Episode 935

Induction Charging
While induction cooking never took off, it may well find another way into gadgets through induction charging, such as the Palm Pre (Episode 862), and the Dell Latitude Z ultra-slim laptop, which Leo is going to buy after Windows 7 gets released.

Dell Latitude Z
New York City Geography
Leo's wonky NYC geography in the intro reminds Dick of the television series Mike Hammer starring Stacy Keach in the title detective role.

Born in New York
Leo has always considered himself a native New Yorker, as he was born there, at the Women's Hospital (see Episode 64).

Shocking Laser Tag
In Episode 916, Leo talked about the TWiT Team's lasertag .comwars.  Young listener and fellow podcaster Christian Kaff from kaffcast.com has played with his family the Shocking Laser Tag, available at Perpetual Kid, which gives you a little shock when you get hit.  Dick prefers the game Shocker, but if Leo is to repeat the .comwars, he might want to try it at Governor's Island.

Shocking Laser Tag from Perpetual Kid

Nomination for Podcast Awards
Nominations have begun for the Podcast Awards.  This is the nomination stage to get the shortlist of nominees.  You may only submit one form.  Dick and Leo are going for People's Choice.  All you need to do is fill in the name of the podcast, which is The Daily Giz Wiz, in case you haven't noticed, and the podcast url, which is http://twit.tv/dgw, and your email address.

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Episode 934

So Much Chocolate, So Little Gadgetry
Leo gets sent all sorts of stuff, including Amano Chocolate and Starbucks Instant Coffee from Warren Owen.  Pity he doesn't get sent some decent gadgets for TTTT.

Tedx and Dubai
Leo is off to Dubai where he will be giving a speech at the Tedx conference.  He's already arrived and has posted updates on his blog.  Dick suggests he visit the Palm Islands, a housing development built on reclaimed land in the sea in the shape of a palm tree or palm leaf.

One of the Palm Islands in Dubai
The End of The World According to Dubai
The Palm Islands development looks positively modest when compared to The World Islands, another development in Dubai of man-made islands surrounded by breakwater which together resemble a world map.  You can buy an entire country there (by invitation only), if the project gets completed.  It's like playing Monopoly with real money.  The development, along with many other building projects in the United Arab Emirates, has been suspended because of the financial crisis, and the man who bought Ireland has committed suicide.  See an article in The Times.  Leo is going to meet a princess there and may well receive an invitation to buy an island.

The World According to Dubai
Things to Do in Dubai
When Leo is done haggling with the Emirati royalty over the price of an island, he might try some indoor skiing at the Dubai Emirates Mall, visit the spice and gold souks (the last being probably the only reason Jennifer has agreed to go with Leo), or buy a pair of Gap jeans for Dick, if he can find such lowly goods there.  Just don't expect any help with the jeans from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Twitter. 

An FM Transmitter Solution
Germ Cartee always enjoys the show a little bit when it manages to grab his attention from other things more interesting.  After listening to Episode 921 in which a listener asked about FM transmitters, he is offering his own solution.  He has a second car which has pre-configured static FM frequencies, but he doesn't listen to the local FM radio stations.  He dismantles the external FM antenna which stops the local FM signals from interfering with the FM transmitter.

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Episode 933

2.5D Special Effects
Just in case anyone is wondering what Leo is doing in the middle of the show when Dick talks about the 3D or 2.5D special effects, here's a clip of the video recording, from odtv.me.



Trash Tax
Beni from Switzerland tells Dick why people in Switzerland would very much like to have a Compactor Can (Episode 924).  A couple of years ago, Switzerland introduced a hefty trash tax in most cities in an effort to promote waste reduction and recycling, calculated by the number of bags of specified sizes.  It has also generated garbage tourism (people going to neighbouring cities which have no trash tax) and a garbage police (whom Dick and Leo have been ducking for the last 900 odd episodes).

Sneak a Zucchini on your Neighbour's Porch Day
That was on 8 August, when you can dispose of your surplus zucchinis.  Check out wellcat.com for some other ideas for dealing with an overabundance of zucchinis.

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Episode 932

Meter Reading via Satellite
New York City is rolling out wireless water meters, and reading of the meters is going to be via satellite.

An Ear Burner
Jason Gray writes in response to the "page turner" question in Episode 926.  Jason suggests, for an Audible book, it should be called an "ear burner".

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Episode 931

Leo in Dubai
Leo is off later this week for the TEDx event in Dubai, where on 10 October he will do what he is best at, talk.

Leo in San Francisco: Podcasting is Dead
In the meantime Leo couldn't wait until this weekend.  Last Friday he was invited to speak at the Online News Association Conference and gave a great speech, in which he talked about the history of his own involvement in the tech media, from the Site to TechTV to the TWiT Network.  The most interesting tidbit from his speech is that the TWiT Network is charging $70 CPM (cost per mille, or thousand), and making $1.5 million a year in revenue and doubling.  Leo also said podcasting is dead, but that's just for Dick's benefit in case Dick gets any funny idea about renegotiating his 53 cents a month contract.

Jeff Jarvis of This Week In Google posted the video of Leo's speech on his blog The Buzz Machine.



Leo at Blog World Expo
Next week, Leo will make an appearance at Blog World Expo where he will make the official announcement that the TWiT Network's videos will be available on the Roku.

An Aesthetic Neighbourhood
TWiT's only remaining neighbour (after Leo's driven off all the others) is an aesthetician who plugs people's hairs from their most intimate body parts, with hot wax from a constantly-going brazier, and once in a while, Leo can hear a scream from next door.

DVR Remote for the Roku
Gary from Prior Lake, Minnesota has had the Roku for 6 months and it has changed the way he consumes media.  Recently he had to move and all of his remote controls were hidden in various boxes.  He discovered an iPhone app called DVR Remote, which turns the iPhone into a wifi remote for the Roku (and TiVo).

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