) in anticipation of Episode 1000 and beyond.  The change has been implemented across the board for all of TWiT's shows.

Episode 1000 - Change of Plan
Dick and Leo have planned for a while now doing Episode 1000 live at CES 2010.  That was on the basis that they will take a week off before then.  Now that Santa Ford has arrived early with Ford SYNC, they won't be taking a break, and they won't be doing Episode 1000 at CES, but maybe Episode 1005.

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Episode 964

Happy Birthday to Joe
Today is the birthday of DrMom's son, Joe.  Leo forgot to mention it during the recording of the show, but he made it up in the intro.  Happy Birthday to Joe.

MAD DISCO
Unearthed from the depths of Dick's Gadget Warehouse is another gem - a special edition of MAD, called MAD DISCO, that comes with a vinyl record of spoofs of disco hits such as "Barely Alive" and "Disco Suicide", with lyrics by Dick and music by Norm Blagman.  The record also includes a disco version of the MAD classic hit "It's A Gas".  Disco was and remains Dick’s favourite genre, and the idea of MAD DISCO was conceived by Dick himself. You can buy a copy (or at least read about it) here on Dick’s site, at MAD Collectables.

MAD DISCO - MAD special edition
The Pains of a Listener
Steve Miller, one of the foremost gadget fanatics among the listeners, thinks that it was great to have Alex Lindsay stand in for Leo, but it came at a price.  It is bad enough for Steve to buy the $20-$100 gadgets that Dick talks about (including most recently the Verbatim Insight in Episode 929), but the Gigapan Epic which Alex recommended and Steve felt compelled to buy cost a lot more!

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