A new version of a gadget that's almost 20 years old.

Black & Decker has had great success with their flexible hose snake lights. There have been quite a few versions over the years. This newest version (coming in November) is the Black & Decker Rechargeable LED Snake Light. It runs for up to 5 hours away from AC. And since it uses Lithium batteries, once it’s charged it should have that charge for up to 18 months. That means when you need it, it should have plenty of power. With 10 LEDs, the new Snake Light provides 44 lumens of bright light. It comes with it own charger, and thankfully, the charger says Black & Decker right on it, so you won’t get it mixed up with the dozens of other chargers you most likely have. The one feature this new device lacks is a charging light, so I just charged it overnight. I have not seen this particular version of the Snake Light for sale online yet. It will be available soon at Amazon, in Wal-Mart, and will retail for under $30. 

http://www.blackanddecker.com/power-tools/BDCF4SL.aspx

Note: If you just type Black & Decker Snake Light in search you will get dozens of other versions, but the newest one and the one I showed on air is the 4V Max Rechargeable Lithium Snake Light Flashlight. Model #: BDCF4SL

A first for Bose, In-ear Noise Reduction Headphones.

I recently took an overnight trip to Boston and I wanted to travel with the lightest gear possible. This was a perfect time to try the new Bose QC20, their first in-ear noise canceling headphones. They fit in a little zippered travel bag that come with the headphones. The fact that they’re Bose first in-ear noise canceling headphones isn’t the only unique thing about the QC20. Like other Bose NR headphones you can block outside noise, but this model offers an additional setting, called Aware mode. It reduces the amount of noise reduction and lets you hear some of the outside that you probably want to hear. Like the stewardess talking, train announcements, or traffic sounds if you’re biking. It lets you hear those outside sounds while keeping your headphones on and your music playing. The noise reduction on the QC20 is as good as any of the Bose over the ear headphones I’ve used. They feature something Bose calls StayHear+ ear tips. They don’t get pushed way into your ear as some other brands do. They rest comfortable in the ear and the StayHear+ clips catch the bowl of the ear and hold them securely in place. As you might expect, the sound quality is really excellent. And there’s another new feature for Bose, you can still listen to your music even if the battery is dead. It’s not as good as when the electronics are doing their stuff, but it’s a nice feature. You shouldn’t have to worry about the battery going dead often. With a 2-hour charge Bose says you can expect about 18 hours of playback. It charges via a micro-USB port. A charging cable, along with 3 pair of different size Stay-Hear+ ear tips and the carry bag are all in the box. Unlike over the ear headphones, there is an external control module that can either hang down or go into a pocket. So you can take phone calls, there is also a mini-module phone control built right into the headphone cable. Bose offers two models depending on the type of phone you want to use with them with. The QC20 is for Android devices, and the QC20i is for iOS devices. All in all, you get great sound quality and excellent noise reduction in a package small enough for a pocket. The price is the same as the larger over the ear Bose NR headphones, $299.95. Like Apple products discounts are not available, although they are on Amazon for $299.00. (Yep, 95 cents cheaper, and free shipping for Prime members.)

More info at Bose website:

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/in_ear_headphones/index.jsp

LED Light Bulbs, now at a great affordable price!

LED light bulbs are newest, inexpensive way to relight your home. They’re even more efficient that CF (compact florescent) bulbs. The 1^st LED I showed on World News Now about 3 or 4 years ago cost $80! The Cree 40-watt LED bulb is the 1^st LED bulb that sells for under $10! The 60-watt LED Cree bulb is under $13. These bulbs look and light like incandescent bulbs but use at least 84% less energy. And they’re dimmable, unlike most CF bulbs. Delivering up to 25,000 hours of light, they’re a really easy fix-up for your home. Another bit of good news, they don’t contain Mercury, which is found in CF bulbs. Cree LED bulbs are a Home Depot exclusive. When you get to their website page scroll down for individual bulbs. The prices you see near the top of the page are for case lots.

http://www.homedepot.com/s/cree+led+light+bulbs?NCNI-5

Need heat, just tell your thermostat that you're cold without getting out of bed!

At a Pepcom event a while back, a Honeywell spokesperson was telling me about their great new smart WiFi thermostat. I listened, but I didn’t think it was different enough from others on the market, like the Nest. But at the most recent Pepcom event Honeywell took a bigger step forward with their Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat with Voice Control. It’s hard to see what’s new by just looking at it. It looks and does a lot of the same things as their current Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat. Namely, it controls your heat and cooling right there in your home, or you can control it over the Internet via their Android and iOS app. You still get to pick a background color to fit your room décor, and like the Nest, it will learn your heating/cooling needs over time. When I saw a big microphone on the display table, I wondered if the new Honeywell unit would also let you put on shows and sing-alongs. Naw. The spokesperson explained the new model’s claim to fame is built-in voice-recognition. The microphone was necessary only because the background noise at the Pepcom event was quite loud and commands might not be heard. To get your new Honeywell thermostat’s attention you say, "Hello, thermostat." Then you say things like, “I’m cold” or “I’m hot” and this clever device will turn the temperature up or down. You can’t request an exact temperature, but you could say “make it four degrees warmer or colder”. It seems like a bit of a learning curve to me, but the spokesperson gave a good example of where it would be a real advantage. You’re in bed and it’s freezing in the room; isn’t it nice not to have to get out of bed to physically touch the thermostat when you can just tell it what to do? Unfortunately, if you already own a Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Thermostat, you can’t upgrade it to voice control. But if you’re in the market for a new thermostat and you want one that listens to you, the newest model will cost you $349. It will be available at end of October or early November at Lowes, Home Depot, Best Buy, and Amazon. 

Here’s the company website with more info:  http://wifithermostat.com/

It looks like a flashdrive, but it does a LOT MORE!

SanDisk has made a lot of fun devices over the years (other than plain old memory cards and flash drives) and the SanDisk Connect Wireless Flash Drive is one of them. It looks like a regular flash drive, but it's so much more. This one lets you store and access your music, videos, photos, and documents wirelessly on multiple devices. It even creates its own hotspot. The 150-foot range means you can share photos on your friend's Kindle Fire device across the room or stream a movie to your sister's laptop in the next plane row. The drive provides up to four hours of continuous streaming on a single charge. To recharge, simply plug the drive into your computer's USB port. SanDisk says you can connect to up to eight devices simultaneously, (I need to get more friends) and quickly move files between all your mobile devices. The drive can also stream video on up to three devices at once. Since this portable drive requires no Internet connection, cables, or router, it can travel with you anywhere. Using mine was a breeze. I downloaded the app on my Galaxy 4, and loaded music and a movie onto my SanDisk Connect Drive by dragging and dropping files to it from my computer. Then I connected wirelessly to the drive and all my content was there. This will be great for my iTouch which has really limited storage. For added security, you can password-protect your Wi-Fi connection if you want. There's a 16GB and 32GB version. Each one offers a microSD card slot for expanded memory. The 16GB is available for $49.99. It seems to make sense to pay the extra $10 for 32GB version which is $59.99 here:

SanDisk Connect 32GB Wireless Flash Drive (SDWS2-032G-E57)

There’s more info at the company website: http://www.sandisk.com/products/wireless/flash-drive/