Episode 875

Hearst Tower, New York City
The original Hearst Tower was completed in 1928.  Out of the old cast stone facade, which has been preserved, is the new building, a glass tower framed by triangular structural steel "diagrids", designed by Norman Foster and completed in 2006.  Leo is thinking of building a skyscraper out of the Victorian TWiT Cottage.

Hearst Tower, NYC
Terratrike to Beach
In Episode 815 Larry Blakely wrote about his 50-mile cycling challenge charity event, and hoped to hear about more bike gadgets on the Daily Giz Wiz.  His prayer has been answered.  It was his own letter which got Leo on to his Terratrike (Episode 837), and then Leo's other bike gadgets such as the Cateye Micro Wireless and the Delta Airzound Bike Horn (Episode 842).  Larry has a bike gadget suggestion for Leo, the iHome Bike-to-Beach Bicycle Speaker for iPods. The iPod sits inside the tube which is water-resistant.  It comes with a mounting bracket and a wireless remote control which is also mountable on to the handle-bar.

iHome Bike to Beach iPod Speaker
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Episode 874

Conair CleanHead Groomer
The Conair CleanHead Groomer should come in handy for Dick, as long as he doesn't mistake it for the Mitey Mixer (Episode 870) and try it on his nose again.

Conair CleanHead Groomer
The High Line Park
When Dick went to Chelsea Piers to try out the Axius/Zeus Propulsion System (Episode 873), he took the opportunity to visit the High Line Park.  The High Line used to be a railroad in Manhattan which originally ran at street level but was later elevated because of accidents.  It became mainly a freight line and ran through a lot of the warehouses along the river dropping off freight along the way.  It fell into desuetude and was going to be dismantled, until a group campaigned for its survival.  It has now been turned into an elevated park.  Dick has taken some photos which you can find in his Smugmug gallery.

The Flowbee
Another self-help hair-cutter is the Flowbee that trims your hair and and sucks it away with a vacuum cleaner.  Leo prefers his neighbour Felice who cuts Leo's and Henry's hair in her garage.

The Flowbee Hair Trimmer
Zoetropes
Talk of Early Choices (Episode 841) reminded loyal fan Mike Troiano of a visit to a furniture store in Jamaica which had the coolest lamp.  It was a train lamp with a heat-activated zoetrope which, when the lamp lit up and warmed up, tricked your eyes into seeing images of a train moving through mountains and deserts.  Now the most remarkable thing about this letter is how Early Choices, a toilet seat for young children, managed to trigger memory of a train lamp.

This in turn triggers Dick's memory of the train zoetropes he saw in his younger days, and reminds Leo of Francis Ford Coppola's American Zoetrope.

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Episode 873

The A to Z of Boating
The Axius and Zeus Propulsion Systems, designed respectively for twin sterndrive engines and twin inboards, use pod units that operate independently of each other, and with the help of onboard computers, offer easy docking and piloting through the use of a joystick.

Axius and Zeus Propulsion Systems
Leo on Obama Watch
On Father's Day, Leo got what President Obama had already got, the same watch that the latter has worn.  It says so on the back of the watch.  Obama's watch was given to him on his 46th birthday by the Secret Service agents responsible his security during his presidential campaign, available in the Secret Service employees' store.   It was made by Jorg Gray.  Read about this and other watches worn by Obama on the site onthedash.  Jorg Gray has now released a commemorative edition of the watch, available here.

Jorg Gray Obama Commemorative Watch
A Gadget for Sign Language Users
Barbara Schneider from Sebastopol, California, has restricted shoulder movements.  When she heard about the Dynaflex Powerball Gyroscope (Episode 832), she checked out one of the videos and was surprised to see her former American sign language teacher, whom she had not seen for 15 years, discussing the advantages of the gadget for sign language users.

From TWiT Cottage to Gizneyland
Barbara lives in Leo's neck of the woods and has sat in on one of Leo's shows.  The first time she visited the TWiT Cottage was when she went for a group meeting upstairs from Leo and stumbled upon him.  She will be staying with her brother in New York City in the last 2 weeks of July and has requested a visit to Dick's Gadget Warehouse, or a live taping of the Daily Giz Wiz at Gizneyland.

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Episode 872

Video Trimming on the iPhone 3GS
Leo has tried the video trimming function on his new iPhone 3GS, and it works.  Here's Apple's demo video:



Scott-E-Vest Wardrobe in a Tom Bihn Bag
For his China Tour and MacMania 9 geek cruise, Leo has packed an almost exclusively Scottevest wardrobe, in his new Tom Bihn Tri-Star (see Episode 865) which it is hoped Leo will cover on a TTTT.  Right now, Leo has finished his China Tour and should be in Japan on the Costa Classica.  Follow his AudioBoos, and take a look at Leo's gallery on Smugmug.

Ed McMahon Dies
Ed McMahon, whose appearance in the Johnny Carson Show is often the subject of reminiscence on the Daily Giz Wiz, passed away on 23 June 2009, aged 86.

Another Cheesy Infomercial
Jayzee, better known as Toyota Boy, notes that cheesy infomercials have often been the subject of conversation on the show, and has recently seen a truly cheesy one.  It's the Comfort Wipe, a toilet paper extension arm and holder.  The original infomercial can be seen on YouTube, but perhaps a more interesting version is a spoof of it shown on Jimmy Kimmel Live, featuring President Obama, also available on YouTube.

Bidets Rule Supreme
Alex Lindsay is much enamoured with the bidets in Japan which wash your behind (and some even blow-dry you), with choices of water-jet speeds and temperatures, and temperature-controlled seats.  They are now available in the US and Alex has bought one for his family.  An extreme example is the Bio Bidet Supreme BB-1000 with Remote that leaves nothing to the imagination, but there are more reasonably-priced toilet add-ons on Amazon for your more basic comforts.

Bio Bidet Supreme with Remote
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Episode 871

Leo Conducts
Leo was at the Skywalker Ranch watching an orchestra record the score for the PS3 game Uncharted 2 (Episode 864).  He picked up a few tricks of the trade from the conductor.  Watch him conduct the Daily Giz Wiz Monday Theme (video clip from odtv.me):



Flashlight Stats
In Episode 843, Dick wondered aloud how many flashlights had been covered in the Daily Giz Wiz.  Ludwik Trammer of GizWizSearch was paying attention, and with a flick of his fingers (more like a click of the mouse), Ludwik has come up with the statistics.  There had been 15 flashlights (now 16), 61 gadgets that emitted light as their main functionality, 13 of which using LEDs.

GizWizSearch Features
This type of information is in fact available to all DGW listeners.  All DGW gadgets have been tagged on GizWizSearch, now being done by Alfred Chan of InsideDGW (but for a period of time by another listener Ryan Waterer who shares the credit).  Click a tag on the home page and, with Ludwik's coding, you can see all the gadgets with that tag; or just type in a tag in the search box.  To see all the tags, click on "More Tags" on the home page, with the more frequently appearing tags in larger fonts.  If you want to find more detailed info from the InsideDGW Show Notes, click the "Advanced Search" to the right of the search box and tick the appropriate option.

Dick's Next Visit to TWiT Cottage
Before recording this episode, Dick and Leo chat about Leo's new Obama wrist-watch, more instant coffee from WO, and Dick's visit to TWiT Cottage for Episode 900.  As usual, video clip from odtv.me:



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