Known as MAD's Maddest Writer, co-host of The Giz Wiz with OMGchad at www.GizWiz.TV, The Giz Wiz on ABC's World News Now, and on Tech Guy Labs with Leo Laporte on www.TWiT.TV.
Chowing Down Dick and Leo reminisce about the joys and horrors of faux Chinese food in stacked cans (like chow mein), Hungry Man's TV Dinners, and talk about the Chungking and Swanson brands.
Hazardous Wastes Rod Miller from California writes in about hazardous wastes, and he's not talking the Daily Giz Wiz podcasts. Back in Episode 819, Dick talked in the Letters Section about scrapping a GE microwave oven with a misbehaving door. In California, used electronics are considered hazardous wastes which cannot be disposed of in the regular trash streams. He recommends, for Californians, erecycle.org that he works for, with which you can make an appointment (3 days a week) for disposing of your e-waste.
Cellphones for Troops Dick and Leo talk more about recycling, including batteries, underwear, cellphones and their own podcasts. Joking aside, there is a programme called Cellphones for Soldiers, which helps overseas soldiers call home.
VX Nano Mouse Reprise Right at the beginning of the show, Leo asks Dick if Dick has done the Logitech VX Nano before. Dick doesn't think so, and the chatroom, who have already dozed off at the sound of another TTTT, do not demur. Leo has been prompted by Steve Gibson's recent recommendation of this mouse in Security Now! Episode 197 to cover it on TTTT. So, on Leo goes. Then Dick reveals that he is already using that mouse.
A quick search over at Ludwik's GizWizSearch would have revealed that Dick did actually cover this gadget, in Episode 523. What's funnier is, Leo himself was half way into his introduction of this mouse in Episode 522, but when he found out that it was going to be one of Dick's gadgets for the week, he switched to the Tom Bihn Western Flyer instead. It has to be fate, that the VX Nano should appear on the show 3 times. It is a neat little mouse, and worth a reprise. Listen to excerpts of the 2 earlier episodes.
What takes Steve Gibson's fancy, and Leo's, is VX Nano's very fast scrolling ability (particularly useful for long web pages and verbose posts, like the insideDGW blog). "Zero-friction", is how Steve describes it.
Gadget Encores With the sheer number of gadgets covered in the Daily Giz Wiz, it is a wonder that gadgets have not been repeated more often. The only other gadgets which have been featured twice were the HydraBrush in Episodes 226 and 480 (which Dick was aware of), and a Gadget Warehouse resident, the Motorola add-on MP3 player for cellphones (Episodes 380 and 630).
iTunes Misbehaving Mike Gigabyte has found that the Daily Giz Wiz, apart from being in the Podcast category, has now crept into the iTunes Music folder, so that it gets shuffled and played at random along with the rest of his music. And "What is wrong with that, my friend?" one may ask. But Mike asks if Leo has put the wrong tag on the downloads. Leo doesn't think so, but can't really figure out why this is suddenly happening. Either it's because of all the jingles, or iTunes thinks that the Giz Wiz Got Talent.
Missing 499 Curt Estridge, whose letter was referred to in Episode 841, listens to the Daily Giz Wiz at work with one earbud, leaving half an ear for his boss. Curt does listen to a stereo podcast which it is OK to listen to with only one ear, and that's "Says You", also available on Audible. Curt loves the Daily Giz Wiz, and all the MAD Magazines he's won from the WTHII game. He hasn't missed a MAD issue, except Issue 499 which he couldn't find anywhere. Dick invites Curt to send him an email to sort that out.
Leo doesn't beg Leo is looking for cycling accessories to deck out his Terratrike, including the cyclocomputer-GPS Garmin Edge 705. Leo will not beg for it from Garmin, but Dick might. Dick's got Plantronics to send Leo a Voyager Pro (Episode 829) for him to review. Dick and Leo are of course joshing about it, but little do they know that 2 weeks after recording the show in advance, this issue is going to come up in a very public way.
Pre-View Unit Controversy Right now, it's not a good time to joke with Leo about review units, or talk to him about them, as yesterday, Leo, ever the nice guy, threw an uncharacteristic fit on TWiTLive during the Gillmor Gang show, over his being one of a select group of tech journalists who had been given a review unit of the Palm Pre. Read a summary of it on John C Dvorak's blog, which also has a clip of the video that contains strong language from Leo in reaction to comments from Mike Arrington.
Anyone who has listened to Leo for any length of time knows how meticulous Leo tries to be in returning review units, and how many gadgets he's had to buy for himself, to avoid even the appearance of a possibility of conflict of interest, even though it is fairly common for journalists to keep some review units - in which case the reviewer needs to prove his credibility in the long term, and many journalists have succeeded in doing so. But it is against this background that Leo's reaction and use of language must be understood. It must have been extremely galling for Leo, who has spent so many years building up a reputation of integrity and a relationship of trust with his audience, to find himself at the wrong end of a suggestion of a possible lack of independence, by another tech journalist as experienced and knowledgeable as Arrington, just because Leo got a review unit.
Arrington has put his side of the story on TechCrunch. In the midst of the explanations and justifications in that blog post, Arrington has made an apology. Leo in response has also made an apology in the comments section. Read it all for yourself.
Knife Sharpening Truck In the old days, knife-sharpening trucks used to go around ringing their bells to attract the attention of households. Recently Dick heard that familiar bell again, but within the city itself. In 2006, the New York Times ran a story on a cutlery grinder in New York, Mr Mike Pallotta, and in 2008, Mr Pallotta was still going strong: see Sense and the City.
Photo by Don Hogan Charles for NYT Kenner's Easy Bake Ovens Dick's boat has a microwave oven of 400W power. Leo thinks that Dick is better off with a Kenner Easy Bake Oven. Don't scoff, because the Easy Bake Oven has a long history and pedigree. Read about it on about.com. The photo on the left is the 1963 model, from Bill's RetroWorld; on the right is the 1971 model, from Cooking Inn.
Kenner's Easy-Bake Ovens from 1963 and 1971 Dock and Talk Leo mentioned that 20% of households in the States do not have land lines any more, and Clifton Fowler from Florence, Arizona is one of them. He's a truck driver, is often away, and when at home, simply uses Dock N Talk by Phone Labs, which enables him to speak on conventional home phones (corded or cordless) using the cellphone connection.
More Candidates for the Home Office Suggestions for the TWiT Home Office's location keep coming in live from the chatroom - Mud Lick in Kentucky, Bald Knob in Arkansas, Joe Batt's Arm in Newfoundland, Toad Suck in Arkansas, Hookersville in West Virginia, Skullbone in Tennessee, Come By Chance in Newfoundland, Two Egg in Florida, and Punkeydoodles Corner, Ontario. Leo is sticking with Cheesequake, New Jersey for the time being.
For other suggestions, see Answer Giz Wiz Questions, Newfoundland has had the lion's share of funny names. Way back in Episode 164, a listener has written in about some of them. You can listen to that episode again on twit.tv.
The Question To The Answer Dick and Leo do a Carnac the Magnificent session (a segment on the Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson). Prescient answer: Sis Boom Bah. Question: Dick and Leo can't remember, but it's something to do with an exploding sheep. Prescient answer: Butterfield ate 8000. Question: How many hamburgers did Butterfield eat? Here's a good example of Carnac's routine.
Another Qualification on Dick's Resumé When Johnny Carson took his leave in the summer, the Tonight Show used rotating hosts, each taking a week. One of them was Gene Rayburn, who once brought Dick on to the team of writers. Dick even appeared on the show as representative of the National Safety Council, which is still on a kinescope recording somewhere. Dick has also written for the American version of That Was The Week That Was (TW3).
Mr Podcast As Milton Berle was called Mr Television, so Leo should be called Mr Podcast, says Dick. Leo is not sure about that title, and Dick has asked what should Leo be called, on Answer Giz Wiz Questions. Check out the answers there.
Titanic - A New Musical Zud from the chatroom suggests to Leo the musical version of the Titanic on Audible. While Zud may have been pulling Leo's leg, there was indeed a broadway show called "Titanic - A New Musical", and you can find the original cast recording on CD.
Morbid Subjects for Cruise Lectures Dick has been on the QE2 as a guest giving lectures and talks (see Episode 225). He found out that apparently one of the more popular subjects for lectures is sunken ships, like the Titanic and the Carpathia.
Giz Wiz Lessons Learnt Ken Ronkovitz from New Jersey had to reset his iTunes subscriptions, and rather than subscribing to individual shows, he decided to subscribe to Radio Leo. Lesson 1: Leo has a lot of podcasts. Ken was falling behind with the Daily Giz Wiz and was going to delete some unlistened-to DGW shows, one of which was Episode 750, the Panasonic Travelvision, until a voice told him not to, as he had actually owned the Travelvision. He listened to the show, and to his pleasant surprise heard his previous letter being read by Dick. Lesson 2: Never delete a Daily Giz Wiz episode.
Allen v American Apparel Inc Woody Allen sued American Apparel for using an image of him as a Hasidic Jew from Annie Hall, with the caption "the high rabbi", on advertising billboards. On 18 May 2009, the case was settled for $5 million. Read the Reuters article. For a picture of the billboard, see the Jewish Journal.
June 10, 2009 
