Another solution to handling those giant transformer plugs.

Do you have a lot of electronic devices with those big transformer plugs? You know the deal. You buy a power strip and find you can only use half the outlets because those big power adapter plugs ends up covering 2 or 3 other outlets. Pivot Power comes to the rescue with an easy solution: a flexible power strip that can bend and flex so you can find the most convenient angle to handle those monster transformer plugs. Because there’s a hinge between every outlet on the strip, you have a lot of flexibility of which way to face the plug. Currently it’s only available in white and it ships with six feet of heavy duty cord. There's also a flat plug at the end so it takes up less room at the outlet you plug it in. There’s 672 Joules of surge protection built in too. $29.99.

 www.quirky.com

 See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1318

Set up your tent in just a minute or two!

I was set to record my own "Coleman Instant Tent" Video when I learned something important. It's really a two-man job. So I left this week's video to the professionals. The product managers at Coleman. They came up with the "Coleman Instant Tent -- quite a feat of engineering:

Coleman Instant Tents - $137/Up – Coleman makes Instant Tents designed for four, six or eight people. , so they’re big. Set up takes 1 minute. The Coleman 4-Person Instant Tent is of course the easiest to set up. The tents feature an innovative one-piece design: the poles are pre-attached to the tent, so there's no assembly and no parts to lose. Just unfold the tent, spread out the fabric, extend the poles, and click and lock. The 4-Person Instant Tent has a footprint of 8'x7', with a center height of 4'11". It's made of heavy-duty 150D polyester taffeta. Coleman says that that's twice as thick as standard tent material. Every seam is fully sealed, so you don't need a rain fly. Campers who reviewed this tent said that is a big time saver. The 16mm and 20mm steel poles are durable and strong. There are also six and eight person tents available. There are a lot of videos of people setting up their Coleman Tents on YouTube. From watching many videos and doing a little experimenting of my own I've learned that you really need two people to set it up quickly. If you know what you’re doing, a minute set is possible, but heck - even it takes 4 minutes, that’s pretty quick! MSRP for the four person tent is about $140. An excellent video to watch is the two Coleman product managers setting up one of their tents and explaining each step:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=BkPQqBJzYJI

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1321

You can stream your media library from this cordless hard drive to your WiFi enabled device.

The GoFlex Satellite Mobile Wireless Storage device allows you to carry your media library with you while on the go. Then you can wirelessly stream movies, photos, music and documents to your iPad, tablet or smartphone via WiFi. The GoFlex Satellite provides both a fast USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 connection. The downloadable Media Sync software makes it easy to transfer media and documents from your PC or Mac computer. The 500 GB GoFlex Satellite device can store over 300 HD movies, so you'll never have to worry about running out of space on your iPad or tablet. At the demo I went to I saw an two iPads and a smart phone displaying three different videos all being feed wirelessly from a single GoFlex Satellite. It was pretty impressive. With a full charge you should get up to five hours of wireless streaming. Now there’s no more worrying about running out of space on your iPad or Smart Phone. Price is $199.99.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/external-hard-drive/goflex-satellite

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1320

Now you can add 3D to your iPhone or iPod Touch!

Hasbro’s my3D turns an 2^nd, 3^rd or 4th generation iPod touch, iPhone 3G, 3GS or iPhone 4 into a 3D viewer. The my 3D device looks like a pair of plastic binoculars, but when you look in it you’ll actually be viewing the screen on your Apple device. If you remember the ViewMaster, this is kind of an updated digital version. It comes with four adapters for the different Apple devices. The packaging is strange. When you open the box, one of the adapters says: “Insert your iPhone or iPod touch here!” So I inserted my 4^th Gen Touch, but it doesn’t seem to fit correctly. That's when I figure I better check the instructions. I can’t find the instructions until I notice some printing showing through a hole in the plastic tray the device comes in. Under the tray I find the instructions and -- what’s this? Another adapter - the one I should be using. Before you can use my 3D you need to visit the iTunes app to download games, a demo and 360-degree panoramic apps. Even though the apps are free you need to activate them with the code that’s printed on the viewer. I downloaded some apps and found using the my3D is a lot of fun. 3D photos looking amazingly deep! The movie trailers look a little less 3D, but they’re pretty good. The panoramic scene I downloaded was great. The view is a pier on the ocean and as you turn or look up or down your iPhone or Touch accelerometer makes it possible for you to see the view as if you were there. Friends enjoyed playing with the My3D too. I think the novelty will wear off quickly for adults, but kids will probably find it fascinating for a long time. Right now there are only about a half dozen 3D apps available. In case you're wondering, all of your device buttons are accessible when it's in the my3D, but using the on-screen menus can be tricky. The my3D device has two thumbholes on the bottom so you can press the buttons on the screen. Sometimes I found using them a bit tricky especially when a menu choice said: push both buttons with both thumbs at the same time. Even though it uses no batteries the construction of the plastic case seemed to make the sound of my Touch more robust. Right now it’s available at Target for $34.99. In June it will be in wider distribution.

http://www.target.com/Hasbro-MY3D-3D-Viewer-White/dp/B004T7VIPG

See or hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw1312

The Motorola Droid X gets a make-over to become the Droid X2

The Droid X is almost reaching its one year mark, so Motorola has released an updated version of the popular Verizon smartphone. Compared side by side, the new Droid X2 looks almost identical to its brother, but there are some  important differences. The biggest changes involve a higher resolution (and a noticeably) better screen plus a big boost in speed. The Droid X2 features one of new Nvidia dual-core 1GHz processors. And the X2 also features a qHD display – that’s an LCD panel with 540-by-960 resolution. Motorola says that's a 26 percent increase in pixels over the original Droid X's 480-by-854 screen. When I put the phones side by side and asked friends to point to the phone with the best looking picture, they picked the Droid X2. It also features a non-reflective GorillaGlass screen. Many of the other stats between the X2 and the Droid X are the same. Both have 4.3-inch-sized displays, 512MB of RAM, 8MP rear-facing cameras with 720p HD video capture, and both have mini-HDMI out ports. The newer model to some people’s disappointment, does not have a front-facing camera. (One reviewer said it was there and would be activated in a later upgrade, but I don’t see it.) One strange change is that the new model only has an 8GB micro-SD card, while the original Droid X had 16GB. But both can handle up to 32GB micro SD cards. The new Droid X2 ships with Android 2.2, (Froyo). Motorola and Verizon users will get an Android 2.3 upgrade (Gingerbread) but there’s no firm date for that yet. Motorola says users should get up to 480 minutes of talktime or 220 hours of standby from a full charge of the 1540 mAh Droid X2 battery. And be aware, even though this is one of Verizon’s newest Droids, it’s not 4G capable. The Droid X2 sells for $199.99 with a new (or upgraded) two-year contract.

www.verizonwireless.com

See or Hear this Netcast: www.twit.tv/dgw/1317